KYLE BALLARTA is a philanthropist, entrepreneur and artist who joined the IACS Board of Trustees in December 2022. A native of Texas and a first-generation Filipino-American, Ballarta is the founder and CEO of Falkon Ventures, an investment fund focused on supporting new technology addressing global challenges. As a serial entrepreneur, he has founded and co-founded a number of corporations in the tech industry, including LifeProof, a California-based consumer electronics company acquired by Otterbox in 2013, and Citadel Drone Defense, which was acquired by BlueHalo in 2021. He is a member of the board of directors of the Laudato sì Challenge Foundation, a global initiative from Pope Francis supporting sustainable development through philanthropy. A Knight of Magistral Grace of the Order of Malta, he is a member of the founding patron council for the Humanity 2.0 Initiative, which works to promote human flourishing and collaborates with the Vatican. He is also a member of the “Finance and Humanity Village” for Pope Francis’ Economy of Francesco in Italy, coordinating the sustainable finance group. Mr. Ballarta earned a bachelor’s degree in music and social sciences from the California Institute of the Arts. A trained professional musician and accomplished trumpeter, he has played the instrument in public performances across the U.S. and globe. He lives in Austin with his wife, Veronica, and two young children, Sebastian and Gabriel.

JOHN BESSOLO (Vice Chair of the Board) founded Bessolo Haworth & Vogel LLP. His clients draw on his more than 30 years of experience in financial planning, estate planning and taxation, income taxation and wealth management services. In August 2007, he was recognized by The San Fernando Valley Business Journal as one of the TOP 25 CPA’s in the San Fernando Valley. Mr. Bessolo received his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California and his Master’s degree in Taxation from Golden Gate University.

RICH GRIMES is Managing Principal of Tournament Wireless Strategies LLC, a wireless and digital infrastructure strategy and execution consulting firm. He has over 25 years of industry experience in C-Level and national leadership positions including AT&T Wireless, Capital Tower Group LLC, and for InSite Wireless Group, amongst other enterprises, leading some of the largest wireless infrastructure projects in the U.S. Rich earned his bachelor’s in English from Santa Clara University, a J.D. from Western State University, College of Law, and is a Stanford University Certified Project Manager. Mr. Grimes is a Knight of the Order of Malta where he leads its Prison Ministry for the Western Association, and is a recipient of Homeboy Industries’ Lo Maximo Award and, along with his wife Marie, the Santa Claran of the Year Award.

LOUIS KIM is vice president of AI Initiatives, Personal Systems Division at HP, where he leads the development of new personal devices enabled by AI. Previously he led several startup incubation businesses for HP including a 3D printed medical device business and an award-winning 3D scanning, projection computer. He has written theologically-oriented essays on the principles of gift economies and their relevance for industry and on the history of social movements. He has lectured on leadership and design at Yale, Pratt, ESADE (Spain), ArtCenter College of Design, focusing on the impact of the inner life of a leader. Louis serves on the boards of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and the Institute of Ecological Civilization. He has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University and an MBA from Yale. Mr. Kim was educated by the priests and brothers of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in a high school seminary, and his father became a diocesan priest after being widowed.

MAUREEN PECHT KING is a previous chair of the Museum Trustee Association and is the current chair of the Board of Trustees of Mingei International Museum. Ms. King is also on the Board of the Scripps Mercy Hospital Foundation, which she chaired for five years. She was a member of the Scripps Mercy Critical Care Campaign and chaired a $5 million Capital Campaign to expand the Cancer Center at Scripps Mercy Hospital. She now sits on the Scripps Capital Campaign Cabinet. She is vice chair of the Kraemer Endowment Foundation, which supports the St. Madeleine Sophie Center for mentally disabled adults, and was the co-chair of the Center’s capital campaign. Ms. King has served as a consultant in the field of fundraising and management for numerous non-profits and has worked with educational, cultural and human service institutions as a speaker and seminar facilitator. She has also conducted a series of seminars on volunteerism in the Volga region of Russia. She graduated cum laude from the University of San Diego College for Women with a bachelor’s of arts degree and has taught speech and drama on the secondary school level. A fifth generation Californian, Ms. King and her husband, Charles, have four adult children, five grandchildren and one great grandchild.

