University of Southern California

David Bohnett (he/him), a member of the USC Board of Trustees, is a philanthropist and technology entrepreneur committed to effecting positive change through community building and social activism. He serves as chair of the David Bohnett Foundation, and is also the chairman of the Executive Committee of the board of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, vice chairman of the board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, and a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Lake Agawam Conservancy in Southampton, New York.

Since 1999, the David Bohnett Foundation has provided funding, state-of-the-art technology and technical support to hundreds of innovative organizations and institutions in several primary funding areas: The Fund for Los Angeles, supporting a broad spectrum of arts, educational and civic programs, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LACMA and CicLAvia; LGBTQ-related causes; graduate school leadership programs at the University of Michigan, UCLA, NYU and Harvard; voting rights and registration initiatives; research and public policies to reduce the toll of firearm violence; and animal research and rights.

Grants totaling over $120 million to date have supported the work of a wide range of organizations, including the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, The Wildlife Alliance, the ACLU Foundation, Equality California and the David Bohnett Gay & Lesbian Leadership Fellows program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The David Bohnett CyberCenters are another major undertaking; currently located at more than 60 LGBTQ centers nationwide, they offer business, educational, research and recreational opportunities to the local gay and lesbian community via access to the internet. One of his most notable gifts to USC endowed and named the USC Bohnett Residential College at USC Village—a community built around a core ideal of social action through entrepreneurship.

In his professional career, Bohnett has long been a leader in the technology and information services industry, and is founder and managing member of the early-stage technology fund, Baroda Ventures. He also serves on the board of directors of several notable technology companies.

In keeping with his approach to philanthropy, Bohnett has always been involved with businesses that empower individuals, improve lives and build viable communities by connecting like-minded people. In 1994, he founded GeoCities.com, a media and e-commerce company that was once ranked one of the four most trafficked sites on the web. GeoCities became publicly traded on NASDAQ and was acquired by Yahoo! Inc. in 1999. In a 2007 article, the Wall Street Journal described it as a Facebook prototype and noted, “Back then, entries were known as home pages, not profiles. But the basic, expressive elements of today’s Facebook and competitor MySpace … were all right there.”

Previously, Bohnett has been an active partner in Xdrive.com, Wireimage.com, Stamps.com and LowerMyBills.com, and has held various positions in the software industry for Legent and Goal Systems. He started his career as a staff consultant with Accenture (then Anderson Consulting) in Los Angeles. His academic credentials include a Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa from USC and Whittier College, an MBA in finance from the University of Michigan, and a BS in business administration, also from USC.

Bohnett’s many awards and distinctions include Los Angeles Business Journal’s Technology Leader of the Year, Time Digital’s Top 50 Cyber Elite, and Entrepreneur of the Year for Southern California. Bohnett maintains residences in Los Angeles and New York City.

Carla Ibarra (she/they) is a transgender rights activist, speaker and public health professional with a decade of community-centered work focusing on equity and justice in BIPOC LGBTQIA+ communities.

She is the current and first-ever LGBTQIA+ liaison for the Los Angeles Civil, Human Rights, and Equity Department, leading various LGBTQIA+ initiatives for the department and the city. Before joining the city, Ibarra served as a health program analyst for the L.A. County Department of Public Health’s HIV and STD programs. She also served as a former commissioner of the Los Angeles Transgender Advisory Council.

Ibarra was featured in The Power of Kindness, a documentary featuring Lady Gaga, in honor of World Kindness Day. In May 2022, she was a part of the first-ever MTV Mental Health Youth Action Forum, held at the White House. As an advocate for transforming mental health awareness into actual, tangible actions, Ibarra and other young leaders dialogued with President Joe Biden, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, and mental health advocate and world-renowned artist Selena Gomez.

Ibarra holds a bachelor’s degree in consular and diplomatic affairs and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Ibarra is a proud transgender Filipina immigrant, born and raised in Metro Manila. She resides in Los Angeles, with her beautiful husband, Arturo, and three awesome cats named Chubs, Meatball and Meatloaf.