The Friendship Center welcomes two new board members, Jacqueline Duran and Patricia Forgey.
Duran is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara.
She owned and operated her own business for five years before joining the Merrill Lynch Wealth Management team in Montecito as a financial advisor. She has 10 years of experience in real estate investment.
She is a supporter of the Santa Barbara Foundation, a board member of Friendship Center, a committee member for the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center and a board member for the Santa Barbara Puerto Vallarta Sister Cities Committee.
Duran enjoys playing golf, hiking, skiing, performing arts and spending time with her family.
Forgey, MA, MBA, earned a master’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in Marketing from San Diego State University. She also holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in Speech/Language Pathology from the University of Kansas, and was awarded the Certificate of Clinical Competency following a Clinical Fellowship Year at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Forgey has developed inpatient and outpatient speech/language services at The Toledo Hospital (now Promedica Toledo Hospital), a 900-bed tertiary care hospital, and served as director of outpatient services and as vice president of planning and business development for Rehabilitation Institute at Santa Barbara (now Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital).
Most recently, she was director of community and organizational development for Tri-Counties Regional Center, and has also held managerial and clinical positions in other organizations such as Children’s Hospital of San Diego (now Rady Children’s Hospital.)
In January, Forgey launched an organizational development consulting firm, Path Forward. Strategic planning, executive coaching and facilitating group decisions are among the firm’s services.
Forgey is a graduate of the California Naturalist Program, a UC California Naturalist certification course in partnership with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. She is a member of the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee and the Association for Women in Communications.
She and her husband have three adult children and enjoy hiking and traveling together.
In other board news, Penny Mathison rejoins as a member and Dana VanderMey will serve as president.
Mathison went off the board in 2011 after serving two three-year terms. VanderMey has been on the board since 2009 and has held the offices of vice president and secretary.
— Justine Sutton is a grants and development coordinator for Friendship Center.