MICHAEL MORELAND (Chair of the Board) was appointed University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at Villanova University in 2017. Dr. Moreland joined the Villanova faculty in 2006 and served as Vice Dean from 2012 to 2015. He earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame, his master’s and doctorate in theological ethics from Boston College, and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. Following law school, Professor Moreland clerked for the Honorable Paul J. Kelly, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and was an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC, where he represented clients in First Amendment, professional liability, and products liability matters. Before coming to Villanova, he served as Associate Director for Domestic Policy at the White House under President George W. Bush, where he worked on a range of legal policy issues, including criminal justice, immigration, civil rights, and liability reform.

PATRICK PASCAL is president of Chelsea Management Co. in Los Angeles, California. In addition to serving on the Institute’s board, Mr. Pascal also serves on the Advisory Board for the USC Caruso Catholic Center, and serves as chairman for St. Anne’s, the only social service agency in Los Angeles that specializes in serving the needs of at-risk pregnant and parenting young women and children. He sits on the board of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. Born in Ireland, Mr. Pascal moved to Los Angeles as a child. He earned a bachelor’s of arts from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and he remains keenly interested in 20th century California history and architectural preservation.

MARTIN J. SKRIP Marty is a retired KPMG LLP senior corporate tax partner, having served multinational companies in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley. He also served as an accounting firm executive at 2 other international accounting firms. Marty has extensive Board experience in higher education. He is a member of the Audit Committee of the University of San Francisco Board of Trustees and is also the former Board Chair and long serving member of the Board at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University. He was also a long serving member of the Board of the Orfalea College of Business at Cal Poly, SLO. Mr. Skrip is a graduate of Bentley University in Waltham, MA, the SUNY-Buffalo Graduate Tax Program and is a Certified Public Accountant (CA and NY).

AUXILIARY BISHOP MATTHEW ELSHOFF OFM CAP was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but grew up in the Los Angeles area, attending St. Bede the Venerable Church and school in La Canada Flintridge. After graduating St. Francis High School, also in La Canada Flintridge, he entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order in 1973 and was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Timothy Manning in 1982.

As a Capuchin, he served as Vice Master of Novices, and was soon elected for leadership as a Definitor from 1999 to 2005 and then as local Provincial from 2008 to 2014. Within the Archdiocese, he has served as educator, campus minister, then President of St. Francis High School. He has also served as Pastor of Old Mission Santa Ines in Solvang, and most recently as Pastor in 2018 at St. Lawrence of Brindisi in Los Angeles. Archbishop Gomez appointed him as Episcopal Vicar for Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region on September 26, 2023, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Born in Burbank CA in 1958, FR. PAUL FITZGERALD SJ earned a B.A. in History from Santa Clara University in 1980. Two years later he entered the Jesuits at Montecito CA. He studied at the Hochschule fuer Philosophie in Munich, Germany, from 1984-1986, earning a Ph.B. and then taught French and German as a regent at Jesuit High School, Sacramento.

He earned an M.Div. degree (1991) and a Licentiate at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge MA (1993). After a short stint as an adjunct lecturer at SCU, he attended the University of Paris IV – La Sorbonne – for a Docteur ès Lettres in the Sociology of Religion and simultaneously earned a Pontifical Doctorate in Ecclesiology at the Institut Catholique de Paris.

He served as an Assistant, then Associate Professor, Associate and then Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at Santa Clara (1997-2008). He was Provost and Professor at Fairfield University, Connecticut for five years. He was USF 28th president, serving from 2014 to 2024.

Currently he is a faculty member at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. His areas of research and teaching include Practical Theology, Historical Ecclesiology, Theology of the Laity, Catholic Social Doctrine, and other questions of Contextual and Systematic Theology.

Emeritus Trustees

Thomas J. Condon
Dominic Doyle, Ph.D.
Rev. Michael Engh, SJ, Ph.D.
Daniel Finn, Ph.D.
Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, Th.D.
Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., Ph.D.
Robert H. Smith
Ellen Hancock†
Maureen Shea
Julie Mork
Peter Steinfels
Br. Bernie Ploeger SM