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BOARD OF DIRECTORs

The Board of Directors, currently 12 members, is elected annually for a two-year term. Any Ocean Park residents may be nominated and run during the annual at-large election. Ballots are submitted and tabulated at the Annual Winter meeting, typically held Mid-December. If you intend to run for the Board, please send an email to contact@opa-sm.org by November 1 to be included on the ballot.

Sean Besser, President

In addition to serving as president, Sean is responsible for publishing our twice weekly "OPA Update" newsletter. He has chaired our Main Street Task Force for two years and Chaired the 2021 Sharing an Open Main Street series. He is a community liaison for the Main Street Business Improvement Association (MSBIA), which is responsible for dealing with issues regarding Main Street and the Farmers Market. He has also Chaired the Communications Committee that produces our OPA Update e-newsletter, our social activity and website. Beyond OPA, Sean is a member of the Santa Monica Travel & Tourism Board Experience Management Plan (EMP) Committee.

Sean has lived in Santa Monica for more than 20 years, the past 10 of them in Ocean Park. He is passionate about fostering a sense of community and striking a healthy balance between maintaining its beach town feel, keeping it safe and welcoming, encouraging diversity and openness, while evolving into the 21st Century. His top priorities on the OPA board are driving more community engagement, making Ocean Park more pedestrian/biking friendly, helping local Main St. businesses thrive, addressing homelessness, improving safety, and managing our relationship with city officials to make sure Ocean Park's unique needs and concerns are recognized.

Chris Morgan, Vice President

Chris spent time in a variety of cities throughout the country until he fell in love with the Ocean Park and moved here permanently in June 2020. Living in many locales has enabled him to understand the needs of diverse areas and appreciate the great things that each individual place does to support its residents. 

Chris is a senior manager for a global hospitality firm and has enjoyed 17 years of success managing large portfolios of clients across the United States.  Here in Santa Monica, Chris enjoys exploring the many gems that our area has to offer and volunteering at the city's farmers markets. 

He looks forward to serving the members of OPA, being a steward of the neighborhood and continuing his service to the community, which he looks to call home for many years to come.

Patty Godon-Tann, Treasurer

 

Patty had spent 11 years as the Treasurer of the OPA Board and more recently Membership Chair.  She continues to help facilitate the positive changes OPA is making for our neighborhood.  She is a longtime resident of Ocean Park, living in the southern "Borderline" Neighborhood for more than 40 years.  Patty was the Chair of the Borderline Neighborhood Group and was largely responsible for the dramatic change in Ozone Park over the last decade. Years in the neighborhood have taught her how to create change from the grassroots level.  She is very excited about serving on the OPA Board again and participating in the development of a stronger union between the neighborhood and the City.
Robbie Leer, Vice President


Robbie, a Minnesota native, moved into Ocean Park neighborhood in 2018. He joined the OPA Board in 2022 and served as Secretary. Robbie supports the Main Street Committee because he would love to see our local businesses thrive. He supports the Renters Committee because he'd liked to ensure the majority of Ocean Park residents have a voice in the local conversation. Robbie spends all of the free time he can on or near our beautiful beaches and scales startups during the day.

Christina Allen- Secretary

In 2018 Christina moved to a rented bungalow on 2nd Street and spent her first full day in Santa Monica at the OPA 4th of July Parade on Main Street. One year later, she convinced the John Muir Elementary PTA to participate in the parade and walked in the parade with the float the team built in her driveway. After two years of renting her family purchased a home in our beloved Ocean Park neighborhood. Christina has spent the last four years serving our community in various capacities through OPA, John Muir School Site Council, John Muir PTA, JAMS PTSA, and Santa Monica-Malibu PTA Council. Christina's goal is to represent the smallest members of our neighborhood, kids, and bring their needs to the forefront of our community. As an OPA board member she will engage families and help build a society that cares for those that do not have a lot of say in their lives. 


Jeffrey Jarow

Jeff is a Co-Founder of both OPA and the 4th of July Main Street Parade.  He is the community liaison for the Main Street Business Improvement District (MSBID), which is responsible for dealing with issues regarding Main Street and the Farmers Market, including putting the valet bike racks and free parking at the beach on Sunday mornings.  He is currently on the Lincoln Blvd Task Force and was also the Co-Chair of the Ocean Park Boulevard Beautification Project. 

Jeff has lived in our community over 35 years.  He is married to Faye and has a son, Morgan. He is currently President of the Santa Monica Sister City Association (Fujinomiya, Japan - Mazatlan, Mexico - Hamm, Germany - Kizugawa, Japan and Brighton, England), as well as on the Boards of the "FREE" Santa Monica Symphony, the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, the Executive Board of the Santa Monica Pier Corporation, the Santa Monica Family YMCA, past Legislative Chair of SMASH (his son’s school) PTSA, PONY Baseball at Los Amigos, and Santa Monica College General Advisory Board (GAB).

Jeff feels it is extremely important for ALL of us, as the OCEAN PARK community, to use this OPA platform to voice OUR opinions, share OUR views, and most importantly, implement OUR ideas, regarding overdevelopment on Main St., traffic circulation and parking issues throughout, and pedestrian and community safety, to name just a few.

Zachary Gaidzik

Zac, the youngest son of a computer programmer and bookkeeper, was raised in Santa Monica, and is a product of the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District. Growing up next to the ocean, he learned from a young age how valuable and unique the coastal city of Santa Monica is, and particularly the Ocean Park Neighborhood. After High School, Zac went to UC Santa Cruz, enjoying another unique beach side city while pursuing his undergraduate in Theater and Dance. While there he joined Delta Lambda Psi, the first Queer, co-ed, fraternity/sorority (AKA Farority), which gave him an outlet to pursue volunteering and social justice issues in Santa Cruz and the surrounding community.

