Dana Lacy Amarisa
Author, speaker, blogger, and marketing writer for technology, Dana Lacy Amarisa is helping ease conversations with grievers by educating their friends and family through the Be A Bridge Condolences Project. Published "Condolences Pocket Guide: What to Say and Not to Say to Grievers" and launched her speaking career to great popular appeal. Each monthly blog offers an insightful and often humorous look at a unique aspect of helping a grieving friend. Learn more at her website www.beabridgecondolences.com
Taylor James, CPA, Board Treasurer
Taylor is a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California. She earned her BA and MA from Baylor University, where she studied accounting, marketing, and Spanish. Taylor is a licensed CPA in the state of Texas and worked for Deloitte in Dallas, TX for 3 years specializing in tax accounting methods as part of their Strategic Tax Review group. Her research interests include financial accounting and tax related topics. Currently, her research projects focus on corporate charitable contributions and how nonprofit organizations' accounting decisions impact their access to capital. In her free time, Taylor enjoys skiing with her husband Jeff, practicing yoga, gardening, and baking.
Alan Karbelnig, Ph.D., ABPP, Training Chair
Alan Karbelnig, Ph.D., ABPP, a supervising and training psychoanalyst, practices psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and couples therapy in Pasadena. Licensed as a psychologist in 1988, he has more than three decades of clinical experience. He earned an initial Ph.D. in counseling psychology, from the University of Southern California, and a second Ph.D. in psychoanalysis from the New Center for Psychoanalysis. He teaches a Didactics course for Rose City on Tuesday mornings and chairs its Training Committee. Dr. Karbelnig is also Board Certified in Forensic Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. An award-winning teacher, Dr. Karbelnig lectures locally, nationally, and internationally. He also enjoys writing, having published 12 scholarly articles and two book chapters.
Luis Alejandro Nagy, Ph.D.
Dr. Luis Alejandro Nagy practices as a Licensed Psychoanalyst in Arcadia, California providing psychodynamic psychotherapy for adolescents and adults. Prior to becoming a psychotherapist, Dr. Nagy received his BS degree in Computer Sciences from the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM) and his Specialty, Master's, and Doctorate degrees in Psychoanalysis at the Institute of the Psychoanalytic Society of Mexico (SPM) where he also served as a training analyst and professor. He extended his psychoanalytic training at the New Center for Psychoanalysis (NCP). Dr. Nagy became a member of the Board of Directors of NCP in 2019, Board Secretary of the Arcadia Educational Foundation in 2018, and President Elect of Rose City Center in 2021 where he has also served as a teacher and supervisor. Dr. Nagy has held various positions at the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) currently being the Chairman of the IPA Social Media Committee and a Consultant for the IPA Psychoanalyst Emigration and Relocation Committee. Former board member of the Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies of Latin-America (FEPAL), Psychology Professor at the Public Image Consultants School at Mexico (CCIP), an online teacher and supervisor at the China American Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA), and at TanXinLi (Shanghai). Dr. Nagy speaks English, Spanish, and basic Chinese.
Nina Savelle-Rocklin, Psy.D.
Dr. Nina Savelle-Rocklin is a psychoanalyst, author and radio host specializing in eating disorders. She is the author of The Binge Cure: 7 Steps to Outsmart Emotional Eating and Food for Thought: Perspectives on Eating Disorders, and co-editor (with Salman Akhtar) of Beyond the Primal Addiction and the upcoming Food Matters. Additionally, she contributed chapters in Freud & The Buddha (ed. Axel Hoffer) and Mistrust (ed. Salman Akhtar) and has authored over fifty articles. She has written for or been featured in Psychology Today, Psyche, Good Housekeeping, The Los Angeles Times, Prevention, Real Simple, Redbook, Huffington Post, Beverly Hills Times, and many other national and international publications and media, including the Dr. Drew Podcast. She also presented at the prestigious American Psychoanalytic Association’s National Meeting (2014). Her YouTube channel is Break Free from Binge Eating with Dr. Nina. She hosts the Dr. Nina Show: Outsmart Emotional Eating radio program on L.A. Talk Radio.
Ron Sequeira, Board President
Ron Sequeira has been a mortgage banker since 1999. His talents and dedication in the mortgage industry have been recognized time and again with several awards for being in the top 10-15% of production and conversion ratios. Ron's focus is on providing exemplary service, and relentlessly following through on his commitments to his clients and business partners. Ron is bilingual, speaking English and Spanish fluently. In his spare time he loves to dedicate himself to his family, Olympic weightlifting, and the performing arts.
Ron was elected to the role of the President of the Board for a term beginning in January 2023.
John W. Shenk, JD, MBA, Board Secretary
John W. Shenk is an attorney who resolves complex corporate stalemates as an advocate or as a neutral board member. John’s experience includes partnership disputes, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and self-dealing claims, unfair competition, trade secret misappropriation, and real estate litigation. Privy to scores of board blowups and inner sanctum disputes throughout his litigation career, John has earned a reputation for his agile and strategically attuned handling of business disputes. John is known for finding consensus in the most acrimonious business divorces.
John attended Stanford University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 2001. John earned his Juris Doctor and his M.B.A. from the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law and Marshall School of Business, respectively, in 2008.
John is proud to be a father of two outstanding boys, husband to an incredible woman, and one of the founding partners of Mancini Shenk LLP.
Daniel Stover, M.A.
Daniel Stover, M.A., is the Founder and CEO of Ensight Partners. For more than ten years, Daniel Stover has been the executive coach and consultant for leaders of enterprise organizations, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and internationally recognized research and academic institutions. Daniel has two degrees from The Ohio State University and his Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Dan is the recipient of the Excellency Award from Geneva Group International for his education and training, and a nominee of the Pay-it-Forward Leadership Award for women’s leadership empowerment. Daniel is a fellow of the Harvard Institute of Coaching, a member of the American Psychological Association, the Society of Consulting Psychology and its Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, the International Coaching Federation, the Nature Conservancy and a founding council member of the Tony Hsieh Awards. In his free time, Daniel is a nature photographer, rock climber and hiking enthusiast .
Ryan G. Witherspoon, Ph.D.
Dr. Ryan Witherspoon is a psychologist in private practice in Pasadena, as well as a Research Affiliate with the Center for Positive Sexuality. Dr. Witherspoon is a graduate of Pepperdine University and the California School of Professional Psychology, where he earned his Ph.D., and he is also an alumni of Rose City Center's post-doctoral psychoanalytic psychotherapy training program, where he now serves as an instructor. Dr. Witherspoon frequently publishes and presents to both academic and clinical audiences on topics including sex-positivity in clinical practice and affirming treatment of patients with diverse sexualities and intimate relationship styles. In his private practice, Dr. Witherspoon provides depth-oriented psychotherapy to a broad range of adults and their intimate relationships, and specializes in treating mood and anxiety issues, complex and attachment trauma, dissociative disorders, personality and relational patterns, and sexuality concerns.