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Liz Neubauer Freinberg ’98 is Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel for the LA 2028 Olympics. In this episode, Liz discusses LA28’s proposed athletic venues, transportation challenges, and “Olympic Village” site—as well as the notion of LA28 as a “comeback story,” highlighting the city’s aspirations to rebuild after January’s devastating wildfires. Liz also tells her own story, as the eldest of five Neubauer sisters who all attended Harvard-Westlake—after which she attended Columbia and Michigan Law, worked for two influential judges, took legal roles at Munger, Tolles & Olson and TMZ, before finding herself helping to lead the 2028 Olympic games. Liz references Joy Taniguchi of Warner Avenue Elementary School, Karl Kleinz and Francine Applebaum Werner ’68 of Harvard-Westlake, and two judges (Hon. Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. and Hon. Margaret M. Morrow), as profound influences and mentors.

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Ben Sherwood ’81 is the publisher, CEO, and co-owner of the digital news platform The Daily Beast, a position Ben assumed in 2024 after a long and illustrious career as a media executive. For example, Ben has served as Executive Producer of Good Morning America, President of ABC News, and most recently led the entire Disney ABC Television Group globally. If that isn’t enough, Ben is also an accomplished novelist, entrepreneur, and Rhodes Scholar. In this episode, Ben speaks about the principles behind covering the news with integrity and diligence during a time of rapid political change. Ben references journalist Tom Johnson, broadcasters Bill Moyers and Dan Rather, media executive Bob Iger, and various Harvard School teachers as profound influences on his life and career.

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Nicole Brown ’98 is the president of TriStar Pictures, the famed Sony Pictures division responsible for producing many of the most influential films in movie history. In this episode, Nicole tells her story—from growing up in Culver City and attending public and private schools, before discovering Harvard-Westlake through the Independent School Alliance. It was at HW where Nicole met the late great performing arts teacher Ted Walch, who encouraged Nicole (a budding actor) to consider working “on” student productions—rather than “in” them. The message stuck, leading Nicole to study history and film at Columbia University, pursue a life-changing internship with Marc Platt and executive role at Good Universe, and then finally—seize the opportunity to lead TriStar in 2020. Nicole references Ted Walch of Harvard-Westlake, as well as film producer Marc Platt and Sony Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman, as profound influences and mentors.

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In the season 6 opener, The Supporting Cast welcomes back its very first guest, Rick Commons, the Charles B. Thornton President of Harvard-Westlake. In this episode, Rick speaks to the many challenges and opportunities impacting today’s HW students, from college admission and the promise of River Park (Harvard-Westlake’s forthcoming third campus)—to fostering enduring HW values around civil discourse, diversity, and belonging. Rick also speaks poignantly and publicly for the first time about losing his home in the Palisades fire on January 7. A Pacific Palisades resident for more than a decade, Rick speaks about what drew his family to that community, what he’s kept, and what he’s lost. The Supporting Cast is grateful for Rick’s time and participation in this series for a second time.

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In 2017, a 31-year-old Nick Melvoin ’04 was elected as one of seven members of the largest self-governing school district in the world, the LAUSD Board of Education. In this episode, Nick tells his story, from growing up in LA and attending Harvard-Westlake and Harvard College, before teaching in a Watts public school as part of Teach For America. The inequities that Nick observed there led him to partner with the ACLU in 2014 to sue the LAUSD on behalf of his students—a lawsuit he and the ACLU won—prompting Nick to attend law school and then public service in the Obama White House and then the school board. Now a decade later and viewing these issues as a policymaker, Nick speaks about the LAUSD’s challenges—600,000 students, with 85% of LA kids living in poverty—and the delicate tensions around teacher compensation, teachers’ unions, and school autonomy. Nick also discusses his recent resolution banning cell phones in all of LAUSD. Since the recording of this podcast, Nick’s resolution passed. Nick references various educators at Harvard-Westlake, as well as Catherine Belcher of LMU and Mark Rosenbaum of the ACLU, as profound life influences.

