Our Board

Skyhook Foundation

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Founder

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is recognized the world over as one of the greatest basketball players who ever played the game as well as a committed social activist and award-winning writer. As a player, he was the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points for 39 years until his record was recently broken in 2023 by fellow Laker great Lebron James. He is a 6x NBA champion, and the league’s only 6x MVP. Time magazine dubbed him “History’s Greatest Player” and ESPN and The Pac 12 named him the #1 Collegiate Athlete of the 21st Century. 

He is one of a handful of influential and respected black men in America who has a national platform as a regular contributing columnist for newspapers and magazines around the world. His articles now appear at kareem.substack.com where he shares his thoughts on some of the most socially relevant and politically controversial topics facing our nation today. After 50 years as an athlete and activist, he offers his perspectives as a nationally recognized speaker who regularly appears on the lecture circuit. The Southern California Journalism Awards have named him Columnist of the Year 8 times.

Before leaving office, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest honor for civilians. He is the recipient of The Ford Medal of Freedom, The Rosa Parks Award, The Double Helix Medal and Harvard University’s W.E.B. Dubois Medal of Courage. Abdul-Jabbar holds 8 honorary doctorate degrees and is a U.S. Cultural Ambassador, a title specifically created for and bestowed on him by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  

He is a New York Times best-selling author of 17 books, most of which explore the often-overlooked history of African Americans, from the achievements of the Harlem Renaissance to the forgotten Black inventors who changed our daily lives. He currently has several book and film projects in development.

Kareem is an award-winning documentary producer and a 2x Emmy-nominated narrator. He was featured in HBO’s most watched sports documentary of all time, Kareem: Minority of One, and he was a writer/producer on Season 5 of Veronica Mars.

Kareem has appeared in hundreds of iconic and memorable tv shows and movies such Airplane, Game of Death, The Big Bang Theory, Sesame Street, Jeopardy, The Simpsons, Fletch, New Girl, Full House, FX’s smash-hit, DAVE, aka Lil Dicky and Showtime’s #1 rated show Billions.

In 2015, the Basketball Hall of Fame created the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar College Center of the Year Award to honor the top college basketball center each year. And in 2021, the NBA created the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award to honor the next generation of athletes who lift up their communities. https://www.nba.com/news/2023-kareem-abdul-jabbar-finalists-revealed

Currently, Abdul-Jabbar serves as the Chairman of his Skyhook Foundation whose mission is to “Give Kids a Shot That Can’t be Blocked” by bringing educational STEM opportunities to underserved communities through innovative outdoor environmental learning which allows LAUSD 4th and 5th graders to soar above the four walls of the classroom. His goal is to make science, technology, engineering, and math interactive, multi-sensory, relevant and, most important, fun. Kareem is the California STEM Ambassador because of his commitment to youth education and he also serves on the Advisory Board for UCLA Health. At 76 years old, he likes to say: “Only my jersey is retired.”

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Deborah Morales CEO

Deborah Morales is the Executive Director of The Skyhook Foundation and Chief Executive Officer of Iconomy Multi-Media & Entertainment, where she develops and executes Legacy Plans that enable icons and prominent business personalities to create, monetize & protect their unique personal brands...

Deborah Morales is the Executive Director of The Skyhook Foundation and Chief Executive Officer of Iconomy Multi-Media & Entertainment, where she develops and executes Legacy Plans that enables icons and prominent business personalities to create, monetize & protect their unique personal brands. Her clients gain the ability to position themselves within the international marketplace – achieving both personal financial success and meaningful philanthropic impact. She was instrumental in launching The Skyhook Foundation and created its signature program Camp Skyhook, by partnering with LAUSD & Clear Creek - the nation’s first & oldest outdoor learning camp. Deborah also serves on the Advisory Board for UCLA Health.

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Skyhook Foundation

Dr. Anthony Chan Treasurer

Dr. Anthony Chan, is the former Chief Global Economist for JP Morgan Chase Bank.  Dr. Chan joined JP Morgan in mid-1994 and retired in May 2019. During his tenure, he addressed over one hundred thousand clients each year and delivered presentations to many Central Banks around the world, including China’s PBOC, the Bank of Korea, and almost every Central Bank in Latin America...

