South County Crosscultural Council
Meet Our Team
Leadership
David Peck
Chair, Board of Directors
Professor Emeritus in English Department at California State University, Long Beach.
Co-founder of the South County Crosscultural Council and Friendship Shelter.
Resident of Laguna Beach since 1978.
Tim Hartshorn
Executive Director
Tim earned his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. His dissertation research focused on migrant day laborers in Orange County, attending to the daily struggles and experiences of this community. Prior to his graduate studies, Tim worked as an educational coordinator in dual-language (Spanish/English) programs for primary grades and middle school students in his native New England. He also has extensive experience designing and teaching undergraduate courses in California.
Tim is committed to providing educational, economic, and social support to those most in need. Through both the Laguna Day Worker Center and La Playa Center, he works to ensure that the most vulnerable and marginalized voices among us are heard and respected.
Joanna Kibler-McNerney
Director, ESL Programming
Joanna is a faculty member at Irvine Valley College where she teaches in the noncredit ESL department. She is also a faculty member at Santiago Canyon College, where she teaches and coordinates ESL in the Division of Continuing Education. She strives to create ESL programs in our surrounding communities.
Teresa Dominguez
Jobs Coordinator,
Laguna Day Worker Center
Teresa was a childcare assistant at La Playa Center for some years before becoming the Jobs Coordinator at the LDWC.
Margarita Hierro
Operations Assistant,
La Playa Center
Paula Rodriguez
Jobs Coordinator,
Laguna Day Worker Center
Sarah E. Stanley
Development Director
Sarah has worked in Development and Media Relations at Paul Taylor Dance Company and Spoleto Festival USA. She holds an MFA in Dance from California State University, Long Beach and is currently an Anthropology PhD student at the University of California, Irvine.
Irma Ronses
Former Jobs Coordinator, Laguna Day Worker
Irma became involved with La Playa Center as an advanced ESL student before going on to become a childcare assistant, and, later, in 1999, the lead staff member of the LDWC. Irma has been an active member of the community for over 29 years. In 2002, she was honored by the Laguna Beach Woman’s Club for her outstanding work.
Board Members
Jerry Curtin
Jerry is a 22-year resident of Laguna Beach. A lifelong student of Spanish and English, Jerry’s B.A. was in Spanish and American History. After several years of working and teaching high school English, Jerry went back to law school, and slogged through the field of corporate law for 26 years until semi-retiring in 2018. Jerry supports the Board as a problem solver with passion for maximizing use of technology to improve outcomes and efficiency.
Krisztina Fulep
Krisztina, a current La Playa Center student, is from Hungary. In her native country she worked at the Budapest School for the Deaf as a special education teacher, and has studied Russian and German as well as being proficient in Hungarian sign language. Krisztina recently became a US citizen, can be seen working at the Sawdust Festival each summer, and is interested in leading a healthy lifestyle.
Juan Carlos Gallego
Professor of TESOL and Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at California State University, Fullerton.
Thirty-seven years of teaching experience at various Universities and in different countries.
Academic interests include language education, discourse analysis, bilingualism, and dialectology.
Meslissa Hexter
Former middle and high school English teacher
Teaching credential from San Francisco State University.
BA in Theatre from Whitman College
MA in Set Design and Scenic Painting from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Volunteer ESL teacher at La Playa Center.
Kolleen Lawson
Recording Secretary,
Crosscultural Council.
Currently an ESL instructor at La Playa Center and has taught English as a Second Language in Spain, Argentina, and Mexico.
Married with 2 children, this Laguna Beach native has a passion to give her skills to our community.
Joana McFarland
Professional marketing communications background in the computer industry.
Peace Corps volunteer for 2 years in Dominican Republic
1 year with NGO in Guatemala working with women's craft cooperatives.
ESL teacher at La Playa for over 15 years.
Fritzi Werner
For 26 of the 44 years that Fritzi has lived in Laguna Beach, she was a Registered Nurse in Public Health and Aids Services Foundation.
Laguna Beach Art Museum docent, and continues to volunteer as an ESL instructor at La Playa Center.
In Memoriam
Elinor Freeman
Alice and John Graves
Bob Meyerhof
Evelyn Munro
Judy Sinisgalli
Carl Schwarz