Board of Directors

John Bray
President

John Bray grew up in the tough streets of the San Fernando Valley in Van Nuys, California. In 1980, John began his amateur boxing career and would eventually win seven national titles, with an outstanding record of 124-12. In 1991, Bray would have his most notable win as an amateur winning his second ever gold medal at the U.S. Olympic Festival in Los Angeles against Melvin Foster. John would receive his gold medal alongside future World Champions Oscar De la Hoya and Raul Marquez.

Bray turned professional in 1992 and won the first couple of bouts of his professional career, however, his career never got on track which subsequently led to a final record of 15-3-2. After being knocked out in the first round of a bout in 1998, he would eventually retire. Bray then suffered a near fatal stroke and he walked away from boxing with the notion that he would never return. After he recovered, he slowly got back into boxing. John was invited to Joe Goosen's Gym to help out and little by little got back on his feet. At Goosen's is where he would meet one of his longtime pupils and former Contender participant of Season One, Miguel Espino.

In September of 2008, John was fortunate to receive a call from Jeff Walde asking if John was interested in being a trainer for Season Four of the Contender TV Series. John accepted the offer and just returned from filming in Singapore.

 

Jerry Gonzalez
Chief Executive Officer

Jerry Gonzalez was born and raised in San Diego, California. He graduated from Serra High School in 1997 and later that year enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Jerry served four years of active duty and was honorably discharged.

Jerry started working for a public agency immediately after the military but was later recalled to active duty due to "Operation Iraqi Freedom." He served one more year of active duty before being honorably discharged permanently.

Jerry recently graduated from California State University Fresno with a Bachelors Degree in
Public Administration. He now lives with his beautiful wife Veronica in Dinuba, California.

 

Ben Bray
Board of Directors

Ben Hernandez Bray was also born and raised in the tough streets of the San Fernando Valley. Ben's career started at age 21; while training at a boxing gym, he was approached by Spiderman 2 stunt coordinator Dan Bradley and as they say, the rest was history.

Ron Stein and several other stunt coordinators embraced Ben's talents who then employed him, including Three Kings Director David O. Russell. Twenty years later, Ben is now one of Hollywood's most established stuntmen, stunt coordinators and is a co-owner of a stunt equipment company called Visual Impact.

Ben can now add second unit director to his resume for his work on the film Smoking Aces written and directed by Joe Carnahan. Ben Bray counts his blessings everyday, never forgets where he came from, takes one day at a time and...always keeps it real!

 

Thomas Bray
Legal Counsel / Treasurer

Thomas Bray was born and raised in San Fernando Valley, California. He attended high school at Arroyo High and Van Nuys High. In 1982 he enlisted in the US Navy and stationed in Virginian Beach, VA. He served four years as an Aviation Ordnanceman. He specialized in loading and arming conventional and nuclear weapons on the A-6 Intruder. He served in Operation Desert Storm/Shield. After being honorably discharged he enlisted in the California Army National Guard as a Military Intelligence Analysis while attending LA Pierce College full time. After 5 years of service he was honorably discharged.

Thomas started work for Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. He later transferred to LA County Office of the County Counsel where he is currently employed.

Thomas graduated from University of West Los Angeles with a Bachelors Degree in Paralegal Studies.

 

Bonnie Bray
Board of Directors

Bonnie Bray was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley in California where she currently works as a Human Resources Compliance Consultant with a large corporation. Bonnie is a qualified HR Professional and holds the Human Resources Management certification from the University of Phoenix. Bonnie’s varied background includes human resources, marketing, promotions and event planning.

Bonnie is no stranger to sports especially boxing, having been raised with four brothers who were all athletic. When not working, Bonnie likes to run and hike, which taught her the importance of discipline and motivation. Bonnie joined a running group in 2001, and began running half marathon races and adventure races for a diverse range of organizations. Bonnie later joined a hiking group and began hiking all around Southern California including the infamous Half Dome at Yosemite National Park. A big believer in active lifestyles, Bonnie supports events that inspire people to run, walk, or do whatever they love to stay active and fit.

 

Mike Rodriguez
Board of Directors

Michael Rodriguez was raised in the Northern California’s east bay city of Concord. He was active and excelled in many sports growing up including boxing. After high school Michael joined the United States Air Force and was stationed overseas and stateside. He was also a member of the Air Force Boxing Team.

In 1988 Michael won both the San Francisco Golden Gloves and regional Golden Gloves in the heavyweight open division. He finished as the State Champion runner up and qualified for the 1988 U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials, Western Box Offs in Houston Texas.

After nearly 20 years, he was reunited with former competing heavyweight and friend John Bray. Michael has spent over 20 years coaching and mentoring youth and currently trains both professional boxing & MMA fighters. He is a 22 year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department and works as a Homicide Detective. He also serves as a coach and board member for the highly successful non- profit organization, “Coaching Kids MMA” in the Sacramento area . Michael is excited to be part of the John Bray Boxing Foundation and looks forward to positively impacting the lives of the less fortunate youth. Motto in life “Cant Means Wont”.

 

Steven Arredondo
Board of Directors

Steven Arredondo was born and raised in the central side of El Paso, TX. His father, an Vietnam Veteran, was an Army amateur boxer and encouraged his 3 sons to learn boxing at the infamous San Juan Recreational Center located right up my street. The boxing skills he learned gave him the confidence and motivation to pursue and follow his dreams. After graduating Coronado High School in 1995, Steven attended the University of Texas El Paso.

After college, Steven decided to move to Orange County, California in 1999 for a better job opportunity. He was fortunate enough to be mentored by highly driven advertising and creative services executive Dennis Morgan. He later worked as a new business developer and become a top producer for several companies including GMAC, Scantron, and Citi Group. Steven's mission is to build positive images and public awareness for people involved in the boxing industry by carefully implementing and professionally managing creative public relation campaigns.

Today Steven dedicates a portion of his time helping non-profit organizations build and raise awareness for their cause. Steven Arredondo is proud to be a part of the John Bray Boxing Foundation, a non-profit organization that teaches troubled inner city youths how to box in an effort to keep them out of trouble.

 

Michael Gonzales
Board of Directors

Michael "Tank" Gonzales was born in Lancaster, CA and moved to the San Fernando Valley after to attend college and pursue a boxing career, under the tutelage of John Bray. When Tank began training with John, coincidentally soon after John began training fighters post-stroke (see above), Tank was deeply entrenched in a Pacoima gang, with no sights on the future. However, as John and Tank worked more closely together, the discipline of a fighter's lifestlye led Tank away from the streets to chase his dreams in boxing. Wanting to share his love of boxing with the next generation of kids heading in the wrong direction, Tank began bringing neighborhood youth to the gym and training them under John's guidance after his rigorous daily training ended.

All the while, with strong guidance from his father, Mike Gonzales, and John Bray, Tank graduated from college. Unsure of what to do after college, Tank continued worked mentoring troubled high school children through the LA County Probation Department and training with John. After a third knee surgery due to injuries, Tank was forced to give up his boxing dreams However, this opened the avenue for him to chase a dream that surprised even those closest to him.

After considering the plight of his many of his closest friend being incarcerated or lost to the street forever and the injustices in the system he had witnessed, Tank decided to take up a new fight. The former troubled youth earned a scholarship to Pepperdine University, School of Law, graduating in 2008 with a Juris Doctorate. Tank is now a practicing attorney in the San Fernando Valley, still going back to his old neighborhood to mentor children and young adults following the same path he did.

Tank is honored to continue working with the John Bray Foundation and further his goal of helping youth following the same rough path he once did.