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December 13, 2023 ― The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) is pleased to announce the newest members of its Board of Trustees: Rachel Kaganoff Stern, J. Paul Longanbach, and Beth Wood. They will serve under the leadership of Board Chair Nicholas Mutton and their term officially begins January 1, 2024.
Rachel Kaganoff Stern:
Rachel Kaganoff Stern recently retired as CEO of the Junior State of America, a national non-profit that provides civics programs to high school students. She currently serves as Secretary of the Board of the Santa Barbara City College Foundation and on the Board of the Santa Barbara
Symphony. Former board service includes the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, the Alliance for College-Ready Schools in Los Angeles, Planned Parenthood’s Advocacy Project, and the Women in Leadership Initiative at Princeton University. She is the former Co-Chair of the Women’s Political Committee, a Los Angeles-based political action committee that raises money for progressive women candidates for office.
Stern spent 15 years as an Associate Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica. She worked across a number of research areas including health care, civil justice, and national security policy. She is a longtime art collector with a particular interest in supporting mid-career female artists, especially those from the Santa Barbara area. Raised in Goleta, Stern has been visiting the Santa Barbara Art Museum of Art since she was a toddler. Her father, Sheldon Kaganoff, was Chair of the Studio Art Department at UCSB and is both a ceramicist and a painter.
J. Paul Longanbach:
Paul Longanbach had a 20+ year career in the Federal government, including Director of Employee Development & Training for the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Transportation; Director of Organizational Learning and Development for the Federal Aviation Administration; and as the Lunder Museum Education Chair at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. He currently consults with public and private sector organizations around strategic planning and organization development and works as an executive coach with individual clients and leadership teams. His past and current client roster includes Smithsonian Institution; American Heart Association; the US Internal Revenue Service; American Express Company; US Central Intelligence Agency; University of Virginia; NASA; the UN High Commission for Refugees; and locally, the AD&A Museum at UC Santa Barbara, Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College, and the Santa Barbara Arts Fund.
A resident of Santa Barbara since 2010, Longanbach has served on the Board of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, as Chair of the Museum Collectors Council, and as a member of the Museum Capital Campaign Cabinet. In addition, he has served on the boards of the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Student Art Fund, and currently serves on the Ensemble Theater Company board. As an artist working in painting and collage, Longanbach has had group and solo gallery exhibitions in both Washington DC and Santa Barbara.
Beth Wood:
After beginning her career as a history teacher Beth Wood had a career in fashion as a buyer. She later returned to graduate school earning a degree in counseling psychology and became a licensed psychotherapist in Colorado. She was in private practice then became Director of Bethesda Employee Assistance Program in Denver. Wood was later recruited by Norwest Banks to be Director of Human Resources for their 30 Denver banks. After retiring early, she has served on a number of boards including the volunteer board of the Denver Art Museum as vice president and chaired the Benefits Council. Other board work included the Mental Health Association of Colorado, the University of Colorado’s Depression Center, the University of Colorado’s Haven Addiction Center (for women and babies), and The Gathering Place (homeless shelter for women and their children). Since moving to Montecito, Wood has served on the Birnam Wood Golf Club’s Board of Directors and chaired their events committee for 8 years and volunteered at the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission.