California State Athletic Commission Members

Chair: John Frierson

Vice-Chair: Eugene Hernandez

Commissioner: Dr. Christopher Giza

Commissioner: Dr. VanBuren Ross Lemons

Commissioner: Dean Grafilo

Executive Officer: Andy Foster

Chairman Frierson has been a member of the Athletic Commission since 2001. A 26 year veteran of the Los Angeles Police and Sheriff's Departments, he served as Senior Traffic Supervisor for the Police Department for 17 years. He's been a member of the Los Angeles Transportation Commission since 2001, and is currently its Vice President. Chairman Frierson is an Executive Board Member of the California Democratic Party and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from 1976 through 2000. He's also the recipient of numerous Community Services Awards from both the City of Los Angeles and the California State Assembly.

Dr. Christopher Giza is an Associate Professor of Pediatric Neurology and Neurosurgery, and is also on the faculty of the Interdepartmental Programs for Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1986 and received his M.D. from the West Virginia University School of Medicine in 1990. After interning at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Giza completed his residency training in Adult Neurology and a fellowship in Pediatric Neurology at UCLA. After two summers working on the Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue team, Dr. Giza returned to UCLA to study basic neuroscience as related to Neurotrauma. Dr. Giza joined the UCLA faculty in the divisions of Neurosurgery and Pediatric Neurology in 2001. His current laboratory interests include neuroplasticity, recovery from injury, concussive injury, sport-related brain injuries, and brain development. Dr. Giza runs the Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) clinic at UCLA and has served on the California State Athletic Commission since 2006

VanBuren Ross Lemons, M.D. is a board certified neurosurgeon in private practice in Northern California with a longstanding interest in traumatic injuries to the brain and spine. He graduated from the University of California, Davis, where he was awarded Summa Cum Laude distinction. While in college, Dr. Lemons competed in varsity football and wrestling. After completing medical school at the University of California, Davis, Dr. Lemons completed his postgraduate neurosurgical training at UC Davis Medical Center. He has published numerous articles on neurosurgical topics, especially traumatic injuries. Dr. Lemons has earned a black belt in Shotokan Karate and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has served for eighteen years as a ringside physician and consultant to the California State Athletic Commission.

Chief Gene Hernandez (RET.) received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Administration of Criminal Justice from San Jose State University and his Masters of Science Degree in Management from Cal Poly, Pomona. He is a graduate of Class 15 of the California POST Command College and Class 154 of the FBI National Academy. He entered law enforcement as a police officer with the City of Fullerton in 1972 and transferred to the Orange Police Department in 1975. He attained the rank of Captain within that agency with his last assignment, prior to coming to the City of Chino, being the Administrative Division Commander for the Orange Police Department. In 1998, he assumed the Chief of Police position with the City of Chino Police Department.

Chief Hernandez is actively involved in the community and has served as: Immediate Past District Governor for Rotary International, District 5300, Current Board Chair of the Yorba Linda/Placentia YMCA, Past President of the Orange YMCA and past Board President for the Chino Valley YMCA; Past Chairman for the Orange Chamber of Commerce Leadership program; Past President of Family Solutions Inc., residential and foster care homes for abused children; Past President of Orange North Rotary Club and Past President of the Chino Rotary Club; Member of Orange Elks Lodge 1475; Past Community Concerns Specialist for the California State PTA Board; Board of Director for the Chino Valley Medical Center; Chino Boxing Club Foundation President of the Board; Past Board Member of the Boy Scouts of America - Old Baldy Council; Past President of the Command College Alumni Association; Past Committee Member for the FBI National Academy Alumni Association; and Past President of the Society of Police Futurists International.

Chief Hernandez has lectured extensively to both civic, fraternal, and law enforcement organizations on various aspects of crime trends, police leadership and social change.

Chief Hernandez retired from Law Enforcement after a 35 year career. He has been married for 40 years, has three children, three grandchildren, and resides in the City of Yorba Linda.

Dean Grafilo is a graduate of San Francisco State University and received a Masters from the University of Washington at the Evans School of Public Affairs. He has been an Associate Director of Government Relations at the California Medical Association since 2009. He served as Chief of Staff to Assembly member Warren Furutani and as Senior Legislative Assistant to former Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico. Prior to returning to California in 2004 Grafilo was an organizer representative for Service Employees International Union Local 925 in Seattle and an organizer for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142 in Hawaii. His continued interest in combat sports was first sparked as a Wrestler while growing up in Washington state. Grafilo is a resident of West Sacramento where he and his wife of 15 years are both raising two daughters.

Andy Foster became Executive Officer of the California State Athletic Commission on November 7th 2012. Previously, Mr. Foster served as Executive Director of the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission and also as Regional Director of the Southeastern United States for the Association of Boxing Commissions. Before his appointment as a regulator, Mr. Foster served as the head mixed martial arts (MMA) referee for the Georgia Commission, officiating hundreds of bouts in both professional and amateur rule sets. Mr. Foster has also competed in professional MMA, amateur MMA, amateur boxing, amateur kickboxing, and amateur sport grappling. In addition, Mr. Foster instructed martial arts between 2002-2008 and trained many martial artists. Mr. Foster currently serves in the Association of Boxing Commissions as Chairman of the Unified Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Rules Committee, and member of the Professional Mixed Martial Arts Rules Committee, Boxing and MMA Matchmaking Committee, MMA Judging Committee, and MMA Training Committee. Mr. Foster is married to his wife of six years and they have a dog and a parrot.