 Our People
Board of Directors
Wendy Kilbourne Read, President
Eric A. Burrows, Board Chair
Sarah de Tagyos, Secretary
Laurie Ashton
Shirley Hobson
Tammy Hughes
Nancy Martz
Leah Meyer
Carola Nicholson
Michelle Pickett
Meredith Scott
Staff
Wendy Kilbourne Read - President
Cynthia Cendreda - Development Director
Board Bios
(Top)
Wendy Kilbourne Read, President
Twenty years ago, Wendy Read was the lead actress on an NBC television series when she chose to volunteer her time with a 6-year-old foster child. Over the next 12 years she was to witness his 27 placements before emancipation from the dependency court system, an experience that ultimately prompted her to pursue a career as an advocate for foster youth. She earned her B.A. in Early Childhood Development at Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, completed her J.D. at the Santa Barbara College of Law, and is now a licensed attorney living in Santa Barbara. After clerking for Santa Barbara’s Presiding Juvenile Judge, Wendy founded the Children’s Project in 2003, and has since become a leading and passionate advocate for residential education for foster children. She has been a member of several boards: The Sycamores (a Residential Treatment Center for Foster Youth in Altadena, CA), 1992-1999; the Page Youth Center, Santa Barbara, 2001-2003; and Cate School, 2007-2008. In addition, she has served as a Special Advocate for Foster Youth, 1986-present; she completed an Internship with the Presiding Juvenile Judge of SB County 2000-2001; was selected by the Santa Barbara Foundation to become a Katherine Harvey Fellow in 2003; and was named 2007 Woman of the Year by the Junior League of Santa Barbara. In her efforts to research solutions to the increasing demands on the foster care system, Wendy has traveled to campuses across the country that house and educate under-served children, including those in San Diego, Palo Alto, Philadelphia, Hershey, and Washington, D.C; and in 2007 she was invited to attend a tour of residential education campuses in Israel. In 2007 she presented on, “Innovative Ideas in Residential Education” at the National CORE (Coalition of Residential Education) Conference, and has become a leading resource on innovative educational programs for foster youth. Wendy lives with her husband James, and their two children, in Santa Barbara.
Eric A. Burrows, Board Chair
Eric earned a B.A. in History from Stanford University, an MA in Public Policy Analysis from Claremont Graduate University, and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He entered the teaching profession after having served as a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County. Eric now teaches history at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, where he has coached the San Marcos Mock Trial Team for twelve years, The team has won eight Santa Barbara County Championships, and secured the California State Championship in 2004 and 2006. He was awarded Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year in 2004-2005, and was the California State Teacher of the Year in 2005. He lives in the Santa Ynez Valley with his wife Linda, a child advocate and music and arts education leader, and his sons Kevin, Scott, and Liam.
Sarah de Tagyos, Secretary
Sarah has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Iowa. During her 30-year career at AT&T, she served as President of the AT&T Foundation – the company’s New York-based philanthropic arm responsible for distributing $40 million annually in company grants and equipment – and as Chief Operating Officer for AT&T’s 300-person global Public Relations division. She served on national nonprofit boards including the Advertising Council and the Council on Foundations. Since moving to Santa Barbara in 2000, Sarah has been an active leader in the Women’s Fund (co-chairing research and communications teams), a member of the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Human Services Distribution Committee and on the board of the Assistance League of Santa Barbara. She also oversaw the Assistance League’s 14 philanthropic programs, created a new dental education program for children and families, and expanded the organization’s Fostering Friends program that supports foster youth and families throughout the county. Sarah and her husband Peter enjoy three grown sons and two grandchildren.
Laurie Ashton
Laurie has a B.A. in Economics from UCSD (‘87) and a J.D. from ASU Law School (’90), where she graduated in the top 5% of her class. She is currently Of Counsel to Keller Rohrback in Seattle and Phoenix, where her practice has included transactional work, business reorganizations, and environmental and fiduciary litigation; she has been a fiduciary for settlement funds exceeding $100 million. She has been a legal writing instructor, a law journal editor, and taught semester law school courses in Lawyering Theory and Practice, and Advanced Business Reorganizations. She has been a guest lecturer in Real Estate Transactions at Harvard and Stanford law schools. Laurie served a six year term on the Arizona State Bar Ethics Committee and is the author of many published articles, as well as the co-author of a book on limited liability companies and partnerships. She is a founding partner of Social Venture Partners Santa Barbara, a non-profit specializing in venture philanthropy and part of an international organization with 26 affiliates. Growing up in a family with many foster children, she has had a lifelong passion for serving youth and has represented families pro bono in child welfare cases, as well as served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children. She is a native Californian, who currently resides jointly in Santa Barbara and Seattle. She is married to Lynn Sarko and has two grown daughters.
Shirley Hobson
Shirley has a B.A., cum laude, from Cal State Northridge in English & History and an M.A. from UCSB in Confluent Education. From 1974 to 1985, she served in several leadership roles in education including the English Department Chair and Vice-Principal at Bishop Diego High School; she also supervised student teachers for UCSB and was a Fellow in South Coast Writing Project. She was in real estate management from 1986-2001 as well as the General Manager for Ocean Enterprises, Ltd., a subsidiary of Transcontinental Corp. Among her community involvements, she is a past president of the Board for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and currently serves on the board of Leadership Santa Barbara. She received the Distinguished Leader of the Year Award for 2006. She has four grown children and is married to John Hobson.
