The Glendon Association

Board of Directors

Each of our board members works closely with the Association’s staff and consultants to build community relationships and to enhance the Association’s ability to accomplish its goals.

• Richard E. Smith, President, has been involved with the Glendon Association since its inception and has also been a contributor and consultant to Glendon’s publications and video productions. Mr Smith is Vice President of Business Development  for Tempest Telecom, LLC, a telecommunications equipment distributor.  He has more than 25 years of experience in developing and executing successful business strategies.

• George Short, Secretary-Treasurer, is a Shareholder in the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, where he practices in the areas of corporate and business law, taxation law and trusts and estate law. Mr. Short also serves as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Somera Capital Management, LLC, a real estate investment management firm. Mr. Short has been active on many nonprofit boards during his 30+ year law career and has represented many nonprofits with respect to fundraising activities and corporate governance issues.

• Frank L. Tobe, Member, founded The Glendon Association in 1982 and has been on the board of directors ever since. He is a private investor who started and sold Below, Tobe & Associates and Applied Political Technologies, companies that provided political campaigning, database targeting and direct marketing products. He most recently founded and sold “The Robot Report”, a news portal covering the business of robotics; and co-founded and sold ROBO Global, an index company focused on helping investors capture the robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence companies around the world.

• David Brown, Member, is President, CEO and CIO of Somera Capital Management. Prior to co-founding Somera Capital Management with Steve Firestone as the successor to Somera Real Estate Group, Mr. Brown was Executive Vice President of Pacifica Real Estate Group, a private equity manager specializing in value-add investments. Mr. Brown has been an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Real Estate Investment Advisory Council, has spoken at many real estate industry and investment symposiums, and is an active sponsor of charitable organizations and foundations.

Advisory Board

• Richard Seiden, Ph.D. is a noted Suicidologist and former Professor of Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health.  Among Dr. Seiden’s accomplishments is a study of suicides occurring on the Golden Gate Bridge, and he serves frequently as an expert for the media on the subject of suicide.

• Jean-Pierre-Soubrier, M.D. has devoted his career to understanding the causes for and developing methods of preventing suicide.  Dr. Soubrier has served as president of the Executive Board of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and as the European Editor of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, the official journal of the American Association of Suicidology.  He is recognized as a leading authority in the international suicidology community. He is an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), and currently serves as the President of the special section on suicide prevention of the World Psychiatric Association. He also recently opened a Resource Center on Suicidology in Paris.

• Jo Linder-Crow, Ph.D. served as Glendon’s Executive Director from 2002 to 2004. She joined Glendon in July, 2002 moving to Santa Barbara from Washington, D.C. where she served as the Associate Executive Director of Education and the Director of Continuing Professional Education at the American Psychological Association from 1995-2002. In that capacity, she represented the APA on issues related to lifelong learning initiatives in psychology, including the development and implementation of national and international workshops and conferences, research related to continuing professional education, and the applications of psychology to education and training. Dr. Linder-Crow’s previous experience includes post-secondary administrative and faculty positions, and teaching and educational consulting in special education. She earned her M.Ed. in Special Education from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR and her Ph.D. in Education Administration from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. She recently accepted a position at the California Psychological Association (CPA) as its Executive Director.

• John Kevin Hines is a suicide attempt survivor who speaks to Veterans, young people and others across the country about suicide prevention and removing the stigma from mental health treatment.