Business leader Dea Berberian, Adobe executive Brian J. Miller and philanthropist Janet Rogers are the newest members of the University of the Pacific’s Board of Regents.

The Board of Regents also elected its new slate of officers: Mary-Elizabeth Eberhardt ’76, vice president and director of community banking at Bank of Stockton, will serve as vice chair. Nava Fathi ’95, endodontist and owner of Samaritan Endodontics in San Jose, will become secretary; and Janet Spears, chief executive officer for Metta Fund in San Francisco, will step into the treasurer role. They will join Norman Allen, chief client experience officer for Woodruff-Sawyer & Co., who is in the second of his two-year term as chair.

“We are honored to welcome Dea, Brian and Janet to the Pacific Board of Regents,” Allen said. “These dynamic leaders will bring a great depth of knowledge and wisdom to the board, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the university's mission and vision. We look forward to working with them to help position Pacific as one of the leading private universities in the country.”

Berberian, co-owner of The Spanos Corporation since 1994, serves as its executive vice president, director and secretary. She has been the co-owner of the Los Angeles (formerly San Diego) Chargers National Football League team since 1998.

Throughout her career, Berberian has been dedicated to giving back to the community, serving numerous nonprofit organizations in a variety of roles. Since 2008, she has been a co-chair of the Community Foundation of San Joaquin Super Bowl Raffle, which has raised over $3.4 million for local charities. She is also the vice president for Stockton's Ready to Work program, a local nonprofit dedicated to reducing homelessness in San Joaquin County. Berberian has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to the community with the 2010 Athena Award and the Helping Hands Award from Goodwill in 2013.

A Stockton native, Berberian served on Pacific’s Board of Regents from 1996–2007 and is a founding member of the Advancing Women's Leadership Forum, which brings together renowned diverse world leaders to inspire young women to make a lasting, positive and powerful impact in the communities where they live and work. The group has brought powerhouse speakers to campus, including Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook; Janet W. Lamkin, senior vice president of market and community innovation with United Airlines; and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Berberian is married to Pacific alumnus and former Regent Ron Berberian and has three sons and five grandsons. The Spanos family has been represented on the Board of Regents for nearly 50 years.

Miller ’91, who recently joined Adobe as chief talent, diversity and inclusion officer, is responsible for driving the organization's global talent and diversity and inclusion strategy as well as their talent development and acquisition programs.

Prior to Adobe, Miller was the chief people officer at Impossible Foods and vice president for talent, development and inclusion at Gilead Sciences. He also worked at Amgen, where he was the global head and director of learning and development. Miller was previously founder and CEO of E3-Services, a consulting firm specializing in how to integrate digital strategies into human resources departments. 

Miller earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Pacific in 1991 and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University in 1997.

Rogers brings decades of non-profit management experience to the Board of Regents, particularly in the area of education and social services. She is the secretary of the board for the Rogers family’s Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation, which has created generous scholarships for students at Pacific and universities and schools across the country.

Rogers is an advocate for the local community. She serves on the board of trustees for the Gallo Center for the Arts and Samaritan Village, a retirement community for seniors located in Hughson in Stanislaus County. She is involved with the United Samaritans Foundation, an organization that delivers meals to Stanislaus County residents as part of a transition program. She has served for more than 20 years as the chair of the Hilltown Churches Food Pantry, which provides emergency and supplemental food distribution for the underserved in 11 communities in western Massachusetts.

A graduate of San Joaquin Delta College, Rogers is a licensed registered nurse and enjoys golfing and spending time with her wife, Beverly LaBelle, and her two sons, Trevor and Tylor. She resides in Ashfield, Massachusetts and Hughson, California.

Regents Jie Du ’93, former CEO and president of JDP Therapeutics, and Gregory Boardman, former vice provost for student affairs at Stanford University who began the early part of his career at Pacific, were elected to the board in January and also began their terms on July 1.

The new board members will fill vacancies by former regents whose terms have expired: Ron Berberian, chairman and president of BAC Community Bank; Richard Fleming, former vice president and chief financial officer of USG Corporations; Gary M. Mitchell, president of Mitchell and Mitchell Insurance Agency; and Susanne T. Stirling, vice president of international affairs at the California Chamber of Commerce.

“All four of these regents have served with tremendous passion and dedication and have been driven by their desire to support our students,” Allen said. “Their wise counsel and dedication are immeasurable and I am grateful for their service and for what I know will be a lifelong partnership in support of our university.”

Pacific's Board of Regents is entrusted with final responsibility for the quality and integrity of the education provided by the university. It selects the university president, approves the mission of the university and ensures provision of adequate resources to support that mission. In addition, the board protects the university from external pressures antithetical to academic freedom and to university autonomy or integrity.