Greetings from the board chair

It is such a delight to take on the role as chair of the CCA Board of Trustees at such a pivotal time. In this post-pandemic era, higher education has never faced more daunting challenges. Our past chair led and anchored the board through quite challenging times. Now with a new president, a strong board with new members, and incredible community support, CCA is poised to move forward and break new ground.

—Calvin B. Wheeler, MD, Board Chair

Chair

Calvin B. Wheeler, MD

Consultant at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Board member since 2001

Calvin B. Wheeler, MD, the newly appointed Board Chair, serves as a consultant at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. He was previously the Regional Medical Director of Undergraduate & Graduate Medical Education for Kaiser Permanente Northern California. With over 40 years in healthcare leadership, Dr. Wheeler has been with Kaiser Permanente since 1984, where he practiced Pediatric Neurology and the sub-specialty of Epilepsy for 32 years. He served in the roles of regional sub-chief of pediatric neurology, Assistant Physician-in-Chief and Physician-in-Chief of the KP Fremont Medical Center and Greater Southern Alameda Area. Having served on the board of TPMG for 18 years, he also serves on the boards of National Medical Fellowships (NMF), Health Career Connection (HCC), and the UCI alumni association. Beyond his medical career, Dr. Wheeler has deep ties to the Bay Area arts community—he and his wife, Sarajane, own CaSaj Gallery, which, after 20 years in brick-and-mortar form, is now an e-commerce business. Dr Wheeler has been on the faculty at Boston University, Harvard University, UCSF, and now KP BJT SOM.

Vice-Chair

F. Noel Perry

Founder and Managing Director, Baccharis Capital Inc.
Board member since 2005

Noel Perry is the founder and managing director of Baccharis Capital Inc., a private venture capital firm in Menlo Park. He’s a founding director and former vice-chair of Conservation International and the founder of Next 10, a nonpartisan organization working at the intersection of the economy and the environment to educate and empower Californians.

Perry is the founder of 100 Families Oakland, a neighborhood social-change art project that ran programs in partnership with CCA’s Center for Art and Public Life. He also developed the California Initiative at CCA, a three-year program aimed at confronting the major challenges facing Californians over the next 20 years. He served as chair of the CCA Board of Trustees from 2009 to 2013 and is also an artist.

Treasurer

Jack Wadsworth Jr.

Advisory Director, Morgan Stanley, and Honorary Chairman, Morgan Stanley, Asia
Board member since 2011

Jack Wadsworth is Honorary Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and an Advisory Director of Morgan Stanley globally. He is also Chairman and Co-Founder of Ceyuan Ventures, a China-based early-stage technology venture fund. Wadsworth joined Morgan Stanley as a Managing Director in 1978, later serving as President of Morgan Stanley Japan beginning in 1987 and as Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia from 1991 until his retirement in 2001, when he relocated from Hong Kong to San Francisco.

Wadsworth is a member of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Council; a Director of Asia Art Archive; an advisor to Mission BioCapital, BioInnovation Capital, and bioscience affiliates of the University of California San Francisco; and Chairman Emeritus of the Asia Society of Northern California. He is also an Emeritus Trustee of Williams College, the Asia Society, and the Guggenheim Museum of New York. His past board service includes the University of California San Francisco Foundation, the Pacific Pension Institute, and Pixar.

Wadsworth began his investment banking career at The First Boston Corporation in 1963, ultimately serving as Executive Vice President, a member of the Management Committee, and a member of the Board of Directors before departing in 1978. He holds a B.A. from Williams College (1961) and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (1963). He is married and has three children and eight grandchildren.

Bonnie Hewson

Lawyer and Banker
Board member since 2025

Bonnie Hewson is a lawyer and banker with extensive experience spanning international development, affordable housing, medical education, fundraising, and nonprofit consultancy. She served as CEO and CFO for the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and later as Executive Director of Development for Orthopedics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and has also held senior leadership roles with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, JP Morgan Chase, where she founded the Global Structured Finance Services business line, and international law firm Watson, Farley & Williams.

Hewson earned her AB in History at Princeton University in 1973, her JD at New York University Law School in 1979 as a Root-Tilden Scholar in Public Interest Law, and a certificate in Business Strategy from the Executive Management Program at Columbia University in 1998. She has also been active in Princeton alumni fundraising and has served on a range of nonprofit and corporate boards.

Abby Sadin Schnair

Architectural Photographer
Board member since 2021

Abby Sadin Schnair is an architectural photographer with over 40 years of experience. Her photography has been published in Architect Magazine, Architectural Digest, and Architectural Record. She has exhibited her work at various galleries and museums. After receiving her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Sadin Schnair co-founded the first women-owned professional architectural photography studio in Chicago. For 16 years she photographed architecture and interiors for a national and international clientele. In 1994, Sadin Schnair relocated to San Francisco, where she consulted for the design community in digital imaging. She transitioned from her consulting practice in 2005 to focus full-time on her own fine art photography and community involvement in the arts.

Sadin Schnair was appointed to the San Francisco Arts Commission in 2013, and she continues to serve the commission, including as a member of the Visual Arts and Civic Design Review committees. Sadin Schnair has served on the board of the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) since 2006 and is past chair of the A.C.T. MFA Conservatory board; she recently stepped down and was elected to the Emeritus Board. She and her husband are sponsors of the nonprofit urban planning policy organization SPUR. Past nonprofit leadership includes serving on the boards of Drew School in San Francisco, Mary Meyer School and LaSalle Language Academy in Chicago, and Parent’s Coalition of Bay Area High Schools. She is married to Gene Schnair, an architect, and they have two grown children involved in the arts, a musician and a poet/educator. Sadin Schnair's son and daughter-in-law are alumni of graduate programs at CCA.

Sarah Thornton, PhD

Writer, Sociologist of Culture, and Chief Strategy Officer, Jessica Silverman Gallery
Board member since 2025

Sarah Thornton, PhD, is a non-fiction writer, sociologist, and expert on the dynamics of cultural value and the operations of the art world and art market. A storyteller with deep insights into the role of artists and designers in society, she is the author of four critically acclaimed books — Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital; Seven Days in the Art World; 33 Artists in 3 Acts; and Tits Up: The Top Half of Women’s Liberation. She has worked as a planner at a branding consultancy, served as the chief writer on art for The Economist, and been a scholar-in-residence and professor at various institutions, including UC Berkeley and CCA. Thornton has been the partner of and principal advisor to Jessica Silverman, the San Francisco gallerist, since 2011. Thornton holds a BA in Art History and a PhD in the Sociology of Culture. Her extensive experience enables her to make a meaningful contribution to the college's strategic direction, degree programs, curriculum, and competitive positioning.

Marv Tseu

Vice Chairman and Lead Independent Director, Poly
Board member since 2021

Marv Tseu has had a long career as an executive across the technology, media, and telecommunications landscapes. A graduate of Stanford University, he began his career at AT&T and spent many years at Plantronics. As an operating executive, he was a key member of the company’s management team, taking the Plantronics private in 1988 and public again in 1994. He was appointed as chairman of the board in 1999 and served in that capacity until 2018 when he assumed the vice chairman role, coincident with the $2 billion acquisition of Polycom. In 2008, Tseu established his own consulting practice, Waypoint Strategy.

Tseu serves on the Fine Arts Museum Foundation Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Mary Mocas (MFA Fine Arts 2016), have been patrons of the San Jose Museum of Art for over 20 years. They also support the Institute of Contemporary Art San José and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Tseu is a graduate of Stanford University.