Board of Directors - League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara

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Leadership Team

In 2021, our Board of Directors established a Leadership Team so that the many duties of a President could be shared by the entire team. The current members of the team are Vicki Allen, Pamela Flynt Tambo, Claire VanBlaricum, and Barbara Kuhn.

Vicki AllenVice President, Communicationsvpcommunications@lwvsantabarbara.org

As a reporter for her college newspaper, Vicki Allen covered the march in Selma where she saw people risking their lives for the right to vote. "I became a member of the League of Women Voters because of the League's long commitment to voting rights." Vicki has been on our Board since 2011. As the VP Communications, the Chicago native draws on her expansive career as a reporter for daily newspapers, editor and publisher of a weekly newspaper, magazine travel writer, and public relations officer for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. She has lived in Santa Barbara since 1984. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Illinois. She is also on the Board of the Santa Barbara Women's Political Committee.

Pam Flynt TamboVice President, Social Policysocialpolicy@lwvsantabarbara.org

Pam brings her rich background in the fields of vocational rehabilitation, mental health, and developmental disabilities to her role as Chair of our League’s Social Policy Committee, which she has co-chaired since 2018. In 2019, she added the responsibilities of a League Vice President. She grew up in central Indiana with short stints in Florida and Washington, D.C. Showing a resourceful nature, she raised her children as a single parent while raising her children living in and rehabilitating Victorian houses in Muncie, Indiana. Her early activism in her neighborhood association resulted in the establishment of a reinvestment corporation to revitalize the area.

Here in Santa Barbara, Pam served as the Executive Director of the nonprofit Hillside, a licensed 59-bed home for persons with developmental and intellectual disabilities. She has degrees in home economics education, community education, and curriculum. She is on the Boards of the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee and Hillside. Pam and her husband Dave Tambo have lived in Goleta since 1993. They both enjoy traveling.

Claire VanBlaricum

Claire is impressed by the League's work in promoting democracy, informing voters about issues and candidates, and protecting the right to vote. She hopes to contribute more to these efforts by serving on our local League Board.

Claire has been a member of the League for over ten years and has served as moderator for many of our candidate forums. She has also presented the League's "Pros and Cons" on ballot propositions to community groups numerous times (pre-pandemic).

A former biology teacher and Santa Barbara School Board member, she is particularly interested in issues of equity in education. She has been an active board member of several non-profits, including the Santa Barbara Education Foundation and Postpartum Support International. She has been a member of the Santa Barbara - Goleta Valley branch of AAUW for 50 years, serving in many capacities including branch President.

Barbara Kuhn

Barbara came to Santa Barbara from Ontario, Canada in 1999. As a clinical Social Worker for some 40 years, Barbara worked in many different settings -- protective services, child and family mental health agencies, psychiatric, general hospitals, and community medical settings. For six years before retiring in 2016 she was Director of the Jewish Family Service of Greater Santa Barbara. In retirement, Barbara has focused on her music, playing cello, and on her art. A member of the League of Women Voters since 2017, she worked for several years with the Communications Committee and coordinated the Channel Voter and monthly digital newsletters. Barbara is now “most interested in being involved in issues & policies where the League promotes Democracy, protects citizen rights, and safeguards voters’ rights.”

Other Officers

Elaine RudinSecretary, Member Nominating Committeesecretary@lwvsantabarbara.org

When Elaine retired from her career as a registered dietitian/nutritionist, she dove into work with the League of Women Voters of North Coast San Diego County where she served as President for two years. During her tenure, the North Coast League successfully placed a proposition on the local ballot that passed. She also started a Political Book Club which is still going strong after 21 years. Elaine moved to Santa Barbara ten years ago and joined our Board as Secretary. In September 2018, Elaine started “Overbooked,” our dynamic political book club that educates members about current and prospective League issues. She is also a Master Gardener who also enjoys playing bridge and golfing.

At the June 2020 annual meeting, Elaine was elected to a 2-year term.

Anne HeckAssistant Secretary

Anne has been a League member since the early 1970s, when she took part in a study of municipal finance in Cleveland Heights, OH. A series of relocations led her to join other Leagues (two in California, one in Wisconsin), where her membership enabled her to find meaningful relationships and activities in each new city. When her musicologist husband, Tom, found stable employment at the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, she joined the League in Ohio’s capital city and plunged into Voter Service activities. She served as a board member, while leading a committee taking part in a national study of United States defense policy.

In 2001, after Tom retired, they moved to Santa Barbara and the League once again provided a way for Anne to make local connections. For six years she served on the LWVSB Board as editor of the Channel Voter (back when it was still printed and mailed to League members). She was also very involved in the International Relations Committee and with adjacent topics, such as the national study on immigration policy. More recently, she served as secretary to the Education Fund, which has since merged into the LWVSB. She is now excited to be rejoining the Board and learning new technological skills.

Martha Warriner JarrettTreasurertreasurer@lwvsantabarbara.org

Martha is a California native who grew up in Pasadena, graduating from Pasadena High School in 1966. She was an art major at Pasadena City College for one year, then transferred to SMU in Dallas, where she majored in fashion design. When she realized that her degree was not going to lead to a meaningful career, she enrolled in Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 1974. Several years after graduating, and after several different jobs, she found her niche as a bankruptcy attorney.

Her first experience as treasurer came in college, when she served as treasurer of her sorority. Her next such role did not come until many years later, when she lived in Bakersfield and served as treasurer of Writers of Kern. Her forty-plus years as a bankruptcy attorney — working with numbers and budgets every day — mean she is well qualified for the position of treasurer of LWV Santa Barbara.

Martha moved to Santa Barbara in 2022 and quickly became involved in the community, joining the League in 2025.

