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The Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce held its annual membership meeting at Bacara Resort & Spa on Wednesday evening, thanking outgoing board members, welcoming incoming board members and bestowing a couple of honors on some well-deserving recipients.
Capping a tumultuous year for the economy, the chamber finished 2011 with a positive bottom line after carefully navigating the challenges that affected both the chamber and many of its 330 member businesses.
“We have struggled with you through a tough economic time, joined with you to embrace new ways of doing business, and worked with you to create new ways to connect your businesses,” Kristen Miller, president and CEO of the Goleta Valley chamber, told the 200 guests.
Michael Rattray, who succeeds Steve Fedde as the chamber’s board president, outlined his goals for the year.
“Our first goal is to understand that (Goleta) businesses are the voice of the customer and to be there for them as an organization,” said Rattray, CEO of the United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County. “Second is that there is a sphere of influence for more than 1,600 businesses in the Goleta Valley and we’re going to tap them.”
Hallie Avolio, sales and marketing director of Latitude 34˚ Technologies, was honored as Ambassador of the Year for her leadership of the volunteers who plan, stage and host many of the events that the chamber puts on each year. Avolio is stepping down as chairwoman of the Ambassadors and Heidi Cougoule, Goleta branch manager of Montecito Bank & Trust, has been named her successor.
Goleta City Manager Dan Singer was honored with the Chairman’s Award for his efforts to engage the city of Goleta, the business community and UCSB in a closer, more collaborative working relationship.
Outgoing board directors include Fred Barbaria of Santa Barbara Signs & Graphics, Steve Greig of Venoco Inc., Megan Hilton of Santa Barbara Axxess, Paul Jaconette of CenCal Health, Mark Mattingly of Pacifica Commercial Realty and Annie Montalvo of Bacara.
They were replaced by Avolio, Warren Butler of Marmalade Café, Kathleen Cochran of Bacara Resort & Spa, Bill Macfadyen of Noozhawk, Dave Messner of ATK Space Systems and Cynder Sinclair of Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics. Macfadyen, who is serving a second term as a director, was board president in 2007.
Returning board members are Michael Kramer of Ameravant, Tracy Lincoln of Santa Barbara Airport, Gene Lucas of UCSB, Steve Nicholson of Citrix Online, Bill Terre of FLIR Commercial Vision Systems, Emma Torres of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Jim Youngson of Terrain Consulting and Craig Zimmerman of The Towbes Group.
In addition to Rattray and Fedde, of Sares-Regis Group, the executive committee includes Peter Brown of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck, Don Donaldson of Penfield & Smith, Kathy Koeper of MarBorg Industries, Eric Onnen of Santa Barbara Airbus and Tony Vallejo of Palius + O’Kelley.
Major sponsors of the evening were Bacara Resort & Spa, Cox Communications, MarBorg Industries and Venoco Inc. Other sponsors included Noozhawk, ATK Space Systems, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck, Business First Bank, Citrix Online, Community West Bank, FLIR Commercial Vision Systems, Latitude 34˚ Technologies, Marmalade Café, Media 27, Montecito Bank & Trust, Palius + O’Kelley, ParentClick.com, Santa Barbara Airport, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Sares-Regis Group, Wilson Printing and Wyatt Technology.
Among the dignitaries in attendance were Goleta Mayor Ed Easton and City Councilman Michael Bennett; Valerie Kushnerov, a Goleta Union School District trustee; Goleta Water District board president Bill Rosen; Santa Barbara County 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr; representatives of 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf, Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, and Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara; and congressional candidate and former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado.
— Noozhawk business writer Alex Kacik can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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