Co-Founder and President, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation

Sheri Biller is a philanthropist, community leader, and passionate advocate for broader access to supportive care for people with serious illness and increasing opportunity for people from underserved communities. In 2001, she and her husband, Les, co-founded The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation with a bold vision: to create meaningful, lasting change by investing not just financial resources, but also their time, energy, and expertise in important causes. From the start, the Billers embraced a model of active philanthropy—one rooted in deep partnerships and a shared commitment to expanding access to supportive cancer care, economic opportunity, and social impact theatre.

For Sheri, the Foundation’s mission is deeply personal. After losing two close friends to cancer, she became a tireless advocate for supportive care—an approach that treats patients and caregivers as whole people, addressing not only clinical needs but also emotional, physical, and economic challenges. Her leadership helped establish the Sheri & Les Biller Patient and Family Resource Center at City of Hope, a national model for integrative supportive care that is transforming how care is delivered across the country.

A longtime supporter of City of Hope, Sheri made history as the institution’s first female Chair of its Operating Board of Directors. Over more than two decades of service, she has helped guide the organization’s mission to advance groundbreaking cancer research and compassionate patient care.

Beyond health care, Sheri has been a driving force in the arts and education. She co-produces Broadway musicals—including Joy: A New True Musical, Come From Away, and A Beautiful Noise—and has raised millions to support student theatre arts programs. She also founded and chaired the Ordway Circle of Stars in St. Paul, Minnesota, supporting the Ordway Music Theatre. Her philanthropic leadership extends to numerous nonprofit boards, including the Kayne Eras Center, The Rape Foundation, Children’s Burn Foundation, and Center Theatre Group, where she founded the Corporate Circle in 1999.

Founding Director, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation

Les Biller currently serves as the Founding Director of The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation. Les spent over 33 years of his career in the business sector, including 10 years internationally in Italy and England. He had leadership roles at major companies including Proctor & Gamble, Citicorp, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, where he served as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer. 

In 2001, Les and his wife, Sheri, co-founded the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation with the ambitious goal of creating meaningful, lasting change by investing not just financial resources, but also their time, energy, and expertise in important causes. From the start, the Billers embraced a model of active philanthropy — one rooted in deep partnerships and a shared commitment to expanding access to supportive cancer care, economic opportunity, and social impact theatre.

Les’s hallmark initiatives through the Biller Family Foundation include launching CareerWork$, which connects young adults from under-resourced communities to lasting, stable careers, and convening the Together for Supportive Cancer Care coalition, a national coalition of organizations from across sectors working to expand early, equitable access to supportive cancer care.

Les has served on the boards of Wells Fargo, Ecolab, Visa, Knowledge Universe, Sterling Financial, and PG&E. He has also served on the boards of several nonprofits, including the Minnesota Orchestra, the 5th Avenue Theater, and the Urban League of Los Angeles.

Les has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from City College of New York, and a master’s degree in business administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mr. Howard Behar’s career in business spans over 50 years, all in consumer oriented businesses covering several industries. He retired from Starbucks Coffee after 21 years where he led both the domestic business, as President of North America, and was the founding President of Starbucks International. During his tenure, he participated in the growth of the company from 28 stores to over 15,000 stores spanning five continents. He served on the Starbucks Board of Directors for 12 years before retiring.

Mr. Behar now serves on several boards, including iD Tech, Education Elements and the advisory boards of Anthos Capital and Roadtrip Nation. His non-profit commitments are to the University of Washington Foundation, UW Business School mentoring program and as a Trustee for The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation. Mr. Behar is committed to the development and education of our future leaders and has been a longtime advocate of the Servant Leadership Model. He has also authored a book on leadership titled “It’s Not About the Coffee.”

Sarah Lyding is the Executive Director of The Music Man Foundation, also known as The Meredith and Rosemary Willson Charitable Foundation. Under her leadership, the Foundation launched a music therapy grant program for Southern California-based organizations and supports many outstanding music education programs in fulfillment of the Foundation’s mission to use music to improve children’s lives.  Before joining The Music Man Foundation in 2017, Ms. Lyding was the first staff member for The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, where she worked for nearly 10 years on programs such as BankWork$^TM and the Social Impact Theatre opportunity.

