Ed is a skilled manager interested in helping social service agencies perform at their best for the benefit of those they serve. He is an experienced leader who, in his career at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), helped initiate and lead a variety of programs creating and maintaining alliances between churches and other faith based organizations and community mental health service agencies. These programs developed new ways for the faith based organizations and the private, non-profit mental health agencies to work together for the benefit of the community and the development of the agency.
As a manager with experience as a therapist to children and families, as well as experience in the classroom as a teacher, Ed understands the challenges that face managers in both professions in directing, leading, motivating, and supporting their agency staff to simultaneously meet work goals while also providing effective services to their clients.
An alumnus of California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) with a Master’s in Education, and a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles with a Master’s Degree in Social Work, Ed has worked for a combined total of more than 37 years’ experience in the areas of mental health and education. During the close to 15 years Ed served as a Mental Health Clinical District Chief in LACDMH, he managed the mental health clinics operated by LACDMH in the downtown area of the City of Los Angeles (staffed by more than 150 DMH employees) and oversaw the compliance to contract of 30 non-profit mental health agencies.
Ed believes that success in working with clients requires working together as collaborators to see the challenges that they face from a new perspective while also supporting the client in utilizing the strengths they have and in developing the new strengths they need to meet those challenges. Together, he believes, they can utilize the knowledge and experience each brings to develop solutions to the challenges faced.
Ed is a dedicated member of his Church, enthusiastic about educating adults in the Catholic Faith and in motivating and leading others to being active disciples to Jesus Christ and to serving their fellow human beings. He is a husband and father of 4 adult children who is happy hiking, viewing movies, and experiencing new cuisines with his wife and children.