2012 TBCF Honorees
Humanitarian Award: Earl V. Armstrong III
Earl V. Armstrong III, a native of Santa Barbara, founded Armstrong Associates, Inc. a general contracting company specializing in commercial, health care, and custom residential construction. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board and President.
Mr. Armstrong’s community involvement includes serving as Chairman of the Board of Hillside House (1999 to 2010) a non-profit housing facility for cerebral palsy residents, and is now a Board member. He has been on the Board of Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Foundation (1996 to present), and served as Chairman of the Board (2002 – 2005) also a non-profit organization. Mr. Armstrong served on the board as Vice-Chair of the Santa Barbara Unity Shoppe, a non-profit, support organization for low-income families, and termed out in 2007.
Mr. Armstrong has been serving on the board of The Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce since 2002, as the Chairman of the board in 2007, and currently remains on the board. In 2011, Mr. Armstrong was named “Man of the Year” by the Santa Barbara Regional Chamber of Commerce. He also is currently serving on the Board of Directors at Montecito Retirement Association.
Humanitarian Award: Keith C. Berry
Keith C. Berry is a native of Santa Barbara, California. He is a longstanding member of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors and received recognition as a Top 100 Coldwell Banker agent in Southern California for 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004; and 2010; he has always remained in the top 1,000 Coldwell Banker agents out of 87,000 worldwide.
Keith has served in United States Navy on the USS Helena and at the submarine base in Pearl Harbor. He entered Real Estate Industry in 1964 as an employee for Security Title Insurance and has appeared as guest speaker for, and written several articles about, the Real Estate Market over the past 48 years. Keith earned the professional designations of GRI Graduate Realtors Institute, CRS Certified Residential Specialist, CRB Certified Real Estate Broker Manager and ABR Accredited Buyers Representative.
Keith’s community involvement is diverse, including serving on the Board of Trustees for Bishop Diego High School, serving on the High Five Committee, and positions with the Santa Barbara Historical Society, Santa Barbara Zoo and Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation.
Keith’s efforts have resulted in many awards and recognitions in the community including, Master Instructor Emeritus by the CA Association of Realtors, Santa Barbara Newspress Lifetime Achievement Award, Santa Barbara Board of Realtors Good Neighbor Award, Santa Barbara Athletic Roundtable Hall of Fame Recipient, listed in the register of Outstanding Young Men in America, Santa Barbara Newspress Business Person of the Year, and Santa Barbara Newspress 2012 Winner of Readers’ Choice Award for Realtor.
Humanitarian Award: Larry Crandell
Larry has dedicated much of his life to community involvement. He has received 52 awards in the past 52 years, including being presented the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow Recognition Award from various Rotary Clubs, the 1988 Santa Barbara Man of The Year, and the Lifetime achievement award from the Santa Barbara Newspress. In addition, Larry has presided over 600 Channel City Club luncheons.
Larry worked in real estate syndication the majority of his professional career, including significant involvement with the Motel 6 chain.
Larry and his late wife, Marcy, raised five children in the Santa Barbara community. Four of his children attended Stanford University and several of them have since gained notoriety in their professional fields.
Humanitarian Award: Steve Cushman
Steve earned a B.A. from the University of California Santa Barbara and has completed graduate course work in Public Administration at San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego. He has worked in private enterprise, government, universities, museums, and the non-profit sector. He has served on more than 100 nonprofit and governmental boards and commissions and has raised more than $60 million for non-profit organizations in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. Steve has also developed and operated commercial enterprises, including a health club, bookstore, and the Santa Barbara City Store.
Steve retired as President of the Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce after 24 years, the longest serving President in the organization’s 134-year history. He founded Cushman Creative Solutions, offering consultation services in business development, fundraising, sponsorship, and venture capital.
Steve lives in Santa Barbara with his wife Sheila, who is leading the effort to create a Children’s Museum in Santa Barbara.
Humanitarian Award: Eloy Ortega
Eloy Ortega serves as CEO of The Bank of Santa Barbara, where he brings more than 39 years of banking experience (including 18 in Santa Barbara) to the local community. Most recently, Ortega served as founding president and CEO of Promerica Bank, the first Latino-owned bank to start in Los Angeles in more than 35 years.
