Fr. Tom Avramis - President of the Board
Fr. Tom Avramis was born in Tucson, Arizona. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminology. He received a Master of Divinity from Boston’s prestigious Holy Cross College, and a Masters in Psychology from California State University
Fr. Tom has always been intensely interested in working with troubled youth. As part of his undergraduate study program he worked for the Tucson Juvenile Probation Department. There he helped develop there an early intervention program for at-risk youth, which he would later incorporate in the programs of Trinity Youth Services. While serving as a parish priest in Castro Valley, he began his work for Trinity Youth Services (then called Guadalupe Homes) by serving on its Board of Directors. Fr. Tom became the Chief Operations Officer of Trinity in February 1991, and served as CEO of the Agency for ten years before establishing Trinity Children’s Foundation in 2005 and transitioning to his current position as CEO of the Foundation and President of the Board of Trinity Youth Services.
John Neiuber – Chief Executive Officer
John Neiuber is responsible for the operation of nine schools serving over 800 children, six residential treatment facilities serving over 400 abused and neglected children and nine foster care agency offices serving over 400 children in four states with over 900 employees. He graduated from Chino High School, has his A.A. from Chaffey College, his B.A. in English and his Masters in Education from California State University, San Bernardino. He is an Army veteran and received the Army Commendation Medal. John has been a teacher, assistant principal, principal, district office administrator in the public schools and a management and leadership consultant to public agencies and private industry. He left public education in 1993 to serve as President of Advanced Education Services (AES), a not-for-profit corporation that operates nonpublic and charter schools and provides related educational services. He became the Chief Operating Officer of Trinity Youth Services in 2001 and the CEO in 2005. John currently serves on the Board of the National Association of Private Special Education Centers and is an active volunteer in his community focusing on historic preservation and the arts.
Leonard Bryan – CFO
Leonard Bryan, Trinity’s Chief Financial Officer, definitely “walks the walk” for children in crisis. Leonard and his wife, Susan, have welcomed more than 115 foster children into their hearts and home. In addition to their four biological children, the Bryan’s have 7 adopted children. The family has been the subject of three television documentaries promoting Foster Care, including one naming them “Houston Heroes.”
Leonard is no stranger to children’s issues, having served on the Boards of Directors for Children’s Assessment Center of Houston and Spaulding for Children, prior to becoming a member of the Finance Committee on the Trinity Youth Services Board in 2002. After only one year of service on the Board, Leonard was tapped to lend his professional expertise to the Agency in the capacity of CFO, in 2003.
Leonard is a graduate of Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.
Gilbert Quinbar – Executive Director of Residential Programs
After working with mainstream children for a number of years, as a counselor and coach, Gil realized he wanted to work with youth from more challenging backgrounds. He began his challenging career with Trinity Youth Services as a childcare counselor in 1991. Gil became Director of Trinity - Yucaipa in 1997 and helped develop Trinity’s Early Intervention program (EIP) which assists families and the school system in holding at-risk youth accountable for their behavior, often helping prevent these children from entering “the system.”
Gil became the Executive Director of Residential Programs in 2004. Gil has a Bachelor of Arts in Human Services from California State University, San Bernardino.
Julie Bruner – Executive Director of Foster Care Programs
With a Bachelor’s of Science in Child Development from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Julie began her career working with mainstream children and their families as a teacher and counselor in various settings. After several years of working in the field Julie went back to school and completed a Master’s of Arts in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena. She continued to work with families and children, but now with a more specialized population. It was during this period when she started working for Trinity as social worker in their infants and children’s shelter. In 1995, after a few years working in the shelter program she transferred over to Trinity’s Foster Care program. She is also active in her local community.
Cher Ofstedahl - Director of Development
Cher is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has post-graduate certifications from Harvard Graduate School of Education and Cornell University. She is a lifetime member of the Manchester and Empire "Who's Who," and was named 2006-2007 "Professional of the Year," representing her field in the nonprofit industry. Cher honed her development skills during her fourteen years in the music industry. She is active in volunteerism and has served on the boards of directors for several nonprofit organizations.
Inger Walker – Director of Human Resources
Inger is a graduate from Cornell University receiving her certification in Human Resources Studies from Cornell University. She has several certifications pertaining to Human Resources as well as certificates from the Council on Accreditation (COA) and the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). She has been member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) for over 7 years.
Jeff Kanavas – Warehouse & Maintenance Manager
Jeff’s background includes experience in motor sports, general aviation, investment research, product design, manufacturing and retail management. Several terms were served on behalf of Milwaukee Wisconsin’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church as a Parish Council Member. Jeff is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh.
For further information about Trinity's programs and services, please use the Contact Us form below. For information about volunteering and donating to help Trinity break the cycle of child abuse and neglect, please see the links above to those pages.