Our Team

Raffi Simonian, MBA
Program Director

  • Raffi has been involved in the IT field for the past 35+ years. He started his career at Bechtel Corporation as a software engineer and has led large and small groups of software developers at such companies as SQRiBE Technologies (now Oracle), The Walt Disney Company, Candle Corporation (now IBM), DeskTalk (now HP), SeeBeyond (now Oracle) and Xdrive (now Verizon).

    Raffi has managed more than 65 large-scale projects and has launched more than 20 different products from enterprise to online solutions. A strategic thinker with strong management skills and emphasis on building teams and relationships; communicating effectively; driving results; inspiring creativity and innovation; championing change and exhibiting professional excellence.

    Raffi has taught software programming courses at CSUN and UCLA since 1987. He has also done software consulting and training at Northrop Grumman, UCLA, Paramount Pictures and numerous startups. Raffi holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Math/Computer Science from UCLA and an Executive MBA from Pepperdine University.

    Currently, Raffi is the Program Director for UCLA’s Epicenter for Action, where he is developing a series of programs to professionally prepare students for the workforce in collaboration with industry partners.

    Raffi has a passion for teaching and sharing his experience with students. He is currently teaching "Fundamentals of Project Management" to UCLA students in the Master's in Quantitative Economics program. He also founded and launched UCLA’s ""Project-Based Technology Bootcamp for Social Impact"" program for undergraduate and graduate students utilizing the Google Ventures Design Thinking framework. Due to their popularity, the tech bootcamps are now offered as a 4-unit UCLA Engineering course with Raffi as the instructor.

    Raffi is also an Advisory Board Member for UC Riverside’s Extension Design Thinking Executive Program as well as Advisory Board Member for the Armenian General Benevolent Union’s (AGBU) Innovation Studios program. Raffi is an Emerging Tech Consultant at Los Angeles Community College (LACC) where he launched LACC’s Emerging Tech Bootcamps in Summer 2022. In Summer of 2023, Raffi traveled to American University of Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) launching their inaugural Design Thinking Tech Bootcamp.

    Raffi is keen on workforce development focusing on the areas of Digital Skills, Business Skills and Human Skills. He helps companies recruit college students who have already completed the “Design Thinking” tech bootcamps and become certified as “professionally ready” in the areas of ideation, critical thinking and problem solving.

    To learn more, visit Raffi’s portfolio at https://raffi-simonian.notion.site

Janette Palacios
Director, Special Initiatives

  • Janette graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, and master’s degree in Urban Planning. After graduate school, she was hired as a Project Manager for the National Farm Workers Service Center. She managed and oversaw the construction of affordable housing for farm workers and low-income families in the cities of San Francisco and Gilroy. Janette also spent 19 years in redevelopment, and economic and business development, having served as project manager for the Cities of Huntington Park, Baldwin Park and Alhambra. In this role, she worked directly with property owners and developers to create mixed-use, commercial office and housing development opportunities to meet the city’s strategic goals.

    Janette joined the Alumni Affairs team in November of 2021 as the Director of Affinity Networks. She served as the liaison for UCLA's “legacy” groups (Affiliates of UCLA, Gold Shield Alumnae, and Prytanean), and student activity-based groups (Alumni Band, Daily Bruin Alumni Network, and Veteran’s Alumni Network), among other campus-based entities. She is currently the Director of Special Initiatives, where she’s assisting in developing and overseeing new and existing alumni engagement initiatives for UCLA. Additionally, she oversees the Bruin Promise, one of UCLA Chancellor Gene Block’s recent initiatives which showcases lifelong learning resources in various areas including lifelong learning, career and professional development, health and wellness, and arts and culture.

    As a proud UCLA Alumna, Janette developed a passion for giving back to UCLA. She was a founding member of the UCLA Alumni Beachside Network, and held leadership roles in the UCLA Latino Alumni Association as vice president and president. She is currently a member of Gold Shield Alumnae.

Loren Vevaina
Director, Strategic Engagement & Innovation

  • Loren Vevaina serves as the Director of Strategic Engagement & Innovation at the UCLA Alumni Association, where she plays a pivotal role in building and fortifying UCLA's extensive global alumni network of 600,000 individuals. In this role, she manages 20 alumni networks and, as part of this, takes an active role in the recruitment, training, and managing of volunteer leaders to create meaningful and impactful programing in various regions nationwide. Her expertise extends to strategic leadership, driving cross-campus collaborations with UCLA's Professional Schools. Loren is an alumna of the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned her bachelor's degree in sociology with a minor in education studies. Her academic background, coupled with her professional experience, positions her as a dynamic leader in the realm of alumni engagement and strategic innovation.