Tammy Hughes
A native of Santa Barbara County, Tammy brings a career in land development, local real estate, and design, to the board of the Children’s Project. She is very active in the non-profit community, having chaired fundraisers for local schools, and has volunteered for the Santa Barbara Film Festival for many years. In addition, as a member of the advisory board of the Santa Barbara Dream Foundation, she is the Chair of major fundraising events. Tammy contributes many hours of passionate dedication and expertise to local agencies, particularly those helping children. She is raising her two sons in Santa Barbara with her husband Kim.
Nancy Martz
Nancy received her B.A. in Political Science from U.C. Santa Barbara. Her education included a semester in Washington, D.C. working for Congressman Bob Lagomarsino. She earned her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. Nancy’s first career was in non-profit fundraising. As a fundraising consultant, her clients included the Dunes Center, Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, Surgical Eye Expeditions, GenSpan Foundation, and Today’s Youth Matter. For two years, Nancy was the Major Gifts Director of Habitat for Humanity International. During her tenure, she secured multi-year commitments from major donors in California, Hawaii, Arizona and Nevada. After her children were born, Nancy started a property management company, which manages commercial and residential properties in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara. As a volunteer, Nancy has been a crucial player in starting two non-profit organizations: GenSpan Foundation in Santa Maria, and Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County. She has also served on the boards of the Junior League of Santa Barbara and Little Angels Preschool, was a Founding Member and Research Committee Chair of The Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara, and participated in Leadership Santa Barbara. She is currently a Parent Ambassador for Marymount of Santa Barbara. Through her volunteer work, Nancy has gained experience in event planning, grant writing, non-profit finance, volunteer management and major gift procurement. Nancy and her husband Michael have two young sons.
Leah Meyer
Leah has a B.A. in Business/Economics with an emphasis in accounting from U.C.S.B. She has been working as a Certified Public Accountant for seventeen years, is the Controller for Echo Digital Audio Corp., and also works every tax season for C&D, LLP in Solvang. Leah has served three years as a director on the Board of Directors of the Santa Ynez Valley Charter School, and serves as its Secretary. She has also served as President and Secretary of the charter school’s P.T.S.O., and chaired the school’s auction committee. Leah has been both a volunteer soccer coach and math super-bowl coach. A former foster youth, Leah experienced nearly a dozen placement moves before settling in a permanent placement at age ten. Notably, Leah participated in the National Spelling Bee in 1978. Leah is married to Will Meyer and lives in Santa Ynez with their two sons.
Carola Nicholson
Carola is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and current board member of the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, the Santa Barbara County Advisory Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse and Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV), as well as a past board member of the Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, the Santa Barbara Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Barbara Symphony League. Carola Nicholson is a Certified Public Accountant and small business entrepreneur who lives and works in Santa Barbara, California. She has practiced accounting for 17 years, first working for a decade as senior manager and new business development director in San Francisco at Ernst & Young, one of the largest accounting firms in the nation. Since 2000, Ms. Nicholson has built a private practice in Santa Barbara – Nicholson & Schwartz. She specializes in tax preparation and consulting for individuals, non-profits and corporations, with an emphasis on small business financial management. Nicholson & Schwartz added a second office in 2005, located in Santa Maria.
Michelle Pickett
Michelle has a B.A. and a J.D. from George Washington University and is a licensed attorney as well as a Certified Public Accountant. She is a Shareholder in Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck's Santa Barbara office with a practice focused on taxes, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate and business matters. Michelle primarily represents private companies in all stages of the business cycle, and actively counsels public charities and private foundations, in addition to serving as general counsel to various nonprofit organizations. Michelle currently serves as a Trustee of the Santa Barbara Foundation, and as a Director and Officer of the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation. She has two young children and is married to Matt, a retired NOAA pilot.
Meredith Scott
Meredith Scott got her teaching credential at UCSB. She taught kindergarten, first and second grade at Vieja Valley Elementary School. Meredith’s first experience on a board of directors was in 1985 when she became a part of the Children’s Creative Project. The year she was the fundraising chair they put on the first I Madonnari Street Painting Festival. Meredith then served as president of their board for two years. As a parent Meredith became involved in the PTA’s at her children’s schools. She served as president of the San Marcos High School PTA for two years. Along with her daughter Kelly, Meredith joined the National Charity League where she was an active member for six years. Meredith joined the CALM Auxiliary in 1994. She was drawn to the organization because as an elementary school teacher she witnessed children who suffered from abuse in their homes. She served as Auxiliary president from 2001-2003. She joined the CALM Board of Trustees in 2002. She served as vice president for two years and president for two years. Meredith has co-chaired the last three CALM Design Showcase Houses. Meredith is also active in Assistance League of Santa Barbara where she co-chairs the Fostering Friends Program. The program works with families in crisis, foster children and emancipating foster youth. She is also chair of Operation Prom Dress, which she founded in 2006. This program loans out prom dresses to high school age girls in the Santa Barbara County. Meredith is a founding member of the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara where she has served on the research committee and has been a co-chair of the oversight committee. She has been on the advisory board of Casa Pacifica for the past year. Meredith and has recently joined their board. This year Meredith was named Junior League’s 2009 Woman of the Year for her service to the community. Meredith works part time as a baker for her husband John's restaurants.
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