Pretend City Board of Directors

Bill, son of General William Lyon, has worked full time with William Lyon Homes since November 1997. He has been a member of the board of directors of William Lyon Homes since January 2000. Bill received a dual B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Product Design from Stanford University.

Hirad earned his civil engineering degree from the University of California, Irvine in 1993 and is a licensed professional civil engineer, registered in the State of California. Hirad established ICS in 1999. The company provides soil and groundwater remediation, facility decommissioning, demolition and general construction services for projects complicated by environmental and regulatory issues. Hirad is the father of two young children.

Jill attended the University of Southern California where she earned her B.A. in Psychology. After graduating from USC, Jill began her 10-year career in title insurance at Fidelity National Financial. She is a Senior Member of the Major Accounts group headquartered in Newport Beach.

Kari holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from University Southern California. Kari has over 20 years of experience with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Her career has focused primarily on serving large domestic and multi-national public companies. Kari also served as one of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Sarbanes-Oxley experts where she advised companies on corporate governance matters.

Alexandra holds a B.A. from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and has held senior level positions at several international advertising agencies.

Anne Marie holds a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine. She is also a member of the O’Neil/Avery/Moiso family, the second largest landholder in Orange County.

Gigi is a mother of five, catechism teacher, and former docent. With her children, Gigi has traveled worldwide visiting and learning about the educational offerings of children’s museums and science centers. She is the wife of Craig Barto, President of Signal Hill Petroleum, Inc. Gigi earned her B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Based in Irvine, Erin actively manages a portfolio of approximately 25 middle-market commercial banking clients. Erin received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She lives in Costa Mesa with her husband, Jack.

David holds a B.A. in Law and Society from the University of California, Santa Barbara. As President of G Companies he oversees all operations of residential, commercial and office divisions as well as special interest products such as the development of a golf course, winery, and coffee plantation in Kona, HI.

Bill has 34 years experience in teaching, coaching, site and district administration as well as 23 years of work with the senior management team of the OC Department of Education as Associate Superintendent of Instruction, Technology, Child Development and Outdoor Education Services. He received an MA in Education Administration.

Darren and his team advise high net worth clients and foundations on a variety of investment and financial matters ranging from asset allocation and investments to trust and estate planning, philanthropic planning, and credit strategies. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.A. in English. Additionally, he received an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with an emphasis in Finance. Darren and his wife Kym have five children.

Chad founded Chase Merritt, a privately owned real estate investment firm headquartered in Irvine, California, in 2005. Chase Merritt specializes in distressed, opportunistic, value add real estate investments. He previously served as the President of Newport Federal, a real estate investment company belonging to his father, Chuck Horning. Chad and his wife Kirsten have three sons.

Kirsten holds a Bachelor’s Degree in German and a Master’s Degree in Human Resources and Educational Leadership. She has taught both high school and middle school sciences, and coached track, cross country running and cross country skiing. One of the highlights of her career was teaching at Hyde Leadership Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., serving low-income K-12 students. Kirsten is also a certified personal trainer. Kirsten and her husband Chad have three sons.

Sinan holds a B.A. in Communications and a Master’s in Organizational Leadership, both from Chapman University. In 1998, he formed his first company, KCOMM, a web development and Internet marketing consultancy. In less than 10 years the company grew exponentially as a full-service Public Relations, Government Affairs and Event Marketing agency distinguished by its Internet expertise. In addition, Sinan founded the Internet Marketing Association, 8 years ago, a group that has grown rapidly to over 65,000 members nationwide.

Tom has extensive experience advising public and private companies, boards of directors and executives in a broad range of complex business, litigation and transactional matters. He received his B.A. in Economics and Business and his J.D. from the University of California Los Angeles. He is admitted to practice in the state of California, U.S. District Court, Central District of California and U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Dr. Jon Marashi is well known in aesthetic, implant and general dentistry. He has practiced in an elite group recognized as the “Doctors to the Stars,” which have created some of the most beautiful and well known smiles in the world. A graduate of New York University’s College of Dentistry, Jon has offices in both San Clemente and Newport Beach.

Dr. Elizabeth Fiedler Marashi is a board certified physician who practices Emergency Medicine at Saint Joseph’s Hospital and Kaiser Permanente. A graduate of Drexel University School of Medicine, Elizabeth also practices Facial Aesthetics.

Robert “Bob” Mayer III attended the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and worked in various manager positions at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino and The Robert Mayer Corporation’s Quality Inn and Key Largo Casino, before taking on the role of Vice President of the Robert Mayer Corporation, a major force in branding Orange County as a premier vacation destination. Bob has executive supervision over all activities of The Robert Mayer Corporation and his primary responsibilities include acquisitions/dispositions, finance, entitlement, and market strategies of all of the company’s holdings. Bob and his wife Tara reside with their two young children in Orange County.

Scott is responsible for identifying development opportunities, project entitlement, and construction management. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville and is a member of NAIOP, the trade association for developers, owners, and investors in industrial, office, and related commercial real estate.

Ethan assists Orange County’s high-wealth individuals in merging personal lending, investing, risk hedging, and estate planning to structure comprehensive financial solutions.

Steve concentrates on developing new financial relationships with Orange County businesses, technology firms, and select real estate professionals. He earned a B.A. in Social Ecology from the University of California, Irvine and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Sandy, along with Alexandra Mars Airth, provided Pretend City’s vision. Sandy also served as the first Executive Director. She is a Certified Fund Raising Executive and received a B.S. degree in Hospitality Management from California Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Arman holds Dr. of Chiropractic degree from Life Chiropractic College West in Hayward, CA. He is the founding partner and COO of Super Color Digital since 1997. Super Color is among the nations leading providers of grand format digital printing with offices in Orange County CA, Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago and Orlando. Prior to establishing Super Color, he practiced and owned two successful Chiropractic offices.

Azin earned her Information and Computer Science degree and graduated as an honor student in 1993 from the University of California, Irvine. She has over 10 years of experience in providing project management and software implementation consulting for major universities and fortune 500 companies. She is the wife of Arman Rashtchi, COO of Super Color Digital, LLC and mother of one.

Linda has 38 years of experience working with children and families in the fields of early childhood education and family therapy. She has designed and managed corporate childcare facilities for Apple, Union Bank, FHP and PG &E. With over three decades of management experience, Linda holds a BA in Human Development and MA in Family Therapy from Pacific Oaks College.