REIGNING ADVISORY BOARD

Comprised of uniquely gifted and deeply experienced professionals, our board collaborates amongst four functional areas: Strategy & Operations, Creative, Marketing, and Technology, to bring imagination, depth, and clarity to the ongoing execution of our mission — ensuring, thereby, that in everything we do, the Manalive enterprise remains agile, innovative, and profitable.

MANUEL VALENCIA

ADVISORY BOARD EMERITUS CHAIR

Deacon Manuel is an Associate Director at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California. He began his career working as a city hall reporter for the Sacramento Union and as a State Capitol political reporter and associate editor for The Sacramento Bee. Included was a leave of absence to serve as Chief of Staff in Washington, D.C., for Rep. Bob Matsui, after which he was a Director and Sr. Vice President for Lockheed Corporation. 

In 2000, Manuel took a leave of absence for one year to serve as Deputy Mayor City of Los Angeles at the request of Republican Mayor Richard Riordan. He was also a founding member and partner of Valencia, Perez & Echeveste Public Relations/Public Affairs, where he remained until 2012.

Manuel graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971 and received a Master of Systematic Theology at Loyola Marymount University in 2021. He has been married to Griselda for 53 years, having two grown children and three grandchildren.

Ardythe Goergens

ADVISORY BOARD CO-CHAIR

Ardythe is a more-than 20 year veteran of the film and television industry, holding numerous positions, including line producer for more than 30 film productions, director of business affairs for ABC, director of production for Disney Channel, and Head of Atmosphere Casting for 20th Century Fox.

Ardythe has also served as controller and head of residuals and distribution reporting for independent film production and distribution companies. Her eclectic interests include pleasure horsemanship and music, and she currently sings and plays guitar with a friends-and-family cover band.

Ardythe studied music, art, and literature at Winthrop University, then attended Whittier Business College.

Dr. Michael Pacanowsky

ADVISORY BOARD CO-CHAIR

Michael (A.B. Harvard; Ph.D. Stanford) began his academic career at the University of Utah and the University of Colorado-Boulder, where he served as Department Chair.  He left academia in 1996 to join W.L. Gore & Associates, makers of GORE-TEX® Fabrics, working primarily on projects related to organizational culture, leadership team development, and strategic change.  

Michael returned to the academy in 2013, accepting the Gore-Giovale Chair in Business Innovation at Westminster College, to research high-performing organizational cultures generally and reflect on his experiences at Gore. 

Michael published his insights in The Thriving Organization:  The Deep Dynamics of High-Performing Organizational Cultures.  He was the founding director of The Center for Innovative Cultures.

JIM ZATOLOKIN

Jim is an entertainment, corporate, and securities law attorney who has served as production legal counsel for more than 100 feature films. As a film producer, he has produced several features, including 1993’s Cliffhanger, an action thriller starring Sylvester Stallone, Janine Turner, and John Lithgow, which was nominated for three Academy Awards; Fun, winner of two Special Dramatic Jury Awards for Best Acting at the Sundance Film Festival; as well as Heart of the Deal, a feature television short for Showtime.

Most recently, Jim produced 2014’s Radical Kindness, narrated by Martin Sheen and winner of the Catholics in Media Associates’ Board of Directors Award and the Catholic Academy of Communication Professionals’ Gabriel Award for best documentary. He has also lectured on law and entertainment at Loyola Marymount University, the FAMU Film School in Prague, and the Lorenzo de Medici Institute in Florence, Italy.

Jim graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School, and is admitted to practice in California, Colorado, and Michigan.

PAUL SCZUDLO

Paul is an international tax attorney for the global law firm Withers Bergman LLP. Before starting with Withers Bergman in 2016, Paul established his own law firm in 2010 after practicing for more than 29 years with Loeb & Loeb in Los Angeles. Paul earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Yale University and University of California, Berkeley and was chosen in his final year of law school to participate in an exchange program at Harvard Law School.

Recognized as a Super Lawyer since 2004 and as a Best Lawyer since 2006, Paul is active in a variety of international and U.S. professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, where he was chair of its International Private Client Committee.

Paul regularly lectures and writes on international tax subjects and serves on a number of charitable boards, including the Finance Council of St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica. Paul is married, has two children, and was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska.

BRAD POLLACK

Brad is a corporate attorney and entrepreneur. In 2000 he started a technology-based company whose products are utilized at Google, Stanford University, and hundreds of colleges across the U.S.

Brad began his career on Wall Street and has been involved in several startup and entrepreneurial ventures through the years. He has also worked in entertainment, receiving both development and producing credits for independent films and weekly series.

Brad earned his B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor degree from its law school. He was born in Anne Arundel County at Fort Meade, Maryland while his father was in the Army. Brad is married with one child.

ERIC STREIFF

Eric is a marketing and creative executive with over four decades of experience serving national and international for-profit and non-profit organizations. His career began in New York City where he spent over two decades working as a commercial fashion and still-life photographer, advertising executive, and creative supervisor serving Fortune 500 companies and Madison Avenue advertising agencies. During this time, he worked with clients such as FAO Schwarz, Macy’s, Porsche, Revlon, and Seagram’s. More recently, Eric has dedicated his talents to supporting charities that strengthen civil society and leveraging his marketing experience to enhance their brands, advance their mission, and drive revenue growth.

His educational background is as diverse as his professional journey, holding undergraduate and graduate degrees in photography, fine arts, and marketing from The Fashion Institute of Technology, Skidmore College, and New York University.

Outside of professional pursuits, Eric has contributed to academia as an adjunct marketing and advertising professor for the past 25 years. In his leisure time, he enjoys spending quality moments with his eight adult children and twelve grandchildren, as well as finding solace in the great outdoors at his cabin in the Western Catskills and the fine arts culture in NYC and Washington, DC.

Kristine Megrikian

Kristine is CEO of Patterns World Inc., a Los Angeles-based fashion development firm that specializes in bringing conceptual fashion design to life.

Born in Armenia, Kristine grew up in the foreground of the LA fashion culture when Patterns World was first established by her grandmother, who emigrated from Armenia to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams beyond a communist system. Today Patterns World is involved with industry-leading celebrity clients such as Lady Gaga, Yeezy by Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Cindy Crawford, and Adele, as well as international clientele including Ugg Australia.

Kristine holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles.

miguel zaldo ybarra

Miguel is a financial leader with over 20 years of international experience in the service industry, working across Latin America, the US and Europe. Currently based in Madrid with CLARO Enterprise Solutions, he successfully led the startup of its operations in Spain. Previously, he held key financial roles at ACCIONA, Accenture, WSP Louis Berger, and BNP Paribas.

A citizen of Spain (the Land of Cervantes), Miguel holds an MBA in Financial Management and Market Analysis from Thunderbird and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Rollins College. He recently completed a Master’s in Digital Transformation from MIOTI.

Miguel lives in Madrid with his wife and two sons. He is active in his community through volunteer work focused on youth development, teamwork, and promoting healthy lifestyles through sports.

ANTHONY FREDA

Anthony is an artist, educator, advocate and digital designer whose passion for peace and human dignity guides every creative endeavor. He holds a degree in Communication Design from Pratt Institute and has studied art and art history at The Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy. Anthony’s award-winning and often provocative illustration work has graced the pages of Time, The New Yorker, and the Op-Ed page of the New York Times. These periodicals comprise a small fraction of his luminary client list of a career spanning four decades.

Anthony designed and taught a Visual Storytelling Workshop with legend Marshall Arisman and also taught an online workshop in politcal art for VisualVoices.org in Cyprus. One of his original works is currently part of the permanent collection of the National September 11th Museum and Memorial in Manhattan. He is also a founding board member of Occupy Peace and dedicates much of his time to the anti-war movement, pro-bono.

Anthony owned and curated Star Gallery NYC, a contemporary art gallery which represented 40 International artists. He currently contributes art to mainstream and alternative media, and worked as a consultant for the R.F.K. Jr Superpac, American Values 24. He also teaches undergraduate and graduate illustration classes as a permanent faculty-member of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

Christopher Bell

Christopher is Worldwide Head of Music & Radio Business Development, Amazon Web Services (AWS). Prior to this international leadership role, he was vice president of technology and anti-piracy for Warner Music Group. Previously, Christopher served as the lead systems engineer for AT&T’s DIRECTV STB software division where he directed a team overseeing software development across the world. Prior to AT&T, he led the Los Angeles office of Relentless Generator, Sony DADC’s digital innovations division, which provided digital streaming and e-commerce services to film and television studios including Fox, Sony Pictures, Starz, and Relativity.