Prior to her work with foundations, she led fundraising efforts at two of Southern California’s preeminent performing arts organizations, the Pasadena Playhouse and Center Theatre Group.  Ms. Lyding also served on the board of directors of Boston Court Pasadena from 2009 – 2021.

Pedro J. Martí is a Managing Director and Private Wealth Advisor with Rockefeller Capital in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Martí previously served as a Managing Director and Senior Financial Advisor for Wells Fargo Advisors, as well as an Analyst in Wells Fargo’s Corporate Development Division, as Chief of Staff to the company’s Chief Operating Officer, and helped to develop and implement a professional training program for a new generation of securities and insurance licensed employees in the LA Metro Region of Wells Fargo.

Pedro earned his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of business and his BBA from the Emory Goizueta School of Business with concentrations in Finance, Entrepreneurship, Human Resource Management, and Financial Services.

Since 2020, Gulden Mesara (M.B.A., M.S.) has served as Chief Communications, Marketing, Culture, and Experience Officer at City of Hope—the only national health system in the U.S. solely focused on cancer. She has played a key role in transforming City of Hope from a regional institution into a national cancer research and treatment system. Prior to this, Gulden held senior leadership roles at global Fortune 100 companies including Pfizer, Abbott, AbbVie, and Walgreens Boots Alliance, where she built and led high-impact teams across communications, branding, marketing, and public affairs.

Recognized as a strategic change agent, Gulden has been named a Top Woman in PR by PRNews, a Marketer of the Year by PM360, and one of PRWeek’s Top 30 Health Influencers. She holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, an M.S. in public relations from Syracuse University, and a B.A. from the University of Marmara in Istanbul. She serves on several boards including the Turkish Philanthropy Funds, USC’s Center for Public Relations, and SUPSAN. A proud working mother of two, she is also the author of Mommy Goes to the Office, a children’s book about working moms.

She is a member of Arthur W. Page Society and the Seminar. Beyond her role as a leader and mentor, she is passionate about her role as a working mother of two. In 2015, she published her first book, “Mommy Goes to the Office,” as a way to help explain to her daughter and son what it is like to work in an office setting and the professional life of a working mother.

Mr. John R. Ohanesian is the President and CEO of Lear Capital. Founded in 1997, Lear is the largest direct response marketing and sales enterprise in the U.S. focused on precious metals with over $2 billion in transactions. Previously, he was President and CEO of Bosley from 1990 to 2010 as well as co-Founder, President and CEO of Aderans Research Institute, a biotech company, from 2002 to 2010. Since 2013 he has been an Advisor/Chief Strategic Officer of Theradome, Inc., which is an aesthetic medical device company based in San Jose, California.

In 2004, The Concern Foundation named Mr. Ohanesian as their honoree for his philanthropic and humanitarian efforts in the Greater Los Angeles area. He served on the Board of Directors of Center Theatre Group from 2001 to 2008. From 2005 to 2008, he was a member of the Board of Directors of City of Hope’s National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute. From 2007 to 2014 Mr. Ohanesian served on the Board of Trustees of The Archer School for Girls in Brentwood, California.

Mr. Richard Powell was born in Los Angeles and now resides in Santa Monica. He graduated from Woodbury University, a private Los Angeles college. While attending college, he started a business with his father, furniture veteran Larry Powell, creating the L. Powell Company. After leading this highly successful family business for 30+ years, Rick was instrumental in selling the Powell Company to a private investment group in 1999.

Rick is currently President of Ashjer, LLC, where he devotes his time to helping non-profit organizations raise money, serving on numerous boards and committees as well as a consultant to private companies.

In 1982 he co-founded Concern II for Cancer Research. Concern II pioneered fundraising among young people 18-40 in the area of cancer immunology, specializing in pediatric cancer.

Rick has been an avid community leader for his entire adult life. He served in many leadership roles for various non-profit organizations over the years. He currently serves on the Community Benefits Committee at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, the Furniture Industry Executive Committee at City of Hope, and as the immediate past Chair of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Rick has also been the recipient of numerous honors recognizing his deep commitment to community service.