Mary Harris, executive director of the Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association, has announced the results of the recent board of directors election for the no-profit organization of more than 120 members promoting year-round tourism in the valley communities of Ballard, Buellton, Los Alamos, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and Solvang.

2008-10 SYVVA officers are:

» President: Douglas Ziegler, owner, Santa Ynez Inn & Coach House, Santa Ynez.

» Vice president: Bill Phelps, general manager, Hadsten House Inn & Spa, Solvang.

» Treasurer: Sherry Thore, CPA, owner, Sherry Thore CPA, Buellton.

» Secretary: Lisa Petersen, tasting room manager, Foley Estates Winery & Vineyard, Buellton.

» Immediate past president: Mike Hendrick, general manager, Santa Ynez Valley Marriott, Buellton.

Ziegler is one of the founding members of SYVVA and has served on the board of directors (most recently as vice president) since the group’s inception in 2001. As owner of the 20-room Santa Ynez Inn, a luxury property that opened in 2001, Ziegler has a unique combination of business experience and valley knowledge. Before moving to the valley in 1995, Ziegler was vice president of Westco Products Inc., his family’s wholesale bakery/restaurant supply firm in Los Angeles. He also serves on the board of director of the Santa Barbara County Cattlemen’s Association.

Returning board members are Dorothy Brunton (Tastes of the Valleys Wine Bar, Solvang), Maria Centrella (PCPA Theaterfest, Solvang), Tom Endy (Rancho San Marcos Golf Course, Santa Ynez) and John Martino (Chumash Casino Resort, Santa Ynez).

SYVVA is also welcoming three new board members, including:

» Thomas O’Higgins, owner of Wine Country Home, Los Olivos and partner of Artiste Winery, Santa Ynez. He is a native of Northern California, from the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Napa and Sonoma areas. O’Higgins has been a Valley resident since 2000 when he moved his marketing and design consulting business from the Bay Area. He is a former Williams-Sonoma, Inc. executive of nearly two decades. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and attended graduate school at UCLA.

» Bent Olsen is owner of Solvang Inn & Cottages, Olsen’s Danish Village Bakery and Red Viking Restaurant. Olsen emigrated to Solvang from Denmark in 1965. He is a fourth-generation Danish baker. Bent is past director of the Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau and Solvang Chamber of Commerce, as well as an active member of the Vikings, Danish Brotherhood and Dania Lodge.

» Sherry Thore, CPA; is the owner of her own accounting firm in Buellton since 2003. She is a native of Detroit, and graduated from Great Falls University in Montana with two degrees—one in Accounting and another in Business Administration. Sherry is current president of Solvang Rotary and has been a Rotary International member since 2000.

Laura Kath of Mariah Marketing represents the Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association.