ERROL GERSON

Curriculum Vitae –Errol Gerson:

Professional practice:

Errol Gerson is the Managing Partner at The Gerson Group Consultants, with offices in Los Angeles, London and Johannesburg, South Africa. The Gerson Group provides strategic Management consulting services to mid-size to large enterprises – specializing in strategic Financial Management planning, Strategic Tax planning, Succession Planning, Strategic Marketing and Management, Merger and Acquisition Strategies and Blue Ocean Strategy consulting.

After graduation from the University of Southern California (BS Accounting 1970, MBA Finance and Management 1972) Gerson worked in public accounting and Consulting for the first 6 years of his career. In 1978 he went out on his own and founded a Business Management and Accounting company which began with one employee, and ended up with over 80 employees in two states. He sold the company to his partners and so-founded cow, the first Interactive Design firm in the US in 1992 and subsequently sold his share to investors in 1998.

Gerson was then recruited to joining Creative Artists Agency in 1998 as Director of New Media Consulting, and was there until he was recruited to become the COO of the National Lampoon Television network which he ran for five years. Since leaving the Lampoon, he has been the Principal of the Gerson Group until today.

Educational Practice:

As an educator Errol Gerson has been teaching Business Management, Entrepreneurship and Leadership for Designers at the world-renowned Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, for the past 47 years. Errol has now taught some 6,500 students over a period of more than 141 continuous semesters at Art Center. During his tenure at Art Center, Errol Gerson has been the recipient of numerous Great Teacher awards, culminating with him being the recipient of the ‘first’ Legacy teaching Award given in 2006 for 100 semesters of teaching. Gerson teacher both The Entrepreneurial Spirit as well as Business 101, a course which was mandatory for most students for over 25 years. The course covered all aspects of operating, running and growing a ‘design based’ business, but the course content is applicable to virtually any and every small business. The advanced ‘Spirit of Entrepreneurship’ course is limited to 25 -30 students who have a desire to learn how to develop and grow an enterprise venture. Gerson also teaches a new course at Art Center called, “The Art and Practice of Leadership” which focuses on preparing designers for long-term leadership roles in their chosen field.

Errol Gerson has also guest lectured at his Alma Mater USC-Marshall, The Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate School, the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University, Cal-State Northridge and many other colleges and universities. He lectures on Negotiation Strategies, Blue Ocean Strategies, Sales and Marketing, Wealth Creation, and other related areas of business. He has taught professional seminars for the A.I.G.A., Advertising Photographers of America, Society of Illustrators, Industrial Design Society of America, Wedding Photographers International and others. Gerson has been widely published on a myriad of subjects related to the Business of Design, The Role of Design in Society, The basics of Entrepreneurship, Success and Motivation strategies, Goal setting and Life planning. Many of these articles can be found in LinkedIn, The Huffington Post, the AIGA quarterly, American Management Association, Journal of Social Science Review and others.

Gerson is on the Board of several local charities in Southern California, served as an officer of The USC-MBA association, The American Institute of Graphic Artists where he is the Senior Adviser) and also Mentors students each semester at the Art Center. He is a passionate golfer, avid English football (soccer fan) and is in the process of writing his first academic book entitled, ‘MOTIV8’ – the 8 Steps to keep constantly motivated. Gerson was awarded the prestigious “Fellow” award by the A.I.G.A. in 2017 recognising his decades of contribution to design education. Errol Gerson was born and raised in Johannesburg South Africa, where after high School he attended the University of the Witwatersrand studying accounting, prior to immigrating to the United States in 1966. Gerson received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1970, and subsequently earned an MBA at USC in 1972 majoring in Finance and Management. Mr. Gerson has also completed extensive coursework (non degree) in Management, Finance, Tax law, Psychology, Business Law, and attended the Harvard Negotiation Project

Gerson is on the Board of several local charities in Southern California, served as an officer of The USC-MBA association, The American Institute of Graphic Artists where he is the Senior Adviser) and also Mentors students each semester at the Art Center. He is a passionate golfer,avid English football (soccer fan) and is in the process of writing his first academic book entitled, ‘MOTIV8’ – the 8 Steps to keep constantly motivated. Gerson was awarded the prestigious “Fellow” award by the A.I.G.A. in 2017 recognising his decades of contribution to design education. Errol Gerson was born and raised in Johannesburg South Africa, where after high Schoolhe attended the University of the Witwatersrand studying accounting, prior to immigrating to the United States in 1966. Gerson received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1970, and subsequently earned an MBA at USC in 1972 majoring in Finance and Management.Mr. Gerson has also completed extensive coursework (non degree) in Management, Finance,Tax law, Psychology, Business Law, and attended the Harvard Negotiation Project

REBECCA WHITMAN

Rebecca Whitman is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in English Literature and Italian Language and Culture. As an Executive Director for the direct marketing company Equinox International she developed and trained a salesforce of over one thousand individuals in 14 national offices. She was ranked number 3 out of 100,000 sales representative in personal sales volume. She went on to be a top producer at Mike Davidson Ford dealership in Jacksonville, Florida, where she helped them to develop new marketing strategies for their internet marketing division.

