Leadership, Board of Directors, & Board of Advisors

Hernán Luis y Prado | WFW Founder

Hernán Luis y Prado

Founder & CEO

Hernán Luis y Prado served in the United States Navy for 15 years as a Hospital Corpsman and then as a Surface Warfare Officer.

Hernán saw three combat tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is a graduate of the Navy Surface Warfare Officer School, where he completed the Chief Engineering Officer and Combat Systems Officer curricula.

His personal decorations include the Navy Achievement Medal and Combat Action Ribbon, as well as various unit and service awards.

Workshops For Warriors

Leadership Team

Mark Platt | Chief Academic Officer
Workshops For Warriors

Board of Directors

Amanda Barber

Amanda Barber is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Texas and is a registered Professional Engineer (Mechanical). She is currently the Associate Vice President of Facilities for Southwestern University.

Kevin Graney

Kevin Graney currently works at San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. as Director & Trustee. Mr. Graney formerly worked at General Dynamics NASSCO as President from 2017 to 2019, National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. as President from 2017 to 2019, the US Department of the Navy (District of Columbia) as Principal, General Dynamics Corp. as Vice President, and Electric Boat Corp. as President from 2019 to 2024. Mr. Graney received his undergraduate degree from The State University of New York. 

Pete Peterson

Pete, over the last 50 years, has owned and operated companies involved in many different factions of business to include public accounting, real estate development, and health clubs, and, generally, holding the position of chief financial officer and/or managing partner. He is semi-retired from the company he started in 2005, PFW Holdings, LLC, which owns and operates Planet Fitness franchises in four states. His background and expertise helps support WFW’s efforts in construction, financial analysis, and expansion of its facilities and operations.

Mike Shoemaker

Vice Admiral Mike Shoemaker, Ret., has over 20 years of senior executive experience leading complex and diverse organizations ranging from 250 to over 82,000 personnel culminating as the Commander of all Naval Air Forces. He is currently Vice President, Strategic Planning at Lockheed Martin, Aeronautics.

Peter Zierhut

Peter is the Vice President, Outside Operations for Haas Automation, Inc. Mr. Zierhut’s career at Haas spans more than 33 years, with experience including management positions in manufacturing, sales, marketing, and IT. He is a senior-level manager at Haas and is responsible for oversight of Haas Automation’s HTEC-branded education program comprising more than 2,000 institutions around the world that utilize Haas machine tools for educational purposes.

Workshops For Warriors

Board of Advisors

Our Advisory Board is comprised of industry leaders who make themselves available in support of our mission. They provide guidance on issues including manufacturing education, nonprofit governance, fundraising, and other matters.

Wayne Arendsee

Owner, The School of Shop

Virginia Bayer

Retired Navy Commander

Gisele Bonitz

Board Member, San Diego Foundation & Senior Management, Intel Corp

Fernanda Colston

Branch Manager, US Bank

Rosie Davies

Retired

Tuck Forsyth

Board Member, San Diego Social Venture Partners

Dominick Gallegos

Director of Product Marketing, Matterport

Ken Hoover

Principal, Fish & Richardson

Erica Martinez

Sr. IT Project Manager, Qualcomm

Kevin Mooney

President, Irving Shipbuilding

Judy Oliphant

Retired

Ed Sullivan

Principal, Business Development, TurbineOne