Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Santa Barbara County, a nonprofit organization that trains and supports volunteers who advocate for abused and neglected children in the dependency court system, is pleased to announce the appointment of Deann Zampelli and Jack Tiethof to its board of directors.
“I am so honored to be a part of such an impactful, dynamic and efficiently run program,” Zampelli said. “From the first CASA fundraiser that my husband and I attended, we were hooked. I look forward to experiencing firsthand what is next in store for this stellar organization.”
Zampelli joins the CASA board of directors with over 20 years of nonprofit experience. She most recently worked as director of expansion for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, and she has served multiple board and volunteer posts and was fundraising chair for organizations such as Santa Barbara Breast Cancer Resource Center and All Saints-by-the-Sea Parish School.
Her purview at Starlight included the formation of steering committees, board development, media relations, marketing and program development.
For 10 years she owned her own handbag business and sold it when she and her husband started a family.
She recently earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology and has a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Southern California.
Zampelli lives in Montecito with her husband and two children, who are 6 and 8 years old.
“The day I met Deann I knew she was perfect to join our dynamic group that makes up CASA’s board of directors,” said Kim Colby Davis, executive director of CASA. “Deann brings such an energy of excitement to the hard work of being a director of a nonprofit, and I know we will benefit from her experience.”
Jack Tiethof joins the board after serving as a CASA volunteer since 2011.
“When Jack finished his last case, he asked me if there was a way he could help CASA more,” Colby Davis said. “Jack has been an amazing advocate for children, so much so that attorneys have asked for him by name to serve on challenging cases because he is so committed and hard-working. Because he was open to a new challenge, I welcomed his application to our board of directors.”
After receiving his Ph.D. in chemistry from Western Michigan University, Tiethof worked for BASF as a research scientist and then as a business development manager.
After working in Germany for three years, he came to Santa Barbara in 1996 with his wife Anita and his infant daughter to manage an acquisition BASF had made in the area.
In 1998 he joined his wife in her new consulting firm in the pharmaceutical industry, Cychem, Inc. until they sold the company in 2008.
Since his retirement in 2009, Tiethof has been significantly involved with volunteer work at such organizations as CASA, Fighting Back School-Based Mentoring Program, Foodbank of Santa Barbara Couny and the PTA’s of Goleta Valley Junior High and Dos Pueblos High School.
Currently Tiethof is a board member of Bodhi Path Buddhist Center, and he heads the Nutrition Task Force at Dos Pueblos High School.
Tiethof is an active cyclist and is a member of the WLPA bike group.
“My experience as a CASA volunteer has been most meaningful,” Tiethof said. “Thus, as a board member I am looking forward to supporting making it possible for all abused and neglected children in the county to have their own advocate.”
The Mission of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Santa Barbara County is to assure a safe, permanent, nurturing home for every abused and/or neglected child by providing a highly trained volunteer to advocate for them in the court system.
CASA is central to fulfilling society’s most fundamental obligation by making sure a qualified, compassionate adult will fight for and protect a child’s right to be safe, to be treated with dignity and respect and to learn and grow in the safe embrace of a loving family.
For more information about CASA of Santa Barbara County, contact Lydia Thomas at 805.739.9102 x2595 or Lydia@sbcasa.org.
— Lydia Thomas is the marketing and development coordinator at CASA of Santa Barbara County.