Anissa joined the Women’s Fund in 2025 to connect with inspiring women leaders and to give back to the community in a thoughtful, strategic way. A professional development specialist with over 25 years of experience in public education, she’s worn many hats—from high school social studies teacher to K–12 teacher educator to continuing education professor. Today, she serves as Activities Director for a Title V grant program at UC Santa Barbara, where she helps minoritized and low-income students in the humanities and social sciences engage in—and complete—transformative undergraduate research projects. When she’s not championing student success, you’ll likely find her wine tasting, curled up with a good book, or strolling along Shoreline Drive.

Chris is a licensed psychologist (now retired) with over 30 years of experience working in a university setting as an administrator, adjunct faculty member, and senior staff psychologist at a university counseling center. She is passionate about women’s issues, having been Assistant Dean/Director of the Center for Women and Men @ UC Irvine. She is a proud member of the 4 Empowerment group in the Women’s Fund.

Courtney joined the Women's Fund in December 2022 as part of New Friends, a newly formed group of mostly members of SB Newcomers. She is a native Californian, raised in Rialto and she earned a degree in English/Psychology from Occidental College. During her three careers, she was a public relations consultant, owned a cafe-catering business, and then served as a high school English Teacher with LAUSD (Los Angeles).
Since moving to Santa Barbara in 2019, she has been active with SB Newcomers (VP Activities and President) and with PEO (chapter president), and she has taken many classes at SBCC's Extended Learning Program (watercolor painting, woodworking, life drawing, and choir).

Cynthia Brown, who joined the Women’s Fund in 2013, is a Research Professor of French (Emerita) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she taught for 40 years, after receiving her PhD degree from UC Berkeley. She retired from teaching in 2019, but continues to carry out research and has published numerous books and articles on late medieval female patronage and the influence of the transition from manuscript to print on 15th - and 16th -century literary culture.
She held several administrative positions at UCSB, including Chair of the French and Italian Department and Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Personnel. In 2013 she was named Chevalier des Palmes Académiques by the French Government. Cynthia has been married for almost 30 years to Art Ludwig, a retired electrical engineer, with whom she has supported and shared a love of music, art and theater in Santa Barbara. They enjoy his two children, six grand-children and four great-grandchildren.

Danuta has been a member of the Womens Fund since 2020, and a grateful resident of Santa Barbara for 33 years. She is currently Co-Chair of the Educational Events Committee. Her professional life spans several careers including marine ecologist, marketing representative for the Consortium of Venetian Artisans, business consulting principal at IBM, and co-owner of Facilitate.com, developers of brainstorming and decision-making software. She is a member of the Grants and Partnership Committee for Together Women Rise, a women-based philanthropic organization dedicated to achieving global gender equality.
Danuta holds a degree in marine biology from UC Berkeley and an MBA in marketing and MIS from UCLA. She enjoys life with husband Mike and cats Rose-Tyler and Quinn the Eskimo, and revels in her two daughters and new grandson.

Elizabeth enjoys organizing events for the Membership and Educational Events Committees. She grew up in Santa Barbara, attending Dos Pueblos High School and Santa Barbara Business College. She has extensive experience organizing large and small scale events for the fashion and art industry. She is an accomplished professional portrait artist who has been in the arts for 30 years. She has two children, Kathryn and Charlie, both of whom reside in Los Angeles. She enjoys Pilates, Mah-Jongg and lunches with friends.

Georgene has been a member of the Women’s Fund since 2022. She has been working as a registered nurse in the area of public health for over 40 years and has spent her career developing and implementing efforts to increase access to health care and engaging key stakeholders and funders in supporting programs. Before coming to Santa Barbara County in 1990, she spent 8 years working with international organizations and public health programs in Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Greece, and Spain. She has served as a board member of several local and statewide nonprofits. She retired in 2018 and again in 2022. She enjoys travel, hiking, golf, tennis, and volunteering.

Holly has been a member of the Women’s Fund since 2020. She grew up in Sherman Oaks and moved to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB in 1976. Holly earned a BA with an emphasis in Sociology at UCSB and an MBA in Marketing and Finance at USC. She has served as a Senior Research Analyst in UCSB’s Institutional Research and Planning Department, a Marketing instructor at UCSB Extension, Director of the UCSB Osher Lifelong Learning Program, Director of Central Administrative Services at CommUnify, and Executive Director of Angels Foster Care. Holly was named Woman of the Year by the Junior League of Santa Barbara in 2022. Holly retired in 2024 but remains active in the local Santa Barbara community.

Kathy has been a member of the Women's Fund since 2018. She is Chair of the Volunteer Engagement Committee and a member of the Events Committee and the Operations Management Team. She has a B.S. in Elementary Education, M.S. in Elementary Education, and an M.A. in Educational Leadership. She has taught elementary through high school, and has served as a District Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, California State Board of Education Academic Trustee, and Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services for the Santa Barbara County Education Office. She retired in 2019 after a rewarding 35-year career in public education. She and her husband, Whitt, have lived in Santa Barbara since 2009 and have two amazing children, Meghan (Washington DC) and Trey (NYC). She is thoroughly enjoying travel, hobbies, fitness, play and volunteering with the Women’s Fund in retirement.

Katie has been an active member of the Women's Fund since 2019, first as a group member and later taking on the role of captain of her own group in 2023. She has loved growing within the organization and is excited to step into her new role as the volunteer coordinator for the educational events committee.
Passionate about supporting women-led initiatives, Katie has been involved with several organizations over the years, including the National Charity League and Junior League.
She earned a bachelor's degree in Child Development and spent many years teaching preschool at a local school before making the decision to stay home with her four children.