In late 2008 he returned to Santa Barbara and assembled a group of local philanthropists and business leaders to form a financial institution that would focus on local businesses and community service organizations. The group acquired The Bank of Santa Barbara in November 2009. Since then, the bank has experienced significant growth, with core deposits up by over 170 percent in less than two years. Aside from his banking career, Ortega is committed to community involvement and serves in leadership capacities with numerous non-profit and service organizations.
Humanitarian Award: Tom Parker
Tom Parker is a 3rd generation Santa Barbara native. He received both his undergraduate education and MBA at California Lutheran University. Tom is currently Chairman of the Board of Hutton Companies and President of Hutton Parker Foundation. He is responsible for all fiscal and operational management of Hutton Parker Foundation and its holdings. The Foundation’s primary areas of interest include Arts & Culture, Education, Health & Human Services, Civic & Community Development, and Youth and Family Services.
Tom is active not only at Hutton Parker Foundation, but has served on numerous nonprofit agency boards and committees including: The Foundation Roundtable; Santa Barbara Foundation Board of Directors and Investment Committee; The Foundation for Santa Barbara City College; past President of The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Board; Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Foundation Board and The Coalition to Provide Shelter for Santa Barbara Homeless, The Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens and The Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts (The Granada).
The work of Hutton Parker Foundation and Tom’s individual efforts have been honored by the presentation of several local awards including: Philanthropist of the Year for Santa Barbara County; Santa Barbara Newspress Lifetime Achievement Award; Independent Local Hero; Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce Albert Julius Boeseke Founders Award; Anti-Defamation League Distinguished Community Service Award; Women’s Economic Ventures Man of Equality; Goleta Man of the Year; Dream Foundation’s Dream Maker Circle; Santa Barbara Education Foundation Hope Award and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Legacy Award.
Special Recognition Award: Nikki Katz, Founder
Nikki brings 15 years of social work experience to the organization, including work as a residential counselor in a group home facility for juveniles on probation. She has worked with a full range of people in need, from severely disabled teenagers to elderly cancer patients, whom she trained as volunteers at the Santa Barbara Athletic Club. Nikki has served on the Committee for the Children's Miracle Network and has been involved with Hugs 4 Cubs and the Santa Barbara Foresters baseball team.
Guardian Award: Tammi Cordeiro
Tammi has been involved with Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation since 2004. She met Nikki Katz, Founder of Teddy Bear, just days before her late son, Michael Thomas McGrew, began receiving his first chemotherapy treatments.
Tammi enjoys spending time with her daughter Taryn, her son Matthew, and her granddaughter Kenley McGrew. She works for Scottco Hospitality as an accounting assistant and enjoys watching San Francisco Giants Baseball.
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Volunteer Award: Pat Weeks
Pat has volunteered for the Santa Barbara Council for the American Cancer Society, she was a member of Women’s Service Club of Goleta, and woman of the year in 1980-1981, and 2003-2004. Pat has been an invaluable and dedicated volunteer with Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation for ten years. She takes care of Lexi Krasnoff’s brother, Caleb, on Mondays. Pat has 3 children, 6 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Pat was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but has lived in Goleta for over 50 years.
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Pay-It-Forward Award: Sergeant Michael McGrew
Santa Barbara native Sergeant Michael McGrew comes from a long line of firemen. His father, grandfather, uncles and great uncles all served Los Angeles City and Santa Barbara City.
In 1986, Sergeant McGrew was hired on the Santa Barbara Police Department, and served the department as a patrol officer for three years during which time he was awarded the H. Thomas Guerry Award for Valor. He was also awarded the H. Thomas Guerry Award for outstanding performance after solving a high-end burglary ring that was responsible for millions of dollars worth of computer thefts. He spent eight years as a Major Crimes Detective.
In 2000, McGrew was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and after nine months on patrol was assigned to supervise the Major Crimes Detail. During his career McGrew investigated numerous high profile and serious cases and was involved in over 120 homicide investigations. He has received hundreds of commendations, received the Optimist award a few times, received the Life Saving Award, and held collateral assignments as a HNT hostage negotiator and HNT supervisor. McGrew also served in Leadership positions for the Santa Barbara Police Officers Association during the past 24 years.
McGrew is married to a wonderful wife, Nicole McGrew, and has two children on earth and one in heaven. His late son, Michael Thomas McGrew, was diagnosed with bone cancer when he was 12 years old and passed away on May 21, 2010.
McGrew enjoys church, camping, fishing, and hunting and is involved in several charities and works with organizations that provide assistance to children battling cancer. .