Peter Adams has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Wildling Art Museum. Adams is a retired businessman. He was the Chairman and CEO of Adams Rite Manufacturing Co. a manufacturer of architectural hardware. He was also the Founder and Chairman of Quadrastat Corporation, a manufacturer of vehicle control systems. He is the President of the Adams Legacy Foundation, on the Board of Governors of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies, and has served in several lay leadership roles with the Episcopal Church. He and his wife Becky live in Hope Ranch.

R. Deming Isaacson has been elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Wildling Art Museum. He was raised on his family’s El Chorro Ranch in western Santa Barbara County. He attended Midland School and received a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from Arizona State University. He apprenticed with several prestigious architectural firms, including William L. Pereira & Associates in Corona Del Mar and Kevin Roche & John Dinkeloo & Associates in New Haven, Connecticut, before returning to Santa Barbara. He worked for Lutah Maria Riggs, F.A.I.A. and was a principle with Rowland, Neumann & Isaacson before establishing his own practice in 1980. Isaacson was President of the Citizens Planning Association and also served on the County Architectural Board of Review. He is a long time member of the Society of Los Alamos.

Virginia Twining Gardner has been elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Wildling Art Museum. A botanical bookseller, Gardner is well known for her horticultural expertise and her volunteer and philanthropic support of botanically-oriented institutions, including Lotusland where she was a docent, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden where she served on the Board of Directors, and the South Coast Botanical Garden in Palos Verdes. In 2003 Gardner was named “Horticulturalist of the Year,” by the Southern California Horticulture Society.

Joan Craton has been elected to a three year term on the Board of Directors of the Wildling Art Museum. Craton has an extensive history of volunteer work, most notably in her former residence of Jackson, Wyoming, where she was President of the Grand Teton Music Festival Auxiliary and Co-Chair of the Rungius Society at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, as well as a member of its Acquisitions Committee. She and her husband, photographer Roger Craton, live part of the year in Santa Barbara and part of the year in Harbor Springs, Michigan.

Virginia Sloan, a founding Board member of the Wildling and Director Emeritus for the past several years, has been invited to return for a new three-year term. Sloan has served on the Boards of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and has been involved with many worthwhile environmental causes. She and her husband Robert live in Val Verde.

Eric P. Hvolbøll has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Wildling Art Museum. Eric P. Hvolbøll is an attorney who, after graduating from Santa Barbara High School and Stanford University, joined the firm of Price, Postel, & Parma 25 years ago. His practice emphasizes land use law and is general counsel to the Montecito Fire Protection District. Hvolbøll is descended from an early Santa Barbara family and manages the family’s La Paloma Ranch in Venadito Canyon. Long interested in history, Hvolbøll also maintains a 1840 brick home in the landmark district of Galena, Illinois (near the Mississippi River) and an historic cattle ranch in the Cuyama region of northern Santa Barbara County.

Gail McMahon Persoon has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Wildling Art Museum.

Raised in Grass Valley, Gail McMahon Persoon came to Santa Barbara in 1957 to attend UCSB. After college, she married a Santa Barbara native, attorney and later judge Patrick McMahon. Since her husband’s death in 1997, she has re-married and lives on the Johannes Ranch in Carpinteria where he husband Johannes Persoon, a Dutch nurseryman, raises flowers, avocados and cherimoyas.

Mrs. Persoon was a trust officer at Wells Fargo Bank for many years, and now works part time as the Community Support Representative where she works with Wells Fargo Foundation and local charities.

She is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Santa Barbara. She is a past trustee of the Montecito Union School here she served for 10 years, and past president of the Santa Barbara County School Boards Association. She was a founding member of the Montecito Union School Educational Foundation. In 2003 she was a Girl Scout “Woman of Distinction. She is a long standing member of the University Club of Santa Barbara and past board member. She is past present of the Family Service Agency. She currently serves on the Boards of Montecito Trails Foundation and Girls, Inc. of Carpinteria.

ANNE FOXWORTHY LEWELLEN
ELECTED TO BOARD OF WILDLING ART MUSEUM

Ann Foxworthy Lewellen has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Wildling Art Museum. Dr. Foxworthy Lewellen, the retired Superintendent/President of Allan Hancock College, received her education at the University of California, San Francisco (BS in Dental Hygiene), the University of California, Berkeley (BA and MA in the History of Art), and the University of Texas, Austin (Ph.D. in Educational Administration). Dr. Foxworthy Lewellen was Superintendent/President of Allan Hancock College for 13 years. She also served as a faculty member and dean at Southwestern College in San Diego County for 15 years and as associate superintendent/vice president for academic affairs for 5 years at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. She has served on many boards including the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Marian Medical Center. She resides with her husband, Judge Royce Lewellen (retired), in Santa Ynez.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

The Wildling Art Museum, a museum dedicated to presenting the art of America’s wilderness, is dependent upon volunteers to perform its many services to the community. Volunteers staff the Museum, located in Los Olivos behind Mattei’s Tavern, Wednesday through Sunday, 11-5. Volunteers also help with special events and volunteers help with art classes. If you are interested in learning more about these volunteer opportunities, please call 688-1082 and ask to speak to Holly

ERIK GREGERSEN AND JOHN PARKE
ELECTED TO BOARD OF WILDLING ART MUSEUM

Erik Gregersen received his BSME degree from Cornell University and his MBA at Harvard Business School. After spending 15 years working with the FMC Corporation, he decided to venture into the entrepreneurial life and, with a friend, founded Sinclair Systems International which developed a unique, patented process for applying self-adhesive labels to fruits and vegetables. After becoming the industry leader, Sinclair was sold and Gregersen pursued his dream of retiring to the family ranch in Santa Ynez. Although he has only lived in the Santa Ynez Valley since 1998, his family goes back a long time in the area. His grandfather, Rev. Jens M. Gregersen, was one of the founders of the Danish American Colony in 1910 and Solvang in 1911. Gregersen is President of the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, Board member and CFO for Solvang Heritage Associates, and on the Board of the Solvang Chapter of the Rebild National Park Society.

John Parke received his BA in Political Science and Economics from USCB in 1975 and graduated from the UCLA School of Law in 1978. He participated in the VISTA Program at Alaska Legal Services in Bethel, Alaska, from 1979-1980. Parke is a partner at Allen & Kimbell, LLP, in Santa Barbara specializing in civil litigation for business, real estate, trust and estates matters. He currently resides in Solvang with his wife and two children and enjoys endurance riding on horseback throughout the western US. Parke has sat on several non-profit boards in the Santa Barbara area and currently sits on the board for the Santa Barbara Carriage & Western Arts Museum and the national board for the American Endurance Ride Conference. He has been serving on the Development Committee for the Wildling Art Museum and hopes to help facilitate interaction with other non-profits, to both build the museum’s programs, resources, and visibility in the community and to draw attention to some of the special natural places which deserve more appreciation.

As part of a recent staff expansion, the Wildling Art Museum has hired Kate Bennett as Director of Development. Ms. Bennett, who has recently moved with her husband, Jeff, to the Santa Ynez Valley, has twelve years experience in fund-raising, first at the Foundation for Santa Barbara City College where she was Annual Fund Coordinator and Director of Grants, and most recently with the Cottage Heath System as Manager of Annual Giving. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from UCSB, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She is also a singer and song-writer.

As Director of Development for the Wildling Art Museum, Ms. Bennett will be responsible for grants and the annual campaign, major gifts and planned giving. Her office will be at 2948 Nojoqui, Suite #4, next door to the Museum.