By Kim Lamb Gregory
Six new board members who bring experience in agriculture, business, law, the arts and biotechnology have joined the CSUCI Foundation Board.
Former Mandalay Berry Farm owner Linda Dullam, former Ojai Music Festival President Esther Wachtell, and Krause Bell Group founder Thomas Krause were voted in this summer.
MannKind Corp. CEO Hakan Edstrom and Attorney Chuck Cohen were voted in last February while agricultural businesswoman Betsy Grether was voted onto the board in late 2016.
“You’re always trying to get people from different disciplines and backgrounds,” said the Development Committee Chairperson of the CSUCI Foundation, Zohar Ziv, former Chief Operating Officer of the Deckers Outdoor Corp. “Not just in terms of their business, but also gender as well as ethnicity.”
Ziv said the Foundation board benefits from geographic diversity, too, with members from Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties. Wachtell said she appreciates the commitment the University has to bringing first-generation families into the world of higher education.
Edstrom ran a biotechnology business based on access to well-educated employees and credits his own success to education, so he supports CSUCI to give others the same opportunity.
A world-renowned expert in organizational leadership and culture, Krause was inspired to join the board after meeting with President Erika Beck and appreciating her fresh ideas.
Still active land-use and real-estate attorney Chuck Cohen, also the former mayor of Thousand Oaks and former President of the Ventura County Bar Association, is a 60-year active citizen in Ventura County, Cohen is aware of the positive influence CSUCI has had on the county and wanted to get involved.
Because agriculture is such a significant part of Ventura County, Dullam and Grether believe their agricultural roots will bring an important perspective to the board.
“The agriculture community sees many local issues in a different light than most locals so that perspective is always valuable when discussing important issues affecting all of us in Ventura County,” Dullam said.
Grether, who is the director of Grether Farming Company Inc., is a member of the Broome family — a friend to the University since its inception.
The University’s library bears the name of Grether’s father, John Spoor Broome. Grether said being on the board reminds her of some of his best qualities.
“It’s so inspiring,” she said. “We used to talk about dad and his contagious enthusiasm. You just wanted to be involved. It’s the same here at CSUCI. Everybody is so enthusiastic, you just want to be a part of it.”