Katherine Ahn Wallace, DDS

Founder & Board Chair

Dr. Katherine Ahn (Wallace) has a special interest in helping people and being involved in the community. Dr. Ahn served on the OCKCC (Orange County Korean Cultural Center) Board, Orangewood Academy Administrative Board, GGSDA Church Advisory Council and Festival Ballet Theater Advisory Board.  Dr. Ahn was appointed to the Orange County Children and Families Commission in early 2012 and served on the Commission for 4 years. While serving on the Commission, she got acquainted with wonderful non-profit organizations in Orange County and was inspired to start OCCares, a non profit that helps other non profits by raising awareness and funds for their causes. She launched OCCares in February 2013 with the support of OCCares’ Founding Members, Ken August, Esq, Karen Thomas, Anita Gibson, Angella Voskanian and MaryAnn Pedersen. OCCares’ first project was a benefit concert designed to enhance Unity, Charity and Compassion in OC by giving the residents of OC, including the youth, a platform to contribute their time and talents towards bringing hope and relief to those in need in OC. The non profits that OCCares worked with in the first year were: The Joyful Child Foundation, Giving Children Hope and Serving Kids Hope (aka Dr. Riba’s Health Club). In 2014, OCCares chose to support “Waste Not OC”, a collaborative that was focused on ending hunger in OC. In the fall of 2014, OCCares hosted a Walk to End Hunger in OC for the benefit of Waste Not OC. In 2015, OCCares developed the Youth Social Entrepreneurship Program to more effectively fulfill its mission of helping the community and inspiring the youth. In 2016, the first 3 Project Y Clubs (aka YSEP) were established by students at Sage Hill High School, Fairmont High School and OCSA. With the need for service learning hours and experience at the high school level, Dr. Ahn is excited about inviting Corporations to partner with OCCares in expanding the high school Youth Social Entrepreneurship Club program in 2019.

Dr. Ahn is a dentist dedicated to improving the smile and health of her patients and is particularly passionate about developing the jaw, face and the airway to improve her patients overall health. She is committed to bringing awareness about the recent advances in dentistry and medicine at her Breathe Well Center, a center dedicated to providing TMJ, Sleep, Oro-facial Development & Orthodontic therapies. In addition, she recently founded Life Cornerstone, a company dedicated to developing products that can provide both temporary and permanent solutions for issues related to airwary compromise such as snoring, sleep apnea, fatigue, TMJ/craniofacial pain, collapsed faces, underdeveloped jaw and crooked teeth.

Dr. Ahn is also excited about collaborating with the Be Well medical collaborative centers that understand the root cause of medical and dental problems and offer healing solutions in lieu of just covering up the symptoms.

Dr. Ahn is member of the ADA, CDA, OCDS, AACD, AACP, ADSM and IAOMT.  She is passionate about learning and actively pursues advanced dental training throughout the year. Her key educational and training highlights are as follows:

  • Undergraduate education from La Sierra University

  • Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from UCLA School of Dentistry

  • ​Pediatric Dental Residency training from UCLA School of Dentistry

  • Cosmetic, Reconstructive & Neuromuscular Dentistry training from LVI, center for advanced dental education

  • Non-extraction Orthodontics training with Full Face Global with Dr. Derek Mahony

  • TMD and Sleep Apnea Therapy training with Dr. Steve Olmos

  • TMD & Sleep Mini Residency with AACP (American Academy of Craniofacial Pain)

  • Airway Mini Residency with Dr. Mark Cruz & Dr. Barry Raphael

Dr. Ahn is married to Dr. John Wallace who is also a dentist and has an 18 year old daughter Elise Newen who attends UCI as a dance major on a premed track.

