Board of Directors

Rachel McDonnell, a former high school social science educator within the Fontana Unified School District, and has been volunteering at the Claremont Forum since 2008. Her contributions have primarily revolved around website management and various administrative duties, and she served as a volunteer manager for several years.

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Rachel has served on the board of directors for both the Claremont Educational Foundation and Crossroads Women.

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Holding a BA in Behavioral Science from Cal Poly, Pomona, her academic pursuits were centered on educational psychology. This was continued by earning a teaching credential from Cal State, San Bernardino.

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As a staunch advocate for the transformative power of books, Rachel recognizes their critical role in supporting personal growth, education, and mental escape for incarcerated adults. Through her marketing and fundraising efforts, she is committed to providing these vital resources to help facilitate positive change and continued learning for those within the prison system.

Lynn Burrows is an active cellist and cello teacher. She has taught at the California State University Suzuki String Program, the Hollywood Jewish Community Center, the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, and for decades in her private studio in Claremont. She is the founder and former director of the Youngstown Suzuki Program, the Peterborough Suzuki Strings Program, and Inland Valley Music Together. 

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Books and libraries have been an important part of her life since childhood, when she volunteered for her school library and local public library. She has been on the board of the Friends of the Claremont Library for many years, where she has edited the newsletter and served on the Claremont on the Same Page committee. Her work for the Prison Library Project has reinforced her passion for making the written word accessible to everyone. She has also organized a series of musical performances at the Claremont Forum Bookshop.

Sergio Perez serves as Vice President. As a devoted long-time volunteer, he has been integral to the mission of PLP, working closely with volunteers, staff, and board members to ensure the program runs efficiently and maintains a high standard of quality in the books distributed.

Sergio has also established connections with other book-to-prisoner programs across the country. He facilitates letter exchanges, shares vital information about prison restrictions, and collaborates with various organizations to enhance the accessibility of books to prisoners nationwide, continually seeking to improve and expand the impact of the PLP. He regularly seeks opportunities for partnerships with local libraries, churches, educational institutions, and other community organizations to secure more resources for the PLP

He believes that access to books and education serves not only as a tool for personal development but also as a means of reducing recidivism and aiding in the successful reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals into society.

Mary first became aware of the PLP from a Los Angeles Times article more than a decade ago, and became a regular book donor and shopper at the bookstore.

As the PLP’s mission of providing books to the incarcerated aligns with Mary’s fervent belief that books can truly change lives, Mary began volunteering in the bookstore in 2022 and joined the board in 2023. She brings to the bookstore a strong background as an avid reader and participant in many literary related groups including Penguin Random House Readers’ Insight Panel and Center for Fiction, NY, NY.  

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Professionally, Mary works as a Physician Peer Review specialist in a Los Angeles hospital. She resides in Pasadena with her husband and fellow PLP volunteer, Blanton. They are the proud parents of two young men.

Dirk Silva joined the board in July 2024. He currently serves on the panel of mediators with the RCBA Dispute Resolution Service, Inc. Previously he practiced law in California and Texas from 1988 to 2024 with a number of law firms and corporations handling insurance defense, construction, real estate, bankruptcy, and mortgage banking litigation. From 1993 to 2005, and 2016 to 2020, Dirk also taught at the California Southern Law School.

Since 2019, he has served as a commissioner with the Claremont Community & Human Services Commission. Dirk also is a Hospitality Minister at Our Lady of the Assumption church and musician with the Claremont Symphony Orchestra, Gem City Jazz Cats and Pomona College Jazz Ensemble. He is also a board member with ConnectionClub, a nonprofit corporation providing social support for developmentally disabled adults. Dirk previously volunteered as an attorney with Uncommon Good, California Innocence Project, Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, and the San Bernardino County Bar Association West End Legal Aid Clinic.

Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. is the Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology at Claremont McKenna College. Dr. Riggio is a social/personality psychologist and leadership scholar with more than two dozen authored or edited books and more than 250 articles/book chapters. His research interests are in leadership, team processes, I-O Psychology, and organizational and nonverbal communication.

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A Claremont resident since 1998, Ron helped create and run the Leadership Claremont program, sponsored by the City of Claremont and the Claremont Chamber of Commerce, designed to increase the leadership capacity of government officials, business owners, nonprofit directors, and others. In addition to serving as Vice President of the Claremont Forum Board, he also is a member of the Board of the Southern California Service Corps and the Inland Valley Volunteer Resource Center. He previously served on the Board of JustUs4Youth.

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Dr. Riggio is the recipient of many research and program grants from the U.S. Department of Education, the Kellogg Foundation, Southern California Edison, the Army Research Institute, and a number of small foundations. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Leadership Association.