Richard Parks, President
Mr. Parks has an MBA from the University of Southern California and works in the administration of USC’s School of Policy, Planning and Development. He has lived in RCP’s target neighborhood since the civil unrest in 1992 and has been active in community organizing and neighborhood transformation activities. He and his wife Anna have two sons, ages 5 and 3, and an infant daughter.
Rev. Bob Gay
Rev. Gay has worked in the fundraising field for many years, including time with the Covenant Church's Pacific Southwest Conference and as Promise Keepers west coast development director for many years. For almost 20 years he served as senior deputy for Gil Lindsey, Los Angeles' first African-American City Council member in a community just east of RCP's neighborhood. Bob recently took a pastoral position at a large church in Inglewood where he is mentoring young men. Prior to this he and his wife Lori and their two daughters helped plant New Song Covenant Church in Culver City.
Sharonne Hapuarachy
Ms. Hapuarachy has a Masters degree in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has lived in the neighborhood since 1998 when she began teaching English at nearby Dorsey High School. For the last two years she has worked as a coordinator Dorsey’s magnet program. Ms. Hapuarachy is passionate about serving and empowering urban teenagers. From 2001-2005 she worked with a team of volunteers to launch a high school youth group. Some of the teens she mentored in those early years now serve as leaders for our current high school ministry.
Jamie Knauss
Dr. Knauss earned her MD from the University of Michigan, completed her residency at UCLA, and now practices pediatric medicine in Pasadena. She and her husband Rob live in San Marino with their four children. In June 2003 their whole family moved into our neighborhood
for a week to spearhead a multigenerational mission trip with Pasadena Covenant Church. Since then, the Knauss family has made this trip a summer tradition, returning four times share their collective skills at painting, laying concrete, roof repair, soccer coaching, guitar playing and all manner of first aid.
Joan Kong, Treasurer
Ms. Kong has a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and consultant with KPMG International. She lived in RCP’s target community from 1998-2008, during which time she organized our annual Halloween block parties, led our high school youth group and oversaw the development of our new accounting system. Ms. Kong now lives in Shermon Oaks with her husband Andrew.
Anna Parks
Ms. Parks has a Masters degree in Social Work from USC. She moved into the community in 1998 and led the Adventures Ahead steering committee during the program’s first three years. When not juggling the needs of three young children, she works with our development consultant to research and write grant proposals for our programs.
Greg Strand
Mr. Strand studied engineering at Seattle Pacific University and later earned an MBA from the University of Washington. In 1996 he founded Nova Composites, a Seattle-based company that designs and fabricates high-tech parts for the aerospace industry. Mr. Strand got to know RCP through a week-long church mission trip, during which time he refurbished our tutoring center and coached basketball clinics for grade-schoolers. Mr. Strand recently sold his company to Park Aerospace Structures Corp. and now works as their Director of Aerospace Structures Engineering. He and his wife have three daughters, the youngest of whom has traveled to Los Angeles twice to teach dance clinics for our summer program.
Jim Tyberg
Mr. Tyberg has a degree from Fuller Seminary and serves as the Administrative Pastor at Pasadena Covenant Church. He is retired from a career in corporate management in the pharmaceutical industry. He and his wife Caryl live in Altadena, California. They have two sons and one daughter who volunteered with our summer programs during her college years.