The Board of Directors, currently 11 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.
Nicholas Rolston - President
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Will Burrington, Vice President
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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. |
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Patty Godon-Tann, Treasurer
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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. |
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Sean Besser, Vice President
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Sean Chairs our Main Street Task Force 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 also Chairs the Communications Committee that produces our OPA Update e-newsletter, our social activity and website. He is also on the Membership 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. |
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Robbie Leer - Secretary
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Robbie, a Minnesota native, moved into the Ocean Park neighborhood in 2018. He joined the OPA Board in 2022 and served as Secretary. Robbie supports the Main St. Committee because he would love to see our local businesses thrive. He supports the Renters Committee because he'd like 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. |
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Jeffrey Jarow
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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 Asssociation (Fujinomiya, Japan - Mazatlan, Mexico - Hamm, Germany, and more to come shortly), as well as on the Boards of the "FREE" Santa Monica Symphony, the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Monica Family YMCA, Legislative Chair of SMASH (his son’s school) PTA and PONY Baseball at Los Amigos. 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. |
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Zachary Gaidzik
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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. |
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Marc hails from the east coast (where he worked for CBS for many years), but has lived in Ocean Park for more than fourteen years. He also served on the City's Public Safety Reform Advisory Committee and as the Chair of the Santa Monica Public Library Board. Professionally, he serves as a consultant to large media and entertainment companies, as well as teaching a creative writing course to veterans at the West LA VA. Marc writes our thrice-weekly eNewsletter that focuses on news ranging from Ocean Park to City Hall, with emphasis on responding to our current health and economic challenges. Marc believes the more we develop partnerships with like-minded organizations such as the Main Street Business Improvement Association and Beautify Earth, as well as the city government, the stronger our neighborhood will be. He hopes that in times like these, OPA can connect our community and serve as a beacon of civility and good will. |
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Chris Morgan
John Prindle
Ian Novos
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