Ken August, Esq

Founding Member & Board Vice-Chair

Ken August is the Founder and President of August Law Group, P.C., a transactional law firm specializing in domestic and international corporate and financial transactions, securities and private equity investments, mergers and acquisitions, technology transfer, licensing and strategic alliances. He began his legal career in Washington, D.C., as part of the legal team representing former U.S. Treasury Secretary William Simon's investment banking firm, Wesray Corporation, in a variety of public and private financial transactions, management buyouts and related corporate activity. Prior to establishing his own Firm, Mr. August worked at Graham & James, Los Angeles, CA, specializing in mergers & acquisitions, corporate finance, franchise and securities, and joint venture transactions for the firm's international clientele. During his career, Mr. August has participated as legal counsel in transactions having an aggregate value of more than $2.5 Billion dollars. ALG received (together with Winthrop Couchot Golubow Hollander, LLP and Bryan Cave LLP) the 2016 Professional Services (B-to-B) Deal of the Year Award from M&A Advisor Magazine.

Mr. August has served as an Adjunct Professor at Whittier Law School and for the University of California at Irvine Graduate School of Management, teaching in the area of corporations, contracts and securities law. He has lectured extensively in the areas of international business and financial transactional law, including for the US Department of Commerce, the Riverside County College of Foreign Trade, Harvard Business School Association of Orange County, and a variety of academic and private sector organizations. He was a contributing author on international mergers and acquisitions in the book The Art of M&A, published by Dow Jones-Irwin in 1987.

Mr. August was a Founding Member of the College of Fellows of the Centre for International Legal Studies, headquartered in Austria, and served as a Director for the SoCal chapter of the Singapore American Business Association, as well as a Director and Past President of the Orange County International Business and Protocol Foundation, and Chairman of the California International Business Advisory Board, Rancho Santiago Community College District. Currently Mr. August serves as a Trustee of the World Affairs Council of Orange County. He is fluent in English, French and Spanish, and has a working knowledge of German, Italian, Portuguese and Russian.

Matt White, CPA

Board Treasurer

Matthew White is the President and Founder of White & Company, CPA, a full service accounting and business consulting firm in Southern California.  

Matthew has worked in the insurance and banking sectors at some of the world’s most prestigious financial institutions. At his time at these institutions he held roles in which he acted as a consultant to the firm’s top financial advisers and finds fulfillment in adding value to partnerships with other business professionals and clients.  

He holds a bachelors of arts in Economics from The University of California, Irvine and a Masters of Business Administration in Financial Planning from California Lutheran University. He is a Certified Financial Planner and a Certified Public Accountant.

Thelma Gutierrez

Board Member

I’m a dynamic multimedia content manager with a proven track record as a writer, producer and interviewer. I am passionate about highlighting socially impactful stories and have won multiple journalism awards for hard news and feature reporting. I’m skilled at working with not-for-profit organizations on philanthropy development and social marketing campaigns. I am adept at investigating, copy editing, and managing productions from ideation to completion.

Dianne Harwell

Board Member

Dianne Harwell joined OCCares in 2016 as the Project Y Committee Chair. She was also a Girl Scout Troop leader for 8 years. Dianne’s role expanded as a Board Member and continues as the Project Y Committee Chair.

She is currently involved in real estate investments and does this part time. Her professional career included being an Internal Audit Manager for many years. Previous to working in Finance she worked in Operations and Marketing/Public Relations at large corporations. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication and a Masters in Business Administration.

On her free time she enjoys traveling with her husband and children as well spending time with her family and friends. She loves to read, work in the garden and take yoga classes.

Catherine Pham

Board Member

Leo Goldschwartz

Board Member

Leo Goldschwartz is an ambitious real estate agent whose goal has always been to help people. With the support of the community, Leo combines his success in the luxury real estate market with his mission of philanthropy. Leo has built his entire business helping clients achieve their financial goals. He also works hard to balance his hectic work life with his personal life.

When Leo isn’t working, he explores nature with his wife and two children. Leo takes advantage of the beautiful Orange County weather on his downtime and enjoys running, yoga, paddle boarding, and sport fishing.