Foundation Board

George Yin
Chair
Length of Service: 2015 –

George Yin is an attorney, arts advocate, and Board Member of the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation. As an attorney with Kaufman Legal Group, he advises candidates, elected officials, political committees, ballot measure committees, non-profit organizations, and public agencies on local, state, and federal laws. He has over a decade of experience representing public agencies in public, municipal, education, water, and administrative law. He actively volunteers in his community, having served on the boards of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, the Organization of Chinese Americans (Greater LA Chapter), the Asian Professional Exchange (APEX), and the Pacific Asia Museum Chinese Arts Council. He holds a J.D. from UCLA Law School, an M.A. in Urban Planning from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, an M.Sc. in Public Administration/Public Policy from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. in Government from Cornell University.

Cynthia Fuentes
Vice-Chair
Length of Service: 2023 –

Cynthia Fuentes currently serves as Director, The Ford. Her early career began at a classical bi-national and bilingual radio station serving San Diego and Baja California regions, where she led the station’s multinational marketing and community outreach. She later, began working at the LA Phil in 2010. Over the course of her 10 years there, she held a number of leadership roles within its marketing department, including Assistant Director of Marketing. Cynthia’s work has centered around the belief that art and music is most relevant when informed by and connected to the communities that surround it. She was a founding member of the LA Phil’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council (DEI), helping to inform and execute DEI initiatives therel, as well as an active member of the Advisory Committee of the Los Angeles County Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative for the County of Los Angeles. Cynthia has been a strategic leader, advocating and supporting the advancement of cultural policy, equity, and inclusion in the cultural sector of the County.

Tony Hernandez
Treasurer
Length of Service: 2017 –

Tony Hernandez is the Vice President/Business Banking Relationship Manager at Bank of the West. He has been a board member of the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation since 2017. He received his degree in Business Administration and Psychology from Loyola Marymount University in 1979 and has built a successful career in banking specializing in commercial lending since then. He has been involved in various community advocacy groups such as the Hispanic Youth Task Force and Hispanic Leaders Group. He received the national award for Access to Capital in Washington, D.C. in 2007.

Adrian Rivas
Secretary
Length of Service: 2023 –

Adrian Rivas is a native Angeleno, born in Boyle Heights and raised in Montebello. He has been involved in the arts for more than 25 years as an art services business owner, gallery owner and director, independent curator, and patron of artists. He Co-Founded g727, with James Rojas and Justin De Leon, a seminal interdisciplinary art space in downtown Los Angeles (2003 - 2010) whose ambitious exhibitions and programming explored intersections between contemporary art and urbanism by creating a platform for artists, urban planners, and policymakers. Select g727 exhibitions include Gronk: Urban Narratives (2005); Outings: Investigating Male/Male Use of Public Space (2006); Featuring the Lightz and Soundz of… (2008); and Carmen Argote: 720 sq. ft.: Household Mutations (2010). Additionally, Rivas co-curated Suelto (2011) in Bogota, Colombia presenting a group of artists whose incumbent scope reflects the contemporary makeup of Los Angeles’ diverse environment, including Carolina Caycedo, Sandra de la Loza, Cayetano Ferrer, Harry Gamboa Jr., Shana Lutker, Gala Porras-Kim, Analia Saban, Wu Tsang, Brenna Youngblood, Raul Baltazar, and others. Currently, Rivas is developing and supporting a unique artistic project, Twin Palms Exhibitions, which will create a framework for artists to explore site-specific projects in East Los Angeles, Monterey Park, Whittier, and beyond.

Barbara Hensleigh
Board Member
Length of Service: 2005 –

Barbara Hensleigh has been a board member of the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation for 15 years. Barbara is an active donor to the Museum, including the Museum Studies Certificate Program and recent acquisitions. She and her husband have enjoyed collecting art for three decades. Barbara had a successful career as a litigator with an emphasis on the business aspects of healthcare, including antitrust and hospital privileging disputes. When not active in the Foundation, Barbara can be found backpacking or volunteering to make a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world.

Dan Guerrero
Board Member
Length of Service: 2013 –

Dan Guerrero is an award-winning producer/director of diverse programming for television and of live arts and culture events at prestigious venues including the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for the LA Opera and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He has been a Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation Board Member since 2013. Guerrero is an influential activist for Latinx and LGBTQ communities and is a popular figure on the speaking circuit with his presentation, Activism & the Arts: A Life Journey. His critically-acclaimed live solo show ¡Gaytino! Made in America was adapted to a full-length film in 2019. While Guerrero has received many accolades for his work in the arts and entertainment industries, he is most proud of his work as UC Regents Lecturer jointly appointed in the Cesar E. Chavez Department of Chicana/o Studies and LGBTQ Studies at UCLA.

