The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has named Christopher Knowlton as the new chair of its Board of Trustees.
Knowlton has served on the museum’s board since 2013 and previously served on the investment committee. He accepted the chair position at the museum’s annual meeting Jan. 23.
“I am honored to be assuming the role of board chair of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History during a particularly important time in the museum’s 100-year history,” Knowlton said.
“The implementation of our Centennial Project to refurbish the museum is well underway,” he said.
“We on the Board of Trustees recognize that the museum, through its two campuses, has an increasingly vital role to play in our community, educating visitors, especially our youth, to the wonders of the natural world and the growing environmental challenges facing our planet,” Knowlton said.
“The natural disasters in our area in recent weeks are just more evidence of those challenges and their severity,” he said.
Knowlton, who has a background in investment management, has served as a trustee of several nonprofits, including the Foundation for Child Development and the Teton Raptor Center.
He is a former staff writer and London bureau chief for Fortune Magazine, and the author of Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West, published in June 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
The museum also has announced other board positions: Bobbie Kinnear, immediate past chair; Dennis Power, secretary; Christopher Blau, vice chair/development; Paul Relis, vice chair/governance; Terry Valeski, vice chair/finance; and Elaine Gibson, member at large.
New trustee Mathew Adams will serve as vice chair for investment.
For more about the museum’s Centennial Campaign, visit http://campaign.sbnature.org/ or contact Luke Swetland, president/CEO, 682-4711 ext. 102.
— Briana Sapp Tivey for Museum of Natural History.