Board Members
Fei Li Twite
President
Fei Li has been connected to the San Diego Ballet as a student at the school for more than 20 years. Her love for ballet motivated her to join the board of directors to help sustain the organization from the inside out. As a Human Resources Director of a non-profit she brings experience in solidifying staff structures, organizing proper protocol for on-boarding of new staff, and assists in updating job descriptions plus leading in staff reviews annually. She attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa and has lived in San Diego for 40+ years. Ms. Tan Twite looks forward to her service on the board and seeing the shows too!
Ted Barduson
Vice President
Ted has worked in the healthcare industry for the past 27 years, serving as an executive within four successful start-up companies focused on providing services to hospitals and physicians throughout the United States. Recently, he co-founded the La Jolla Wellness Studio. Ted is a longtime supporter of the arts in San Diego. He feels fortunate to be involved with the San Diego Ballet having performed with his daughter in San Diego Ballet’s Nutcracker. He is currently Vice President of the La Jolla Chamber of Commerce, an active member of the La Jolla Town Council, and a supporter of the Ronald McDonald House. Ted attended the University of Colorado at Boulder graduating with a BS in Political Science with a Public Service Option.
Nick Asaad
Treasurer
Nick Asaad is a life-time San Diego resident and supporter of the arts community. He holds active CPA and Real Estate Professional licenses in California. Nick specializes in corporate finance with a focus on taxation at a national public accounting firm. Previously, Nick attended UCLA where he received his degree in Economics with a minor in accounting. In his free time, Nick is an avid reader, runner, and outdoors enthusiast. Nick’s goal is for the ballet and arts to continue to thrive in our San Diego Community
Carla Sotello
Secretary
Carla has been a college adjunct professor and is currently a librarian at the San Diego Public Central Library. Her love for dance started at an early age and she took ballet classes growing up. Though she did not pursue the artform directly, she has remained a supporter of the arts and the field of dance. Carla works to further develop partnerships for the San Diego Ballet including future expansion of its already vibrant library programs.
Ghaleb Hamdan
Throughout his 20+ year career, he has worked across both high-level strategic challenges and detailed technical issues, giving him experience addressing complex operational and system-level problems while also engaging deeply with the technical details required to solve them.
Ghaleb holds dual master’s degrees and brings a strong analytical and structured approach to his work. His experience includes working across teams, improving processes and systems, interpreting operational data, and helping organizations translate technical and business challenges into practical solutions. His leadership approach emphasizes accountability, thoughtful decision-making, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
As a member of the San Diego Ballet Board, Ghaleb is pleased to contribute his professional experience and perspective in support of the organization. He aims to assist SDB by using a data-driven approach combined with systems-thinking methodologies to support decision-making, identify opportunities, understand how different parts of the organization interact, and contribute to its continued development. He values the role that arts organizations play in strengthening communities, creating opportunities for artists, and making artistic experiences accessible to audiences.
Through his service on the Board, Ghaleb looks forward to supporting San Diego Ballet’s continued growth and helping the organization further its mission within the San Diego community.
Lynette Harris
Lynette is a San Diego native who’s had a passion for dance since the age of 5. She found that throughout her life, dance continued to be a healthy outlet and a positive mode of expression when words were not enough. She found that even in adulthood, dance continues to be a grounding component of life. Due to recognizing the critical role that it has played in her own life; Lynette feels passionately that everyone should have the opportunity to dance. She truly believes that everyone who wants to learn to dance, should have the fair and just opportunity to do so, regardless of socioeconomic status. This passion for equity is one of the reasons she loves serving her community and being an active member of the San Diego Ballet’s Board of Directors. The mission of equity and inclusion aligns with Lynette’s own values and resonates with her deeply. In addition to working with multiple local non-profits in San Diego, she enjoys living a healthy and active lifestyle. Her various hobbies, outside of dance, include pilates, reading, and spin classes. Most of all, Lynette loves taking advantage of the San Diego weather, which includes frequently hitting the beach and riding bikes with her husband.
Jung Ihn
Jung Ihn, a longtime dancer and ballet fan, is currently a lead pathologist at Sharp Memorial Hospital. Jung has been dancing since childhood and composed and staged a modern ballet during middle school in Seoul, South Korea. Jung graduated from the University of Maryland with a BA in Hearing and Speech Sciences. She earned an MA in Communicative Disorders at SDSU. Jung re-discovered her love of ballet 13 years ago when she enrolled in adult ballet classes at San Diego Ballet. She recently played a cameo role as “lady-in-waiting” in The Nutcracker, and looks forward to many more such appearances!
Dionne Schley-Cather
A lifelong student of ballet, Dionne started dancing at the age of 8 with Ballet Idaho in Boise, ID. Upon graduating from high school, she attended the University of Idaho where she danced with the student performance group. She graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and a minor in Dance. After moving to San Diego that same year, she began her career in marketing working for small and large companies across the city. In 2007 she completed her MBA in Marketing from San Diego State University. She currently works for the CGM manufacturer Dexcom, overseeing marketing communications research in the US and Asia Pacific region. Dionne is also an adult student with the San Diego Ballet School.
Vanessa Vallesi
I started taking modern dance classes not as young as you would usually expect but fell in love with it and added ballet to get a better foundation. That led to me ending up taking classes five to six days a week for about three hours per day, and applying to San Diego State University to major in dance. Unfortunately, that wasn’t meant to be as my knees needed surgery and I couldn’t continue dancing but I never lost my love for dance in all its beautiful forms, and when I was presented with the opportunity to help at San Diego Ballet, I simply couldn’t say no.