Lois S. Brown has joined the Board of Directors of Solvang Theaterfest. Brown brings marketing and brand management experience to the organization.

After earning her MBA in marketing from UC Berkeley, Brown served as general manager, director, and vice president for consumer packaged goods and high-tech companies, with membership on management boards and executive committees.

She worked as brand strategist for a New York City consulting firm engaged by Fortune 50 packaged good and software clients.

She was general manager/marketing at Ore-Ida Division of H.J. Heinz Company, with profit responsibility for a $340 million brand portfolio; director/marketing at Golden Grain Division of Quaker Oats Company, with profit responsibility for $200 million revenue brands; and vice president/marketing at Austin Logistics, where she led the marketing department for a software company selling to large financial institutions.

A native of Boise, Idaho, Brown and her husband Sonny Brown’s careers took them from California to Germany to Texas before she retired in Santa Ynez in 2008.

“Such a wonderful opportunity it is for Solvang Festival Theater to have Lois aboard,” said Chris Nielsen, Solvang Theaterfest Board chair. “Her experience and knowledge will be of great benefit to the Board of Directors. We all welcome her warmly with great hopes for the Theater’s future.”

Solvang Theaterfest is the nonprofit 501 (C)(3) corporation that owns and operates Solvang Festival Theater. For more information, contact Mary Ann Norbom, executive director, 686-1789.

— Mary Ann Norbom for Solvang Theaterfest.