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Ynon Kreiz is Chairman and CEO of Mattel, a global toy and family entertainment company and owner of among the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. In this episode, Ynon tells his story—from growing up and attending college in Israel, before relocating to Los Angeles to study entertainment at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. But after 25 years of running several large entertainment companies, Ynon’s life changed in 2018 when he was hired as Mattel’s CEO. Within a few short weeks, Ynon was laser focused on creating a live action Barbie movie—but one that didn’t merely pay homage to the iconic brand; he wanted to break convention and impact culture. As Ynon describes, the Barbie movie that Greta Gerwig created was not at odds with Ynon’s vision for Mattel—but in complete alignment; a strategy to stand out in a crowded marketplace, say something bold and truthful about our culture, and even to be self-critical. In Ynon’s words, Barbie is but one example of Mattel’s evolution from a toy company manufacturing items to an IP company managing franchises and experiences. Ynon references entertainment mogul Haim Saban as a profound influence on his life and career.

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On January 12, 2023, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur ’91 to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into President Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents during his time as vice president—thrusting Rob into the national political spotlight. In this episode, Rob tells his story. The child of Korean immigrants, Rob’s family settled in Southern California in the 1980s, where Rob attended Harvard School. Rob later discovered a passion for the law, and in 2018 he was named the US Attorney for the district of Maryland, where he led major investigations relating to violent crime, public corruption, and white supremacist-inspired domestic terrorism. All of this prepared Rob for this moment, testifying before a divided congress on March 12, and concluding an inquiry that Rob believes was fair and just. Rob references Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, as well as Harvard School educators John Amato, Bob Archer, Tom Donahue, Mimi Flood, and Phil Holmes, as profound life influences.

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Tiffany Alexander Aldridge ’87 is Director of Annual Giving at Harvard-Westlake, overseeing a program that leads all American day schools in overall dollars (raising more than $10M in 2022-2023). However, what draws Tiffany to the role is not the program’s size, but its impact—which Tiffany and her family know personally. Tiffany grew up in South LA as the only child of a single mom, gaining access to Westlake School for Girls in 10^th grade due to both her exceptional talent and the availability of need-based financial aid. It was this same combination of talent and resources that enabled her son, Chase Aldridge ’15, to also attend Harvard-Westlake. While Tiffany’s professional career has spanned various meaningful political and non-profit fundraising roles, in 2022 she seized the opportunity to return to HW and direct the very same program that profoundly impacted her family. It is a story that brings Tiffany quite literally to tears, imbued with gratitude for the role she plays now in creating more opportunities for students like her. Tiffany references Westlake educators Hope Boyd, Craig Deutsche, and Elizabeth Gregory as profound influences.

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Kara Nortman ’93 is co-founder of Los Angeles’s professional women’s soccer team Angel City. In this episode, Kara recounts her evolution from leading LA’s largest venture capital firm, Upfront Ventures, to co-founding Angel City alongside partners Natalie Portman and Julie Uhrman in 2020. Since then, Angel City has not only garnered significant fan followings and profitability (quadrupling its revenue projections in year one), but also developed a profit model to enable community and philanthropic impact. Using Angel City as a model, Kara has since broadened her focus–leading a $150M raise to form Monarch Collective, whose mission is to invest in women’s teams, sports, and rights across the world. Finally, Kara describes her own Harvard-Westlake story and personal connections to the team—noting that three of Angel City’s stars, including team captain Ali Riley ’06, Gisele Thompson ’24, and Alyssa Thompson ’23 are all HW alumnae. Kara references Jeanne Huybrechts and Barb Welch of Harvard-Westlake, as well as Alan Blinder and Lori Dauphiny of Princeton University, as profound educational influences.

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On April 25, the NFL Network’s Rich Eisen will host his 21st NFL Draft, anchoring what will amount to a 20-hour broadcast held over multiple days—framing compelling narratives and moderating impassioned debates about the NFL’s next generation of stars. In this episode, Rich tells his story–from growing up in Staten Island as the child of two educators, to the University of Michigan and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, to being hired by ESPN in the mid-90s to host Sports Center at age 26. Rich references Lou Prato of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, the Cornell Summer College writing intensive, as well as his own parents, as profound educational influences.