Board of Trustees

Catherine is an East Coast native from a foodie family and has always been passionate about health, wellness, education, and athletics. She began her education at Colby College where she played three varsity sports and studied Human Development and Psychology. After a brief stint in NYC working in media, Catherine moved to California to pursue an MA in Health Psychology from Stanford University and worked in the health field for several years at UCLA, Stanford and as a Health Coach – specializing in exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness. Although working in the field of psychology and health was fulfilling and enjoyable, she longed for a more creative outlet.

Living in the Bay Area, she was drawn to the food and wine scene and the world-renowned wine program at UC Davis. Catherine completed an MS in Viticulture and Enology (grape growing and winemaking) and entered the wine business. For the past 20 years, Catherine has worked as a winemaker; she started and has been running her own business for the last 15 years. During this time, she also continued to nurture her passion for wellness and psychology by obtaining certifications in yoga, nutrition, health coaching, and sports psychology. Recently, she created a group for teenage girls, helping teach social and emotional well-being strategies. Catherine and Dr. Peggy Smith co-developed the curriculum and are launching and running new groups starting
Fall 2024.

Catherine, her partner Mary Ricks, and daughter Arden Blagden '28 look forward to becoming active members of the Laguna Blanca community and are eager to embrace the adventures and opportunities that lie ahead.

Steve grew up in Santa Barbara and attended Laguna Blanca. He received his medical degree from Tulane University. After medical school, he completed his residency training in Ophthalmology at the prestigious Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami. There he was involved with the initial clinical application of biologic pharmaceuticals for treating age-related macular degeneration.

Steve then completed his vitreoretinal fellowship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and accepted a faculty position where he served as Chief Resident and Director of Ocular Trauma. In doing so he helped train ophthalmology residents and vitreoretinal fellows in the latest therapeutic techniques. He is a partner in California Retina Consultants based in Santa Barbara, and Chairman of Ophthalmology at Cottage Hospital.

His three sons attend Laguna, Michael ’28, James ’24, and Thomas ’23. They enjoy skiing, traveling, and Laguna athletics.

Tyler Duncan is the President and CEO of Rusty's Pizza Parlors Inc. He is a technologist, restaurateur, real estate developer, and investor.

Growing up in the legendary local family business of Rusty's Pizza Parlors, Tyler is a second-generation owner-operator who has refreshed half of the company's locations, acquiring, developing, and building each new restaurant around its own unique theme while staying true to the core brand and expanding Rusty's strategic footprint.

Tyler earned a Bachelor of Science from the USC Marshall School of Business. Before returning to Santa Barbara in 2000, he worked as a Technology Analyst in two departments at Paramount Pictures.

Tyler and his wife, Whitney, have two children, Emmett and Kate '29.

Tyler also serves on the boards of multiple nonprofit organizations. 

Lindsay is a corporate attorney. She began her legal career at Foley Hoag LLP in Boston, MA and then moved in-house to State Street Bank and Trust Company. Lindsay spent 11 years at State Street as Vice President and Senior Attorney, supporting and growing its securities lending business. Lindsay received her B.A. from Williams College and her J.D. from Boston College Law School. 

Lindsay served on the board of the Laguna Blanca Family Association as Vice President of the Lower School for two years and has been an active volunteer at the school since 2019. She was also a class representative for multiple years and enjoys helping with the Golden Oak Gala, the Family Festival and other school events.

Lindsay and her husband, Drew Sharma, have two children at Laguna Blanca (Chloe '32 and Cameron '36) and reside in Hope Ranch.

Robyn is the principal of Sand Point Productions, which has produced and/or invested in: Ain’t Too Proud, Kimberly Akimbo, Mean Girls, A Walk on The Moon and Tony Award winner A Strange Loop. Robyn’s next project Wanted is coming to Broadway following a successful run at Papermill Playhouse (under the name Gun and Powder) and is planned to open in spring 2026 in NYC. 
 
Prior to her musical theater career, Robyn was director of communications for Hartford Public Schools, working with the superintendent of an urban school district to form relationships with divergent constituent groups and improve a historically underperforming school district. She was manager of state and federal government affairs communications for The Hartford Financial Services Group, and she was a speechwriter, press liaison, and deputy director of communications for Connecticut State Treasurer Denise Nappier.
 
