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Valley 200 – 2024: Alice Issai

President, Adventist Health Glendale

Issai was named president of Adventist Health Glendale in 2018. Since then, the hospital has earned continuous 5-star ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, received 19 consecutive “A” ratings from the Leapfrog Group, and been repeatedly recognized by Healthgrades as among the top 5% of America’s best hospitals. Issai is the first woman to lead the 515-bed hospital. Adventist Health Glendale has grown as a tertiary center for cardiovascular, pulmonary, cancer, digestive health, neurology and stroke care. Prior to leading Adventist Health’s flagship campus, Issai served as chief operating officer at Keck Medical Center, UC Irvine Health and Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center.

Valley 200 – 2024: Abner Mason

Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, GroundGame.Health

Mason was the founder and chief executive of SameSky Health, which he began in 2017 as ConsejoSano, with the goal of focusing on getting Spanish speakers to schedule telehealth appointments. It was rebranded as SameSky Health in 2022 to reflect its expansion into the broader community, with the mission of advancing health equity by creating personalized, culturally relevant experiences for members. This year, GroundGame.Health merged with SameSky. GroundGame.Health aims to fulfill unmet social and health care needs by bringing together managed care organizations, community-based groups and members to connect people to services. Mason is now chief strategy and transformation officer at GroundGame.Health.

Valley 200 – 2024: Wendy Greuel

Executive-in-Residence, California State University, Northridge

Greuel has been the executive-in-residence at CSUN’s Nazarian College of Business and Economics since September 2016. Greuel was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. After graduating from UCLA, she joined the staff of then-Mayor Tom Bradley. She later served in President Bill Clinton’s administration as Housing and Urban Development Field Operations Officer for Southern California, where she was instrumental in coordinating the agency’s response and recovery programs following the 1994 Northridge earthquake. From 1997 to 2002, she worked in corporate affairs for the entertainment company DreamWorks SKG. In 2002, Greuel was elected to the Los Angeles City Council, until her election as city controller in 2009.

Valley 200 – 2024: Ravi Rajan

President, Chief Executive, California Institute for the Arts

Rajan is the fourth president of the California Institute of the Arts, succeeding Steven Lavine. Rajan has extensive experience in the production of art, music, theatre/dance, and film/video, as well as in senior executive roles in higher education. He became an Assistant Dean of Art+Design at Purchase College in 2005, eventually rising to the position of Dean of the School of Arts in 2012. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London; a former member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee and a past president of the Asian American Arts Alliance. Rajan is also an accomplished musician.

Valley 200 – 2024: Richard Commons

President, Harvard-Westlake School

As president of Harvard-Westlake School, Commons works with a team of administrators in overseeing both the business side and the school side of Harvard-Westlake, striving to be a diverse and inclusive community. Before assuming the role of president in 2013, Commons served as headmaster of the Groton School in Massachusetts for 10 years. Early in his career Commons taught English, coached soccer, and served as a dean at Harvard-Westlake School. As an undergraduate, Commons was an Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia, and he earned master’s degrees in English and education from Middlebury College and Stanford University.

Valley 200 – 2024: R. Rex Parris

Mayor, City of Lancaster

Parris was elected mayor of his hometown, Lancaster, in 2008. He has overseen the city’s push to alternative energy, working with solar-power, hydrogen and electric vehicle businesses with the goal of making Lancaster a zero net energy city. All of Lancaster’s municipal buildings have been converted to solar power. In 2019, he was named a Green Power Leader of the nation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Parris is a career lawyer. He obtained the first million-dollar verdict in Kern County as a young lawyer and, years later, obtained a historic defamation jury verdict in Los Angeles for $370 million. His law firm is a supporter of the Jacob Hefter Foundation, a Palmdale nonprofit dedicated to keeping young adults safe as they pursue higher education. He is a founder of and investor in CarthroniX, a biotech firm in Lancaster developing treatments for degenerative diseases.

Valley 200 – 2024: Scott Caswell

Principal, Managing Director, Lee & Associates

Caswell is a principal and managing director of Lee & Associates – Los Angeles North/Ventura, a commercial brokerage specializing in industrial assets. He assists landlords, developers, tenants and business owners with their industrial and commercial real estate needs. During his career, Caswell has closed more than 17 million square feet of transactions valued at more than $725 million, primarily in the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas. Outside of work, he is actively involved in a number of boards including the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors and the American Industrial Real Estate Association. Caswell also serves on the boards of Providence Tarzana Foundation and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Valley 200 – 2024: Mark Davis

Chief Executive, Sun Hill Properties Inc.

Davis is the president and chief executive of Sun Hill Properties Inc., a hospitality management company based in Universal City. The company’s portfolio includes Hilton Los Angeles Universal City and Courtyard by Marriot Simi Valley. According to Davis, Sun Hill Properties is active in acquisition growth and ground-up development, with plans to reach $100 million net operating income by the year 2030. The company recently announced plans to build a 395-key hotel addition directly adjacent to its existing Hilton Universal City hotel. Davis serves as chair and board member for the Hotel Association Los Angeles and the Valley Industry & Commerce Association. Davis is also a board member of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board.

Valley 200 – 2024: Dave Cavecche

Chief Executive, Bernards Bros. Inc.

Cavecche is the chief executive of Bernard Bros. Inc., an employee-owned multidisciplinary commercial builder and construction management company based in San Fernando. He joined Bernards in 2011 as an executive vice president and was promoted to chief executive in 2022. In his role, Cavecche provides executive leadership and direction for Bernards with an emphasis on long-term strategic goals, management effectiveness, growth, profit and stakeholder returns. Cavecche previously served as executive vice president of the western region at Suffolk Construction, and before that, as operations manager at Swinerton Builders. Industry accolades include the Associated General Contractors Award for Excellence in Project Management.

Valley 200 – 2024: John DeGrinis

Vice Chair, Newmark Group Inc.

Industrial real estate broker DeGrinis is a vice chair at Newmark, working out of the company’s Calabasas office. He specializes in industrial leasing, sales, land development and tenant representation and consulting in North Los Angeles. Some of his clients include Brookfield, Majestic Realty, Prologis, Rexford Industrial, Tejon Ranch Co., NBC Universal and Walmart. Since joining Newmark in 2019 as part of the firm’s expansion into the North Los Angeles region, the DeGrinis team has completed transactions totaling more than 45 million square feet. He began his real estate career at Colliers Seeley in 1986. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and real estate finance from the University of Denver.