PRESIDENT AND  BOARD CHAIR
Matthew Lancellotti
pswg@geographilia.com

Originally from northern New Jersey, Matt has lived most of his adult life in California. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz he joined Out magazine in New York from its inaugural issue, working in advertising and leading their online media team. He returned to California to attend USC, earning his MBA in product marketing, and then his PhD in consumer psychology. He is currently Professor of Marketing (Consumer Psychology) in the Department of Marketing at Mihaylo College of Business, Cal State Fullerton. He has published numerous research articles for academic journals and business-trade and -advice publications. At the same time he has always enjoyed writing fiction, and has done so in fits and starts since childhood. He has finally just finished writing his first novel, and is in the final editing process. He has found tremendous value and camaraderie as a member of the PSWG to help him through that journey.Matt has a passion for geography and weather, and can often be found pouring over Google Earth or scouring radar images and weather alerts. He lives in Palm Springs, a truly inspirational place for writing, with his loving husband and adorable pooch Ollie.

VICE-PRESIDENT
Vacant

DIRECTOR OF MEMBER ENGAGEMENT
Critique Groups, Write Nites, Midweek Mingles
Kristina Hoffman
kvhoffman@att.net

Kristina VanKirk Hoffman was born and raised in Northern California. After studying Art History and Political Science at UCLA and Barnard College, she directed Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica from 1984-1988 and Ace Gallery in Los Angeles from 1988 – 1997. During that time, she wrote press releases for each exhibition, coordinated exhibitions, acted as docent to museum tours, provided information and loans of artworks to major museums, placed artworks in significant collections and contributed an article to Flash Art Magazine. She then returned to the Bay Area and began her art consultant/interior design business. During that time she volunteered, chaired the annual fundraiser, and then became the President of Marin Charitable serving at-risk youth. In 2012 she and her husband moved to Sonoma, California where she served on the board of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and was the Chairperson for their annual fundraiser. She was also a contributing writer to Valley of the Moon Magazine. She is passionate about education, fundraising, writing and contemporary art.

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS
Eduardo Santiago
santiagogo@aol.com

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
David Murphy
david.rehumanize@gmail.com

David is a lyricist and poet.  He has songwriting credits on albums released by The Brian Rogers Band, The Painkillers, and The Lasses Rogers Band. He shares his poetry at DJMPoetry.com as he works towards his goal of publishing his first collection. David spent four decades as a global advertising executive, a career that enabled him to collaborate with talented writers, designers, technologists, and anthropologists, as well as study the universal stories that inspire people across borders and cultures. He recently retired from advertising and continues to mentor the next generation of marketing leaders as a guest lecturer, most recently at Villanova, UC Irvine, and Duquesne University. His proudest accomplishment, however, is being a dad to two wonderful young ladies. He recently relocated to La Quinta where he lives with his partner, Sarah, and their lab, Bailey.

SECRETARY
Carlotta Rinke
crinke38@gmail.com

Carlotta is an internist and geriatrician physician who completed a medical journalism fellowship for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) following her residency. She worked there for six years as a contributing editor while working part-time in emergency departments, and as an assistant clinical professor at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. She later practiced internal and geriatric medicine. Following an MBA at Northwestern University (Kellogg), she moved into executive hospital quality and chief medical officer positions. Throughout her career she has journaled and participated in several critique groups, writing narratives about patient encounters. In the last 7 years she worked for a health insurance payer, leading clinical teams in accountable care organizations (ACO’s) and JV’s which partnered with major health systems throughout the nation. She retired in 2022. Currently she is uncovering stories from over 400 letters her parents wrote to each other and loved ones during World War II, where her father fought in the Philippine theater and her mother worked as Rosie the riveter in St. Louis. She also mentors start-up teams launching innovative healthcare technologies.

TREASURER, MEMBERSHIP
Kathy Weyer
kathy.weyer@att.net

Kathy Weyer is a writer, having retired from many different professions including Human Resources Administration, Marriage and Family Counseling, and running several non profit agencies. Her experiences in those roles have given her fodder for writing fiction and some fact-based articles that have run in national magazines. A native San Diegan, she recently moved to Palm Springs with her husband of 40 years. She is involved with the Palm Springs Rotary Club, the Friends of the Palm Springs Library, Voices For Children, and devotes her time to creative arts and animal welfare.She lives with her husband and two black labs named Nick and Nora, a black cat named Freddie, who is her office mate and is sometimes helpful, but not always, at the keyboard, and a cockatiel named Socrates.You can find Kathy at www.kathyweyer.com or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/kathyweyerauthor.

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
Judalon Manes
judalonmanes@gmail.com

Judalon discovered her passion for history when she was ten. She opened her great-grandfather’s old hump-backed trunk and found a law book and a Texas history from the 1850s. It was love. That love grew to embrace all things antiquarian: books, textiles, jewelry, and furniture, just to list a few. After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Anthropology, she went on to become a Social Sciences teacher in California. Her passion for lovely old things led her to extra jobs: opening vintage shops, including a rare book store.
As a child, she discovered her passion for writing when her grandmother introduced her to a Bronte family biography that described Charlotte and her siblings creating tiny books written in miniscule script. Dozens of miniature Bronte-esque creations followed, along with mounds of awful poetry, TV scripts, and plays (none of which ever saw the light of day.)
Finally, the two came together in the creation of Great Crossing, A Forgotten Love Story. Judalon learned about Julia and Richard while developing a unit on US vice-presidents for her history students. “Someone should make their story into a novel!” she told her husband, author Christopher Manes. “That someone should be you,” he suggested.
Where did her name originate? With The Iron Mistress, a book by Paul Wellman made into a 1952 film starring Alan Ladd and Virginia Mayo. The not-so-loveable love interest of Alamo hero Jim Bowie, Judalon de Bornay had a name that captivated about a dozen or so daring young romantics, like her parents, during the baby boom. There’s a street named Judalon in her hometown of Houston, Texas.
She is the mother of three miracle children, the lucky stepmom of four, and the grateful grandma of two boys and two girls. She and her husband live in the Coachella Valley along with two rescue cats and too many books.