Joined the board: 2022

Serves on the Finance Committee

 

Michael Feinman is the chief financial officer of Cohn Restaurant Group and is a part of the family ownership group. He is responsible for legal, financial and operational related matters for approximately 25 restaurants located in Southern California and Maui, Hawaii. Feinman also works on all strategic and long-term growth initiatives.  

 

Prior to joining Cohn Restaurant Group, Feinman was the vice president of corporate legal at Elan Pharmaceuticals where he focused on corporate transactions, real estate, human resources and other corporate matters for over 11 years. Before moving to San Diego in 2002, Feinman lived in New York where he was a corporate lawyer at Cahill Gordon & Reindel and an investment banker at Lehman Brothers.  

 

Feinman is a board member of both the California Restaurant Association and the San Diego Chapter of the California Restaurant Association. He is a board member of the Restaurant Law Center (of the National Restaurant Association) and a member of the SDG&E Community Advisory Council. He is a past Holiday Bowl Redcoat and a past board member of the San Diego Port Tenants Association. Feinman is very active both locally and nationally in matters relating to the restaurant industry and regularly provides time and expertise to smaller operators in the local restaurant community.  

 

He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan Business School, is a graduate of Fordham Law School, and is a member of the New York Bar and the California Bar.  

 

Feinman and his wife Jessica have three sons, Harris ’23, Carter ’24 and Griffin ’30.

Joined the board: 2021
Serves on the Executive Committee and Head's Evaluation and the Committee on Trustees

Alexia Brown is an attorney with more than 20 years of experience in corporate law. She has worked with the global law firms Sullivan and Cromwell and Cooley LLP and as general counsel for two San Diego-based companies. Brown volunteers extensively with her children’s schools and sports teams and has been a member of Jack and Jill of America. Originally from Jamaica, Brown grew up in Kingston and New York City and has lived in Southern California since 1999. 

Brown holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard Law School. 

Brown and her husband, Mike Finch, a screenwriter, are the parents of Harry Finch ’23 and Isabel Finch ’28.

Natalia Burgett spent her career in investment banking, including a decade within the Mergers and Acquisitions department of Goldman Sachs. Based in both the New York and Chicago offices, she advised on transactions in multiple industries with a focus on consumer and retail businesses. Selected M&A deals include the $57bn sale of Gillette to Procter & Gamble, the $17bn merger between May and Federated Department stores, the $5.5bn sale of Gerber to Nestle, and the $7.2bn acquisition of Danone’s biscuit business by Kraft. 
 
Burgett has also been involved with several nonprofit organizations, including serving on the board of the Lurie Children’s Hospital Children’s Research Fund and chairing multiple fundraising events for other worthy causes. 

Burgett earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Stanford University. 

Burgett and her husband, Mark, are the parents of Lucas ’24, Alice ’27 and Oliver ’30.

Joined the board: 2020

Serves on the Committee on Trustees

Scott Cartwright is the owner of Novian Skincare Manufacturing which manufactures skincare, hair care, body care and pet care products. Cartwright, a seasoned entrepreneur and data-driven direct-response marketer, previously founded a health company that provided health education and nutritional support to individuals with chronic diseases. He was also the owner and founder of Health Priority Natural Products. 
 
Cartwright’s prior experience includes a 10-year tenure as an officer and aviator in the U.S. Navy and working as an international program manager at UC San Diego Medical Center.
 
He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University and a Master of Public Health from San Diego State University. 
 
Cartwright has two children, Evans ’24 and Davis ’32.

Serves on the Audit Committee and the Finance Committee

Dr. Coufal is the co-founder of Sibling Capital, the founder of Relypsa’s Scientific Advisory Board and the co-founder of Ilypsa’s Scientific Advisory Board. Since 2001, she has also been the biomedical advisor for the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. Before pursuing her career in biotechnology, Dr. Coufal was the head of the division of internal medicine at the Torrey Pines Scripps Clinic. She sat on the Board of the Scripps Green Hospital as the representative at large, elected by 300 physicians. She has also served as associate faculty in the division of internal medicine for UC San Diego.

Dr. Coufal earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Notre Dame and was designated a Notre Dame Scholar.

Dr. Coufal and her husband, Frank, have one child, Christian ’23.

Faisel Khan is senior vice president and chief financial officer of Sempra Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy. In this role, Khan oversees the company’s finance, accounting, enterprise risk, procurement, information technology and cybersecurity functions. 

Most recently, Khan was senior vice president of finance and investor relations for Sempra Energy, responsible for communications with the investment community while also providing oversight on Sempra’s risk management and treasury matters.

Prior to working at Sempra, Khan was a managing director for Citigroup in New York, covering the utilities, energy and energy infrastructure industries. He was ranked as one of the top financial analysts in the energy infrastructure sector for over ten consecutive years by several publications, including the Institutional Investor Survey, the Financial Times, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. 

Before joining Citigroup in 2005, Khan worked for six years at Credit Suisse First Boston, first in investment banking and, later, as an equity research analyst following the power, pipeline and natural gas industries. 

Khan holds dual degrees and dual minors in engineering, economics and mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and is a CFA® charter holder. He is also a Board member of Relief International and Building Together. 

Khan and his wife, Muniba, are the parents of Rayaan ’33, Emaan ’35, and Marjan ’38.

