[Noozhawk’s note: One in a series on the Santa Ynez Valley Foundation’s 2025 Champions of the Valley who will be honored for their volunteerism and community service Oct. 12 at Rancho Carmina in Los Olivos. Click here for more information, or click here to purchase tickets online.]
For nearly 40 years, if there’s been a silent auction to manage, a wine event to organize or a crisis to navigate in the Santa Ynez Valley, chances are Becky Barieau has been there — quietly, competently, making things happen.
“I watched her Just. Get. Things. Done,” said Jim Fiolek, who worked alongside Barieau for a decade at the Santa Barbara Vintners Foundation.
“Dealing with donors. Dealing with wineries. Dealing with vendors. All for the benefit of others. As a volunteer.”
That steady dedication has earned Barieau recognition as a Santa Ynez Valley Foundation 2025 Champion of the Valley, an honor celebrating someone who embodies what it means to serve without seeking the spotlight.
Barieau’s journey to the valley began at UC Santa Barbara, where she earned a psychology degree before working at Santa Barbara County Juvenile Hall and St. Vincent’s School.
An MBA from UC Berkeley led to a career as a CPA, including a role as CFO for a Kinko’s division.
When the company relocated to Ventura and her second child arrived, she chose to bring her work closer to home in Ballard, building a successful winery accounting practice.
But numbers tell only part of Barieau’s story.
The fuller narrative emerges in what she’s built alongside her husband, Billy Wathen, co-founder of Foxen Vineyard & Winery, and in the countless hours she’s invested in valley organizations.
In 1985, when Foxen applied for membership in the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association, Barieau immediately volunteered to manage silent auctions at the Vintners and Harvest festivals — the organization’s sole charitable fundraising source at the time.
One scholarship recipient became a winemaker at a local winery, eventually owning three valley wineries.
When the association created its charitable arm in 2001, Barieau became the Santa Barbara Vintners Foundation’s first treasurer, handling accounting for the Direct Relief auction and managing massive organizational efforts.
The foundation’s wine auctions have raised $6 million over the years, which Direct Relief transformed into nearly $200 million in medicine and medical supplies delivered worldwide.
“Communities are people working together for the common good … Find your fulfilling connection and join in.”
BECKY Barieau
“Becky was part of a group of women who in 2000 started the Santa Barbara Vintner Wine Auction that funded Direct Relief when they were small and near insolvency,” Frank Ostini wrote in his nomination letter.
Barieau also launched and continues chairing Vino de Sueños, an annual dinner and auction benefiting Santa Ynez Valley People Helping People’s support services for vineyard and farm workers.
Under her leadership, the event has evolved from a fundraiser into what one supporter called “a rallying cry to ensure that those who lift up our region are, in turn, lifted up with dignity.”
Barieau’s impact at People Helping People deepened when she became board president, guiding the organization through extraordinary challenges over the past 18 months: a structural crisis, significant financial deficit and water intrusion threatening operations.
“In each moment of uncertainty, Becky stood firm — with courage, compassion and conviction,” CEO Erica Jane Flores said.
“She didn’t just offer advice from the sidelines — she stepped fully into the arena.”
What few see is the personal sacrifice behind the leadership. Barieau increased her annual giving to more than $100,000 in the past year — a deeply personal first, stretching in remarkable ways to ensure People Helping People’s future.
“Her giving is never for show — it is an extension of her values and her heart,” Flores noted.
Beyond these signature roles, Barieau’s volunteerism reads like a directory of valley involvement: Santa Ynez Valley Family School trustee, Ballard School PTA officer, soccer team mom and coach, Girl Scout leader, member of numerous high school booster clubs and leadership positions across wine industry organizations.
“Communities are people working together for the common good,” Barieau reflected. “We, each and all, have a part to play.
“Find your fulfilling connection and join in.”
Reka Badger, who has known Barieau for more than 30 years, describes being “often astonished at the breadth and quality of her involvement in community matters.”
“She is a CPA with a keen eye for detail, the skills to get things done, a marvelous ability to work with people, and a great big heart that drives her to help others,” she said.
Perhaps most powerfully, Barieau and Wathen have modeled these values for their children, Riley and Bingo, nurturing the next generation of community-minded stewards now working in leadership positions at Foxen.
“You will never hear any of this from Becky Barieau,” Fiolek noted. “Never.
“That’s why I have to talk her talk. She just walks her walk.”
For 40 years, that walk has led through countless valley organizations, silent auctions, board meetings and crises, always with the same steady commitment to making the Santa Ynez Valley “a healthier, happier and kinder place.”
As Karen Steinwachs wrote simply in nominating her: “Becky has been a FORCE in our volunteer world, as we all know and well deserving of this acknowledgment.”
Champions of the Valley
Since 1995, the Santa Ynez Valley Foundation has been honoring exceptional local volunteers whose tireless community commitment enriches the Santa Ynez Valley and Los Alamos, their residents and a wide range of local organizations.
This year’s honorees for the 30th Annual Champions of the Valley are Laura Beas-Díaz, Mike Brady, Terry Delaney and Doug Riedy.
Youth Community Champions are Kacy Caplan and Adrian Garcia.
Becky Barieau will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The awards will be presented at 4 p.m. Oct. 12 at Rancho Carmina in Los Olivos. Click here for more information, or click here to purchase tickets online.
The Champions of the Valley celebration is sponsored by U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management, Kiani Preserve, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, Rio Vista Chevrolet, the Ann Jackson Family Foundation, Flying Z Ranch-Betty and Ron Ziegler, Rancho Carmina-Hayley Firestone, Women Winemakers & Culinarians Foundation, Noozhawk, The Landsby, Manchester Capital Management, the Nagler Family Fund, Allan Hancock College, Barbara Anderson, Linda Stafford Burrows, the Grenier Family, Hometown Insurance Services-Debbie and Randy Jones, Montecito Bank & Trust, Santa Barbara Foundation, Santa Ynez General-Turnbull Family, Town and Ranch Properties-Michael Nicola and Gabriel Bustamante, Urquidez Building Corp.-Laura and Chris Urquidez, Visit the Santa Ynez Valley.
The honorees were chosen by a panel of foundation board members and former honorees, based on nominations made by the community.
The honorees each receive a $1,000 grant to support a nonprofit organization of their choice. The Youth Community Champions each receive a $1,000 scholarship to further their education.
Santa Ynez Valley Foundation
The Santa Ynez Valley Foundation is dedicated to a mission centered around grant-making, extending financial support and resources to a diverse array of local organizations and initiatives in the Santa Ynez and Los Alamos valleys.
The grants are strategically channeled into key sectors, including food security, health and human services, support for seniors, arts and culture, youth development, and education.
The foundation also administers a robust College Scholarship Program designed to empower ambitious college-bound local students.
Currently, 50 students are beneficiaries of this program, receiving scholarships to facilitate their pursuit of higher education and, in turn, contributing to the overall advancement of the community.
