OUR LEADERS

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JOAN D’ONOFRIO, the daughter, is a painter, graphic designer, author, and former Commissioner with the Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County. During her 30-year career in legal and educational publishing, she served as a vice president of Oceana Publications/Oxford University Press, NY; was the production manager of Paradigm Publishing, Inc., Minneapolis; and the art director for EMC Publishing, St. Paul. She owned and operated four Curves fitness franchises throughout the East Bay when she moved to California. In 2008, when her first book was published, she had a book signing at Barnes & Noble in Walnut Creek. Throughout her long career in publishing, she won numerous book design awards, currently produces the weekly Clayton Valley Rotary newsletter, continues to write, paint, and dedicates her energy to growing the Foundation. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn.    

 

SUSAN BENNETT, the granddaughter, is an experiential design specialist, graphic designer, and communications director at Arrow Signs, Oakland. She was the former project manager at Square Peg Designs, San Francisco; creative director of Shannon-Leigh Associates, San Leandro; and SBC Creative. Her career pursuits encompass art direction, publishing, print production, and marketing that she held in the following positions: graphic designer and marketing director for BSC Art and Print Ltd, London; creative director for Bolger, Inc., Minneapolis; graphic designer and marketing assistant with The Gruzen Partnership/Architects, New York City; art director of Select Magazine Publishers and Distributors, Inc., New York City; and vice president of creative services with Pacific West Public Relations, Los Angeles. Throughout her career, she has won numerous national design awards and attended the Academy of Art, London; School of Visual Arts, Tangiers; the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City; and Pratt Institute, Brooklyn.

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MICHAEL SILVER, the grandson and professor of architecture, is pioneering research in the field of sustainable design, digital mapping, robotics, manufacturing, and proprietary software development. He is a LeFevre’ 29 research fellow for The Knowlton School of Architecture in Columbus, Ohio, and a Sanders Fellow at the University of Michigan.  Along with his teaching responsibilities, he directs a Buffalo/ New York City-based multidisciplinary design laboratory that includes the exploration of computational fluid dynamics simulation and robotic fabrication tools. He won numerous grants and design competitions, authored several books, written copious articles, and holds a Master's Degree in Building Design from Columbia University.  He was the director of digital media at the Yale School of Architecture and a design instructor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. His work has been exhibited at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in Manhattan; the IDC in Nagoya, Japan; the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C; the Architecture League in New York; the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, NY; and received his master’s degree from Columbia University, NY.

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CJ BENNETT, the great-grandson, received his BFA from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. As an undergraduate, he worked on a variety of short films including The Ribbon which won over 30 awards; Best Animated Short Film from the Five Continents International Film Festival, and Best Animation from the 2019 Indie Short Film Festival. He represented Concord High School at the UC Berkeley Cal Invitational National Debate Tournament, was a volunteer with the Contra Costa County Concord Library where he tutored and developed educational workshops for public school students, and was appointed to the Concord Parks and Recreation Department as a teen representative. Following in his family’s footsteps, he is pursuing a career in the visual and digital arts with an emphasis on 2D animation, film, and art history. As the fourth generation of the D’Onofrio family, Chris is the future of the Foundation.