Joined the board: 2020

Serves on the Committee on Trustees and the Philanthropy Committee

Marina Marrelli is the co-founder and CEO of GlobeFlex. She oversees the business operations of the firm in addition to ensuring that the firm’s founding commitment to client service remains as important as its investment effort. Marrelli’s work with institutional investors began at Nicolas-Applegate in 1986 as vice president and head of international marketing. Her business career began in the publishing industry, where she was managing editor at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich for several years. She has served on the board at Voices for Children and the Gillispie School. Marrelli is co-chair of the LJCDS Country Day Fund.

Marrelli earned her master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh and bachelor’s degrees in both English and Philosophy from the University of California.  

Marrelli and Robert Anslow have one child, Charlie ’22.

Joined the board: 2022

Serves on the Philanthropy Committee

 

Margie Newman Tsay is an award-winning public relations strategist and founding partner and managing director of Intesa Communications Group. 

 

Before founding Intesa in 2012, Newman Tsay served as a media relations and social media manager for The Pew Center on the States, a division of The Pew Charitable Trusts, in Washington, D.C. Her career has spanned public, private, government and nonprofit entities, including time with Tennessee-based public affairs firm Hall Strategies and serving as a press aide to former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen.

 

A graduate of Auburn University, Newman Tsay is a member of the YMCA of San Diego County Corporate Board of Directors, the LEAD San Diego Board of Directors (IMPACT ’15 and INFLUENCE ’17) and the Downtown San Diego Partnership Board of Directors.

 

Newman Tsay was recognized as one of San Diego’s “40 under 40” by SDMETRO Magazine in 2016, named among the San Diego Business Journal’s 2017 Business Women of the Year, and was named the International Association of Business Communicators San Diego 2018 Communicator of the Year. Still, Newman Tsay believes her greatest accomplishments are her two children, Suzie ’30 and CJ ’33.

Joined the board: 2021
Serves on the Committee on Trustees and the Philanthropy Committee

Dermot O’Shea is an entrepreneur who co-founded and runs Taoglas, a technology company that provides digital transformation to the world's largest organizations. The business was established in 2004 and has grown to 400 employees across 10 locations. Taoglas completed four acquisitions in the past four years and continues to be a fast-growing company. In 2017, O’Shea joined the local Young Presidents Organization chapter and sits on the board of Alpha Wireless, a base station antenna company headquartered in Ireland. 

A graduate of University College Dublin (science), O’Shea also completed postgraduate courses in Griffith College Dublin (computing), Dublin Business School (business), Waterford Institute of Technology (enterprise development), and most recently, Authentic Leadership at Harvard Business School.

O’Shea has lived in San Diego for over 10 years with his wife, Ciara, and their three boys—Rian ’25, Cillian ’28 and Dermot ’34. 

Joined the board: 2020

Serves on the Committee on Trustees and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee

Micah Parzen, Ph.D., has been CEO of the San Diego Museum of Us since 2010. Under his leadership, the museum has transformed from a tired institution in significant distress to one that is thriving, winning USD’s prestigious “Kaleidoscope Award for Good Governance” in 2018. Prior to this, Dr. Parzen was a partner in the Labor & Employment Practice Group at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps, LLP, where he provided counseling and litigation services to clients and served as the firm’s pro bono coordinator. He currently serves on the boards of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership and the Western Museums Association, and on the mayoral-appointed Balboa Park Committee. His past board service also includes the San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program, the Waldorf School of San Diego, and ElderHelp of San Diego, where he was chair for two years.  

Dr. Parzen earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from UC Berkeley, a doctorate in anthropology from Case Western Reserve University and a J.D. from UC Davis, King School of Law.  

Joined the board: 2020

Serves as chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and serves on the Executive Committee and Head's Evaluation

Lorri Sulpizio, Ph.D., is the director of the Conscious Leadership Academy and the founder of the Center for Women’s Leadership, both at the University of San Diego (USD). She has consulted with numerous companies and has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in leadership including Gender and Leadership, Women in Leadership, and Contemporary Issues in Leadership. She also developed the Cultivate Conscious Kids program at USD. Dr. Sulpizio was a board member of the New Children’s Museum, the California Community College Women’s Basketball Association and the Fitness Advisory Council for San Diego Mesa College. She was the head women’s basketball coach at San Diego Mesa College from 2001–2007 and at Cuyamaca College from 2008–2010. 

Dr. Sulpizio earned a Bachelor of Arts in English, Women’s Studies at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a Master of Arts in Physical Education, Sport Psychology at San Diego State University and a doctorate in Leadership Studies at USD.

Dr. Sulpizio has four children, Gavin ’21, Garrett ’23, Atlanta ’26 and Maddux ’29.

Joined the board: 2022

Serves on the Finance Committee and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee

 

Glen Woods ’05 is a native San Diegan and LJCDS alumnus.

 

Following in his father’s footsteps, Woods studied at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in political science and played collegiate football for four years. 

 

After graduating from the Naval Academy, Woods served for five years as a naval officer in a wide range of specialties including overseeing equipment safety and electrical systems and managing the day-to-day operations team for radar and AEGIS systems.

 

Woods has worked as a wealth management advisor for Northwestern Mutual since 2014, and he has served on the finance committee of the LJCDS board of trustees since 2020.