Robyn, her husband, Larry, and son Asher ’26 have lived in Santa Barbara for almost 10 years. Robyn has been involved in fundraising for Storyteller Children’s Center and is a member of the Leadership Circle for UCSB Arts and Lectures. Outside of Santa Barbara, the Gottesdieners are majority owners for the Atlanta Dream WNBA team, are significant contributors to a holocaust museum being built in Boston, and support the HomeStart homeless organization.

Shelly moved to California from the East Coast after earning her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Rochester. She began her career as a faculty member in the Psychology Department at the UCLA before joining the faculty in the Psychological & Brain Sciences Department at UCSB, where she now serves as the Susan and Bruce Worster Dean of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences.

She is the author of more than 100 scientific articles and has been the principal investigator on several federal and private foundation grants. Her research focuses on motivation, emotion regulation, and close relationships. She is particularly interested in the role of positive emotions in health, social relationships, and resilience more broadly.

Shelly’s awards include teaching awards and scientific awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and the Berscheid-Hatfield Mid-Career Award. She is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science, and the International Positive Psychology Association. She has served on the boards of several professional societies, federal agency grant panels, editorial boards for scientific journals, local PTA boards, and school district advisory panels. Her three children are Laguna Blanca alumni.

Nicholas is the Co-Founder of Cojourn Companies, a long-term holding company that acquires and grows enduring businesses. He has held executive roles including President, COO, and CIO across several operating companies, and previously was an equity partner at a Bay Area family office focused on real estate and private equity. Nicholas holds an MBA from Duke University, where he serves on the Fuqua School of Business Alumni Board and the Center for Entrepreneurship's ETA steering committee. He earned dual bachelor's degree in Economics and Philosophy from Westmont College. Nicholas and his wife , Drew, are proud parents of two elementary students at Laguna Blanca.

Lacey has been part of the Laguna Blanca community since 2019. She and her husband, Charlie, have three children currently attending the Lower School: Jack ’33, Lilly ’35, and Dane ’37. Lacey has loved getting to know the school community through serving as a room parent and weekly hot lunch volunteer. Lacey and her husband currently serve on two family foundations and are devoted to giving back to the local community through philanthropic work. The couple is passionate about supporting Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, and the children’s musical program at the Santa Barbara Bowl.
 
Lacey grew up in St. Louis, and attended the University of Virginia where she earned a B.A. in art history. Prior to moving to Santa Barbara in 2009, Lacey lived and worked in San Francisco at Williams Sonoma Inc., and later Serena & Lily. Since 2010, Lacey and Charlie have grown their real estate investment business, purchasing and remodeling homes in the Montecito area. Lacey has a long family history of board work in education and child development, and is passionate about the Laguna community. She enjoys traveling, hiking, tennis, pickleball, and entertaining family and friends at their home.

Stephen has over 25 years of experience in the global health and partnership arena and specializes in expanding and evolving organizations that work in the global development arena with particular emphasis on resource mobilization. His programmatic expertise span a broad range of development issues including, maternal, newborn and children’s health, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), HIV/ AIDS, nutrition,  reproductive and sexual health, and the recruitment, training, deployment of community health workers across countries around the world. He currently operates Montemar Consultants, a boutique consulting firm that specializes in developing relationships between high net worth individuals and networks in developing regions with new and pre-existing global health programs and opportunities.

Stephen’s previous leadership roles have been with former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s  Every Woman, Every Child Strategy, The Sesame Workshop, Abbott Labs, PhRMA, and the United Nations Foundation. Stephen also founded The Great American Condom Campaign - today the nation’s largest distributor of condoms ever. His work in global development began at the United Nations Foundation after its founding by Ted Turner’s gift of $1 billion in 1998. 

Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Stephen holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and Master in Public Policy from Georgetown University. He is married with two children attending Laguna Blanca and volunteers as an ambulance Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for the County of Santa Barbara. 

Chris is a business executive, tech investor, and former public company CEO.  Starting in 1999, he served as Director of Marketing and Vice President of New Brands and Verticals, among other senior positions, at Match.com.  Chris then became Vice President of Product and Marketing for Blockbuster in 2005. He joined Nutrisystem in 2007, serving first as Senior Vice President of E-Commerce, and was named Nutrisystem's CMO in 2009. Chris then became the CEO of ServiceMagic, the precursor to HomeAdvisor, in 2011. In 2017, HomeAdvisor and Angie's List merged into a new publicly-traded company, ANGI Homeservices Inc., where Chris remained as CEO until the end of 2018.