Miguel Angel Luna
Board Member
Length of Service: 2020 –

Miguel A. Luna is native of Colombia, a Board Member of the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation, and a longtime community advocate for city, state and nationwide policies. He is the founder of Urban Semillas and a Principal at DakeLuna Consultants. He specializes in cultivating relationships with and between community-based organizations, businesses, elected officials, environmental organizations, academia, governmental agencies, and individual stakeholders at the grass-roots level. In 2013, Mr. Luna was featured by High Country News for his work in creating job opportunities for inner-city youth in the field of water quality monitoring. An urban resident of Los Angeles for 25 years, he’s been commuting mostly on bike and public transportation after giving up his car in 2005.

Panney Wei
Board Member
Length of Service: 2023 –

Panney Wei is an award-winning Motivational Speaker and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist/Empowerment Coach and Chief Empowerment Officer of See the Way Consulting, inspiring individuals especially women to unleash their human potential, overcome obstacles, and achieve their dreams with long-lasting transformation through hypnotherapy, coaching, keynotes, and workshops. Her ancestry includes one of China’s greatest statesmen in the Qing dynasty, General Tso Tsung-tang, immortalized in pop culture by the popular dish, General Tso’s Chicken, and her maternal grandfather, Taiwan Senator Albert Liu so Panney continues his legacy of service and activism to her community on the board or advisory council for several impactful organizations as an activist at the intersection of the arts, entertainment, and politics. She has won numerous awards including Top 40 Global Emerging Leaders for ASCEND, Outstanding Asian Americans in Business by the Asian American Business Development Center and the Silver Award for the Asian Business Awards from the Los Angeles Business Journal and top 100 Taiwanese Americans by Taiwanese.org. Panney is working on her first book and is a mother to a future female leader raising the next generation of leaders and she-roes for our community.

Chelo Montoya
Board Member Emeritus
Length of service: 2015-2023

Chelo Montoya is an educator, event producer, and creative with over 17 years of experience in the arts, including seven years in museum leadership. She currently serves as Assistant Vice President of Public Programs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where she oversees public programs, music, film, gallery learning, the docent program, and community engagement initiatives. Recently, she completed a four-year term as Chair of the California Arts Council, advocating for equitable arts funding across the state. She is also a proud emeritus board member of the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation. There she contributed over eight years of service, supporting the launch and partnership with the Museum Studies Certificate Program at East Los Angeles College and the significant expansion of museum staff through collaborative efforts with East Los Angeles College and the Los Angeles Community College District.

Staff

Steven Wong
Museum Director | East Los Angeles College Staff

Steven Y. Wong has been an artist, curator, and arts administrator in Los Angeles for over three decades, and is the director of East Los Angeles College's Vincent Price Art Museum. Previously, he was curator at one of the oldest and longest-running contemporary art galleries in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG), and Interim Executive Director and senior staff curator at the Chinese American Museum (CAM), where he developed and implemented both contemporary art and historical exhibitions. Wong has additionally had adjunct teaching positions at UC Santa Barbara, Ventura College, and Pasadena City College. His career began as an artist, and he has shown his work nationally. He received a M.F.A in Art from UC Santa Barbara, a M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA, and a B.A in Art from UCLA.He attended the Santa Monica College of Design, Art, and Architecture before transferring to UCLA.

Hataya Tubtim
Interim Foundation Director | VPAM Foundation Staff

Hataya Tubtim joined the VPAM Foundation in 2021. In her initial role as its Development Manager, she played a pivotal role in securing over $2million in funds to bolster VPAM’s staff, exhibitions, and educational programs. Throughout her career spanning over two decades as a public/social practice artist and arts educator Hataya has consistently demonstrated a passion for advancing cultural initiatives and nurturing the convergence of art, education, and community. Her dedication to these values has fueled her journey from a practitioner in the arts to a catalyst for positive change. Hataya leverages these unique perspectives, as well as her unwavering commitment to the transformative power of arts and culture, in her role as the Foundation’s Interim Executive Director. She holds degrees in Design (BFA, ArtCenter) and Social Practice (MFA, Otis College of Design).

