The Santa Barbara Foundation and sponsoring partners Noozhawk, Montecito Bank & Trust, Bryant & Sons announced that the 74th Man and Woman of the Year Award recipients will be Jon Clark and Janet Garufis.

The two will be honored for their extraordinary service and voluntarism to the Santa Barbara community at a reception at the Four Seasons Biltmore, Coral Casino, on March 8, 2017.

“We are delighted to announce the recipients of the 74th Man & Woman of the Year, and to continue the tradition of celebrating the leadership and voluntarism of individuals like Jon Clark and Janet Garufis,” said Ronald V. Gallo, President & CEO of the Santa Barbara Foundation.

“We look forward to honoring their fierce dedication to a broad number of nonprofits and their passionate commitment to improving Santa Barbara.”

The first Man & Woman of the Year were Harold Chase in 1942 and Pearl Chase in 1956. Recent past recipients include Steve Lyons and Carol Palladini, Bill Cirone and Anne Smith Towbes, Ken Saxon and Patricia MacFarlane, Clifford W. Sponsel and Gerd Jordano, and Ed Birch and Vicki Hazard.

Jon Clark — 74th Man of the Year

Jon Clark has dedicated an extraordinary depth of knowledge, wisdom and leadership in 2016 to support nonprofits across Santa Barbara that sustain medical excellence, preserve Santa Barbara’s natural environment, foster high quality early education, increase access to locally-sourced food and so much more.

His commitment to voluntarism in organizations such as Cottage Health, Community Environmental Council, Storyteller Children’s Center, Alliance for Living and Dying Well, Direct Relief, and the Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce, among others, is all in addition to his role as president of the Bower Foundation.

“Jon understands that voluntarism is a vital component of societal change, and he has always demonstrated that, at its best, voluntarism is rooted in humility towards and empathy for all members of our community,” said Donna B. Fisher, executive director of the Storyteller Children’s Center. “When our community faces complex challenges, his respectful engagement with people of diverse interests creates a sense of a common purpose.”

Clark has served on the board of Storyteller Children’s Center since 2002, holding various board officer positions, including serving as chair for eight years, and helping the program double its size.

He has been a member of the Cottage Health board of directors for almost a decade, during which he has led important developments in the Population Health committee and helped to create the Advance Care Planning Program.

Clark has shown his passion for protecting the environment through his investment of time and talent to the Community Environmental Council, first as an intern, later as the executive director and most recently as a volunteer board member and board president, during which he helped to guide the organization’s business model and core mission.

Despite all of the successes that Clark has helped bring to the organizations he supports, his friends and colleagues value him most for his unique and balanced perspective and his kind and humble heart.

“Jon is so deserving of recognition, yet remains humble in everything he does,” said Lois Mitchell, president of the Orfalea Foundation. “I have worked closely with him over many years and can attest to his commitment, wisdom, unique vision, supportive nature, charm, capacity to listen, teach and lead.”

Janet Garufis – 74th Woman of the Year

Janet Garufis is known in the community for her commitment to leadership and voluntarism in support of many nonprofit organizations in 2016, including the United Way of Santa Barbara County, the Sansum Clinic and Cancer Center of Santa Barbara, the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara and the American Heart Association.

Her leadership in these organizations complements a long list of other local nonprofit organizations she supports, and her role as president & CEO of Montecito Bank & Trust.

“Janet is a dedicated and passionate go-getter who is always the first to put up her hand to help make Santa Barbara a stronger community,” said Kurt N. Ransohoff, CEO and chief medical officer of the Sansum Clinic and the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara.

“A few years ago she cut off her waist-length hair to shoulder-length so that it could be handwoven into a wig and donated back to the Cancer Center to be made available for a patient undergoing treatment. Now that is going above and beyond!”

Garufis’ reputation for going above and beyond does not stop at the Sansum Clinic and Cancer Center of Santa Barbara, where she has been a member of the board of trustees since May 2005; has recently become chair of the board; leads the Executive Committee; and serves on the Capital Campaign Steering Committee for the new cancer center.

She also shows her commitment to community health through a number of committee leadership roles, such as chair of Executive Leadership Committee for both “Go Red for Women” and “Heart Ball,” and through her vision to create a program targeting youth in the fight against childhood obesity, a Health Futures Program.

Garufis has further demonstrated her commitment to youth development as a former board chair for the Scholarship Foundation and through her continued participation in the foundation’s various committees.

Additionally, she works closely with youth in the United Way of Santa Barbara through her participation in the “Fun in the Sun” summer learning program. She also volunteers on United Way’s Campaign Cabinet and chairs United Way and Montecito Bank & Trust Silent Auction.

To the amazement of her friends and colleagues, Garufis most recently joined the board of directors of the Music Academy of the West.

“Janet embodies every quality that an organization wants in a board member of volunteer,” says Candace Winkler, president & CEO of the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara. “I am amazed at her dedication, passion, commitment and willingness to do what needs to be done.”

For more information about the 74th Man and Woman of the Year Awards or reception, please contact the Santa Barbara Foundation at 805.963.1873 or mwaward@sbfoundation.org.

About the Santa Barbara Foundation

The Santa Barbara Foundation was established in 1928 to enrich the lives of the people of Santa Barbara County through philanthropy. As the largest community foundation in the county and a major source of funding for local nonprofits, the foundation is committed to building philanthropy, strengthening the nonprofit sector and solving community problems.

Tara Schoenborn is communications officer for the Santa Barbara Foundation.