Officers

President: Dr. Lynn K. Jones is a Certified Personal and Executive Coach who works with individuals, groups and organizations to be the best that they can be. As a business and life coach, she supports her clients in authoring new stories. In addition to her business and life coaching clients, she also coaches doctoral students to complete their dissertations. She has been a regular feature writer for the professional trade journal, Social Work Today, writes a blog at www.lynnkjones.com and is currently co-authoring a book on Appreciative Inquiry and Coaching. She is a visiting professor at the USC School of Social Work. Dr. Jones’ background as a social worker has included being a social service administrator of award-winning programs that supported girls in the care of the state and women and their children in treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. You can reach Dr. Jones at Lynn@LynnKJones.com.

Past President: Kathleen A. Barry, PhD, LMFT has been a licensed psychotherapist since 1995 and has a private practice in Montecito, California. Kathleen has a Ph.D. in Depth Psychology and her doctoral study focused on the ways that women discern an inner voice of authority when interfacing with or confronted by multi-levels of external/hierarchical systems of authority. From her research, Kathleen is writing a book on women and authority in the 21st century and creating a documentary about the historical relevance of women working together to change systems of oppression and the bearing that has on community well-being.

Past President: Rebecca Christenson has been in the communications field for more than two decades, advising senators, commissioners, college presidents and most recently, an urban school district superintendent, on strategic communications. She has proven experience in speechwriting to media relations, including marketing, public relations, and crisis communication. rebeccajchristenson@gmail.com

Program Chair: Karen O’Hara is Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at RYAN Associates, a Santa Barbara-based national firm supporting professionals in the field of occupational health. Prior to joining RYAN Associates in 1990, she was a newspaper reporter specializing in health care, education, local government and human interest stories . Karen has a degree in journalism and ink in her veins. In addition to the Association for Women in Communications, her volunteer activities include Domestic Violence Solutions (advocate) and Developing World Connections (economic re-development in Third World countries). A California native, she has traveled widely in the United States and abroad. She can be reached at karenpohara@hotmail.com

Treasurer: Monique Bunstone, CPA graduated from UCSB in 2006 with a double major in Spanish and Business Economics with an emphasis in Accounting. She passed her CPA exams in 2009 to become a licensed public accountant. She currently works at Palius + O’Kelley CPAs Inc, a business only CPA firm in Santa Barbara. Monique enjoys focusing on helping business clients grow and manage their companies financially. When not at work, you’ll probably find Monique lounging on the beach enjoying a good book, playing soccer with Team Sierra (part of Santa Barbara women’s league) or training for her next marathon. She can be reached at monique@pokcpa.com.

Website and Social Media Chair: Lisa Angle started in communications by creating computerized tutorials in 1990, moved on to writing, laying out and editing newsletters, then web design, and now is active in filmmaking and social media. As owner of Ninety Degrees Media her mission is to expanding knowledge through creativity and technology. She has written articles for Montecito Journal, The Independent, and Examiner.com, has produced videos for the Santa Barbara chapter of NAWBO, the SB Zoo, the SB Writers Conference, and AWC-SB, and designed and edited the SB Film Weekly e-newsletter for the SB County Film Commission for several years. As a volunteer she does PR for the Screenwriters Association of SB and co-produces an online television show called Literary Gumbo. lisa@ninetydegreesmedia.com.

Newsletter Chair: Nancy Marriott has been in the business of writing and editing books on leading edge subjects since 1996. Her business, New Paradigm Writing Services www.nancymarriott.com, provides a range of literary services to help experts and novices to write and publish popular books on health, science, spirituality, social, personal and professional transformation. In 2007, Nancy co-authored Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d (Hay House) with What the Bleep? star Dr. Candace Pert. She recently hosted an Internet radio show called Finding Magic in Midlife, www.ExceptionalWisdomRadio.com showcasing women authors whose books change how women view midlife. Nancy has a Masters from Columbia University and lives in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband Richard, where she also teaches writing at Santa Barbara City College.

Membership: Sylvia Williams is Director of  Communications at Fielding Graduate
University.

Member At Large: LeeAnne French is the Associate Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara. In 2010,LeeAnne received her Master’s degree from UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and served as the Executive Director at Citizens Planning Association, a local nonprofit organization. In 2004, LeeAnne pursued her entrepreneurial spirit and created a private swim school in Connecticut where she and her team taught more than 700 children per week how to swim. Previously, she was the executive vice president and board member of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide; with more than 20 years of experience leading large teams to provide strategic marketing and communications services to the top enterprise software companies. With a passion for sailing, LeeAnne spent six weeks at sea in 2008, conducting oceanographic research during a voyage from Tahiti to Honolulu. She is particularly interested in media’s role in influencing attitudes and behaviors about the environment. LeeAnne’s undergraduate degree was in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Marketing Chair: Dr. Kathy Gruver, author of The Alternative Medicine Cabinet, maintains a natural health and medical massage practice in Santa Barbara. She earned her doctorate as a traditional naturopath and PhD in natural Health. She has studied mind-body medicine at the famed Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard Medical School and pursued further education at the National Institutes of Health. In addition to her practice, Kathy often contributes as a speaker, commentator, writer and expert witness. She can be reached at healingcirclemassage@hotmail.com

Administrative Assistant: Natasha Morton A Los Angeles native Natasha lived in Kaua’i and Washington State before moving to Santa Barbara in August 2010. She holds a BA in Psychology and Buddhist Studies from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Before starting graduate school at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Natasha cultivated her passion for women’s issues and advocacy for equal rights while working as a Program Administrator for a third party reproductive agency. She hopes to further develop this passion as a writer, artist, and future psychotherapist. awcsb@hotmail.com

AWC-SB Emeriti Board Members: We thank them for their service:

Mindy Bingham, Nancy Black, Andrea Carnegie, Annie Crawley, Deborah Hutchison, Anna Laura Jansma, Christine Lo Monaco, Barbara Mintzer,  Patricia Diorio, Lois Phillips,  and Cindy Faith Swain.