Leadership - Los Angeles LGBT Center

Lorri L. Jean is nationally recognized as one of the most seasoned and effective leaders in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights movement. OUT magazine has twice listed her as one of the 50 most powerful gay and lesbian people in the nation. In 2006, Los Angeles Magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people in Los Angeles, and in 2014 it named her one of the ten most inspiring women in Los Angeles. Jean currently serves as CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the world's largest provider of programs and services for LGBT people.

Jean has been an activist on LGBT issues since 1979. She served as the lead plaintiff in the successful landmark lawsuit against Georgetown University to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. She also was the first openly gay or lesbian person in history to receive a top secret security clearance from the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1989, with her appointment as Deputy Regional Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), she became the highest-ranking openly gay or lesbian person in the Federal government (a distinction she held until 1993 when President Clinton appointed Roberta Achtenberg).

In 1993, Jean began her first six-year tenure at the helm of the Center (to which she returned in June 2003). She led the Center through a period of unprecedented expansion, dramatically increasing the number of clients and volunteers, the diversity and volume of services, the number of staff, and the size of the budget. She also oversaw the purchase and renovation of a $7 million facility and built the nation's first $10 million dollar LGBT organization endowment fund. During her second tenure, Jean has returned the Center to financial stability, dramatically expanded programming, and tripled the revenue budget to $97 million. She has also led the Center’s historic $40 million capital campaign to build the Anita May Rosenstein Campus, scheduled to open in early 2019.

From 2001 to 2003, Jean served as executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, leading an organizational turnaround that brought the Task Force to financial solvency and increased the annual revenues to what was then an all-time high. Among other program accomplishments, she focused the organization's political efforts at the state and local level by building a field organizing department which orchestrated the defeat of nearly all anti-LGBT ballot measures in the 2001 and 2002 election cycles.

Prior to 1993, Jean spent 10 years as an attorney with FEMA, including three years overseeing the disaster response and recovery operations of its largest region, where she was responsible for the management of a staff of 1,000 and a budget of more than $1 billion. Jean holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Science degree in communication from Arizona State University, and is a member of the bar in California and Washington, D.C. She and her wife, attorney Gina M. Calvelli, live in Hollywood and were legally married in September 2008.

Darrel Cummings works closely with senior management to ensure smooth day-to-day operations of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and holds final responsibility for the internal management of the organization. He also plays a leading role in directing the organization's external relations efforts, including its work in public policy advocacy, its participation in significant coalitions, its relationship with other community-based organizations, its private fund-raising initiatives and its efforts to obtain government funding.

Cummings has worked in non-profit organizations for nearly 3 decades and has held numerous paid and volunteer positions in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

From 1993 to 1999, he served as the deputy executive director of the Center and in that capacity served as the senior manager for all programs and related government affairs. During his tenure as deputy executive director, he oversaw the procurement of millions of dollars annually from all branches of government, the development of many new and innovative programs, and overall internal management of the Center's program and policy efforts. Cummings also provided national advocacy leadership related to the HIV/AIDS and social service needs of the LGBT community.

Before joining the Center as chief operations officer in June 2003, Cummings served for two years as deputy executive director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and previously held upper-level management positions in several organizations representing the needs and rights of low-income people, women, consumers and the LGBT community.

Bill McDermott leads the fundraising team responsible for raising nearly $12 million through special events, planned and sustained giving, membership, corporate sponsorships and more. Prior to joining the Center in January 2011, Bill served as the Director of Development for the Stonewall Community Foundation, the local LGBT Community Foundation in the New York region.

Not-for-Profit development work is Bill’s third career. He was a Roman Catholic priest in the diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis but left the church principally because of its anti-LGBT teachings and his desire to be true to himself. He was fortunate to enter the personal computer business at the ground floor in sales and marketing, first working for Tim Gill at Quark, Inc. then with Apple Computer, Inc. for 14 years.

It was after meeting Lorri L. Jean and getting a whirlwind introduction to all the services the Center offers that Bill received his job offer. He chuckles and says that he has worked for God, Steve Jobs and now Lorri and doesn’t know which was more persuasive. Bill says working at the Center has helped him capture a sense of personal inspiration similar only to what he experienced as a priest.

