Friends of VADA

Andy is co-founder and Chief Scientist at WorldViz, a leader in professional virtual reality solutions. With his vision for cutting-edge technologies and how they connect to people, WorldViz has provided services to Fortune 500 industrial customers as well as numerous government agencies since 2002. Prior to that, Andy completed his B.A. in cognitive science at Brown, Ph.D. in experimental psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and post-doctoral program at MIT. 

Andy served on the Peabody Charter School board of directors for nearly 5 years during the time his children attended school there. His daughter graduated from the VADA program in 2024 and his son graduated from the DPHS Engineering Academy.

Alex is the founder of Planning Advisory Services, a planning consulting firm serving UHNW families, financial institutions and non-profits, with tax, legal, estate, philanthropic, and wealth advisory services.

Alex holds a Bachelor or Arts from University of Michigan, a law degree from Brooklyn Law School and a LLM in taxation from New York University. Alex is married to his wife Debbie, and has three children, including a son at Penn State majoring in data science, a son who is a sophomore at Laguna Blanca, and his daughter a 2025 graduate of VADA, who is currently attending the STAMPS school of Art at the University of Michigan.

• Current VP of the SB Maritime Museum Board and Chair of its Education Committee
• Current Vice Chair of the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission
• Current Secretary of the Board of VADA, the Visual Arts and Design Academy at Santa Barbara High School
• Former Member and President of the Santa Barbara Unified School Board

Kate Ford, a lifelong educator and former SBUSD school board member, has a long family legacy in Santa Barbara as well as a professional career that has taken her many places. Kate was a teacher for fifteen years and then a school principal for twenty years, most recently at Peabody Elementary School in Santa Barbara. She then worked as an Education Senior Program Officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and until 2018 was the LA Area Superintendent for Aspire Public Schools. When Kate retired from public education, she returned to her hometown of Santa Barbara, was elected to the SBUSD school board in 2018 (Board President 2020-21) and worked tirelessly to help the school community through the many challenges of COVID. Kate also joined the Maritime Museum Education Committee and later was asked to join the Board of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, where she currently is the Vice President. In addition to her involvement at the Maritime Museum, Kate is the Chair of the SB County Planning Commission of Santa Barbara. As a proud SBHS alumni and lover of the arts, Kate also joined the Board of VADA, the Visual Arts and Design Academy at Santa Barbara High School. And, she is an active member of the Class of 1969 Reunion Committee.

Kate holds a Master of Arts degree in Educational Leadership from Chapman College and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology/Education from UC Santa Cruz, as well as a lifetime CA Teaching Credential and an Administrative Services Credential from Santa Clara University. In addition, Kate has won two Educator of the Year Awards; and in 2015, she was chosen as a Pahara-Aspen Fellow in Education. She enjoys our beautiful coast, traveling, theater, and watercolor painting. She tries to live up to the legacy of her family every day. Kate’s grandmother Katherine McCloskey was a school board member, a key mover and shaker in the early days of the Athletic Roundtable, and a writer for the SB News Press. Her father Don McCloskey, also a SBHS alumni, was a highly decorated US Marine officer who became a sixth-grade teacher at Monroe Elementary when he retired from the military. Kate has four younger siblings who also graduated from SBHS (Liz, Don, Bill, and Caroline) who make her very proud! In her personal and professional life, Kate has always been guided by the Antoine de Saint-Exupery quote: “A rock pile ceases to be rockpile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”

Farida is the Chief Campus Compliance Officer at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). In this role, she leads the ethics, compliance and audit governance bodies, partners with all units responsible for compliance operations, and leads and manages the Office of Ethics and Compliance. Farida is also the Editor of the Catalyst, a magazine published by the Society of Research Administrators International. Before joining UCSF, Farida was the Associate University Provost for Research Administration and Compliance at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the Founding Academic Director of the Master’s and Advanced Certificate Programs in Research Administration and Compliance at CUNY School of Professional Studies. Prior to that, Farida was the Director of Research Compliance at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, where she partnered with the Qatari government to develop research regulations. Farida has a PhD in Governance and Policy Analysis and an MBA.

Ruben is the owner of M4 Interactive, a Santa Barbara based web design and development agency with clients in a variety of industries from museums, tech startups, eCommerce, nonprofits and universities. He has led the planning, design and development of nearly 100 websites involving custom eCommerce solutions, Content Management Systems, Search Engine Marketing, and complex 3rd party integration. Some notable clients (past and present) include Santa Barbara Museum of Art, The Huntington Library, Cal-Poly SLO, Dollar Shave Club, UC Riverside, LA Lakers and many more.

Ruben is a Santa Barbara High School and UCSB Alumni. He and his wife, Jennifer have four children, a current VADA student, a future VADA student, and two are VADA Alumni classes of '20 and '22. His oldest daughter is a recent UC Santa Cruz grad who is planning on attending graduate school for a Master in Library Science. 

Michele has a BA in Psychology from Humboldt State University and attended the University of Delaware as an exchange student. With an interest in enriching her community, Michele has spent over a decade working for nonprofit organizations both in Hawaii and California and is currently an Intake Coordinator at Hospice of Santa Barbara. 

She has also worked in operations and management as a small business owner for over 20 years with her husband and has spent time earlier in her career as a preschool teacher, elementary school substitute teacher and as a teacher’s aide in the ESL program at SBCC. 

Michele values creativity in education and appreciates the benefits of participating in our academy programs. She has a son who graduated from SBHS’s Computer Science Academy and a daughter who graduated from the VADA program in 2024.

Michele currently serves as the Database Manager for the Friends of VADA board of directors.

Armed with a BA in Psychology and Criminology from Columbia University and a BA in Graphic Design and Photography from HKU in the Netherlands, she set out to blend intellect with artistry — and built a career that did exactly that.

For more than 25 years, Shirley was a force in the international fashion world. From Amsterdam, she launched her own boutique model agency, representing over 30 models who went on to walk for Prada, Chanel, Fendi, Versace, Dior, Marc Jacobs, Zara — and land features in Vogue, ELLE, and countless other global powerhouses. Running her agency wasn’t just about fashion; it was about shaping careers, spotting raw potential, and proving that creativity can open doors anywhere.

That same belief — that creativity lives in every corner of life — is what drives Shirley today. As a proud mother of a son in SBHS’s VADA program, she’s deeply invested in making sure young artists have the same opportunity to chase their passions.

Today, Shirley continues to channel her passion for creativity and education as a member of the Friends of VADA Board of Directors, where she plays an active role in the annual campaign — helping to ensure that the next generation of artists and innovators have the tools and inspiration they need to thrive.