He was previously the vice president of advanced technology for Universal Music Group and held other roles in e-commerce, publishing, and scientific computing, including a role with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Christopher holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Tufts University.

Dr. Stephen Mirarchi

Stephen began his career in entertainment as an internationally syndicated rock photographer, working for Rolling Stone, Vibe, People, and others. His love of storytelling eventually led him back to academia. After earning a doctorate in English and American Literature from Brandeis University, Stephen now teaches at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, where he serves as Chair of the English Department.

His scholarly editions of Myles Connolly's fictional works — all with critical introductions and full annotations, including the bestselling Mr. Blue — have renewed national interest in the Hollywood filmmaker.

Stephen has also published widely in peer-reviewed journals, popular magazines, and national newspapers. Before settling in Kansas with his wife and daughter, Stephen sang bass-baritone for the Schola of the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica Choir. He is a competitive marathoner.

alexander macris

Alex is a polymathic entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in interactive entertainment and transmedia development. He first rose to prominence in 2005, when he founded The Escapist, a videogame publication which he led to win six Webby Awards for best game website and a coveted spot in Time Magazine's Top 50 Websites list. After selling The Escapist to Defy Media in 2012, Alex became Defy's Senior Vice-President of the Emerging Brands, building a motley assortment of websites and YouTube channels into the largest and highest-earning division at Defy. In 2016 he was tragically exiled from the industry he helped build by his obstinate disdain for the prevailing progressive orthodoxy.

From this dark time, Alex emerged in mid-2017 as head of Autarch LLC, a transmedia entertainment publisher focused on creating fantasy and science-fiction books, comics, and games with deep worldbuilding and mythopoetic grandeur inspired by the glory and excellence of classical civilization. He also writes Contemplations on the Tree of Woe on Substack, where he explores philosophy, politics, and economics that challenges progressive paradigms with incisive analysis rooted in Western tradition. Alex’s recent book on the collapsing petrodollar system, Running on Empty, became an Amazon #1 bestseller when all of its predictions came true.

A graduate summa cum laude of Binghamton University and magna cum laude of Harvard Law School, Alex now resides in Durham, NC, with his wife Amy and their imperious dog, Maximus Magnus.

Stephanie Siu

Stephanie is Senior Director for Data Strategy & Analytics at Ensono, a technology adviser and managed service provider. Previously, she was CFO at a consumer products company and vice president at Brentwood Associates, a growth-focused private equity firm, where she sourced and executed investments in middle-market companies. Stephanie began her career in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs in New York where she focused on mergers and acquisitions and general corporate finance.

Stephanie is currently a board member of the Los Angeles chapter of Young Catholic Professionals. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, running, exploring the finest coffee shops LA has to offer, and playing Scrabble with her family.

A Canadian citizen, Stephanie holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from The University of Chicago and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Mark Matthews

Mark is a senior software engineer at Google, working on core artificial intelligence technologies. He is a visual effects expert, having worked 10 years with DreamWorks Animation and holds 22 feature film credits, including Kung Fu Panda, Shrek Forever After, and Madagascar 2. Mark’s algorithms have given more fire to explosions, fluff to hair, and jiggle to bellies.

He received two DreamWorks Technical Achievement Awards and has been awarded a patent for hair data compression. Mark has also worked for Electronic Arts on John Madden Football ’07 and March Madness 2007, and as a master control operator for the Saskatchewan Communications Network.

A dual Canadian and U.S. citizen, Mark holds an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Calgary, as well as bachelors’ degrees in Computer Science and Engineering Physics from the University of Saskatchewan.

Dr. Taylor Knight

Taylor is a filmmaker and scholar. He holds a doctorate in Theology from Oxford and a second doctorate in Philosophy from the Institut Catholique de Paris. Before that, Taylor studied English Literature and Medieval & Renaissance Studies at Grove City College and the University of Glasgow.

He's published various scholarly articles on twentieth century French philosophy and on the Renaissance philosopher Nicholas of Cusa. His book, Merleau-Ponty and the Essence of Nature: A Return to Elemental Symbolism, came out with Edinburgh University Press in early 2024.

In 2021, Taylor left academia to pursue a career in filmmaking and is currently in the midst of making his first film. Originally from Cincinnati, he now splits time between Paris and Los Angeles.

Philip G. Flores

Phil is a writer and producer. Previously, he was the vice president of development at The Combine, the feature film and television production company founded by Academy Award-nominated actor Jeremy Renner. He has also worked in feature film development at DreamWorks Pictures. Prior to his work in development, Phil was an independent filmmaker.

