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Ginger Langan

Position
Committee Member
Year Joined
2011
Biography

A long-time Santa Barbara resident and graduate of UCSB, Ginger has been a member of the Women’s Fund since 2011. She has served on the Research Committee for three years. The co-founder of MedClaim, Inc. a company specializing in medical billing and medical practice management, she recently retired after 25 years as a business owner and now devotes her time to volunteering with the Women’s Fund and other local nonprofit organizations and to pursuing other interests, including traveling, gardening, cooking, and hiking.

Jere Lifshitz

Position
Surveys Coordinator
2022-23
Year Joined
2014
Biography

Jere joined the Women’s Fund in 2014 as a member of the Take Five group. Jere received her BSN in nursing from Emory University. Her clinical career focused on parenteral nutritional support and bringing complicated and sophisticated medical modalities out of the hospital and into patients' homes. She obtained her MS in healthcare management and policy from New York University. Thereafter, Jere started a healthcare communication company in New York. She authored textbook chapters, training manuals for patients and staff, scientific peer-reviewed journal articles, a book "Children’s Nutrition" which she co-authored with her husband and took an international medical journal on-line in the days when few were doing so. Jere had worked on the Women’s Fund annual ballot for grants since 2017.

Julie Chapman

Position
Committee Member
Year Joined
2021
Biography

Julie joined the Women’s Fund in 2021 after moving from Washington DC to Santa Barbara. She is the Co-Captain of New Friends, a group of friends who met in Newcomers. Julie has a BA from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia. After 20+ years in the technology industry in roles ranging from product manager to COO, she went on to lead 501cTECH, a nonprofit which provided tech support to community based nonprofits in the greater DC Region. She and her husband, David joyfully welcomed twin grandsons this fall. Julie has been very active in the local chapter of Newcomers in a variety of roles.

Kelly Bourque

Position
IT Educational Events Liaison
Data Analyst
Year Joined
2021
Biography

Kelly joined the Women's Fund in 2021 with her mother to give back to the community together. Kelly came to Santa Barbara in 2010 from San Diego to study Hydrology at UC Santa Barbara and later received her Masters at the UC Santa Barbara Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. She currently works as an Engineering Capital Project Lead at Goleta Water District managing the research, design and construction of drinking water infrastructure projects, as well as performing as-needed water and economic data analysis. Kelly is involved locally volunteering with Angels Foster Care and a Bren Alumni group focused on water markets research funded by the Walton Family Foundation. She enjoys DIY remodeling of her home, kayaking, sewing and is a passionate Formula 1 Racing fan.

Laurie Tumbler

Position
Information Technology Chair
2022-23
Year Joined
2008
Biography

Laurie has been a member of the Women's Fund since 2008. She has previously served as Research Committee Co-Chair, Grantee Liaison, and Steering Committee chair. From 2018 to 2020, she was Board Chair of the newly incorporated Women’s Fund. Currently, she chairs the Information Technology committee and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. After earning a B.A. from University of Illinois, Laurie pursued a career in financial services and in 1982 she founded her own financial research company. She was a member of several nonprofit boards across the country focused on the welfare of families and children. Since moving to Santa Barbara in 2000, she has chaired the Newcomers Club community service committee, led the United Way's "Lunch Bunch" program, and served as a board member and interim Executive Director of the Nonprofit Support Center. She has also served on the Ensemble Theatre, Social Venture Partners and Transition House boards.

Liz Saghi

Position
IT Communications Liaison
2019-20
Year Joined
2018
Biography

Elizabeth has been a member of the Women’s Fund since 2018.  She grew up in Iran and moved to the U.S. after completing high school to study at Boston University where she received a B.S. degree in Nursing Science.  However, most of her professional career has been in finance where she worked for investment banks in New York, London and San Francisco.  Elizabeth moved to Santa Barbara in 2002 and is currently a Financial Advisor with Avalan, LLC, a wealth management firm here in town.  She likes to be involved in the community and in addition to volunteer work,  has served on the boards of the Women’s Economic Ventures, SB Breast Cancer Resource Center and the Ventura Chapter of the Financial Planning Association.  Elizabeth enjoys playing tennis, hiking, travelling and trying new recipes for friends and family.  She’s excited to be part of this dedicated and impactful group of women.

Lynn Karlson

Position
IT Membership Liaison
2023-24
Year Joined
2018
Biography

Lynn rejoined the Women’s Fund in 2018, participating with both the Membership Committee and a Special Projects workgroup. She grew up in Colorado and has a Master’s Degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Colorado State University. Before moving to Santa Barbara in 1989, she worked in both the Research and Public Affairs Departments of the Kansas City Federal Reserve. She has served in various nonprofit leadership roles in Santa Barbara, including as Board Chair for the Channel Islands YMCA, the Nonprofit Support Center, and The Arts Fund. She was the Vice President for Family Education Services at Independent Means Inc. before taking on the role of Executive Director for the Youth and Family Services YMCA from 2008-2016.

Mary Folsom

Position
Operations Manager
Operations Manager
Year Joined
2021
Biography

Mary joined the Angels Among Us Women’s Fund group in 2021. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree
in Mathematics, she began her career as a Systems Engineer with IBM. She subsequently held positions
designing and developing IT business application systems with government and private sector entities
until retirement. Since moving to Santa Barbara from upstate New York in 2015, she has served as
Webmaster, and chaired committees for the Santa Barbara Newcomers Club, and served on the board
of the Santa Barbara Social Club. She is an active docent at the Santa Barbara Courthouse, and has
served as President and Webmaster for the Courthouse Docent Council. She enjoys puzzles and
mysteries, and many outdoor activities in beautiful Santa Barbara.

Wendy Arienzo

Position
IT Research Liaison
Year Joined
2023
Biography

Wendy joined the Women’s Fund in 2023, a year after retiring and moving to Santa Barbara. Wendy has a BS/MS in Materials Science Engineering from Brown University and a PhD from Stanford University in the same field. Wendy has enjoyed over 35 years in high tech manufacturing where she has held a variety of positions with IBM, NXP Semiconductors, Philips and most recently, Fujifilm. She serves on the boards of two public companies: Power Integrations and ICHOR Holdings. She is also serving as VP Communications for the local chapter of Newcomers.

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