Dr. Anthony Chan, is the former Chief Global Economist for JP Morgan Chase Bank.  Dr. Chan joined JP Morgan in mid-1994 and retired in May 2019. During his tenure, he addressed over one hundred thousand clients each year and delivered presentations to many Central Banks around the world, including China’s PBOC, the Bank of Korea, and almost every Central Bank in Latin America. Currently he spends a great deal of his time traveling around the world (e.g., to Asia, Europe, and Latin America) and in the United States delivering client presentations that focus on the Global Economy and Global Financial Markets.

Anthony is also a member of the prestigious Blue-Chip Monthly Forecasting panel, as well as the following other forecasting panels: National Association of Business Economists Quarterly Macro Panel and The Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones Weekly Economic Indicator panels. In addition, he served on the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association from 2001-2002. One of his most important responsibilities of this ABA group was to brief Alan Greenspan and the rest of the board members in Washington, DC twice a year in an off the record session.

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Skyhook Foundation

Cheryl M. Lott Secretary

Cheryl M. Lott is an attorney with Buchalter, A Professional Corporation who represents corporate clients, banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions in both state and federal court. Her practice focuses on general business and commercial litigation, as well as labor and employment litigation, construction defect litigation, and class action defense...

Cheryl M. Lott is an attorney with Buchalter, A Professional Corporation who represents corporate clients, banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions in both state and federal court. Her practice focuses on general business and commercial litigation, as well as labor and employment litigation, construction defect litigation, and class action defense. She has significant experience in preparing all aspects of a case for trial or arbitration. Ms. Lott also has extensive experience working on local, state, and federal regulatory matters and government procurement matters. In the regulatory realm, she has significant experience assisting financial institution clients with Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering detection procedures. Ms. Lott co-chairs the Los Angeles office’s litigation department.

Ms. Lott is the Alumni Regent (designate) of the University of California Board of Regents, the immediate past President of the UCLA Alumni Association, is a member of the UCLA Foundation Board, and an officer of the Alumni Association of the University of California. Ms. Lott is a member of the UCLA School of Law Alumni Board and is a founding member of the UCLA Law Women LEAD Board. In 2019, Ms. Lott was recognized as an Emerging Leader at the UCLA Law Awards.

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Skyhook Foundation

Steve Anapoell Board Member

Steve Anapoell is an experienced business transactional, securities, and tax lawyer whose practice focuses on private equity, fund formation, joint ventures, private securities offerings, and mergers and acquisitions...

Steve Anapoell is an experienced business transactional, securities, and tax lawyer whose practice focuses on private equity, fund formation, joint ventures, private securities offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. He has served as lead corporate and securities counsel in the design, structure, or documentation of some of the largest private real estate offerings in the United States, involving approximately $2 billion. His experience also includes a wide range of other industries, including technology and software, entertainment, renewable energy, oil and gas, sporting goods, life settlements, and medical devices. Steve represents acquirers, sellers, and others in connection with a wide variety of both public and private transactions.

With an advanced law degree in taxation, Steve brings together a deep understanding of both corporate and tax issues to provide his clients with comprehensive and integrated solutions to their business and transactional needs. Clients regularly look to Steve for his business-oriented and innovative solutions to overcoming structural roadblocks, as well as his understanding of the corporate, tax, and business issues they confront. His extensive experience in these areas allows him to assist clients with entity formation, financings, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and other business endeavors in a tax-efficient manner and to avoid costly pitfalls.

Additionally, Steve is recognized as one of the top EB-5 program securities attorneys in the United States and is considered a thought leader in the industry. He served as lead corporate and securities counsel for the largest EB-5 securities offering in the United States, represented one of the world’s largest restaurant franchisors in designing protocols and deal structure to enable franchisees to use EB-5 capital to develop and operate additional locations, and represented the City of Miami in structuring the organization and implementation of its EB-5 Regional Center.

Steve is the author of “Drafting a Private Placement Memorandum Under Regulation D” and a co-author of “Issuing Common Shares to Founders and Investors,” both in Financing and Protecting California Businesses, published by Continuing Education of the Bar – California. He is also a co-editor and co-author of the Guide to Organizing and Operating a Limited Liability Company in California (second edition), published by the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California.

Steve is the former chair and vice chair of the Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies Committee of the California Lawyers Association and has been included numerous times in Los Angeles Magazine’s list of Southern California Super Lawyers in the areas of securities and corporate finance, business/corporate, and tax. He is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

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Skyhook Foundation

Alvaro “Al” Cortes Board Member

Alvaro Cortes is the Senior Executive Director of the Beyond the Bell Branch of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Mr. Cortes oversees and supervises the implementation of all extended day programs which include before-school...

