A seven-member Board of Airport Commissioners (BOAC) governs Los Angeles World Airports. By the Charter of the City of Los Angeles, the Board is responsible for the formulation of airport policy. The Board is comprised of public-spirited business and civic leaders who are appointed by the Mayor, approved by the City Council and serve staggered five-year terms.
The current members of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners are Sean O. Burton, Gabriel L. Eshaghian, Beatrice C. Hsu, Nicholas P. Roxborough, Cynthia A. Telles, Valeria C. Velasco, and Karim Webb. Commissioner Velasco was first appointed to the Board on September 6, 2005, and has remained a member since then.
Commissioner Burton was first elected president of the Board on September 17, 2013. Commissioner Velasco was re-elected vice president on that same day.
Following are biographies of each of the commissioners:
Sean O. Burton – President (appointed for term ending June 30, 2025)
Commissioner Burton is Chief Executive Officer of CityView, overseeing the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the company. CityView is a premier investment management and development firm focused on urban residential real estate in the Western United States.
Commissioner Burton joined CityView in 2003, served as the firm’s chief operating officer from 2003 through 2008, and then as its president from 2008 through 2015.
Prior to joining CityView, Commissioner Burton was a senior executive in the Corporate Business Development and Strategy Division at Warner Bros. responsible for making strategic investments. His other professional experience includes serving as a transactional attorney at O’Melveny & Myers, LLP and serving in the White House and for the Democratic National Committee during the Clinton Administration.
Commissioner Burton previously served on the Los Angeles City Planning Commission where he chaired the subcommittee overseeing approval of the proposed Farmers Field National Football League stadium.
He also had a leading role in advocating structural changes in the state’s fiscal and budgetary process when he was appointed by the Governor in 2001 to the California Commission on Tax Policy and the New Economy. He is a trustee at John Thomas Dye School, a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, and a member of the board of United Friends of the Children.
Commissioner Burton is a graduate of the New York University School of Law and the University of California, Irvine. He recently retired as a lieutenant (Intelligence) from the United States Navy Reserve.
Valeria C. Velasco – Vice President (appointed for term ending June 30, 2022)
Commissioner Velasco is a sole practitioner estate planning attorney in Playa del Rey. As a civic leader, she has served as Lieutenant Governor for Rotary International District 5280 and currently serves as a Fee Dispute Arbitrator for the State Bar of California. She also served as chair of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce World Trade Week in 2012.
Commissioner Velasco has served as a City of Los Angeles Planning Commissioner, Staff Legal Counsel and Hispanic Liaison to former City Councilman Michael Woo, Assembly Aide/Hispanic Liaison to former Assemblyman Mike Roos and a bilingual elementary school teacher.
Commissioner Velasco earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law, a Master of Arts degree in education from Claremont Graduate School, and Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Long Beach.
Commissioner Velasco has held the position of Vice President of the Board of Airport Commissioners since September 14, 2005. She is a native Californian, born at California Hospital in Los Angeles, and has lived with her husband Frank in Playa del Rey since 1988.
Gabriel L. Eshaghian (appointed for term ending June 30, 2024)
Commissioner Eshaghian is a Principal and Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Development with The Somerset Group, a New York-based family office real estate investment, development and management firm founded in 1979. He has been with the organization for more than twelve years, since opening the company’s Los Angeles office in September 2005.
Before joining Somerset, Commissioner Eshaghian spent more than 10 years in various executive positions within the travel and transportation industries, most recently with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, one of the world’s largest professional services firms. He spent over three years as their U.S.-based Global Travel Manager, followed by two years as a Director with its United Kingdom affiliate Nyras, focusing on turnaround, strategy consulting and investment banking transaction services within the global airline and transportation sector. Prior to that he held commercial management and business development positions in the airline industry, both at Swissair and with Virgin Atlantic Airways.
He is a subject matter expert in the areas of real estate acquisitions and finance, global travel management and airline industry corporate strategy. He has traveled and worked extensively in more than 50 countries and is a classically trained concert-level pianist.
Commissioner Eshaghian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion from the University of Southern California, a Master of Science degree in Real Estate Finance from New York University and a Master of Business Administration degree jointly from the London School of Economics and New York University – Stern School of Business.
Beatrice C. Hsu (appointed for term ending June 30, 2021)
Commissioner Hsu is Senior Vice President for Development at Brookfield Properties, responsible for Brookfield’s multifamily development activities on the west coast. Brookfield Properties is a developer, owner and operator of real estate with over $140 billion in assets under management globally, including office, retail, residential, industrial and hotel properties. Prior to joining Brookfield, Commissioner Hsu spent over 10 years with Related California on urban infill development projects, including affordable housing, mixed-income housing and commercial mixed-use development in Southern California.