After being selected for the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab, his script, Almost Kings, was named the grand prizewinner in the Netflix FIND Your Voice competition. Awarded a blue ribbon by a judges committee that included Josh Brolin, it was produced with Phil directing, premiering at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

A first-generation American, Phil holds a B.A. in English with a Creative Writing emphasis from Stanford University and an MFA in Film and Television Production from USC’s School of The Cinematic Arts.

Dr. Wojtek Golonka

Wojtek is a co-founder and director at DeReggio publishing house in Poland, specializing in the humanities. Previously he was a philosophy lecturer and vice-rector at the Institut Universitaire Saint Pie X College in Paris. He is the author of several books on G.K. Chesterton and has directed translations of his works from English to French and Polish. Wojtek’s points of interest and research focus on Christian philosophy and modern history.

He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Jagiellonian University, founded in 1364, the oldest university in Poland and one of the oldest worldwide. The discovery of Chesterton in a bookstore in Paris became the genesis of his doctoral thesis: “The Path of G.K. Chesterton toward Thomistic Realism — a Philosophical Portrait of the Writer.”

Wojtek is fluent is several European languages and currently lives in his native city of Krakow with his wife and two children.

MEGAN HARRINGTON

Megan is a Senior Producer at Family Theater Productions, a Hollywood-based media company developing and producing authentic, heroic films that unlock the heart. She served as producer, co-director, and co-writer for the Emmy® and Christopher Award-winning The House That Rob Built and the award-winning Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer. She is a producer and co-writer for the Gabriel and Christopher Award-winning PRAY: The Story of Patrick Peyton and The Dating Project.

Megan received an MBA and a bachelor's degree in communication studies at the University of Montana, while competing on a full-ride Division I basketball scholarship. She was team co-captain, receiving the Theresa Rhoad’s Best Exemplifies Lady Griz Basketball award, and was named Montana’s NCAA Woman of the Year her senior year.

Through sports, Megan gained a deep appreciation for the importance of teamwork and uniting towards a common goal.

john emmet clarke

John is editor-in-chief of Cluny, a publishing house devoted to recovering and representing neglected and forgotten texts from the Catholic and Western traditions. In this role, he has directed the re-publication of nearly five hundred titles, written by more than one hundred and fifty different authors, whose ages span from the fifth century with Pope St. Gregory the Great to the twentieth century with Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sigrid Undset.

John is also author of a Substack newsletter, Lord of Indiscipline, where he writes on the good life and those things which make it so — God, country, family; literature, sport, music; good food and drink; and the debt all men pay; his writings have also appeared in The American Conservative and The Catholic Thing.

A graduate of Providence College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, John presently lives with his wife and children in a quiet New England town where they never have any adventures and never do anything unexpected.

Rich Loesing

Rich is Director of Mission Advancement at the Napa Institute. Previously he was VP of Advancement at USC Caruso Catholic Center in Los Angeles. Earlier in his career, Rich served as an attorney, consultant, and corporate development manager for the Movember Foundation, the world’s leading charity supporting men’s health. Prior to working as an educator and fundraising specialist, Rich worked with high-net-worth clients as a registered representative in the financial planning and wealth management sector. 

He currently serves as the program ambassador for the Los Angeles chapter of the Leonine Forum. An Ohio native, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and his JD from the Pepperdine University School of Law.

Rich enjoys spending quality time with his growing family, studying theology, and following his beloved Cincinnati sports teams. 

Brady Jandreau

Brady is a saddle bronc rider and horse trainer. A member of the Lower Brule Sioux tribe, Brady has been breaking and training wild horses since he was eight years old. On April 1, 2016, at a Professional Cowboys’ Association rodeo, Brady was thrown off and had his skull near-fatally crushed by the bucking horse. After a seizure, the then-20-year-old fell into a three-day coma. Despite this severe traumatic brain injury and a metal plate in his head, Brady continued breaking horses.

Brady’s life became the basis for 2018’s The Rider, winner of the Art Cinema Award, the top prize at The Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight. In the film, director by Chloé Zhao (Best Director, “Nomadland”), Brady makes his acting debut as a young bronco rider coming to terms with a life-changing injury. 

Since making the film, Brady and his wife have founded their own horse-raising-and-training company, Jandreau Performance Horses, in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, where he currently resides with his family.