Michael Watts (Chair)
Michael Watts was vice president of investor relations and corporate communications at Hologic, an S&P 500 medical products company with more than 1,000 employees in San Diego, until his retirement in 2022. He was responsible for the company’s internal and external communications efforts, including financial communications, media relations, employee communications and corporate branding. Previously, Mike was vice president and general manager of acquired businesses for Hologic. In that role, he managed a portfolio of five businesses in transplant diagnostics, infectious disease testing, prostate cancer diagnostics, pharmaceutical research services, and agricultural biotech. These businesses generated more than $80 million in annual sales and employed approximately 240 people in San Diego, Wisconsin, Connecticut and the United Kingdom. Before that, Mike was an executive at Gen-Probe, a molecular diagnostics company based in San Diego. He played a key leadership role in Gen-Probe’s growth over eight years, which culminated in Hologic’s $3.7 billion acquisition of the company. Before joining Gen-Probe, he held positions of increasing responsibility in strategy, finance and communications at Baxter, Ligand and Merck. Mike earned a BS from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. He lives in San Diego with his wife, and has two college- age children.
Johanna Afshani
After graduating from the University of Southern California where she served as a Research Fellow at the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, Johanna Afshani worked as Special Assistant to then-former President Ronald Reagan in Century City, California. Johanna is an attorney with specialized training in mediation from Pepperdine Law School’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. After practicing law in Hawai’i, Johanna relocated to Massachusetts and served as a courthouse mediator under the auspices of Mediation Works Incorporated. Johanna serves on the Board of Directors of the National Conflict Resolution Center (NCRC), which provides dispute resolution through client services, training and education. She is the Chair of NCRC’s Local Peacemaker Selection Committee, which honors individuals and organizations who make significant contributions to our community and give selflessly to build civility in San Diego. In addition, Johanna serves as a Child Advocate for unaccompanied minors with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. The Child Advocate's primary responsibility is to champion the well-being of individual children and ensure that all decisions made on behalf of immigrant children prioritize their best interests. Johanna has been credited in several publications. She attributes her passion for world affairs to her multicultural French, Iranian and American background, as well as her travels around the globe. Johanna lives in Solana Beach with her husband and three children.
Lisbeth Johnson
Dr. Johnson retired as Superintendent of the Santee School District (K-8) in San Diego, California in 2009 after serving ten years. She earned her Ed.D. from the University of La Verne in Educational Leadership in 2002. Lis began her career as a head teacher for Head Start schools. She then became a K-6 teacher and evaluation consultant in South Bay, a Principal of three schools and Area Director of eight schools in Cajon Valley (K-8), Director of Curriculum in Walnut Valley School District (K-12) in San Gabriel Valley and ultimately an Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services and Superintendent in Santee. Dr. Johnson has won several awards including the County’s ACSA Superintendent of the year award. She is also credited for rallying the community to pass a school bond measure for the first time in forty years that brought Santee new science classrooms and digital infrastructure. Upon retirement, Dr. Johnson worked at USD as an Educational Leader in Residence for SOLES where she coordinated professional development for Executive coaches in a Linked Learning High School Grant Program. Currently Lis serves on several school boards as chair and member and is an adjunct Professor at Brandman University in Transformational Leadership. Lis’ expertise is as a consultant to governance teams, and an Executive Coach for aspiring Superintendents. Dr. Johnson is also the co-author of Transforming Ice Age Schools.
Regina McDuffie
Dr. McDuffie is a leadership and educational consultant for K-12 schools and an instructor at the University of California San Diego Extended Studies where she teaches in the Department of Education. Dr. McDuffie received her Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Learning from Fordham University in New York where she researched educational technology and its impact on cognitive development in high school students. Over the past 25 years, Dr. McDuffie has held numerous administrative and teaching positions, including Social Studies teacher, Curriculum Coordinator, Elementary School principal, Academic Dean and Head of School. She is currently a coach for the Los Angeles Education Partnership CORE (Cultivating Organizational Resilience and Empowerment) program and the California Teacher Development Collaborative.
Amie Karscig
Amie Karscig is Associate Director for Teacher and Community Education within the Department of Education and Community Outreach (ECO) at UC San Diego’s Division of Extended Studies where she oversees a diverse array of programming for PK to post retirement, including opportunities for students, practitioners, administrators, parents, and community stakeholders. Prior to working with ECO, Amie ran Extended Studies’ flagship Post-Baccalaureate Premedical program in partnership with UCSD School of Medicine, assisting individuals who seek admission to medical school. Prior to her tenure at UC San Diego, Amie held several positions with both professional and semi-professional soccer teams in San Diego and remains a passionate advocate for the game. Amie was born and raised in New York City where she received her B.A. in Psychology from New York University. She currently resides in Mt. Helix with her husband and two children.
Joanne Pate
Joanne Pate is the Middle School Principal at The Rhoades School in Encinitas. She earned her B.A. in Inter-cultural Communication from Vanguard University and worked in accounting and business management. After receiving a M.Ed. from Lesley University, she held several school administrative roles over the past 17 years, including Instructional Support Coordinator, Assistant Head of School, and Principal. She has facilitated all aspects of school accreditation, opened a new middle school and developed robust student advisory programs. She lives in Oceanside with her husband, and has 2 young adult daughters.
Lisa Hellmann
Lisa Hellmann is the Chief People Officer of Kotter International, a firm with a vision as bold as it is simple: Millions leading, billions benefiting. By teaching others to transform their organizations, we create more leadership from more people – unlocking the potential for a thriving world.
Her passion for leading change through dynamic growth spans a career beginning in Global Change Management at Accenture. Early success in consultative leadership fueled Lisa’s ability to drive organizational excellence through more than two decades of human resources leadership roles in global, high-growth medical technology companies. Before joining the Kotter team, Lisa led enterprise people strategies for Hologic Inc., a global medical technology provider focused on women’s health and medical devices as Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources and Corporate Communications. Prior to her role at Hologic, Lisa led Human Resources for organizations facing transformational change: Navican Genomics enabling the precision cancer therapy organization to scale from 5 to more than 200 professionals in six months; Cytori Therapeutics Inc. a clinical-stage organization challenged to grow in anticipation of a commercial launch and later retrenching in response to disappointing clinical trial outcomes; Millennium Health, a fast-growing, founder-led start-up requiring leadership development, processes, and systems to enable the company to thrive at scale; and Gen-Probe/Hologic a global medical technology company formed through a transformational integration of two distinct cultures and businesses.
Lisa earned the Global Executive Master in Human Resource Leadership Certificate from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology, with a concentration in Psychology of Learning from Stanford. Lisa has a lifelong commitment to the power of education; she has lived in San Diego for 25 years, raising her two children and enjoying the outdoors and involvement in the community.