Santa Barbara Foundation (SBF) has added four new trustees to its board effective Jan. 1. The incoming board members are:
George Adam, Innovative Produce owner and attorney; and Alexandra Allen, house counsel at Main Street Produce and Freshway Farms, both of Santa Maria; Kiah Jordan, certified financial planner and founder of Impact Family Office, of Santa Barbara; and Lois Mitchell, philanthropic consultant and former president of the Orfalea Foundations, of Carpinteria.
They join incoming board chair Matt Rowe, incoming vice chair Dr. Angel Iscovich, treasurer Danna McGrew, incoming secretary Michael Pfau, and chair emeritus Steve Hicks; as well as Phil Alvarado, Dr. Richard Beswick, Pamela Gann, Rafael Gonzalez, Pamela Macal, Robert Nakasone, Ernesto Paredes, Susan Richards, Lynn Scarlett, Alexander Simas, Tracy Stouffer, and Zohar Ziv.
“We are thrilled to welcome George, Alexandra, Kiah and Lois to our board,” said Jackie Carrera, SBF president/CEO. “Their experience in the community and expertise in agriculture, investing and finance, law and philanthropy will expand and deepen the foundation’s ability to respond to our region’s most pressing challenges.
“Our new trustees represent the Santa Maria Valley, Carpinteria and Goleta, with half residing in North County. By including voices from across Santa Barbara County, we can better ensure that the unique strengths and challenges our diverse communities’ are represented, uplifted and addressed in all we do at SBF.”
SBF thanks outgoing trustees Rev. Randall Day, James Rogers and Ginger Salazar for their years of service to the community as members of the foundation’s board.
Immediate past board chair Steve Hicks completed his term as chair on Dec. 31, and will remain an officer in the role of chair emeritus of the board of trustees.
About the new trustees;
A fifth-generation Santa Maria Valley grower, Adam earned a bachelor of science in agricultural business from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1983. He returned to work with his father, uncle and cousins for Adam Farms as a harvest manager.
Adam and his spouse Debbie have since been business partners in farming-related entities over the past 30 years including: La Brea Ranch, LLC; A&A Farming, Inc.; Innovative Produce; Faith Farming; Guadalupe Cooling; Beachside Produce; and Royal Oak.
Adam has served as a board member of the Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, and is currently on the boards of Preservation, Inc. and Western Growers Association.
Adam was a founding board member of the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum and currently serves on the Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation board.
Allen holds a BA in communication from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and a master’s degree in education from the University of Mary, Bismarck, North Dakota.
After working for several years as a teacher, she earned a juris doctorate degree from UCLA School of Law, where she served as the Women’s Law Union executive director and was a UCLA Law Review editor. She practiced law as an investment management attorney in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, with the international law firm K&L Gates.
Most recently, she served as in-house counsel at Main Street Produce and Freshway Farms, farming businesses in Santa Maria founded by her husband and his father.
A native Californian, she has lived in Santa Maria for 14 years, where she has served on the boards of the Santa Maria Salvation Army, California Women for Agriculture, Orcutt Presbyterian Church Board of Deacons, Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.
Jordan started Impact Family Office to focus on the alignment of capital resources with an impact strategy. He works alongside his clients to support their values and goals with the sources and uses of their wealth.
Before starting Impact Family Office, Jordan worked for Santa Barbara Capital, a real estate investment firm, and it was during this time that he completed his Certified Financial Planner designation and found a passion for applying a holistic planning perspective to personal finances and business operations.
Jordan is a national certified guardian by the Center for Guardianship Certification and a licensed professional fiduciary by the California Professional Fiduciaries Bureau.
Jordan graduated from Westmont College with degrees in economics and business, and Spanish. He completed his master’s degree in social entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.
An advocate for socially conscious ventures and entrepreneurship, Jordan has dedicated much of his time to start-ups and organizations benefiting the Central Coast community. He is an alumnus of the Katherine Harvey Fellows program and on the board of Leading from Within.
He was featured in the 2015 Pacific Coast Business Times “40 Under 40.”
Mitchell was a philanthropic consultant from 2016-21, during which time she guided 18 foundation clients to manage their ongoing governance, build grant processes, cultivate partner opportunities, and balance board dynamics.
As president of the Orfalea Foundations (Kinko’s family) from 2000-15, Mitchell led a 22-member team through innovative collaborations, creative campaigns, and an intentional fiscal and organizational spend-down.
She oversaw strategic community-wide initiatives focused on systemic change in disaster readiness, school food, preschool quality, college access and youth development throughout Santa Barbara County.
Mitchell has facilitated sector forums, board sessions, focused retreats and coordinated many events featuring significant public figures.
In honor of a $10 million endowment to start UCSB’s Center of Global & International Studies, she produced Leadership for the Global Future with 2,000 attendees and former President Bill Clinton.
Mitchell has served on nonprofit coalitions, funder round tables, hiring committees, conference panels, trustee boards, and advisory councils including as speaker and co-chair of the National Center Family Philanthropy Strategic Lifespan Peer Network (2018-20).
Prior to 2000 she worked for 18 years in international licensing, product line development, publishing and marketing. Having volunteered with more than 65 charities, Mitchell is now retired.