Board Members

Sandra King LCSW, Chairman of the Board
Sandra King, LCSW, (Retired) a leading local and national expert in the field of aging. Ms. King is the immediate past president and serves on the Board of the National Council on Aging (NCOA). An active leader in aging issues in Southern California, she has served as Chair of Strategic Planning, City of Los Angeles Expert Task Force on Aging, and Vice-President, Menorah Housing Foundation Board of Directors. During her career, she also served as a member of the board on numerous councils and networks concerned with care of the aging. Ms. King was the recipient of the National Association of Social Workers’ 2000 Koshland Award as California’s Outstanding Social Services Administrator of the Year, the Jewish Communal Professionals of Southern California’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the National Council on the Aging’s Claude Pepper Award of the National Institute on Community Based Long-Term Care. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Ms. King holds an MSW degree from the UCLA School of Social Work. Recently retired as CEO/Executive Director of Jewish Family Services, Los Angeles, Ms. King’s executive abilities in administrating a multi-million dollar, multi-faceted social services program will assist in managing the Foundation’s growth and development in spearheading innovative projects. During her 25 years with Jewish Family Services with increasing responsibilities in management positions, Ms. King led the development of the Agency’s Senior Services into a nationally recognized model for the delivery of health and social services for the Aging.

Maria O. Arechaederra, Treasurer
Known as a pioneer in the field of gerontology, Maria Arechaederra (Retired) has, in the past three decades, turned a small Santa Monica, California social service agency into a model of community-based services for the elderly. In 1978, Arechaederra became Executive Director of WISE Senior Services, a small storefront social service agency. During her tenure, she has built WISE into a nationally acclaimed center for seniors by providing services that preserve the independence and dignity of older adults, and prevent premature institutionalization. She is credited with the establishment of one of the nations first, and critically acclaimed, Adult Day Care Centers for frail seniors and victims of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. In addition, she conceptualized and established one of the first Ombudsman programs in the State of California as well as the nationally recognized and award-winning Los Angeles City, Department of Aging and the County of Los Angeles Fiduciary Abuse Specialist Team (FAST) on which numerous models are now based.

In 1995, she was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson to represent the State of California as one of the delegates to the White House Conference on Aging. Recently, she was selected by the Brentwood, California Media Group as one Los Angeles’s “10 Women of Power” in recognition of her leadership skills. Maria is a founding member and past Chair of the nationally recognized Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade Development Board. Maria was invited to join the FBI Citizens Academy Training and after completing the training became a member of the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association of Los Angeles.

Edward Schneider, M.D., Secretary
Edward Schneider, M.D. is Emeritus Dean and Professor of Gerontology at the Andrus Gerontology Center and a Professor of Medicine at the USC School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in Biological Sciences and Molecular Biology. Dr. Schneider received his undergraduate training at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and went on to graduate cum laude from the Boston University School of Medicine, from which he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in May, 1990. Before coming to USC in 1986, Dr. Schneider was the Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging and the Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging. Dr. Schneider’s research interests include: molecular genetic aspects of cellular aging, DNA damage and repair with aging, and health care costs of an aging population. Dr. Schneider sits on the editorial boards of more than half a dozen journals and was the first recipient of the William and Sylvia Kugel Chair of Gerontology.
In addition, the LAFA Board currently has two Ex-Officio Members:

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Los Angeles

Laura Trejo M.S.G., M.P.A
General Manager for the Los Angeles Department of Aging

The Impact of Aging

As the population of older adults increases in the coming years, senior programs, services and the City of Los Angeles need to be prepared to handle greater demands and maximize resources.
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