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Foundation Welcomes Three New Members


New Foundation members Jacques Habra, Herb Tews and Kathy Clenet

Santa Barbara County residents Kathy Clenet, Jacques Habra and Herb Tews have joined the Westmont Foundation Board of Directors, which cultivates ties between Westmont and the community.

Clenet and her husband, Alain, have eight children, one an alumna of Westmont. Kathy and Alain have been entrepreneurs in Santa Barbara for more than three decades.

Habra, a University of Michigan graduate, was born in Beirut, Lebanon, moved to the U.S. in the 1980s and has lived in Belgium. Habra founded Noospheric, a business consulting and investment firm based in Santa Barbara. Habra also founded Web Elite in Ann Arbor, Mich., in the mid 90s and sold the business in 2001. Habra actively supports various community organizations including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Arthritis Foundation and the UCSB Technology Management Program. Habra is a board member of the Riviera Association, MIT Central Coast Forum; and was a founding board member, vice president, and host of Catalyst for Thought.

Tews, a graduate of Dartmouth College, has been a Westmont Art Council member since 2006. Before his retirement, he was the owner of Midwest Sintered Products, a metal powder parts manufacturer in Chicago. While living in the Midwest, he served on the board of governors for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was chairman of the Ox-Bow School of Painting, where he and his wife, Karen, established a scholarship for students. Tews is currently vice chairman of the Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation and serves on the board of Cottage Hospital Auxiliary Volunteers.

Other members of the foundation, chaired by John Davies, include: John W. Ambrecht, Gayle D. Beebe, Betsy Carlson, Brad Frohling, Yvette Giller, Barry Goss, Anna Grotenhuis, Jim Haslem, Penny Jenkins, Doug Jones, Gerd Jordano, Andria Kahmann, Bobbie Kinnear, Bill Loomis, Edward Miller, Vincent Nelson, Stephanie Ortale, David Peterson, Reed Sheard, Donald R. Toussaint, Timothy Tremblay, Alice Van de Water, Richard (Dick) Welch and C. Richard (Rich) Whiston.