Chris has served on the boards of six public companies, two private companies, a large national trade association, and the largest historic district in Denver.  He currently sits on three public company boards including Anywhere, a global leader in residential real estate with many of the best-known brands including Coldwell Banker and Sotheby’s; Vacasa, an international vacation rental management company; and Yelp, which provides a one-stop local platform for consumers to discover, connect, and transact with local businesses of all sizes.  Finally, he serves on the board of CareerWise, the largest national non-profit focused on bringing youth apprenticeships to companies and school districts across the country.

Carter is a Vice President, Client Advisor at Whittier Trust’s West Los Angeles office. He provides strategic advisory services to high-net-worth individuals, developing and maintaining relationships with clients and their trusted business professionals. Carter provides innovative solutions for complex estate planning and investment management, with a focus on privately held businesses, alternative asset classes, and liquidity strategies. Carter joined the Whittier team in 2020.

Carter is a Laguna Blanca School alumnus who grew up in Santa Barbara, CA, before moving to Los Angeles for college. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California (USC) with a B.A. in International Business and Finance and is an alumnus of Sigma Chi Fraternity. He is currently pursuing his MBA at the USC Marshall School of Business. Carter holds the Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA) designation.

In his free time, you will find Carter playing ice hockey, golf, or polo in the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara areas. Carter is a member of the Santa Barbara Polo Club, the Pacific Council on International Policy, Stand Together Ventures, the Board of Trustees and Finance Committee for Laguna Blanca School, the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, and Vice President of the Board of Directors for Woodcraft Rangers, one of the oldest and largest non-profit providers of afterschool programs in Los Angeles County, where he sits on the Finance, Board Development, and Executive committees.

David is an Executive Director and Senior PM Director at Morgan Stanley. With more than 35 years of experience in finance, David brings deep expertise and insight to his clients. Beyond his role in wealth management, he’s an active supporter of early-stage companies and is a founding member of Pasadena Angels.

A strategic thinker with a commitment to giving back, David has held board positions with organizations including Ernst & Young Alumni Association, Pasadena Angels, Huntington Hospital (Planned Giving), among others.

David earned his MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and holds a B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He began his career at Ernst & Young, where he earned his CPA designation.

David lives in Santa Barbara with his wife, Karen, and is the father of three—Nathan, Abby, and Helen ’30.

Jane has lived in Santa Barbara since 2015, previously residing in the Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles regions. Most recently, she was the Regional Director of Bring Me A Book Foundation, a non-profit early literacy and school readiness organization. Prior to that, she was a marketing and sales executive at financial technology and business services companies, at Oracle Corp, and startups including Treasury Services Corporation and PeopleSupport. 

For the past two decades, she has been an active Board member and advisor to education, literacy, and community-engagement nonprofit organizations including Teach for America, Capital Public Radio (NPR Affiliate), Reading Partners, and Social Venture Partners. She is the Founding President of boys team charity Santa Barbara, helping to launch the teen boys and family volunteer organization. Jane is particularly interested in catalyzing connections to build partnerships between education entities, community organizations, and business sector companies.  

Jane and her husband, Kent, have four children: Cambria, a recent college graduate and educator; and Laguna alums Caden ’23, Elyse ’24, and Brandon ’28. She holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from Occidental College, an MBA from UCLA Anderson School, and a master's in Public Affairs from UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy.

Cliff graduated from Laguna as a "lifer" in 1985 and went on to UC Berkeley, majoring in Genetics. He also spent a year at Christ’s College, Cambridge studying the Natural Sciences. Cliff worked several years as an analyst in the Public Finance sector helping state and local governments in the Bay Area and the Northwest. Cliff then worked for several medical diagnostic companies, Becton Dickinson and Bayer Diagnostics, selling various instruments and services. 

In 1996, Cliff moved back to Santa Barbara to join his father and brother (Geof Wyatt '79—a Laguna grad, as well) in their family business called Wyatt Technology Corporation (WTC). WTC manufactures and sells optical instruments and software for characterizing molecules and nanoparticles. Cliff served most recently at its president until it was sold to Waters Corporation in 2023. Cliff also serves on UCSB’s Arts & Lectures Council. 

Cliff and his wife, Crystal, are raising two kids, who both attend Laguna:  Siena Wyatt '25 and Jake Wyatt '28. The Wyatts have 2 other (four-legged) family members comprised of one Rottie and one Rhodesian Ridgeback.