UCSB Alumni Association Announces New Board

At its annual Board leadership meeting on June 4, the UCSB Alumni Association elected five new members. Among them are Zach Rentz (MA ’15) of Santa Barbara, California, Cindy Chineduh (’01) Tustin, California, James Rogers (Ph.D. ’12) of Santa Barbara, Alex Esparza (’99) of Chino Hills, California, and Diane Doodha (’66) of Ross, California. 

The new members will serve a three-year term, beginning on July 1, 2016. 

ZACH RENTZ completed his undergraduate work at Dartmouth and received his Juris Doctorate from Duke University in 2007. He previously served as president of the UCSB Graduate Association and served as an ex officio member of the UCSB Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2014. He worked from 2007-2010 as a corporate attorney and was a pro bono attorney for two years for the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent.

CINDY CHINEDUH holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and an MHA from Chapman University. Her career has been in the B2B media business including eight years at Hanley Wood. In 2014 she launched her own company, Worldwide Business Solutions and Development which focuses on marketing and advertising consulting for international companies. Chineduh has been an active member of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Black MBA Association.

JAMES ROGERS completed his undergraduate work at Carnegie Mellon where he received a degree in philosophy. At UC Santa Barbara, he received a masters degree in economics and a doctorate in materials engineering. Rogers founded Apeel Sciences, a start up company that has patents on biological materials that coat fresh fruit and vegetables allowing them to avoid spoilage. The company has received grants from Google and Chase Bank for their work as well as a prize from the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation. He has done research at the Kyoto Institute of Technology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Carnegie Mellon University.

ALEX ESPARZA received his masters degree in public policy from Claremont University. He had a lengthy career in government and politics, serving as a paid staffer in the state Assembly, as the government affairs representative for the Orange County Transportation Authority, and as a consultant to the Assembly Transportation Committee. He worked for the city of Los Angeles as a lobbyist and currently works for Edison Co. on energy issues and government relations. He has been very active in Chicano Youth Leadership programs and non-profits.

DIANE DOODHA spent many years in education and then as a director at a Marin County bank. She served as executive director of the North San Mateo County Center for the Arts and most recently has held the position of the president of the board of trustees of the Marin Art and Garden Center. She has served on the boards of the Mill Valley Film Festival, the Novato Theater and the San Francisco Performing Arts Library. She has been very active leading and organizing a number of fundraisers for a host of non-profit organizations in the Bay Area.