Alexa Cortés Culwell
Sobrato Philanthropies
The Sobrato Organization (TSO) appointed Alexa Cortés Culwell as President of Sobrato Philanthropies (SP) and its first Chief Impact Officer, reflecting the company’s commitment to building a more integrated impact model across its enterprises of real estate, capital, and philanthropy. In these roles, Ms. Culwell will also serve as a vital member of TSO’s executive leadership team.
Ms. Culwell served for 13 years as the CEO of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, where she initiated a pivotal funding partnership with the Sobrato Family Foundation during its early stages. Later, she co-founded Open Impact, a philanthropy advisory firm, where she played instrumental roles in crafting the Sobrato Family Foundation’s growth and governance plans, which have resulted in the distribution of $1.3 billion in grants to date.
As President of Sobrato Philanthropies, Ms. Culwell will lead a team focused on growing thriving communities by investing in economic mobility, housing security, educational equity focused on multilingual learners, and climate action. This includes advancing a regional and state policy agenda and developing partnerships with government, corporations, and other philanthropies with aligned interests. SP’s team also supports a dynamic portfolio of family-initiated grants and impact investments focused on a diverse range of issues and organizations.
In the role of Chief Impact Officer, Ms. Culwell work will include initiatives to close the affordable housing gap in the region and TSO’s first sustainability plan.
Ms. Culwell is an author of the groundbreaking report, The Giving Code: Silicon Valley Nonprofits and Philanthropy, which uncovered inadequate giving to community-based organizations and made the case that donors should give more locally. Her work has been cited in such publications as Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The Economist.
Ms. Culwell has been involved with many leading organizations dedicated to the knowledge and practice of philanthropy. She served as a visiting practitioner at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, and as an Instructor for Stanford Continuing Studies’ highly rated course on nonprofit governance. She has also served as a trustee for both Northern California Grantmakers and the Center for Effective Philanthropy. In 2018, she was the inaugural recipient of the University of San Francisco’s Michael O’Neill Nonprofit Management and Leadership Award. Ms. Culwell is also a longtime Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley.
Howard Levine
The Howard & Irene Levine Family Foundation
The Howard & Irene Levine Family Foundation shared the news that Howard Levine passed away on October 11th, 2024. Mr. Levine lived an extraordinary life. His accomplishments in the business realm are numerous; he is perhaps best known for his visionary work in the real estate and mortgage industries. But it is the humility and compassion he brought to all his commitments — those to his profession and those to causes for which he cared deeply — that truly constitute his indelible legacy.
Mr. Levine founded and served as President and CEO of ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co. LP, headquartered in Calabasas Hills, California. Under Mr. Levine’s leadership, ARCS became one of the largest providers of multifamily and commercial mortgage financing, ultimately growing to the No. 1 multifamily lender in America. With offices nationwide, ARCS was considered the leading Fannie Mae apartment lender in the United States, as well as one of their top three affordable housing lenders for over a decade. Previously, Mr. Levine founded the predecessor company ARCS Mortgage in 1971, which developed into one of the nation’s largest residential mortgage companies.
Throughout his career, Mr. Levine played a meaningful role in the leadership of the mortgage industry. He served on the Executive Board of the Mortgage Bankers Association, the commercial board of governors for the Mortgage Bankers Association, and the Multifamily Council of the Urban Land Institute. In addition, he served on the Board of Directors of the National Multifamily Housing Council, the Multifamily Division of the National Association of Home Builders, and the Leadership Council of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
The impressive details of Mr. Levine’s career are eclipsed by his immeasurable impact through philanthropy. Growing up in the Bronx, New York, Mr. Levine spent 20 years living in Parkchester, a planned apartment community that he described as “one of the first affordable major projects built in this country.” The experience had a profound impact on Mr. Levine, shaping him, along with his wife, to become lifelong advocates of access to affordable housing.
Mr. Levine was always deeply appreciative of his time at UCLA, and one of the ways the couple sought to give back was through their involvement with the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate. Mr. Levine was a founding board member of the Ziman Center, and he also served on the Advisory Board of Ziman’s Real Estate Alumni Group. The generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Levine also aided in the creation of UCLA Anderson’s Howard and Irene Levine Program in Housing and Social Responsibility. The Levine Program addresses critical issues related to urban and rural housing markets, housing policy, sustainability, and redevelopment, particularly the housing needs and outcomes of lower-income and workforce households. The Ziman Center stewards the Howard and Irene Levine Distinguished Fellows Program, established to augment the training of the most gifted and ambitious graduate students pursuing real estate education at UCLA in the areas of policy, homelessness, and permanent supportive housing, housing and health, sustainability, and redevelopment.
The Ziman Center’s Howard and Irene Levine Program in Affordable Housing Development, now in its seventh year, manifests Mr. Levine’s idea to provide professionals with the training and skill sets necessary to plan, manage, and finance the development of affordable housing. UCLA was the ideal place for the couple to realize their vision, as they subscribed to the idea that a top public university should lead in the creation of housing opportunities and social mobility for vulnerable populations. Always one for the personal touch, Mr. Levine frequently shared his expertise in lectures for UCLA’s graduate real estate and MBA programs. In 2011, he was recognized as one of UCLA Anderson’s 100 Inspirational Alumni as part of the school’s 75th anniversary celebration.
The Levines’ generosity to UCLA has not been limited to UCLA Anderson. In February 2024, donations from the Levines and their family foundation were used to establish the UCLA Howard and Irene Levine Family Center for Movement Disorders at the David Geffen School of Medicine. The gift honors Dr. Jeff Bronstein, Director of the UCLA Movement Disorders Program and Clinic, and today endows four chairs and a research fund in the UCLA Department of Neurology to support basic research science on Parkinson’s disease.
The Levines’ philanthropy extended far beyond UCLA. Mr. Levine served for many years on the Board of Mercy Housing California (MHC), where his son David (President and CEO of Presidio Mortgage Holdings LLC and Executive Director of the Howard and Irene Levine Family Foundation) has also served since 2021. MHC’s Howard and Irene Levine Senior Community in the Pico Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles, California is a 48-unit residence for low-income seniors, with 12 apartments set aside for homeless senior veterans. Opened in 2022, the six-story building was constructed on an underutilized, city-owned former LADOT parking lot. He was also a leader in the Jewish community.
Mr. Levine was a man who treated everyone with dignity and kindness. He personified tenacity and grit like no other. His compassion, generosity, and smile were contagious. He leveraged his success to repair the world and strived to create shelter and opportunity for those with few advantages. Mr. Levine is survived by: his wife, Irene; his three children, Jay, Marci, and David; seven grandchildren; and many friends. Mr. Levine defined what it means to live meaningfully. He inspired us and will be sorely missed.
John Kim and Kaci Patterson
California Wellness Foundation
The California Wellness Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of two respected social justice leaders to its Board of Directors: John Kim, President and CEO of Catalyst California, and Kaci Patterson, Chief Architect of the Black Equity Collective and Social Good Solutions.
The appointments of Mr. Kim and Ms. Patterson, both of whom lead organizations that are Cal Wellness grantees, are part of the foundation’s commitment to centering community leadership in decisionmaking.
Cal Wellness is among the state’s largest health philanthropies with a mission to protect and improve the health and wellness of the people of California by increasing access to health care, economic opportunity, and thriving neighborhoods.
For more information about Mr. Kim and Ms. Patterson, see this full announcement.