Thriving Together
LBS Welcomes Five New Trustees to the Board
Laguna Blanca Board of Trustees welcomes five new members. Get to know them below.
RON BERG
Ronald Berg is a Los Angeles native and lawyer with a long, esteemed career and accomplishments in Real Property Transactions, Business/Corporate Transactions, and specialized Entertainment cases. He and his wife Marci moved to Santa Barbara six years ago, when their son, Mason '24, began attending Laguna Blanca. Ron has served on numerous public and private boards, served as a former City Council member and Mayor of Hidden Hills, CA, and is currently the President of Ennisbrook Home Owners' Association in Montecito.
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RON BERG
Ronald Berg is a Los Angeles native and lawyer with a long, esteemed career and accomplishments in Real Property Transactions, Business/Corporate Transactions, and specialized Entertainment cases. He and his wife Marci moved to Santa Barbara six years ago, when their son, Mason '24, began attending Laguna Blanca. Ron has served on numerous public and private boards, served as a former City Council member and Mayor of Hidden Hills, CA, and is currently the President of Ennisbrook Home Owners' Association in Montecito.
STEVE COUVILLION '92
Steve Couvillion 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.
His three sons attend Laguna, Michael ’28, James ’24, and Thomas ’23. They enjoy skiing, traveling, and Laguna athletics.
Steve Couvillion 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.
His three sons attend Laguna, Michael ’28, James ’24, and Thomas ’23. They enjoy skiing, traveling, and Laguna athletics.
ELLEN MILNE
Ellen Dierberg Milne has a passion for education and entrepreneurship. She owns and oversees Dierberg and Star Lane winery and vineyards in Santa Ynez and Hermannhof winery and vineyard in Missouri, a microbrewery, and her family-owned bank based in California and Missouri, as well as cattle and ranching operations in Santa Barbara and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Ellen Dierberg Milne has a passion for education and entrepreneurship. She owns and oversees Dierberg and Star Lane winery and vineyards in Santa Ynez and Hermannhof winery and vineyard in Missouri, a microbrewery, and her family-owned bank based in California and Missouri, as well as cattle and ranching operations in Santa Barbara and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Ellen is fourth generation owner of First Banks, Inc. where she is Vice Chairwoman of the Board and a member of the Charitable Impact Committee that focuses on next-generation education for those in need in the communities First Bank serves.
Ellen started Tin Mill Brewing Company in 2006, the only microbrewery in the German town of Hermann, Missouri. She is also a trustee for the endowment of the Living History Farm of Hermann which demonstrates American farming life in the 1860s. It includes a cooperage, distillery, a Shire draught horse breeding operation, and many restored historic homes and buildings on the bluffs of the Missouri River.
She holds an economics degree from Denison University and Level 2 Wine & Spirits Education Trust certification.
Ellen was born and raised in St Louis, Missouri where each of her five children were also born. They now attend USC, Thacher School, and Laguna Blanca. She loves her three dogs and the family horses. She and her husband, Mike, split their time between Jackson Hole, Montecito, and St. Louis.
JANE WEAVER
Jane Tsai Weaver has been in Santa Barbara for seven years and previously lived in the Sacramento region, San Francisco Peninsula, and Los Angeles areas. She was most recently the Regional Director of Bring Me A Book Foundation, a non-profit early literacy and school readiness organization. Before that she was a marketing and sales executive at software and business services technology companies, with Oracle Corp and startups including Treasury Services Corporation and PeopleSupport.
Jane Tsai Weaver has been in Santa Barbara for seven years and previously lived in the Sacramento region, San Francisco Peninsula, and Los Angeles areas. She was most recently the Regional Director of Bring Me A Book Foundation, a non-profit early literacy and school readiness organization. Before that she was a marketing and sales executive at software and business services technology companies, with 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 the 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, business sector companies, and community programs.
Jane is married to Kent, and they have four children, a recent college graduate and three students at Laguna—Caden ’23, Elyse ’24, and Brandon ’28. She holds a BA in Economics from Occidental College, MBA from UCLA Anderson School, and a Master's in Public Affairs from UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy.
CLIFF WYATT
Cliff Wyatt 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 for 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.
Cliff Wyatt 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 for 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). Today, Cliff serves as President of WTC, which manufactures and sells optical instruments for characterizing molecules and nanoparticles. The instruments have been sold in over 40 countries and have been used by most of the COVID vaccine manufacturers today. Cliff also serves on the board of the Santa Barbara Tennis Patrons.
Cliff and his wife, Crystal, are raising two kids who both attend Laguna: Siena Wyatt '25 and Jake Wyatt '28. The Wyatts have three other (four-legged) family members comprised of two Rotties and one Rhodesian Ridgeback.
Community
Laguna Blanca is Santa Barbara’s premier private, co-educational, college preparatory day school for students in Early Kindergarten through Grade 12.