Derek Leighnor was born in Texas and grew up in Hawai’i. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of San Francisco and his first job was as Program Assistant at the Fromm Institute where he worked for nine years, eventually becoming the Program Director. He relocated to Los Angeles in 2005 and earned a J.D. in two and a half years from Southwestern Law School as part of their SCALE program. Derek was admitted to the California Bar, and practiced Probate Law and Estate Planning in Southern California. In 2017, Derek returned to the Fromm Institute and San Francisco as the Fromm Institute’s third Executive Director.