Hospice of Santa Barbara has welcomed new board president Jacqueline Marston and members Gina Becchetti, Samuel Capra, Joanne Hollingshead, Lori Lewis,Donna Barranco Fisher Yates and Marilee Zdenek.
Marston is the president of Carefree Senior Living in California, a company whose emphasis is the development and management of Alzheimer’s facilities in California and Arizona. In 1996, she spearheaded the opening of Villa Alamar, a residential care facility for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in Santa Barbara.
Marston has a master’s degree in food and nutrition and has been working in the field of long-term care for the elderly for 25 years. She has been a patient-care volunteer for the organization for five years.
Becchetti serves as a publisher development manager for Commission Junction, where she manages a portfolio of clients, supporting their business strategies and online marketing initiatives. Before that, she gained expertise in marketing through her work as a senior marketing and promotions consultant at Clear Channel Broadcasting and Cumulus Broadcasting.
Becchetti has a bachelor’s degree in English from UCSB and also graduated from Women’s Economic Ventures’ Self-Employment Training program in 2002. She is the founder of the Santa Barbara Fitness Meetup Group, bringing locals together with a variety of activities to encourage an active support system and increase fitness motivation. Becchetti also serves on Hospice of Santa Barbara’s Development Committee.
Capra, a new board member and incoming treasurer of the board of directors, has been a member of the Santa Barbara community for 37 years. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Siena College and a master’s degree in business administration from Santa Clara University.
Capra, now retired, spent most of his working career as a health-care financial management executive, including 23 years as vice president of finance and chief financial officer for Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital. He served for many years as chairman of the Finance Councils for St. Raphael Parish and School.
Hollingshead serves as a registered nurse caring primarily for pediatric patients in the radiology department at Cottage Hospital, where she has worked for 15 years. Before moving to Santa Barbara, she worked in a Los Angeles emergency room and served as a flight nurse, flying helicopter transports out of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
Hollingshead graduated from Goldenwest College’s nursing program in Southern California. She has lived in the Santa Barbara community with her husband for more than 20 years and has been an active supporter of her two children’s local Santa Barbara schools.
Lewis is a partner specializing in probate, estate planning and trust law at Mullen & Henzell LLP, where she advises clients on matters involving powers of attorney, conservatorships, advanced health directives, wills and trusts. She is also an adjunct professor at UCSB and Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law. She is a member of many law and business organizations, including the State Bar of California, the Santa Barbara Women Lawyers Association and the National Association of Women Business Owners.
Lewis has a juris doctor degree from the Santa Barbara School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from UCSB. She is involved in the community as the president of the board of the Community Counseling and Education Center and as a board member for the Santa Barbara chapter of NAWBO.
Fisher Yates has worked with Hospice of Santa Barbara for nearly 10 years. She brings to the board her personal experiences as a former client of Hospice of Santa Barbara, and her work as a co-facilitator of the Young Widows, Transition and children’s groups and over five years as a patient care volunteer at the organization. She has a master’s degree in education and is a child life specialist.
She has worked as a teacher and principal within regular and special education. She has served on numerous boards, such as CALM, Transition House, Casa Pacifica, Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara and Jodi House. She currently is chairwoman of the Research Committee for the Women’s Fund, is a member of the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation Program Committee and serves as its parent educational advocate.
Zedenek is the founder/president of Right Brain Resources Inc. and is the bestselling author of six books including, The Right-Brain Experience: An Intimate Program to Free the Powers of Your Imagination. Techniques for releasing physical and emotional pain are an important aspect in her teaching. An international speaker, she has addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos on several topics, spoken at the Congress Hall in Berlin, and served on the White House Task Force for Innovative Learning.
— Daniella Elghanayan is a publicist.