Michael Bridge (Kirsch Kohn & Bridge) Board Chairman Michael Bridge has used his financial savvy to keep Valley Community Clinic in fiscal shape while also making himself readily available for assistance, clinic administrators say. Bridge, a certified public accountant and partner at Kirsch Kohn & Bridge, LLP, has served as the North Hollywood clinic’s board chair for nearly two years. He has been a board member for eight years. Judi Rose, the clinic’s vice president of development and government affairs, said Bridge uses his accounting skills to help raise money for the organization. “I think we’ve probably added over $1 million in the two years that he’s been chair,” Rose said. “The refinancing (and) the fundraising that he does of course help us increase our sustainability (and) increase our assets. The programs increase our access to care, and our community profile, and our ability to serve our patients in a variety of ways.” In 2009, Bridge raised $25,000 on behalf of the clinic’s annual gala “Laughter Is the Best Medicine,” which was one-third of the amount raised by the entire board. Bridge said he achieved the fundraising milestone by utilizing his personal contacts. “I basically opened up a number of people from my personal Rolodex, and they came through,” Bridge said. Bridge also spent more than two years refinancing a bond for the clinic and helped oversee the start of new programs, such as a clinic program at John F. Kennedy High School, an adolescent medicine program and a behavioral health program. Bridge makes himself available to board members and the organization, Rose said. “He’s always made himself available to come to our staff events,” Rose said, adding that he even served as a speaker at the clinic’s most recent staff appreciation day. “He comes and shows them how much the board appreciates them, and I think that’s very special.” Bridge said his financial advice to other nonprofits is to utilize personal and professional connections. “There’s more nonprofits looking for money than there is money available, so you have to work your resources,” he said. Bridge’s two-year term as board chairman is set to end June 30. – Jessica Selva Bert Seneca (Beverly Garland Holiday Inn) Bert Seneca knows how to lead his fellow board members to their full potential on the Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors. Seneca joined the board in 1999 and became the youngest person to ever serve as board chairman in 2002. He is now appointed as the chairman-elect. In past years, he has also served as vice chair of member and business services and vice chair of government affairs. Seneca, who works as general manager at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn, uses his professional management skills to get people started on projects and then step back and let them shine. “He’s not a micromanager,” said Nancy Hoffman Vanyek, the organization’s CEO. “He finds the best in people and uses that best skill to make the project stronger.” Seneca said he makes himself an efficient leader by combining trust and guidance. “If you have trust in the people that you surround yourself with … believe in them,” he said. “It’s amazing how some people will prove that they can do so much if they just have the opportunity without interference from someone else. But then you still need to be there to give support if they meet any stumbling blocks along the way.” Seneca is also commended for his ability to separate his interests as a hotel manager from his work on the board, Vanyek said. “He’s able to define the difference between what his personal viewpoint is and what’s best for the business community,” Vanyek said. Seneca, who also serves on three other boards in the community, said he makes himself more effective by limiting the number of boards he volunteers for. “I like to make sure that if I accept a responsibility, that I can meet the responsibility that I’m accepting,” he said. “Far too often, I see people who are on many, many boards, but then they’re spread too thin. So, I keep myself on fewer boards so I can give more quality to them.” – Jessica Selva J. Richard Leyner (NAI Capital) J. Richard Leyner has been instrumental in securing new buildings and increasing staff levels for the organizations he serves, community board leaders say. Leyner, vice president of real estate brokerage company NAI Capital, serves as the executive vice chairman for New Directions for Youth and chairman of Child Development Institute. It was Leyner who secured a new building for North Hollywood-based New Directions for Youth about a year and a half ago. “He made some notes on a napkin at one of the board meetings and said, ‘Okay, I’m going to go find a building,’” said Patti Jo Wolfson, the board’s chairperson, adding that the former building was unattractive and unwelcoming. Within months, Leyner found a building for purchase that was nearly twice as large and that would cost the organization about the same as it was paying in rent. “He made it happen,” Wolfson said. “He is a very savvy business man, as well as being extremely knowledgeable in real estate.” Leyner said he gets things done by taking quick action. “When I get back from my meetings, I try to do immediately what I’ve committed to, otherwise they get all piled up,” Leyner said. Another tactic for remaining efficient, he added, is staying on top of task distribution. “Everybody on the board has to have an assignment,” he said. “If you don’t do that … then they think they have no reason to come and become less and less effective.” At Child Development Institute, Leyner said he helped raise the organization’s budget from about $25,000 to about $5 million since he joined the board about 12 years ago. He also helped raise staff levels from five employees to about 115 employees. Most recently, he helped the organization secure state funding for a building that will serve as a community center in Canoga Park, he said. Leyner, a Fernando Award winner, also serves as chairman of the Marketing and Finance Committee for the United Chambers of Commerce and has served as board chairman in the past. He has also been appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the North Valley Area Planning Commission where he is now president. Leyner said he achieves success by staying active on the boards he serves and giving as much as he can. “My philosophy in life is that if you give, you get,” he said, “and if you get, you have to give.” – Jessica Selva