MS in Information Technology (MSIT) Advisory Council

Jon’s early career saw him building his expertise in software development, across several business domains.

This culminated with the role of Technical Director at a software house, where he delivered a new market-leading ERP for house builders. 

Following this Jon joined Hamptons International, an upscale real estate agency, as the Head of Technology. In this role, he had complete responsibility for IT infrastructure, software development, platform implementation, and other IT services. During his six-year tenure, Hamptons experienced ownership changes from private to VC-backed, and finally to a Dubai-based sovereign property group.

Jon then spent fifteen years at Disney, initially serving as a Business Technology Partner for various Disney businesses in London.

He gained a reputation for turning around projects and teams and defining and delivering strategic initiatives. Later, he moved to Los Angeles under a Talent Mobility program and assumed responsibility for Disney's global finance platforms. He played a leading role in Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, managed the team through the challenges of Covid, and facilitated the launch of Disney+.

Currently, Jon serves as the Global Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Cove Communities, a Real Estate Investment Trust specializing in manufactured home, RV, and holiday parks across the US, Canada, England, and Scotland. His primary focus is to prepare the technology function for rapid growth.

John has significant experience in SMB and Enterprise SaaS software, utilizing creativity, facilitative leadership and teamwork to design strategies and execute solutions that create products and services customers love. 

John spent over a decade at Intuit with much of that time focused on leading efforts to build the data platform and move from on premise applications to a cloud-based SaaS platform.  He holds multiple patents in data acquisition, aggregation, and artificial intelligence.  Most recently John was CTO overseeing a multi cloud SaaS metadata platform leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence to enable intelligent workflow across large data sets for small business and enterprise customers.

Outside of work John spends his time with his wife and two teenage children in Southern California.  Most weekends you will find them on the soccer field or at beach!

Dhruv is a Director of Information Security at a video, marketing, and hosting company, Wistia, based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dhruv is responsible for creating a new pragmatic Information Security program for Wistia. Prior to Wistia, Dhruv served as a Senior Manager of Information Security at J.D. Power, a multinational data analytics firm. Dhruv is an immigrant who moved to the United States of America, Ventura County, from India in 2015 as a graduate student at CSU Channel Islands, blessed to call Ventura County his home.

Dhruv is also a graduate of the Ventura County Leadership Academy’s (VCLA) 26th cohort. VCLA’s comprehensive program ignites awareness and inspiration, helping cohort members discover their individual pathways toward impacting our region. During his VCLA journey, Dhruv continued to develop his leadership skills by learning from those who serve and lead Ventura County. VCLA has impacted Dhruv and inspired his personal and professional growth.

Diana is a Program Manager at Google under the data infrastructure organization responsible for resources allocations and coordination of supply and demand around many of Google's most visible products such as Google Search, Google Photos, and more. Prior to Google, she was a Project Manager at ICANN where she managed concept-to-launch of a $3M+ Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation. 

Diana was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA where she currently resides but both her parents are from Nicaragua. She received her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at California State University, Northridge and her Master of Science in Information Systems and Technology at California Lutheran University. She also holds a Project Management certification from UCLA.

Diana is very passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion professionally and personally. She is currently a board member for Google's Employee Resource Group (ERG) specifically for Hispanic/Latinx-identified employees where this group aims for
inclusion and advancement within Google. Personally, Diana is a Production Director at Latinx in Gaming, an award winning non profit organization connecting Latines across the gaming industry. Within these organizations, she aims to promote people of color
and/or Hispanic/Latinx individuals within the tech or gaming industry. She aims to create an inclusive and safer community within these industries.

Casey Stoops is the Head of Global IT Operations & Cyber Security at Patagonia.  He is a graduate of the University of Colorado @ Boulder (BA US History 1998) and received his MBA from California Lutheran University in 2011.  He has been working in technology since 2000, with a focus on technology operations, architecture, and enterprise scale technology management, with experience at Fortune 100 firms before joining Patagonia in 2010 to lead IT Operations.

Casey’s areas of responsibility at Patagonia include global platform technology architecture and vendor management, global cloud computing platforms (Azure, AWS, etc.), global network architecture and management, global IT compliance and data privacy, global cyber security and incident response, global retail technology, global IT disaster recovery & business continuity, global user support and global enterprise application support.  

Casey and his various teams regularly donate back to the community and the environment through outreach programs, such as Girls Reimagining Tomorrow (GRiT), partnerships with Homeboy Industries and other community-based organizations that help keep technology out of landfills, as well as direct volunteer work with community environmental organizations in Ventura County and Washoe County (NV).

When not at work, Casey spends time with his family (his wife Marlo, son Jack and daughter Charlotte) and manages his family avocado farms, where he has integrated his passion for technology into the growing operations, implementing sensor systems and automation, to drive efficiency and improve crop performance.  Casey is also an avid fisherman and snow sports enthusiast, which has blended well with his work at Patagonia over the years.

Jennifer Terrill is Vice President of Technology Services and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Forest Lawn, a privately owned memorial park with six locations in Southern California. For over 100 years, Forest Lawn has been an integral part of the community it serves and specializes in traditional funeral services and cremations.  Jennifer leads the organization’s Information Technology strategies for Enterprise Applications, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Business Process Improvement and Project Management.

In addition to her professional duties, Jennifer currently serves as a board member for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valleyand as a Member at Large for the Southern California Society for Information Management. She has served on technology leadership boards and committees. 

Jennifer received her Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from California Polytechnic University, and earned a Certification Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) credential.