Karen Winnick is a philanthropist, artist and the published author of nine children’s books. A graduate of Syracuse University, Mrs. Winnick was a graphic designer and art director. The mother of three sons, she has a particular interest in literacy, education, history and animal welfare.
A respected author and illustrator of children’s picture books, Mrs. Winnick frequently makes visits to Los Angeles public schools to read to young students and to encourage literacy. She has written, illustrated, and published Lucy’s Cave, Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers, Sybil’s Night Ride, A Year Goes Round, Barn Sneeze, The Night of the Fireflies, Cassie’s Sweet Berry Pie, Sandro’s Dolphin and Patch & The Strings. Her paintings have been exhibited in local galleries, and her poetry has been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies. She has also produced a play, Kindertransport, about Jewish children sent to England from Nazi Germany during WWII.
Karen received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Syracuse University. She also studied in Florence, Italy, at New York University, the School of Visual Arts, and at the University of California, Los Angeles. Mrs. Winnick serves as a member of the Board of Commissioners for the Los Angeles Zoo, and the Board of Trustees Emeritus at Brown University.
Gary Winnick is an international financier and philanthropist with a global investment career spanning more than three decades.
He is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Capital Group, a diversified private investment firm founded in 1985.
Pacific Capital Group is involved with private equity, restructuring and has invested in a select group of industries, such as material science, health care, real estate and telecommunications. He is also Chairman and Founder of advanced concrete technology company iCrete, LLC.
Mr. Winnick was a senior vice president at Drexel Burnham Lambert which became the fifth largest investment bank in the
United States. In 1997, Mr. Winnick founded Global Crossing Limited. Global Crossing laid the first privately financed underwater fiber optic cable network across the Atlantic Ocean and partnered with Microsoft and Softbank Corporation to build a high capacity telecommunications network in Asia. This Global Crossing Network today connects approximately 390 cities in more than 30 countries worldwide and delivers services to approximately 690 cities in more than 60 countries and six continents around the globe.
In 2006, Mr. Winnick, concerned about issues of global warming and environmental change, created a new “green” company – iCrete. iCrete high-performance, low-impact advanced concrete technology is being used to build the Freedom Tower at One World Trade Center in New York City. Additional projects include Beekman Tower, designed by Frank Gehry, Eleven Times Square, and the Revel Casino in Atlantic City.
Mr. Winnick was born in 1947 and grew up in Roslyn, New York. He graduated from the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University in 1969.
Mr. Winnick serves on several nonprofit boards, including The Museum of Modern Art , The Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Hillel International. In 2001, UCLA’S Dashew International Center presented Mr. Winnick with the 2001 Jacoby International Award. That same year, he was awarded the Humanitarian Laureate Award by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. In 2004, he received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University.