As a new-comer to Los Angeles, Bill looks forward to engaging and connecting with Angelenos and is already serving on an advisory committee with the Liberty Hill Foundation.

Mike Holtzman directly manages the Center’s finance, treasury, accounting, tax, grants, contracts, and risk management functions. He began his first tenure at the Center in 2007 as CFO and worked there for five years before joining Ease Entertainment as its CFO in 2013. He rejoined the Center in 2014.

Before joining the team at the world’s largest LGBT organization, Holtzman worked for five years at a publicly-traded temporary staffing company; the last two years he was CFO and Senior Vice President. He has also served as CFO for several start-up companies.

After earning his MBA from Harvard Business School, Holtzman worked in international finance at Toyota and ARCO. Prior to earning his MBA, he worked for Deloitte Haskins + Sells in the audit and tax departments. He’s a CPA (inactive status).

Antonio David Garcia, known as Dave by most, comes to the Los Angeles LGBT Center following his role as Executive Director for Michigan’s two largest LGBT Centers, Affirmations and The Kalamazoo Gay and Lesbian Resource Center.

Dave first began his fight for LGBT equality after being fired from his position as the Community Services Coordinator of Swartz Creek for his attempt to start a Gay Straight Alliance in the public schools back in 2000. After walking 55 miles overnight from the doors of Swartz Creek High School to the State Capitol, Garcia delivered what would be one of many heartfelt and inspiring speeches. Over the past twenty years Dave has continued his dedicated efforts to improve lives and advance justice for all. As the Director of the Policy and Community Building Department, Dave and his team have lead numerous legislative initiatives advancing the civil rights, safety, health and equality for all LGBT people.

Additional accomplishments include being named, “Civil Libertarian of the Year” by the ACLU of Flint, being featured in Dan Woog’s book, Jocks II - Coming Out to Play, winning two 2009 Michigan Addy awards for his film work and being named Student of the Year in Communications and Media at the University of Michigan – Flint. In addition, Dave has completed a full-length documentary, Fences and is a critically acclaimed playwright. His play, Candy Corn, Christ and the Convoluted Creation of Golf debuted to sold-out audiences at the Performance Network in Ann Arbor and was named a top ten show of Michigan by the Flint Journal.

Kristin Flickinger works closely with the Chief of Staff to ensure smooth day-to-day operations of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and provides executive oversight of the Center’s client-facing programs and AIDS LifeCycle, the Centers largest fundraising and educational event. She also leads efforts for special projects of organizational significance.

In her initial role with the Center, Flickinger spent four successful years as the Southern California Director of AIDS/LifeCycle.

Flickinger came to the Center with a varied background in law, fundraising, political organizing, production, and travel writing. She holds a J.D. from Willamette University College of Law, and a B.A. in Business from Lewis & Clark College, and is a member of the Oregon Bar.

Alan Acosta is responsible for spearheading implementation of key elements of the Center’s strategic plan. He also oversees Legal Services, Senior Services and Cultural Arts & Education.

Acosta came to the Center from Stanford University, where he served as Associate Vice President and Director of University Communications. As associate vice president, Acosta was the chief university spokesperson and oversaw the Stanford website, news and media relations, external and internal communications and video production. Acosta also served as a resident fellow at Stanford’s Chicano/Latino theme dorm, Casa Zapata, and worked closely with the senior executive staff on a wide array of strategic management and communications issues.

Prior to his tenure at Stanford, Acosta was the deputy city editor of the Los Angeles Times; during his tenure at the Times, he shared in two Pulitzer Prizes awarded to the staff for coverage of the Los Angeles riots and the Northridge earthquake. He also worked as an editor and reporter at the Orange County Register, the Dallas Times Herald and the Hartford Courant.

Acosta has taught journalism at the University of Southern California and creative nonfiction writing at Stanford. He has co-chaired the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and has served on the executive boards of numerous other organizations, including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists' Association and Kitchen Sisters Productions. He also served on the Center’s board from 1991 to 1996.

Acosta earned a bachelor’s degree in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and received a master’s degree in journalism, with honors, from Columbia University. He lives in Los Angeles with his longtime partner, Tom Gratz.