She moved on to the internet start-up company, FreeTaxPrep.com, where she was the Vice President of Business Development. In this company she not only exceeded her quarterly sales quota by 425%, she also hired and trained a sales team that developed a client base of over281 car dealerships in ten cities in a period of 90 days. As a Talent Coordinator for the Hollywood Group, she developed anew marketing strategy that increased the revenue of the company by $250k per year. She achieved between 100%and 400% of her sales quota for the Hollywood Group.

As the Vice President of Sales for Be Entertainment,she created a sales force that took the company from 0 to$15 million is sales revenue in the first year. She assisted the company’s expansion to 7 offices and managed 30sales reps. She also increased price points from an average of $1400 to $5000 per sale.

Rebecca is currently working for The Playground – A Young Actor’s Conservatory, where she increased the sales revenue of the company by $1 million per year for 5 consecutive years.In addition to her business acumen, Rebecca has done extensive study in the area of meta physics with such great teachers as Reverend Michael Beckwith, Esther Hicks, and Marianne Williamson. She has delved into the study of personal relationships with Dr. Pat Allen, Allison Armstrong, and Landmark Education. In addition, Rebecca has over 25 years of experience in the 12 Steps.

TERESA JAMES

Teresa James was born and raised in Houston, Texas where she was introduced to music at an early age by her father and grandfather, both guitar players in the old tradition. She starting playing piano at 5 and hasn’t stopped since.

Called a singer’s singer by many. (When the SAG Singer’s Committee got together to honor composer Randy Newman, Teresa was chosen as the soloist to perform his favorite song to him.)  She has recorded with Walter Trout, Eric Burdon, Spencer Davis, Tommy Castro,  Stephen Bruton, Randy Newman, LeeRoy Parnell, Neil Diamond, and many others. She has performed live with lots of other artists, including: Al Anderson, Marcia Ball, Levon Helm, Delbert McClinton,  Lloyd Jones, and the Derailers to mention just a few.

Blues Matters magazine in the U.K. is quoted “the girls voice does the talking alright with a knife edge when she wants rip your ears off or your heart out!”

The Pasadena Weekly said…”She is one of the most honest, gutsy, incredible singers you’ll find. The Texas-bred James takes creative chances, investing amazing soul and spirit in her music.”  

Levon Helm of  “The Band” said  “Teresa James is a true original. When she sings you can feel it in your bones.” 

         Here’s a little of what Bill Bentley from Sonic Boomers said about Teresa and her recent “You Know You Love It” cd. “This is the stuff they don’t teach you in school….. These are the keepers of the unknown language. Teresa’s voice is all-knowing, like she’s been to the places most of us aren’t able to go. It is a mixture of rejection and redemption, … be glad there are still people like Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps who care enough to do this and share their spirits. Each and every one of them should receive a letter jacket with a big “S” for soul on it. Class dismissed. “ Teresa’s latest cd “Come On Home” landed a hard to get 4 Star Review in Downbeat magazine. 

            Teresa and her band the Rhythm Tramps are a Los Angeles based band 6 piece band made up of players that have either played or recorded with such artists as Eric Burdon & the Animals, Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, Jimmy Reed, Lightin’ Hopkins, Jimmy Vaughan, John Martyn, Big Al Anderson (NRBQ), Johnny Nash, Dixie Chicks, Jennifer Warnes, Smokey Robinson, Tom Jones, Tower Of Power, just to name a few and have had their songs recorded by Paul Rodgers, Kathy Mattea, Eric Burdon, Tommy Castro, Marcia Ball and others. As one critic said, “there are no clichés in this band”. They move easily through Texas style grease and blues into Memphis soul or New Orleans flavored grooves and all points in between with fun and abandonment.

