LA Opera Adds Five Members to Board of Directors

General Director Plácido Domingo announced that Alexis Deutsch-Adler, Penelope D. Foley, Kiki Ramos Gindler, Linda Pierce and Heinrich Schelbert have been elected to LA Opera's board of directors.

"These five remarkable individuals share my passion for opera and I know that they will serve as powerful advocates for us in our community," said Mr. Domingo. "The breadth, depth and diversity of their experience will strengthen our company enormously."

"I am excited about working closely with these new board members as we continue to move LA Opera forward," said Marc Stern, chairman of LA Opera's board of directors. "I welcome their collaboration, leadership and council as we broaden the company's impact-throughout Los Angeles and globally-with our world-class productions."

Alexis Deutsch-Adler graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in journalism. In addition to being an accomplished artist, she was an art consultant for private collectors and procured commissioned art for the several luxury hospitality clients. She is active in philanthropy, overseeing a foundation with her two sisters focusing on local needs related to inner city youth, mental health and homelessness. For many years, she has promoted literacy through various community projects she has started. Currently, she is writing a collection of creative nonfiction stories about growing up in Los Angeles. She and husband Robert share a passion for wine as Napa Valley vintners and produce an estate Cabernet Sauvignon.

Penelope D. Foley is a portfolio manager for TCW Emerging Markets. Prior to joining TCW in 1990, she was a senior vice president of Drexel Burnham Lambert where she was involved in the management of DBL Americas Development Association, L.P., and in the provision of investment and merchant banking services in Latin America. Before Drexel, she was a vice president in Citicorp's Investment Bank and was responsible for Eurosecurities, project finance and private placements in Latin America and Canada. Previously, she was an associate in the corporate finance department at Lehman Brothers.

Kiki Ramos Gindler practiced corporate and entertainment law before devoting herself full time to writing, civic affairs and support of the performing arts. She is president of the board of Center Theatre Group, a member of the boards of Pomona College and the Los Angeles Music Center. She is a member of the National Council for the American Theatre and of The Blue Ribbon, the premier women's support organization of the Los Angeles Music Center. She has served the city of Los Angeles as a member of multiple historic preservation and community outreach boards. After receiving a J.D. from Harvard Law School, she practiced corporate law with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, and she has held legal and business affairs executive positions at Columbia Pictures and Rysher Entertainment.

Linda Pierce graduated from the University of Oregon in 1966 with a degree in general science and a minor in English literature. She spent 25 years in the aerospace industry, designing the software for command and control systems for satellites. She received a degree in landscape architecture from UCLA, and worked for the National Park Service, first as a volunteer, then as a contractor. She earned a law degree in 2005. In addition to LA Opera, she supports the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Fe Opera, the Inner City Education Foundation and the FARES Foundation, which is dedicated to archeological research in Guatemala. She oversees oil interests and is currently writing a novel.

Heinrich (Heinz) Schelbert, M.D., PhD., is the George V. Taplin Professor in the department of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. After attending medical school in his native Germany, he trained in internal medicine and cardiology in Philadelphia, San Diego and Düsseldorf. He was invited to join UCLA to develop a research and clinical program for the study of the heart's bloodflow and metabolism with positron emission tomography. He is a two-time recipient of the George von Hevesy Prize by the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology, of the George de Hevesy Nuclear Medicine Pioneer Award by the Society of Nuclear Medicine, the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award by the American Heart Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American College of Cardiology.

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