Manny Abascal is a founding member and Co-Board Chair of Altadena Land Initiatives (ALI), where he provides strategic leadership and governance oversight in support of the organization’s mission to help families rebuild and remain rooted in their community. He is also a partner in the Litigation & Trial Practice at Latham & Watkins LLP in Los Angeles, where he has spent more than two decades handling complex, high-stakes litigation, government investigations, and regulatory matters across healthcare, finance, and technology.

Prior to joining Latham, Manny served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles, prosecuting sophisticated fraud and white-collar criminal cases. He has led numerous criminal and civil jury trials, including the successful defense of a Tenet Healthcare subsidiary.

Manny is deeply committed to community service and civic leadership. He is the founding chairman of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital and is widely recognized for his strategic judgment, diligence, and advocacy. Manny and his family have lived in Altadena for many years, and he brings both professional expertise and personal commitment to ALI’s mission.

Ursula Hyman is a founding member and Co-Board Chair of Altadena Land Initiatives (ALI), where she provides strategic leadership and governance oversight in advancing ALI’s mission to help families rebuild and remain rooted in their community. She is a retired partner of Latham & Watkins LLP, where she practiced law for 30 years and served as Chair of the Municipal and Tax-Exempt Finance Group. Her work focused on public-private partnerships, municipal finance, and major development and infrastructure projects serving nonprofit and public institutions.

Ursula served as President of the Eaton Canyon Recovery Alliance following the 1993 Eaton Canyon Fire, helping lead one of the earliest and most successful collaborative wildfire recovery efforts involving federal, state, and local governments working alongside a community-based nonprofit.

She has served on more than 20 nonprofit boards, including as President of the Assistance League of Pasadena, as a board member of Friends In Deed, and on the finance committee of Planned Parenthood of San Gabriel Valley. Ursula lost two properties in the Eaton Fire, including her daughter’s home and what was to be her future home, giving her a deeply personal connection to ALI’s mission.

Besides her leadership role at ALI, Ursula is the treasurer of the Eaton Fire Collaborative Long Term Recovery Group (EFC-LTRG). The EFC-LTRG is comprised of over 200 non-profit organizations that work together to advance fire recovery efforts. Ursula is the corporate secretary and a director of the Altadena Recovery and Rebuild Corporation, a non-profit started by Supervisor Barger to address Eaton Fire recovery needs. Ursula is also the corporate secretary and a director of the Assistance League of Pasadena, where she also chairs the fire recovery efforts.

Akila Gibbs is a Board Member and Assistant Secretary of Altadena Land Initiatives (ALI), where she supports the organization’s governance and mission to help families rebuild and remain part of their community. She has devoted her career to addressing the needs of aging populations and strengthening community-based services. She began her professional journey as an award-winning television journalist, spending 16 years covering civic, social, and public-interest issues.

Akila later transitioned to the nonprofit sector, serving as Director of Public Relations for the Alzheimer’s Association. In 2008, she joined the Pasadena Senior Center as Executive Director, where she continues to lead the organization in meeting the growing and evolving needs of older adults in the community.

She is an active civic leader, serving on the boards of Huntington Hospital, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, and Westridge School for Girls, and is a member of Pasadena Rotary. Akila has been recognized for her leadership as one of California State Senator Carol Liu’s 25th Senate District Women of the Year and as a recipient of the Junior League of Pasadena’s Community Impact Award. Akila and her husband, Albert, have two adult children.

Cindy Starrett is a Board Member and Corporate Secretary of Altadena Land Initiatives (ALI), where she supports the organization’s governance and mission to help families rebuild and remain rooted in their community. Cindy Starrett is a highly regarded land use and environmental attorney whose practice includes approvals for complex real estate development and infrastructure projects, advising on government contract issues, and related environmental and transactional matters.

Her California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) practice focuses on administrative and pre-litigation counseling. Ms. Starrett is registered as a lobbyist with the City and County of Los Angeles and with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She co-chairs the Central City Association’s Land Use and Housing Committee and recently served on Los Angeles County’s Stormwater Advisory Committee.

Deeply committed to philanthropy and civic engagement, Ms. Starrett serves on the board of the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and co-chaired its 2018 benefit concert featuring John Legend. She is the immediate past chair of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation and serves on its Executive Committee. She also serves on the board of Abode Community Housing, providing pro bono land use advisory support, and on the board of the Orthopedic Institute for Children’s Ambulatory Surgery Center. Ms. Starrett has been a leader in CEQA reform initiatives and housing incentive policies.

Diana was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley and is proud to have been a part of the Altadena community since 2021. She has over 18 years of experience in accounting and financial services and currently serves as the VP, Finance at The California Endowment, a private foundation focused on expanding access to healthcare for underserved communities in California.

Diana is an active member of the Rotary Club of Altadena, and serves on the boards of Altadena Library Foundation, Altadena Rotary Charities, Plus Me Project and Classical Notes and volunteers with many nonprofits in the Pasadena and Los Angeles areas that focus on youth mentorship, animal rescue, literacy and the arts.

J. Terence Hanna is a senior real estate executive with more than three decades of leadership experience in residential development, homebuilding, and real estate finance. Over the course of his career, he has held senior executive roles with several of the nation’s leading homebuilders, including KB Home, Pulte Home Corporation and Shea Homes, where he led large-scale residential development and construction operations throughout California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.

As longtime California Regional President at Pulte, he oversaw major growth initiatives and helped drive significant expansion of the company’s California operations. Earlier in his career, he practiced real estate law and advised financial institutions and corporations on complex real estate transactions and workouts.

Through his role with Altadena Land Initiatives, Hanna brings deep expertise in housing development and real estate operations to support efforts helping homeowners rebuild and remain in the community following the Eaton Fire.

Joanne Cordero served as Altadena Land Initiatives’ start-up Interim Executive Director, establishing the organization’s operational, financial, and governance infrastructure, and has since transitioned into the role of Chief Operations Officer. She is a mission-focused real estate, mortgage servicing and lending, and community development finance executive with nearly four decades of experience leading complex housing initiatives and guiding organizations across the full lifecycle — from launch and growth to financial distress, stabilization, and transition.

She has held executive-level and chief-of-staff roles in highly complex financial and operational environments, including the three-year wind-down of a financially challenged permanent supportive housing nonprofit comprising 29 buildings and serving approximately 1,500 residents. Across multiple organizations, she has partnered with boards, investors, funders, lenders, and government agencies to align strategy, stabilize operations, and implement practical solutions during periods of significant change.

Her work with Altadena Land Initiatives reflects her belief that everyone should be housed, and that disaster recovery solutions must align with real-world conditions, so families can rebuild without displacement.

Board of Directors & Leadership Team

Altadena Land Initiatives is guided by a dedicated team of community members, professionals, and advocates committed to helping our neighbors rebuild. Our board and leadership bring experience in finance, housing, nonprofit management, and community development, united by a shared connection to Altadena.