            Teresa and the band have toured all over N. America and Europe and have played such music festivals as The Nottodden Blues Festival in Norway, Moulin Osprey in Holland, Tampa Blues Festival, iFest in Houston, Tx. Main St Arts Festival in Ft. Worth, Tx. Portand, Oregon’s Waterfront Festival and she has been one of the featured acts on Delbert McClinton’s Sandy Beaches Cruise for the past 14 years along with Delbert, John Hiatt, Keb Mo, Lyle Lovett…to name a few. She was nominated by the Blues Foundation in ’08 for “Contemporary Female Blues Artist of the Year”. She is now working on her 9th cd which should be out by mid-summer 2016. 

The Rhythm Tramps

The Rhythm Tramps, has a long history: The first band to be called ‘the Rhythm Tramps’ was formed by Terry Wilson and Tony Braunagel when they were living in London back in the 70’s. They were touring at the time with the rock band, Back Street Crawler (which also featured the legendary Paul Kossoff on guitar and John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick who has been a long time keyboard player with The Who) and they missed playing the Texas style blues that they had grown up with, so they formed the ‘Rhythm Tramps’ and performed in local pubs. 



It got to be quite a hang for London musicians – legendary singer, Frankie Miller was one of the regulars, which also included whoever happened to be in town. The transient nature of the players spawned the name, ‘the Rhythm Tramps’. 



In the years since Terry and I have re-established the Rhythm Tramp tradition, we have also had a lot of amazing players that have played with the band – some for several years at a time, some for just a few nights. Even though we have a steady group of players with us now, there are still occasions where we have the opportunity to bring in other players. 



Below our current roster, you’ll find a partial list (in no particular order) of some of the people that we have had the pleasure of working with over the years.



TERRY WILSON  born: Warren Arkansas plays: bass and vocals has played with… ERIC BURDON, JIMMY REED, JOHNNY NASH, BACKSTREET CRAWLER (PAUL KOSSOFF)

“Terry is the soul of the band. It is his vision and his songs that make up the essence of our music.”



BILLY WATTS  born: New Brunswick, Canada plays: guitars and vocals has played with… JACKSON BROWNE, BONNIE RAITT, MOJO MONKEYS, JENNIFER WARNES “Billy is a true musician and a joy to have in the band. He always seems to know just the perfect thing to play to bring out the heart of our music.”



HERMAN MATTHEWS  born: Houston, Texas. plays: drums and percussion

has played with… TOM JONES, TOWER OF POWER, KENNY LOGGINS, GEORGE DUKE Herman has an eclectic style that is unlike any other drummer that I have ever worked with. He brings a wonderfully unique flavor to our music.”



LEE THORNBURG  born: Danville, KY plays: trumpet, flugelhorn /arranger

has played with… RAY CHARLES, ETTA JAMES, TOM PETTY, SUPERTRAMP, TOWER OF POWER and many others. A member of the Tonight Show band for several years.

   

RON DZIUBLA  born: Gary, IN plays: saxophones, guitar, keyboards has played with… DUANE EDDY, RICKY MARTIN, ROYAL CROWN REVUE, JAMES INTVELD, LOS STRAITJACKETS, DEKE DICKERSON 



Together LEE and RON have performed with ROBERT CRAY, THE CRYSTAL METHOD, BETH HART and lots of others… 



RHYTHM TRAMP ALUMNI

I’m sure that I have forgotten somebody, so if I left you out or if you know of anyone that I didn’t include – PLEASE let me know and I will fix it – I don’t want to leave anybody out.  



(The * beside a name indicates active Rhythm Tramp status or special recognition for their contribution to the Tramps’ sound and the part they have played in the band’s legacy) 



Drums: 

Tony Braunagel* / Jim Christie* / Debra Dobkin* / Tom Fillman* / James Cruce* / Willie Ornelas / Jack Bruno / Lynn Williams / George Perilli / Dave Hunt / Dennis Edwards / Jack Kelly / Jay Bellarose / Brian Head / Sinclair Lott / Eddie Tuduri / Michael Jay Dohoney / Richard Millsap / Gary Ferguson / John Molo / David Raven / Jim Varley / Steve Hunter / Moon Calhoun / Gary Ray / Michael Clark / Brie Darling / Brannen Temple 



Guitar: 

Tommy K* / Stephen Bruton* / Jimmy Don Smith* / Josh Sklair / Paul Warren / Johnny Lee Schell / Stevie Gurr / Don Evans / Dave Lewark / James Pennebaker / Rob McNelley / Dean Parks / Snuffy Walden / Mark Shark / Mark Karan / Carmen Grillo / Pat Thrall / Jim Gibson / Jon Woodhead / Randy Mitchell / Stuart Ziff / Bob Hawkins / Randy Cobb / Patrick Pearsall / Gurf Morlix / Larry Knight / Danny Weis / Ricky Zahariades 



