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# Top administrators named in school district By Daily Press staff
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/top-administrators-named-in-school-district-by-daily-press-staff/
- Published: 2004-10-08T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:16:14.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

School leaders have appointed two new administrators into their ranks. The local school board on Thursday approved the appointment of Winston A. Braham as assistant superintendent and chief financial officer in charge of fiscal and business services. Dr. Gabriel Soumakian was appointed as director of human resources.

Braham comes from the Los Angeles Unified School District where he was business manager. He holds a master’s degree in business administration and is a doctoral candidate at Pepperdine University. Braham has a broad professional background in school business management.

Included in his responsibilities at LAUSD were formulating budgets and administering approximately 80 school sites with 80,000 students, 7,000 employees and a combined annual operating budget of about $487 million. He analyzed and evaluated the effectiveness of plans, policies and programs; is knowledgeable in the impact of certificated, classified and collective bargaining unit agreement rules and practices; developed local policies and procedures; and supervised all core local business services.

In the private sector, Braham was a consultant in the health care industry and was responsible for contracts, risk management, budget analysis and strategic planning.

Soumakian is from the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District where he was an assistant principal and principal. He has a master’s degree in education and a doctorate in education leadership. Dr. Soumakian has extensive professional experience and training at the district, regional and state levels and participates in associations such as the California Department of Education, Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) where he is a leader in technological change, California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) and California School Leadership Academy.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 8, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/100804.pdf?ref=smdp.com)