Staff Report
Chris Hartman of Santa Ynez has been elected president of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Benevolent Posse Board of Directors. He succeeds Sara O’Shaughnessy, who continues as a Posse board member.
The Posse board also re-elected Richard Kline of Los Alamos as board chairman and elected David Baskett of Santa Maria as treasurer; Diana Vandervoort of Santa Barbara as secretary; and Dana Mazzetti of Montecito, Jay Gerlach of Santa Barbara as vice presidents.
Hartman grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and attended Westmont College in Santa Barbara, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in management, marketing and related support services. Following graduation, he joined Smith Barney in Santa Barbara where he served as vice president for 20 years. In 2010 he joined Santa Barbara-based TKG Financial where he currently serves as a private wealth manager.
Chris met his wife, Karen, while working at Smith Barney and they reside in Santa Ynez with their two children, Matthew and Christopher. Hartman is also an active member of Ranch Church in Santa Ynez, Vikings Charities, the Santa Barbara Republican Central Committee and has served on the Posse board since 2012, the past five years as vice president.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Benevolent Posse is a 501(c)(3) organization which was formed by local citizens to seek ways to help the Sheriff’s Office maintain its current efficiency, improve its performance, morale and effectiveness as well as seek innovative solutions to the increasingly complex problems faced by local law enforcement. The Sheriff’s Posse board is comprised of local non-law enforcement volunteers who donate their time, and efforts to the assist the Sheriff’s Office fill its needs not funded by the constrained county budget.
The Posse also works to enhance relations between the community and county law enforcement, promote public safety through special events and activities, and serve as a citizen-initiated conduit for informing the community about public safety issues.
In the recent past the Sheriff’s Posse has helped the Sheriff’s Office obtain much needed emergency equipment including COVID-19 personal protection equipment, protective vests, night vision goggles, specialized weapons, computer equipment, drug sniffing and patrol/tracking/bomb/explosive detection dogs, a headquarters barn for its Mounted Enforcement Unit; specialized equipment for the dive team, and has supported the highly effective DARE program in North County grammar schools that trains students to develop good decision-making skills and understanding of the harmful effects of substance abuse, bullying and violence.
For more information about the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Benevolent Posse, visit its website at www.sheriffsposse.org.
