Leonis Adobe Museum - Share the Legend

Mr. Adams Joined the Board of Directors in 1979 and has served as its President for the past four years. Although now retired, he enjoyed two exciting careers, both of which allowed expression of his passion for photography. After College and a stint in the U. S. Navy Air Reserve, He began his first career with Douglas Aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base as a "photo chase" photographer shooting motion pictures of prototype aircraft Douglas tested for the U.S. military. From this he moved into the advertising motion picture division producing motion picture travelogues for airline customers of Douglas Aircraft such as United, KLM, Japan Airlines and many more. He then produced and directed Quick Look newsreels of missile firings at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Base.

After travelling the world for sixteen and a-half years on behalf of Douglas, he was recruited by The Eastman Kodak Co. Motion Picture Division as a Sales & Engineering Representative based in Hollywood Ca. calling on Military accounts. When another opportunity presented itself, he became the Director of Marketing Communications Western Region Motion Picture Division also in Hollywood, California. For the last eight years of his Kodak career, Don was Director of Entertainment Marketing working with the major motion picture film distribution heads developing and implementing co promotion projects. Don is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the American Society of Cinetographers.

During his time at Kodak, he taught basic Black and White photography at EI Camino College in Torrance Ca. every Monday night for twenty-five years and instilled in his students the same love of photography. Don parlayed his teaching ability to present photographic lectures on major cruise ships over a seven-year span.

Mr. Adams is responsible for most of the finest current still photographs of the Leonis Adobe and its grounds and serves as an outstanding ambassador for the Museum. Summing up his career Don States "Photography has been very good to the Adams Family"

Ms. Stoddard joined the Leonis Adobe Board of Directors in 2003. She attended the Sorbonne University in Paris, France and has a B.A. in Political Science/International Relations from UCLA and a J.D. from Pepperdine Law School with a focus in International Law. She worked in the California State Assembly, San Diego City Attorney's Office and Lexis/Nexis a division of Reed Elsevier the global publisher and information provider. She currently resides and practices law in the Los Angeles area.

Born Albert Raborn Phillips in Los Angeles in 1920, Mr. Phillips graduated from UCLA in 1941. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy reaching the grade of Lieutenant. Always interested in historic preservation, "Ray" was active in and had become President of the Heritage Square Museum. He was responsible for moving and restoring the first two houses that are now standing there, the Hale House and the Richard Shaw House, also known as the Valley Knudsen Garden Residence

In 1961, Ray read that a Mrs. Walter (Kay) Beachy was sponsoring a luncheon for anyone interested in saving the Leonis Adobe. Curious, he responded. Finding kindred spirits committed to historic preservation, he enthusiastically joined the Board.

Mrs. Beachy then formed the Leonis Adobe Association to hold ownership of the Adobe with her attorney as President. When her attorney stepped down shortly afterwards, Mr. Phillips became President of the Association, a position that he held for forty years.

In honor of the work he has done, Mr. Phillips has been the recipient of awards from the Los Angeles Conservancy, the Natural History Museum Alliance, Science and History Alliance of Los Angeles County, La Puente Valley Historical Society, City of Los Angeles, City of Calabasas, the Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles and the Chamber of Commerce of Calabasas, and the Leonis Adobe Association.

He continues to serve the Museum as its President Emeritus to advise the board on the vital role of accurate restoration in historic preservation.

Carol has been providing buisiness valuation consulting services to clients for over fifteen years. Analyses have been performed for numerous business valuation and financial consulting assignments for mergers and acquisitions, purchase price allocations, ESOPs, goodwill impairment, financial restructuring and tax reporting purposes. These assignments covered a wide range of industries and included valuations of: controlling interests and minority interests in the capital stock of closely held corporations; publicly traded securities and restricted securities; general and limited partnership interests; intangible assets and intellectual properties; and, options and debt securities.

Prior to valuation consulting, Carol was an independent financial consultant providing financial consulting services to a diverse group of clients in the manufacturing, publishing, real estate, retail and entertainment industries. Services provided to clients included foreign exchange risk management, strategic planning, database analysis, financial reporting and budgeting. Prior to consulting, Ms. Stewart held the position of Vice President at Citibank (formerly Glendale Federal Bank), a Federal Savings Bank, with responsibilities for Asset Securitization. Carol has also taught university level accounting and finance courses to undergraduate and MBA students at the University of Phoenix.

Carol earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University and an M.B.A. in Finance, from Southern Methodist University. She has also passed all four Business Valuation Courses offered through the American Society of Appraisers as a prelude to ASA candidacy.

Bio Coming Soon!

Mrs. Abel joined the Leonis Adobe Museum Board of Directors in 1971 and has been Board Treasurer since 1997. She is on the Board of Directors of the Southern California/Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ, and Chair of the Finance and Stewardship Committees; three time Moderator of the Woodland Hills Community Church, Chair of Trustees, Stewardship, Personnel and Pastoral Relations Board. She also serves on civic boards, including Chair 3rd Council District Planning Advisory Board, Woodland Hills; Elected Business Representative, Area 1, Woodland Hills/Warner Center Neighborhood Council. Further, Mrs. Able is Chair of APECA, Inc., the Association Promoting Education and Conservation in Amazonia, Iquitos, Peru and was a twenty-five year member of the Los Angeles Junior League serving on various civic promotion committees.