After graduating, Zac moved back home to Santa Monica and moved into a wonderful historic home in the Ocean Park neighborhood. He’s been lucky to find work in Santa Monica since moving back, at Rusty’s on the Santa Monica Pier, and later at the Church in Ocean Park. He is now a founding member of Climate Action Santa Monica, a grassroots Climate Change Organization focused on education and empowerment about Climate Change. While working at the Church he learned about the Ocean Park Association, and over the past year has become more involved with the organization. He hopes to join the board to continue his involvement and to help make Ocean Park and even better place to live for the residents than it is today.

Will Burrington

Will Burrington lives with his rescue dog Lexi on 3rd Street between Ashland & Marine in Ocean Park.  He moved to Santa Monica from Washington, DC and is a Wisconsin native, where he went to college and law school.  He believes strongly in the importance of informed and connected civic engagement.  To that end, he created and now hosts the weekly OPA Connects Zoom.  He loves the history, diversity and down to earth feel of Ocean Park and it’s easy proximity to the beach, the Pacific Ocean, Main Street, Abbott Kinney, Lincoln Blvd and “Silicon Beach.  He feels Santa Monica and Ocean Park are the “sweet spots” of Westside LA.

Will was elected to the OPA Board in 2019 and serves as one of two OPA Vice Presidents.  He is a trained Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteer and recently graduated from the Santa Monica Police Department’s Citizen’s Police Academy.  He has served on the Board of Climate Action Santa Monica, is an Honorary Open Doors Campaign Committee member for the Church in Ocean Park, and a member of the Santa Monica Democrats.

A lawyer by training, Will is currently studying alternative dispute resolution at the world-renowned Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Caruso School of Law at Pepperdine University in Malibu.  He is working toward his LLM (Master of Laws) degree in Dispute Resolution with a specialization in Mediation.  With 36 years of professional experience in the practice of law, public affairs and advocacy, corporate communications and senior management roles with AOL in the U.S. and Europe, he brings a unique, multi-disciplinary lens to mediation, leadership coaching and service on nonprofit boards.
Nicholas Rolston


Nick was born & raised in Santa Monica, on Bay St. to be exact, and graduated from SAMOHI. While at SAMOHI, Nick worked after-school for the Parks & Rec Dept. and played for the school’s volleyball team, eventually attending UC Santa Cruz and graduating with degrees in psychology & education. He returned to Ocean Park in 2013. Outside of his 15+ year career in Experiential Marketing, Nick volunteers with the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club, struggles at beach volleyball, and loves being a part of the community that helped raised him.

Nick believes in empowering locals in the continued development of Santa Monica & honoring the city’s great history. He hopes as a Board Member to help OPA continue to have a positive impact on Ocean Park, while supporting our public schools & youth organizations, impacting housing issues, supporting residential continuity and maintaining a compassionate approach for the homeless population.

Judy Abdo

A Santa Monica councilmember from 1988 to 1996, Abdo served three years as the City's mayor. She is vice chair of the First 5 LA Commission. She is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Education, represents Santa Monica on the Metropolitan Water District board, serves on the Steering Committee of Climate Action Santa Monica, is Chair of the EV subcommittee of the Santa Monica Environmental Task Force, and is a member of the Early Childhood Task Force in Santa Monica.

She retired as the Director of Child Development Services for the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District. Abdo was the assistant director of the Norton Family Office and Peter Norton Family Foundation. She also served four years as council deputy for the city of West Hollywood, as executive director of the nonprofit Ocean Park Community Organization, and for 13 years as an elementary school teacher. She was the administrator of the Church in Ocean Park for 37 years.

She was a long-time member of the steering committee of Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights. She served as chair of the Urban Forest Task Force and the Santa Monica Pier Corporation in the City of Santa Monica.  She served as a co-chair of Santa Monica Forward.

She was a founder of Sojourn Shelter for battered women and children, a founder of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corp and a former board member of the Neighborhood Support Center and Santa Monica AIDS Project. She also is a former member and chair of the Ocean Park Community Center board of directors, where she was a member for 19 years.  She served as assistant director and executive director of the Ocean Park Community Organization, an organization that worked to organize in Ocean Park in 1978 – 1983.

She has a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara in Early Childhood Education and has done graduate work in human development at Pacific Oaks College.


John Prindle

I have been a Santa Monica resident for nearly 3 decades and in Ocean Park for 13 of those years. We should continue to support the changes that OPA has been focused on since its inception: compassion, mobility and safety. We also need to continue to work closely with organizations like SMRR to provide housing assurance for our most vulnerable residents, including the homeless.

Residents and businesses have also talked about mobility and making our streets safe for cyclists and pedestrians. Proactively working with City Hall is how we will solve this challenge and the recent changes to Main Street show us the path forward.

I also support “cleaning up our streets” as this will improve our quality of life. One area of focus that I would like to see prioritized is reducing the amount of trash we see on our streets and in our parks. Being proactive, working with city departments and being responsive to OP residents will help us meet these goals.

Ian Novos

It has been my good fortune to have lived in Santa Monica off and on since 1988, and full time since 2004. No matter where else I’ve lived during these years, Santa Monica’s song that has played in my head. Ocean Park, in particular, has been a wonderful neighborhood to live in, and feel a part of.

Ocean Park and OPA are able to do what they do because of the many people who tend both the place and the organization with love and dedication. I welcome the opportunity to work with them and contribute to the critical work that OPA does to advance the well-being of its constituent community. Specifically, I want to work toward preserving the character of a safe, bike-friendly Ocean Park, a vibrant Main Street and positioning Ocean Park to thrive long term.

I recently retired, am an economist who has worked both in academia (teaching at USC for eight years) and the private sector. I also served for about eight years as President of the board of the Disability Rights Legal Center.




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