Alvaro Cortes is the Senior Executive Director of the Beyond the Bell Branch of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Mr. Cortes oversees and supervises the implementation of all extended day programs which include before-school, after-school, and Saturday programs for the entire LAUSD. He was instrumental in creating the partnership between Camp Skyhook and LAUSD, which is its flagship program.

Prior to his position as Director, Mr. Cortes served the district for 2 years as Facilitator for the Annenberg Grant implementation and for 12 years as an Elementary School Principal. Being an immigrant from Central America, Mr. Cortes has an empathy and affinity for EL students and is passionate about ensuring that all students learn, graduate, and achieve.

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Our Team

Skyhook Foundation

Gerardo “Gerry” Salazar DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF OUTDOOR AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

As the Administrator of Outdoor and Environmental Education for the Los Angeles Unified School District, Gerardo oversees programs for two outdoor education centers and five non-district sites...

As the Administrator of Outdoor and Environmental Education for the Los Angeles Unified School District, Gerardo oversees programs for two outdoor education centers and five non-district sites. He is an active contributor to the California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) and currently serves on the NASA – Network of States Advisory Council. Gerardo’s goal is to provide every LAUSD fourth and fifth grader the opportunity to have a high-quality, natural world-based science experience at no cost.

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Skyhook Foundation

Mark “Big Mark” Gardina MANAGER, CAMP SKYHOOK AT CLEAR CREEK OUTDOOR EDUCATION

Mark oversees the day to day operations at Camp Skyhook and has been a part of the team since 1991. He’s run numerous outdoor programs in partnership with the LAUSD...

Mark oversees the day to day operations at Camp Skyhook and has been a part of the team since 1991. He’s run numerous outdoor programs in partnership with the LAUSD and is passionate about helping students to develop effective communication and positive interaction skills through the exploration of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in a natural environment.

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Skyhook Foundation

Janice Contreras LAUSD Camp Skyhook Liaison

Janice Contreras works for the LAUSD’s Office of Outdoor and Environmental Education. Janice coordinates and leads several projects including special events, creating marketing and promotional content for Camp Skyhook and other environmental literacy programs...

Janice Contreras works for the LAUSD’s Office of Outdoor and Environmental Education. Janice coordinates and leads several projects including special events, creating marketing and promotional content for Camp Skyhook and other environmental literacy programs. She also identifies and approaches potential grant funders. Janice serves as a liaison to the Skyhook Foundation. She has over 6 years experience in the nonprofit sector.

Janice received a B.A. in Psychology from Vanguard University of Southern California and earned a certificate in Grant Writing and Administration from California State University Dominguez Hills. 

Janice is strongly committed to providing access and equity and looks forward to working in collaboration with all stakeholders for the benefit of children.

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Skyhook Foundation

Andrew Morton Legal Counsel

Andrew Morton is a Partner at Handler Thayer LLP and Chair of the firm’s Sports & Entertainment Law Group. Andrew’s innovative practice operates at the intersection of celebrity and philanthropy, comprising all aspects...

Andrew Morton is a Partner at Handler Thayer LLP and Chair of the firm’s Sports & Entertainment Law Group. Andrew’s innovative practice operates at the intersection of celebrity and philanthropy, comprising all aspects of high-profile nonprofit engagement – from the initial formation of a tax-exempt organization, to the ongoing oversight, compliance, governance and reporting consistent with legal requirements and best practices. His clients include professional athletes, Olympians, actors, entertainers, artists, chefs and others with a strong personal brand.

Andrew earned his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Co-Editor in Chief of The Bluebook, and Co-Chair of the Equal Justice Foundation. He received Penn Law’s “Alumni Achievement Award” for outstanding contributions to the development of law and the legal profession, as well as the “Benjamin R. Jones Award for Law and Humanity,” the Law School’s most prestigious public interest recognition. Andrew also attended the University of Maryland, earning an M.P.P. in international security and economic policy from the School of Public Affairs, and a B.A., magna cum laude, in economics and Spanish.

Andrew currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the Giving Back Fund, the Alliance to Stop Slavery & End Trafficking (ASSET), and OneBlue, as well as the advisory board for the University of Pennsylvania Law School Public Service Program.

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