Prior to her career in development, Commissioner Hsu served as a senior advisor to then-Council member Eric Garcetti. In that position she served as staff chair on the City Council’s Housing, Community and Economic Development Committee, which had oversight over the City’s Community Redevelopment Agency, Housing Department, Community Development Department, Homeless Services Authority and Housing Authority. Commissioner Hsu also served previously as a policy analyst for the California State Controller.
She is a graduate of Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history, and the University of Southern California’s Ross Minority Program in Real Estate.
She is a former Vice Chair of the City of Los Angeles Industrial Development Authority and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Larchmont Charter Schools.
Nicholas P. Roxborough (appointed for term ending June 30, 2025)
Commissioner Nicholas Roxborough is the co-managing partner of Roxborough, Pomerance, Nye & Adreani, LLP, a boutique employers’ rights law firm based in Los Angeles.
Commissioner Roxborough specializes in representing insured and self-insured employers as well as large stakeholders in complex workers’ compensation insurance and regulatory issues across the country. He has obtained, over the last 30 years, numerous successful verdicts and landmark appellate decisions concerning the insurance and employment industry, as well as successful class action settlements.
Commissioner Roxborough received his Juris Doctorate from Southwestern School of Law, studied at the Institute of European Studies in Vienna, Austria, and received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Commissioner Roxborough has worked closely with and chaired the California Insurance Task Force, which recommended many solutions resulting in major legislative changes in the workers’ compensation industry. Commissioner Roxborough was named one of the top 50 most influential professionals in the California workers’ compensation industry, and was named Defense Lawyer of the Year at the Comp Laude Annual Awards Ceremony. He received the JFK Award from the Los Angeles County Democratic Party; and also serves on the California Organized Investment Network Advisory Board, appointed by then Insurance Commissioner, Dave Jones.
Commissioner Roxborough has been appointed as a City Commissioner including Vice Chair of the Police Permit Review Panel, and The El Pueblo de Los Angeles Commission.
Commissioner Roxborough is a longtime advocate of community involvement and served as the past Chairman of the Board for United Cerebral Palsy of Southern California.
Commissioner Roxborough lives in Encino.
Cynthia A. Telles (appointed for term ending June 30, 2023)
Commissioner Telles is Director of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Hispanic Neuropsychiatric Center of Excellence at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and is responsible for managing the operations of the model psychiatric clinic, as well as its training and research. She is a Clinical Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry since 1986.
Commissioner Telles has held many governmental and public service appointments. She also currently serves on the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars to which she was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010. In addition, she serves on the White House Fellows Regional Selection Panel, a position she held during 1998 – 2001, and more recently since 2012. During the Clinton Administration she was appointed to the National Advisory Council of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Previously, she served on the advisory group to the Presidential Task Force on Health Care Reform.
Commissioner Telles has extensive experience serving on corporate boards as well as governmental commissions and civic/philanthropic organization boards. These include serving on the Board of Directors of General Motors since 2010 and for a decade as a member of the Board of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals (Kaiser Permanente). Previously, she served on the boards of Sanwa Bank and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation.
Commissioner Telles has also played a significant role in national and local philanthropic organizations. She is currently Chair of the California Community Foundation and has served on the Board since 2004. Between 2001 and 2010, she was on the Board of Directors of The California Endowment, the largest health foundation in California. She served as its Board Chair from 2004 through 2006 and as Vice Chair from 2002 through 2004. Moreover, she has served on the boards of numerous non-profit and civic organizations.
In Los Angeles, she has served for 13 years on various city commissions: vice president of the City of Los Angeles Ethics Commission, as president of the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women, as vice president of the Los Angeles Board of Library Commissioners and as a member of the Los Angeles Commission on Children, Youth and Families. Additionally, she served on the Los Angeles Police Department’s Board of Rights.
Commissioner Telles received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College and a doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from Boston University.
Karim Webb (appointed for term ending June 30, 2024)
Commissioner Webb is Chief Executive Officer of 4thMVMT, a Los Angeles based firm that seeks, vets, trains, finances and partners with individuals from communities who have been the most impacted by the application of criminal justice to own and operate competitive retail businesses. The primary goal of 4thMVMT is to cultivate human potential through empowering people, providing new solutions, and fostering well-being while building community, improving outcomes, and engaging culture in an authentic and impactful way.
Commissioner Webb’s entrepreneurial experience and history of engagement with “opportunity youth” in Los Angeles has led him to his true-life purpose, philanthropic work promoting leadership development and ownership as a gateway to a fulfilled life.
Under his leadership, individuals learn to activate possibility in their lives by exercising the muscle of excellence. Commissioner Webb believes the realization of opportunity happens when you inspire hopefulness in people.
Commissioner Webb is also Co-Owner and Operations Partner of PCF Restaurant Management, a multi-unit franchisee of Buffalo Wild Wings. Beyond Buffalo Wild Wings and 4thMVMT, Commissioner Webb holds a number of Board positions including the California Community Foundation, Everytable, the Living Through Giving Foundation: Hashtag Lunchbag and the Brotherhood Crusade as a Corporate Board member.