Keyboards: 

John Herron / Marty Grebb / Danny Timms* / Mike Finnegan* / William ‘Smitty’ Smith / Lee Michaels / Red Young* / Lewis Stephens* / John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick* / Kevin McKendree / Dillon O’ Brian* / Glen Clark / Michael Murphy / Tom Canning 



Horns: 

Jerry Peterson* / Sean Holt* / Joe Sublett* / Daryl Leonard* / Bill Churchville* / Mark Pender* / Warren Ham / Bill Bergman / Les Lovitt / Ron Dziubla / Paulie Cerra / Lee Thornberg 



Bass: 

Steve Mackie / Bob Glaub / ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson / David Jackson / Mike Mennell / Peter Freiberger / Taras Produniak / Will MacGregor / Ric Cortes

ALAN BUSTEED

Alan Busteed is a violinist who has been a concertmaster and soloist for film scores recorded in Los Angeles. He is a violist who has performed with the San Diego, Fort Worth, and Santa Barbara Symphonies. He has served as staff pianist for opera workshop at the University of Texas Arlington and done free lance vocal accompanying at Loyola Marymount University. He coaches string players and singers at East Los Angeles Performing Arts Magnet High School.

CALEB ROBBINS

Caleb Robbins is a 16 year-old who lives life passionately and all-in on whatever he is doing! His homeschooling life allows him to pursue his love for foreign languages, natural medicine, story-writing, animation, reading (up to a 1000 pages a day!) and music. Since his youth, he’s had a special gift for percussion and singing. As a baritone vocalist, he gets to use that loud ‘outside’ voice he always had as a child for the beautiful songs he expresses with his rich tone. While Caleb deeply appreciates all styles of music from Jazz to Rock to  Opera, he told his family when he was 12, “I was born for Swing.”  Caleb lives in Southern California with his mom and dad (who are also professional musicians and authors) and his younger brother, Seth, who harmonizes with him and accompanies him on the piano.

STACEY ROBBINS

Stacey Robbins is a Renaissance woman who lives life by inspiration as an Integrated Wellness Coach, Speaker, and Author of An Unconventional Life: Where Messes and Magic Collide, You’re Not Crazy and You’re Not Alone, and Bloom Beautiful.

Her career began as a professional musician when she was 15, working as a songwriter, pianist, and vocalist in solo performance as well as with many other talented artists, but when she was 27 hit a health bump that dramatically shifted her life. After gaining 100 pounds in a year and becoming so ill that she could barely get out of bed, the doctors told her to get her affairs in order.

Stacey began pursuing her health from a deeply spiritual angle that led her to shine a flashlight down all the corridors of her life: Thoughts, Beliefs, Patterns, Relationships, Spiritual Practices, Self-Care, Food and Exercise. Through that experience and years of research of a diagnosis with Hashimoto’s (an autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid and therefore every cell in your body) she has been able to speak all over the US and reach people all over the world with her healing insights that she discovered through her own sacred journey.

Now, in addition to her coaching and book writing, Stacey creates gorgeous, transformational experiences through her international retreats and workshops, empowering women to live from what she calls their “Brave Soul Place.” Stacey resides in Southern California with her author, tech-geek, musician husband and their two amazing, curly-haired teenage sons.

MARK BARANOV

Mark Baranov joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s first violin section in the 1978/79 season.

Baranov was trained in the Soviet Union at the Gnessin Music Academy in Moscow, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He served as co-concertmaster of the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra under Gennady Rozhdestvensky, appearing as soloist on many occasions and touring with the ensemble in Eastern and Western Europe and Japan, as well as throughout the USSR. Baranov also performed as a leader of the orchestra’s chamber ensemble, Nonette. He was also a member of the Moscow Radio String Quartet. With these ensembles he toured throughout Europe participating in many important festivals and gave USSR premieres of works by such composers as Schoenberg, Messiaen, Denisov, and Schnittke, and made several recordings on the Melodiya label.

After coming to the United Sates in 1978, he became very active in the Southland’s musical community. In 1983 he founded the critically acclaimed chamber ensemble Trio West with Philharmonic cellist Barry Gold and Baranov’s wife, pianist Lina Targonsky. The ensemble has performed frequently throughout Southern California, including the Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Society series, as well as aboard the Queen Elizabeth II. In 1992 Trio West was invited to perform in Germany at the Festival Bahnhof Rolandseck near Bonn.

Baranov has also appeared as a soloist with the Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and at the Music Center. He has been a visiting professor of violin at Biola University and UCLA. He frequently gives master classes throughout the USA and judges many violin competitions.