Â鶹´å

Executive Director
Arts Council for Monterey County

Jacquie is the Executive Director of the Arts Council for Monterey County overseeing all fundraising,  operations and programs of the organization. She is responsible for the development of the Arts Council’s ArtWorks program, a vibrant, cultural cooperative where Monterey County artists work, collaborate and contribute to our local community. Jacquie has over twenty-five years of experience in non-profit executive management including positions with the Santa Cruz Housing Corporation, the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the California Lodging Industry Association. She represents the Arts Council as a Board Advisor for the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and serves as Board Treasurer for the Mavericks  Foundation. Jacquie was also the Chairperson of the City of Pacific Grove’s Economic Development Commission for six years. Jacquie has a Bachelor of Science degree from San Jose State University and has completed MBA coursework from the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

President & CEO
Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce

Colleen is the President and CEO of the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce. A native of Salinas, Colleen has a long history of leadership in the education and nonprofit sectors, having most recently served for a decade as the Executive Director of the world-renowned Monterey Jazz Festival. Prior to that, Colleen was the Executive Director of the National Steinbeck Center, where her innovative programming resulted in extensive national media coverage and earned the organization the 2014 Exemplary Nonprofit Organization Award from the Non-Profit Alliance of Monterey County. On the education front, Colleen has taught in schools in Central and Southern California and in Colorado. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Â鶹´å, teaching Introduction to Music Business.

Deeply committed to the community, Colleen has served on numerous boards, commissions, and advisory groups for a variety of schools and valued organizations, including the Community Foundation's Center for Nonprofit Excellence, YOSAL, York School, Sacred Heart School, Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Salinas Valley Tourism & Visitors Bureau, the Salinas City Public Arts Commission, and the Nonprofit Alliance of Monterey County. 

Founder Cain Sound

City Council Member
City of Seaside

Alexis Garcia-Arrazola is a Seaside, California native and current Seaside Council Member.  Alexis counts with years of journalistic experience working as a full-time reporter for South Monterey County's KRKC news.  Alexis also worked for Spanish news station "Univision Noticias Costa Central" from 2015-2017 before halting his career to enter public service.  During his time at Univision, Alexis was able to learn about disparities affecting residents throughout Monterey County.  He took his findings as a reporter during the 2016 elections and headed out to Washington, D.C. under the Congressional Internship facilitated by The Panetta Institute for Public Policy.  through this internship, working under Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (D-32), Alexis was able to develop a concrete understanding for public policy and issues affecting Californians.

Upon returning from the Congressional Internship, Alexis has maintained civically engaged, working as a public engagement associate ensuring that the underrepresented throughout the tri-county area were heard, offered resources, and helped.

Debbie Juran now retired from ownership of Juran Wealth Management, a Wealth Advisory firm affiliated with Raymond James Financial Services located in Monterey, CA. 

An honors graduate from Bucknell University, she earned the CIMA certification at Wharton School of Business and studied behavioral finance at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School.

Access to higher education completely altered the trajectory of her life.  Growing up in a working-class family, education was a possibility because of the generosity of others.  Because of this, Debbie's current and legacy planning are directed toward providing educational opportunities to deserving students.

Â鶹´å plays a vital role in the advancement of both our community and students.  She is honored to serve as Secretary of the Â鶹´å Foundation Board.  She is also the proud employer of two Â鶹´å graduates (Go Otters!!).  Both of her daughters completed their undergraduate work at Â鶹´å, went on to graduate school and are working in fields they love.

Debbie is passionate about philanthropy directed toward education and excited about the future of Â鶹´å under the new leadership of Dr. Vanya Quinones. 

"Exciting and challenging times lie ahead.  I am delighted to be a part of the process."

Itinerant Early Childhood Special Educator
Denver Public Schools

Independent Curator and Writer in Monterey, CA.

Cydney Payton is a former CEO and Chief Curator of several contemporary art museums. During her tenure at MCA DENVER, she led the architectural process and public fundraising campaign to build the first Gold LEED-certified Museum in the US, which received the prestigious RIBA International Award for excellence in architecture. She has been recognized for her leadership in the arts by the Denver Post, as one of the Top Twenty Cultural Leaders, and by The New York Times. Cydney has served on art selection juries such as the Taishin Art Awards Taiwan, Creative Capital, the Colorado Council for the Arts, and the Democratic National Convention as co-juror with Spike Lee to award Shepherd Fairey the Obama Campaign Poster for his image HOPE.

Cydney has curated and produced hundreds of art exhibitions as well as creative projects in all media. She has worked with artists such as David Altmejd, Lynda Benglis, Yu-Chen Chou, Brad Kalhammer, Susanne Kühn, Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt, Wangechi Mutu, Arlene Shechet, and Collier Schorr. Most recent exhibitions include Morley Baer: Modernism in Northern California Architecture, Monterey Art Museum, and Martha Casanave: Fictions, Center for Photographic Arts, Carmel.

Cydney holds an MA in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts, with an emphasis on Architectural History and Theory.

Director of Clinical Evaluation
Ohana Center for Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health
Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula  

Andy Suth, Ph.D. moved to Monterey in 2022 to serve as the Director of Clinical Evaluation at Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. Prior to that, he spent 30 years in Chicago as an Associate Professor at Adler University, where he also served as Coordinator of the Neuropsychology Emphasis. His other appointments include: Associate Professor and Head of the Neuropsychology Concentration at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology; Associate Director of the Mental Health Track in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago; and Associate Director and Faculty Member of the Joseph Palombo Center for Neuroscience and Psychoanalytic Social Work at the Institute for Clinical Social Work (ICSW) in Chicago. He has maintained a private practice in therapy and testing since 2002.

Andy holds a B.A. from Brown University (American History), an M.A. and PhD from the University of Chicago (Psychology and Human Development), and a post-doctoral certificate in Neuropsychology from Fielding University.  

President & General Manager 
KSBW8, Central Coast ABC 

Laura Williamson has been the President and General Manager of KSBW television since September 2020.

A Bay Area native, Laura most recently served for a dozen years as general sales manager of KCRA-TV; she previously was the station’s local sales manager. She joined Hearst Television in 1996 as an account executive at KCRA sister station KQCA-TV and was promoted to local sales manager in 2000. She began her sales career in the hotel industry, initially in her hometown of San Francisco at that city’s prestigious Fairmont Hotel. She later held positions at the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, where she was sales manager.

Laura was a member of the Junior League of Sacramento and served on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Sacramento, helping that organization launch a new facility in South Sacramento. Through a Hearst partnership with the non-profit American Corporate Partners (ACP), she has participated in the ACP mentoring program to assist veterans transitioning from the military to the private sector. She also has actively supported various charitable initiatives within the Sacramento business community.