With extensive experience in nonprofit management and fundraising, LaRae Mardesic Bechmann served as President/CEO of the St. Mary Medical Center Foundation, where she managed development, external relations, the board of directors, government relations, and community programs until 2019. Before that, she served as the Senior Director of Development for Providence Little Company of Mary, where she launched a capital campaign to expand the emergency department at the San Pedro Medical Center.

LaRae also served as Vice President of Development for St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower. She was responsible for supervising external communications and launching a comprehensive fundraising operation that supported both capital improvements and academic programming.  Her professional experience includes large capital campaign projects for the University of Southern California, the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. She served in a volunteer capacity and was later appointed President and CEO of Chrysalis, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating pathways to employment for unhoused and impoverished communities.

LaRae has a bachelor’s degree in communications from California State University, Long Beach. She completed graduate coursework at the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California (USC).  She has consulted at educational institutions, social services, and healthcare organizations.  LaRae is a licensed Realtor and a member of both the San Pedro and Palos Verdes Peninsula Chambers of Commerce. She also served as president of the Parent-Teacher-Student Association at Ridgecrest Intermediate School, where her teenager attends school in Palos Verdes.