Harvey Opgenorth
Preparator | East Los Angeles College Staff

For more than 20 years, Harvey Opgenorth has worked as a museum professional and at Los Angeles art institutions since 2011. At VPAM, Harvey serves as gallery preparator (art handler/installer) and exhibition technician supporting the production and stewardship of the museum’s collection, exhibitions, and artist projects. In a supportive exchange, Harvey fosters an environment in which to learn and share knowledge in methods of art handling, storage, and formal display. Harvey is also a practicing artist and a recipient of the prestigious Mary L. Nohl Fellowship for Individual Artists and has exhibited internationally. Harvey was educated at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Parsons School of Design | The New School, and The University of Illinois.

Pablo Limon
Office Assistant | East Los Angeles College Staff

Pablo Limon assists in museum administration, operations, and specialized projects at the Vincent Price Art Museum as the sole Office Assistant. Pablo has been an integral part of the East Los Angeles College workforce since 2009 when he began as a student worker and evolved as a dedicated team member since. Along with being ELAC alumni, and earning two Associate (AA) degrees he has majored in Computer Science, delved deep into next-gen computing and achieved several specialized certifications in Business Administration since 2001. He began his journey with the VPAM team in 2022, and his love for community-based projects - along with family ties in Los Angeles Chicano art history – helps bring the knowledge and passion for artistry into his role at the museum. His fundamental tech background is leading the cutting-edge march forward to help maintain the museum and campus missions to see the students meet their educational goals.

Gloria Ortega
Curatorial Assistant | VPAM Foundation Staff

Gloria Ortega is an art historian, emerging museum professional, and the newly-appointed Curatorial Assistant at the Vincent Price Art Museum. She is an alumna of East Los Angeles College beginning her journey into academia as a studio artist turned art historian. She has interned at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), was a research assistant at the Center for the Study of Political Graphics as part of the Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship, and was among the first cohort of interns at the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH). She also participated in the ELAC Washington D.C Internship Program, working with the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery as a curatorial research assistant for the exhibition 1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions. She earned an Associate in Art for Transfer (AA-T) in Art History at East Los Angeles College, and a B.A. in Art History from California State University, Los Angeles.

Victor Parra
Preparator | East Los Angeles College Staff

Victor Parra oversees museum operations, exhibition preparation and installation, and special projects at the Vincent Price Art Museum. Victor joined the team as a student worker in 1995 and became the first full-time Los Angeles Community College District Gallery Preparator in 1999. He plays a key role in supporting the collaborative efforts among VPAM, VPAM Foundation, and East Los Angeles College. He has taken great pride in contributing to the museum’s growth and holds a deep passion for art and community-building. In addition to opening hundreds of exhibitions at VPAM, Victor has mentored many cohorts of students, interns, and junior staff members on their paths to becoming successful artists, designers, and museum professionals. He was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and earned Graphic Arts degrees from ITESO and East Los Angeles College.

Joseph Daniel Valencia
Curator of Exhibitions | VPAM Foundation Staff

Joseph Valencia is a museum curator, writer, and historian of art, design, and visual culture. As Curator of Exhibitions, he oversees the museum’s exhibition calendar, organizes contemporary art and historical exhibitions, and supports new acquisitions to the museum’s collection. He has led or co-organized over 150 public programs and 20 exhibitions at VPAM since 2016, including Sonic Terrains in Latinx Art (2022), Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell (2017-2021), Tastemakers & Earthshakers: Notes from Los Angeles Youth Culture (2016), and solo projects by emerging and mid-career artists from Southern California. Joseph is a rising expert in U.S. Latinx art and has lectured and published on the subject across local and national art institutions. He earned his M.A. in Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere from USC and a B.A. in Art History from California State University, Fullerton.

Miranda Ynez
Curator of Educational Programs | VPAM Foundation Staff

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Miranda Ynez is an Arts Management professional committed to increasing participation in the arts and culture throughout local Los Angeles communities. Miranda's educational background in art history, arts education, and arts management, coupled with her extensive professional experience in public programming, youth leadership advocacy, and socially engaged arts practices within diverse nonprofit organizational structures, has shaped her into a remarkable arts leader and educator.
Miranda holds dual master’s degrees in Art History from California State University, Los Angeles and a master’s degree in Arts Management from Claremont Graduate University. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in Arts Education and Art History.