Britanny Lewis-Porchia
AMG Leadership Conference, Co-Chair
Britanny Lewis-Porchia joined the Bruin Community in 2007 with UCLA’s Early Academic Outreach Program. She has more than 22 dedicated years of higher education experience in guiding K-12 families. With a true passion for reaching back and paying it forward, Britanny wears many hats on and off campus including reading 7,200+ undergrad admissions applications, partnering with community-based organizations, representing UCLA’s Governmental Relations at local legislative offices, and being a proud member of UCLA’s Administrative Management Group. She is a social butterfly who appreciates thought partnership, takes pride in motivating others, cultivates professional development opportunities and thinking outside of the box. Her Clifton Strengths are Positivity, Ideation, Woo, Self-Assurance, and Communication. Her favorite hobbies include photography (190k+), traveling, dining out, watching plays and movies, collecting ticket stubs, reading the bible, listening to gospel music, and baking Brit’s Famous Cookies. Above all, Britanny’s greatest joy is spending time with her loved ones including her husband, four beautiful children, extended family, and friends.
Sim Grewall
AMG Leadership Conference, Co-Chair
Sim has been with UCLA for 13 years and currently serves as the Communications Lead for UCLA Business & Finance Solutions. For the past ten years, Sim has been immersed in many areas: corporate communications, e-learning, web/graphic design, media development, branding, event planning, speech writing, and team-building, which has been crucial while working remotely. When he’s not silently correcting your grammar, he spends his time playing the drums, taking photos, and uploading videos of his kids’ misbehavior. AMG’s Special Projects Coordinator role is ideal for Sim to channel his creative talents toward professional development at UCLA.
Ayanna McLeod
AMG Leadership Conference, Co-Chair
Ayanna McLeod is the Office Manager for the department of Real Estate | Planning, Design & Construction at UCLA Health. Ayanna has worked in various administrative roles for the Health System and the David Geffen School of Medicine. Meticulous and task-driven, she was recently recognized for her 25 years of dedicated service at UCLA. Ayanna earned a B.A. in Child Development from California State University, Northridge. She is married and a proud mom to her 13 year old daughter and fur baby named Teddy. She enjoys serving at church, listening to music, and watching sports.
Yadira Cano
AMG Leadership Conference, Co-Chair
Yadira Cano is the Senior Manager of Administration for the Registrar’s Office. Yadira also manages the Student Affairs Information and Research Office (SAIRO), Student Affairs Information Technology (SAIT) and Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars (DCISS) and has been with the UCLA for almost 15 years. Her responsibilities include maintaining the departmental budget and finances also with making sure everyone has the tools they need to provide excellent customer service to the UCLA community. Yadira recently graduated from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology. She has also started her graduate studies to get her MBA with a Concentration in Project Management from Louisiana State University – Shreveport. Yadira is encouraged daily by her husband and their two beautiful bulldogs. In her free time Yadira enjoys spending time with her family, photography, gardening and painting.
Ashley Pech
Ashley is currently an Accountant in the Extramural Fund Management department, in which she is responsible for the financial stewardship of sponsored research funds. Having graduated from UCLA in 2016, she is happy to still be part of the campus network as a staff member. Go Bruins! As the AMG Events Coordinator, Ashley is excited to work on different initiatives and events to foster professional development for all UCLA employees. She enjoys spending time with her family, playing video games with her son, and eating delicious food.
Brendan Bellina
Brendan Bellina is a Lead IT Architect in IT Services. He has over two decades of experience in Higher Education Information Technology and has been at UCLA for five years. He is also the chair of the UCLA Sustainability Committee Green IT Taskforce.
Carla Gonzalez
Carla is the Assistant to the Chair and manager of the Operations Administrative Team Support for the Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine. In 2004 she joined UCLA’s Hematology and Oncology research teams, in 2006 she transitioned to Operative Services, and joined Anesthesiology in 2013. During her years at UCLA, she has gained experience in research, operations, and project management. Crafts with her daughter, spending time with her family, trying new foods, and working on home projects are some of her favorite leisure pursuits.
Chris Cabrera Thompson
Chris Cabrera Thompson is currently the IT Manager at the UCLA Department of English. Chris was a former LTI Analyst with the UCLA ITS team on the LMS Transformation project; IT Manager at UCLA Lab School, a partnership school with the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies, and Web programmer at the UCLA Library. Chris provides technology support for faculty, staff, students the the Department of English and Writing Programs.
Grace Fransisca
Grace currently serves as the Graduate Advisor and Academic Coordinator in the Department of Economics. She started her career at UCLA in 2014 and has since worked in various capacities including operations, financial management, and student programming. During her spare time, Grace enjoys hiking, cooking, and watching movies with her loved ones. She is excited to join the board and look forward to serving the AMG and UCLA communities.
Mark Lucas
Mark Lucas serves as Chair of the UC Systemwide Administrative Management Professionals (UC AMP). He previously served as Chair of the UCLA campus Administrative Management Professionals (AMG). In his day job, he is the Chief Administrative Officer for the Departments of Neurobiology and of Computational Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Mark has been with the University for 30 years in a variety of administrative and management capacities. He has a background in business from both USC and UCLA Anderson. His professional interests include mentoring, training, research administration, and general management theory.
Patty Johnson
Patty serves as the Sr. Manager of Academic Services & Operations for the Full Time MBA Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Patty has worked at Anderson for over 20 years in various capacities. In her current role, Patty works primarily with faculty and administration on academic planning and scheduling. Patty is a first-gen college student, she graduated from UCLA in 1999 with a degree in Psychology and a specialization in Business Administration. She is a graduate of the Riordan Scholars Program (’02) and holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from CSUN (’18). Patty is passionate about personal and professional growth and when she is not spending time with her husband and three young children, she is reading or taking online classes to learn new skills. She is excited to help bring her knowledge and ideas for programming to AMG and build upon the current offerings.
Sylvia Condro
Sylvia Condro joined UCLA IT Services in 2010. She is currently a Slack Administrator for UCLA’s Slack Enterprise Grid and coordinates intradepartmental communications and engagement. Sylvia’s experience includes project managing the Feedback Huddles workplace improvement initiative as 2019 Chair of IT Services’ Staff Advisory Group. She has been recognized as IT Services’ Employee of the Month twice. Sylvia is certified in Human Resources Management, UC People Management, and Administrative Support. Her passions include public speaking, reading science fiction, and sharing how synesthesia colors her world.
Vanessa Codilla
Vanessa Codilla is the Communications Specialist for UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE). Prior to joining IRLE, she worked at UCLA Residential Life during her undergraduate career, gaining experience in original content creation, graphic design, and storytelling for student audiences. She aims to create easily-digestible and accessible content and to tell stories that empower and educate. Vanessa earned her B.A. in Communication with a minor in Digital Humanities at UCLA. In her free time, she enjoys practicing mindfulness and painting.