Friendship Center has announced the following new and returning board members.
Joe Wheatley. Wheatley, who has a bachelor’s degree in business and masters in business administration, spent some 30 years in the defense business, including 20 years at Delco Electronics.
After retiring in 1999, he spent five years as a long-term care ombudsman for Santa Barbara region. He was also a geriatric care manager with Senior Planning Services and Sharon Kennedy Estate Management for six years until his second retirement.
A member of the Alzheimer Association Board of Directors for six years, he is on the Board of Directors for CAPS, supporting those with special needs.
He has been a member of Cottage Hospital’s Bioethics Committee for the last 14 years, and is a trainer and teacher of Five Wishes for groups and individuals at Sansum Clinic and Alliance for Living and Dying Well.
Joe Holland. Holland was first elected to the Office of County Clerk, Recorder, and Assessor in 2002 and was reelected to his fourth term of office in January 2015.
Holland oversees the department providing election, recordation, and property assessment services to residents of Santa Barbara County.
His educational credentials include a BA in business economics and an MA in economics, both from UCSB.
He graduated from the UCLA Executive Program at the Anderson School of Business and is a Certified Public Finance Office from the Government Finance Officers Association. A United Way of Santa Barbara County volunteer for some 25 years, he now serves as chair for the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program.
Andy Siegel. Siegel graduated from UCLA in 1964. He joined the Directors Guild of America as an assistant director member. He later was hired by ABC-TV where he was vice president of comedy development, then moved to CBS in the same capacity.
Siegel joined MTM Enterprises in 1980, and worked for various production companies until 1990, when he and his family moved to Santa Barbara.
In 1994, he graduated from UCSB Graduate School of Education and taught history at Marymount of Santa Barbara, retiring in 2013. He was president of Grace Lutheran Church Council and a board member for five years.
Matt Lum also joins Friendship Center’s Board of Directors.
Karolyn Hanna rejoins the board after serving from 2010-16, holding the office of secretary and co-chairing the events committee.
Friendship Center’s Executive Officers for 2017-18 are: Pat Forgey, president; Roger Aceves, vice president; Dana VanderMey, secretary; Jacqueline Duran, CFO; and Penny Mathison, member at large.
— Justine Sutton for Friendship Center.