The Occidental College Board of Trustees has approved three new members: Gloria Duffy '75, Octavio V. Herrera '98, and Hector De La Torre '89.
Gloria Duffy '75 is the president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco-based Commonwealth Club, the nation's largest and oldest public affairs forum. Previously, Duffy served as U.S. deputy assistant secretary of Defense and special coordinator for cooperative threat reduction, and was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Duffy co-founded and served as chair of the board of the Civilian Research and Development Foundation, part of the National Science Foundation that funds international scientific collaboration. She was the first executive director of Ploughshares Fund, and serves on its board of directors. Duffy received her A.B. magna cum laude in 1975 from Occidental and her M.A., M.Phil, and Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. She also holds an honorary doctor of humane letters from the University of San Francisco.
Hector De La Torre '89 served in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010, representing the largely Latino 50th District in southeast Los Angeles County. He is currently the vice president of communications and public affairs for FreeConferenceCall.com. Prior to serving in the Assembly, De La Torre served as mayor of South Gate and as a member of the South Gate City Council, a manager at Southern California Edison, chief of staff to the deputy secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, a judicial administrator for the California Superior Court, legislative director for Rep. Richard H. Lehman (D-Calif.), and a teacher at Edison Junior High in South Los Angeles. De La Torre graduated with a bachelor's degree in diplomacy and world affairs from Occidental and attended the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
Octavio V. Herrera '98 is a co-founder of AlphaGenius, Inc., a technology company that analyzes social media data and creates financial market trading strategies based on the data. Herrera also currently manages a hedge fund based on AlphaGenius trading strategies. In addition, he co-founded and sits on the board of directors for Jirbo Inc., a leading iPhone gaming company, which was sold to Insight Venture Partners in 2010. Herrera also co-founded anti-piracy technology provider MediaDefender, Inc., which was sold to ARTISTdirect Inc. in 2005. Herrera received his bachelor's degree in physics from Occidental and has been a member of the College Alumni Association Board of Governors and the Alumni Sharing Knowledge program.