Her interest in politics and civil rights was sparked while she was at SMU, and she has been active in various campaigns and causes ever since. While living in Bakersfield (Kevin McCarthy's congressional district), she belonged to the Democratic Women of Kern. An AIDS survivor and proud supporter of Planned Parenthood, she has spoken several times on National AIDS Awareness Day and has received commendations from the mayor and local members of Congress.

As a League member, Martha is particularly interested in voting rights, city and county issues, affordable housing, and civil rights.

Directors

Ann Bailey

Ann started her career as a news journalist, navigating major-market and national newspaper and television station newsrooms from the Midwest to the East Coast. Moving to Los Angeles, she turned her focus to corporate and marketing communications for environmental and disruptive technology.

Using her media relations and project management experience, Ann launched and led an independent PR practice for 20 years, serving start-up and established tech companies throughout the United States. Santa Barbara became her adopted new home in 1996, with its dynamic and growing technology sector as one of many attractions at the time. She also became active with local nonprofits, city and county departments, and UC Santa Barbara.

Ann graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in English and holds a professional accreditation from the Public Relations Society of America.

Lindsey Baker

Community Forums first drew Lindsey Baker to join the Santa Barbara League. Observing them from the vantage point of the Membership Committee’s table, she greeted attendees. Next, she joined the Observer Corps, tracking meetings of the Santa Barbara City Council, Planning Commission, and Water Commission. She then served for four years as Co-President of the League. As Co-President, she attended all Social Policy Committee, Sustainable Communities Committee, Water Committee, and Education Committee meetings. Lindsey reported, “The highlight of my ad hoc committee experiences was the District Elections Committee, which culminated in our League supporting Measure G (County Redistricting Commission) in 2018.”

Daniel GonzalezChair, Voter Service

Daniel Gonzalez is a dedicated community organizer and advocate with over a decade of experience advancing equity and justice across California’s Central Coast. As the newly appointed Executive Director for Unidos 805, Daniel brings a deep commitment to immigrant rights, grassroots power-building, and ensuring communities have the resources and support they need to thrive.

Joanie JonesManager, Membership & Roster; Member Nominating Committeemembership@lwvsantabarbara.org

Joanie has a strong interest in taking part in her community through teaching, learning and first participating in LWV in 1971 in Pennsylvania and in Minnesota. The Joneses have called Santa Barbara home for forty-four years where Joanie enjoyed raising their sons and working as an administrative assistant for a doctor and working at a small software firm. Her volunteer work has included serving on boards and committees of her children’s school PTAs, and scout groups. She volunteered in school classrooms, and has served many posts in the Unitarian Society including Board President. She was recognized as volunteer of the year for two PTAs, her church, and the LWVSB. In our local League she has served as Director of Membership Development, VP of data administration, roster manager, volunteer coordinator, chair of the Nominating Committee, Co-President. As Co-President in 2020 she facilitated the merger and renaming of our 501(c)(3), LWVSB Education Fund to League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara. Because of Joanie’s desire to develop our League’s goal of inclusion, belonging and diversity, she last served the League as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Gail OsherenkoChair, Criminal Justice

Gail joined our Board in 2020. She has had an influential career in environmental law and policy. With a Juris Doctor degree from UC Davis, she began her career as a legislative assistant to State Senator, later Congressman, Anthony Beilenson where she worked to create the California Coastal Act and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. She was an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and the President’s Council on Environmental Quality. After marrying Oran Young, they moved to Vermont for 25 years where Gail shifted to academe. In 2003, they relocated to Santa Barbara where Gail conducted research and taught coastal and ocean law at UCSB.

Reinventing herself as an documentary filmmaker, three of Gail's films have premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, including Broke: The Santa Barbara Oil Pipeline Spill of 2015 and Birds of Los Baños. Gail has served on several other nonprofit Boards.

Shane Stark

Outwardly a bit grumpy, Shane is an incurable optimist who loves democracy. Shane has 50 years’ experience as a lawyer, mainly for local governments. He served as Santa Barbara County Counsel from 1994 to 2008. He is known for intergovernmental agreements with federal and state agencies, Public Officials Ethics Training (“Eaglet’s Guide to Public Law”) and strategic humor.

After retirement, Shane joined the League Education Fund. He later became its President. Following consolidation with the Education Fund, he remains on our Board. His main interests are the Pros&Con Forums, Candidate Forums, and voting rights. Shane is a member of the Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), where he represents the interests of the general public in good and orderly government services. He is grateful for his good fortune and the simple life in Santa Barbara he shares with his wife and the love of his children and grandchildren.

Carol Thompson

Carol’s concern that our democracy is in peril led her to take a leadership role in our League as Treasurer of the Education Fund Board prior to our consolidation. She believes that the League’s emphasis on voter education and encouraging informed citizens can be one of the solutions to the problem. Carol supplemented her Masters in Library Science from UC Berkeley with a personal financial planning certificate and an accounting certificate from UCSB. She handles the accounting for her husband’s dental practice.

An active volunteer for several organizations, Carol often volunteers her accounting skills as Treasurer, most recently for the local AAUW branch and the League’s Education Fund.

Sophia Weber

Sophia is a passionate, first-generation student attending UC Santa Barbara. After joining the league in January 2026, her first big project was speaking as a panelist at the We Love Democracy Youth Forum where she shared her passion about addressing pressing issues in our current democracy.

Since then, her focus as Youth Liaison is bringing the League’s outreach to high schools and colleges across Santa Barbara, starting with her own school with the League of Women Voters UCSB Chapter.

Beyond her involvement with the League, Sophia is an ambitious honors student on the pre-law track. She manages a job alongside her club involvements, while also serving as a marketing coordinator for her sorority and working as a research assistant. In her free time she enjoys crocheting, playing her violin, and exploring the Santa Barbara area with her friends.

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