Mrs. Abel is a graduate cum laude from Denison University and holds a Graduate degree from Harvard University in Business Administration where she was later Assistant Director of the Volunteer Bureau, Boston , Massachusetts. She is owner of AOA Associates in Woodland Hills.

Mr. Rich joined the Leonis Adobe Board of Directors in 2009. A Southern California native, Mr. Rich earned his B.A. in Business Economics from UCLA, and his J.D. from Loyola Law School. He is a business litigator at the international law firm, Mayer Brown LLP, resident in its Los Angeles office, where he represents major corporations in a broad range of industries, including finance, real estate, telecommunications, manufacturing and entertainment. Mr. Rich is actively involved with community and charitable organizations, including the Alliance for Children's Rights and the Legal Division of the Jewish Federation.

Bio Coming Soon!

Born and raised in New York City in Queens, Long Island, Don Sweeney always had the performer bug in him. In high school Don hosted annual talent shows telling jokes and playing drums. During those years he studied percussion with Tonight Show drummer Ed Shaughnessy and later with drummer Bill Ben in Manhattan. Don was highly influenced by the drumming of Ed Shaughnessy and "World Famous Drummer" Buddy Rich.

In 1973, when Don was old enough to venture the world on his own here located to Los Angeles. Playing drums since he was eleven years old and professionally since the early seventies, Don toured throughout Canada and the United States with the Earl Rose Trio and with the Irving Berlin Century Show. Don has performed with several symphony orchestras, such as; the Corpus Christi Symphony in Texas, the Asheville Symphony in North Carolina the Los Angeles Pops Orchestra and the Orange County Symphony in California and The Jacksonville Symphony in Florida.

Don Sweeney has also played drums on many television shows, such as, the Tribute to Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, Chico and the Man, The Bob Hope Show, and several cartoon specials for CBS Television. In 1976 he was hired by NBC to work behind the scenes on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In his sixteen years with that show he was promoted from Production Assistant to Assistant Music Conductor.

On May 22, 1992 after thirty successful years, Johnny Carson stepped down as host of The Tonight Show and comedian Jay Leno took over the spot as it became The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. Don Sweeney was once again promoted to Music Supervisor for NBC Productions. Don has also appeared as numerous characters in the comedy skits on Jay's show.

In 1995 Don left The Tonight Show and went on to become Supervising Producer for an ABC Special entitled Tonight's Unlikely Program. He also scored a short film for Warner Brothers Studios and wrote several jingles for commercials in Southern California. In addition to producing some commercials for Lexus Cars, Don is a video editor as well. He has edited projects for Sony Music and produced and edited several music videos.

Don became Music Coordinator on The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show a talk show for the Fox T.V. Network and Music Supervisor for The Howie Mandel Show a daytime talk show for Paramount Domestic Television. He is currently Director of Operations for the Valley Cultural Center producing live "Concerts In The Park" in Woodland Hills. Don has written a book about his many experiences over his twenty-year stint on The Tonight Show. The book is called Backstage at the Tonight Show and is available online at www.amazon.com and in most major bookstores everywhere.

Mr. Washburn joined the Leonis Adobe Association Board of Directors in 2008 and is a popular elected official, successful in electioneering, organizational development, public affairs, community building, intergovernmental relations amongst municipal, county, regional, state, federal and international entities. He is a founder, 4-term Council Member and 4-time Mayor of the City of Calabasas. He also is a Director and past president of the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, a Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commissioner, a Regional Councilmember of the Southern California Association of Governments, Founder and 3-time President of the Las Virgenes-Malibu Council of Governments, and current Division Representative to the State Board and Past President of the 88-city LA County Division of the League of California Cities. Mr. Washburn earned his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and his MBA from San Diego State University.

Since March of 2002, Bob has been Director of Marketing and Communications for Kodak Digital Cinema, a new business area for the company's Entertainment Imaging division. In that position, he is responsible for developing and writing the marketing and communications strategies and materials to help guide Kodak to long-term profitable leadership as the digital cinema market evolves. It's a crazy business where today the cost of the ante is higher than the pot; some day, it may be the only game in town.

In his thirty-nine year Kodak career, Bob has managed Kodak's teams responsible for the company's photographic and video productions, audio-visual presentations, employee communications, and corporate sponsorships. He has written scripts for Kodak-sponsored television shows and major event movies, as well as for multi-image and business presentations. For six years, Bob served as the company's chief speechwriter, writing virtually all of the presentations delivered by Kodak's senior management team.

While learning to become a writer, Bob spent two years as an Army journalist, making Junction City, Kansas safe for democracy. He has a Bachelor's degree in Modern Languages from Notre Dame and a Master's of Science degree in Communications from Syracuse University. Many people think that Bob has the most interesting job at Kodak - and wish they could have it. On some days, Bob would give it to them.

Bob and his wife, Jeanne, have been married almost seventy-eight years - thirty-nine years each - and they have three children, Jennifer, Timothy, and Emily who have turned out to be remarkable people. Of all the titles Bob has had throughout his life, the only one that means anything to him is, 'Dad'.