Director of Finance
Child Development Resources of Ventura County
Sara O'Conlon has dedicated her professional business career to improving children's lives through her work in social services and education. As a Certified Public accountant, Sara, for the past 15 years, has been the Director of Finance for CDR, Child Development Resources of Ventura County, Inc.
CDR is a private non-profit corporation, the largest private non-profit social services agency in Ventura County with an annualized budget of nearly $50 million dollars. CDR receives county, state, and federal contracts to administer the Child Care Resource & Referral Programs. CDR receives federal grants for both Head Start and Early Head Start Programs. All children, including those with special needs and those at risk of abuse and/or neglect, benefit from delivery of comprehensive developmental services. CDR assists families in their effort to improve the condition and quality of family life.
Sara has extensive consultant experience working with nonprofits, schools and governmental entities on financial operations and systems design for agencies with blended Federal, State, local government and private funding. Her areas of expertise include strategic planning, budgeting, policy development, and ethics in business and management. Sara serves the community by working on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Early Education and the Ventura Charter School of Arts and Global Education and has volunteered for the First Five Ventura County Commission, as well as working with other local nonprofits.
Sara is proud to continue her work in education as a member of the Advisory Board to the Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics at California State University at Channel Islands. She recognizes that the success for students in higher education is a collaborative effort between students, the University as well as business leaders and concerned residents. Sara believes that education brings diverse people together, is a life-long process and it is everyone's responsibility to contribute to the future economic vitality of the community.
Sara is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics.
As a single mother she volunteers with her son’s school in extracurricular activities. In her free time is an avid gardener, she enjoys travel and entertaining.