BOARD & STAFF
Sara Miller McCune
Founder
Sara Miller McCune is the founder of SAGE Publishing and executive chairman of the company’s board of directors. Guided by an entrepreneurial spirit and an unwavering dedication to academia, the then-24-year-old Sara founded SAGE in 1965 to start a company that would allow scholars to disseminate quality research in their own voices and break new ground in emerging fields of study. Today, Sara also serves as a director of SAGE Publications Ltd. (London, founded in 1971) and Corwin, a SAGE company and leading publisher for educational administrators and teachers. SAGE set up subsidiaries in India in 1981, in Singapore in 2006, in Melbourne in 2016, and has additional major offices in Beijing and Shanghai, Cairo, Toronto, and Washington, D.C. Sara remains actively involved in the company’s expansion and development.
Our Board
Sandra Ball-Rokeach
Vice President
Professor Emerita
University of Southern California
Nien-Tsu Nancy Chen
Associate Professor of Communication
California State University Channel Islands,
Moorpark, CA
Charles Hale
Dean of Social Sciences
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Monique Limon
State Senator
Santa Barbara, CA
Vicki Magasinn
Secretary
Attorney
Magasinn and Feldman, Los Angeles, CA
Brando Pozzi
Business Owner and Philanthropist
Camarillo, CA
Hon. Susan Rose, ret.
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors
Santa Barbara, CA
Jocelyn Sze McCune
Assistant Clinical Professor
University of California, Berkeley
Wendy Sims-Moten
Executive Director
First 5 Santa Barbara County,
Goleta, CA
Marcos Vargas
Executive Director
Fund for Santa Barbara
Ventura, CA
Diane Wondolowski
Chief Financial Officer
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Carpinteria, CA
Hilda Zacarias
Treasurer
Hilda Zacarias, CPA
Santa Maria, CA
Grants Review Committee
Yesenia DeCasaus, Santa Maria
Kate English, Santa Paula
Tomás Hernandez, Jr., Oxnard
Brando Pozzi, Camarillo
Staff
CLAUDIA ARMANN
Executive Director
Claudia Armann has been the Executive Director of the McCune Foundation since 2008. She leads the Foundation’s grantmaking and capacity building initiatives. Claudia began her work in philanthropy at the Santa Barbara Foundation where she served as a program officer for eight years. During that time, she helped coordinate education and cultural grantmaking, as well as student aid programs.
Claudia is past president of the Foundation Roundtable of Santa Barbara County and currently serves on the Board of the 805 UndocuFund, which provides financial support to undocumented residents affected by disasters and the pandemic. She’s also a member of the Behavioral Health Advisory Board for the County of Ventura and is a co-founder of Homes for All, an affordable housing advocacy group. In the past, Claudia served on the board of two environmental organizations. Before her career in philanthropy, Claudia earned a degree in journalism, interned with The Associated Press, and worked in the magazine industry.
ARACELI CENTENO, MPH
Program Officer
Araceli was born in Ventura, CA, to farm working parents and grew up in Oxnard’s Colonia neighborhood. She attended San Francisco State University where she double majored in International Relations and Raza Studies. It was during this time that she discovered her passion for social justice and organizing. After receiving a B.A., she worked as a community organizer conducting direct actions, tackling issues such as environmental justice, workers’ rights, and gentrification. Araceli has trained and mentored aspiring organizers in topics such as campaign building, grassroots fundraising, direct actions, community building, and other organizing tactics.
In 2016, Araceli graduated with a Master in Public Health from the Keck School of Medicine at USC with a concentration in Child and Family Health. Since then, she has worked in NIH funded research of chronic diseases in agricultural workers and early literacy initiatives. More recently, her role as a mental health engager allowed her to work with youth and families to connect and advocate for mental health services. Araceli is a firm believer that people have the power to build healthy self-autonomous communities through community organizing.
Araceli enjoys roller skating, arts and crafts, and peaceful family walks along the beach with her dog and human family. She also values her alone time by watching documentaries (mocumentaries included) and starting crocheting projects (albeit, not always completing them).
JOVITA VALDEZ
Administrative Assistant
Jovita was born and raised in the La Colonia area of Oxnard and is one of eleven children. She has more than 25 years experience in the nonprofit sector in areas of fundraising, program management, grants management, event planning, and volunteer management. While at the Ventura County Community Foundation, she served as Program Director for Destino: The Hispanic Legacy Fund where she co-authored the first Ventura County Latino Health Needs Assessment Report.
Jovita attended UC Santa Barbara where she majored in Sociology and helped found El Congreso de La Raza Libre, a Chicana/o/x student activist group. If there was a demonstration on campus to save Chicana/o Studies, she was there with her voice and picket sign. Jovita was also involved in the Farmworker Movement – marching, picketing and boycotting. She’s served on the boards of the UCSB Associated Students, El Concilio del Condado de Ventura, and the UCSB Alumni Board of Directors. She also co-chaired the Ventura County Women’s Political Action Council, which trained, endorsed and funded progressive women seeking elected office. Jovita mentors women of color student athletes on the Ventura College women’s basketball team. Her motto is “Share It Forward.”
She enjoys fiber arts, yoga, aqua zumba, and beach camping in her 1958 vintage Shasta Airflyte camper which she and her partner fully restored. Jovita also enjoys watching anything on PBS and classic, old Hollywood film noir movies.