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Schwartz Family Lecturer in International Business Communication:
Dennis Allen
Dennis Allen is president of Allen Associates, a general contracting firm specializing in environmentally friendly, custom residential building. The company has won 26 awards from the Santa Barbara Contractors Association for the quality and beauty of its projects and has received the Builder of the Year Award three times. It has received the Green Builder of the Year Award eight times as well as a Green Business Award from the County of Santa Barbara. A number of the company's projects have been featured in national publications and four have received National Chrysalis Awards. Remodeling Magazine honored Allen Associates as one of the top fifty remodeling companies in the country. This past year Dennis was selected as "Innovator of the Year" by Qualified Remodeler, a national builder's magazine.
Dennis is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was one of the first group of UC Education Abroad students that went to Bordeaux, France. His graduate work was in international economics at Princeton University.
Dennis is active in numerous community organizations, including:: The Sustainability Project, the Green Building Alliance, the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and the Santa Barbara Contractors Association. For the past nine years, he has served as a consultant on the County of Santa Barbara's Innovative Building Review Committee, a committee that encourages energy efficiency and sustainable practices in building projects within the County. He created the Parade of Green Buildings, an annual event for a number of years that exhibited the best local examples of green building to the public.
Currently President of the Bren Graduate School Dean's Council at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he is heavily involved in efforts to infuse sustainability into campus curriculum and buildings. He recently served on the board of advisors for Valle Verde, a 400 member retirement community, which he led in the green direction. The Community recently received four green awards, three from the governor's office. In addition to his interest in sustainable land-use planning, design, and construction, Dennis enjoys foreign languages, backpacking, reading, foreign affairs, cooking, traveling, and dancing.
Schwartz Family Endowed Awards Judges Final Selection:
Marsha Bailey is the Founder and CEO of Women's Economic Ventures. She has been developing educational programs and services for women since 1983 and is the primary author of WEV's self-employment training curriculum, From Vision to Venture. Under her leadership, WEV has grown from a small organization with an annual budget of $75,000 to a nationally known women's business center with an annual budget of over $1.3 million. Bailey has served on the Board of Directors of many local organizations and is the former Chair of the California Association for MicroEnterprise Opportunity.
Catharine Manset Morreale is a Regional Vice President/Business Lender for Community West Bank. Prior to that position, she spent twelve years as the Chief Lending Officer of Cal Coastal RDC, a non-profit economic development corporation. She holds a BA in Economics and History from UCLA and an MBA from Drake University. Catharine is the on the Board of the Santa Barbara Athletic Roundtable and the Santa Barbara High School PTSA, and she has been a long time member of the UCLA Alumni Scholarship Committee.
Arthur J. Munoz, III is Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager in the Santa Barbara Commercial Banking Group for Santa Barbara Bank & Trust. A graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara with a Bachelor's degree in Business Economics, Mr. Munoz also earned an MBA from Cornell University. An active member of the community, Munoz's affiliations include the UCSB Education Opportunity Program, Santa Barbara Police Activities League, Veterans for Peace, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, and the UCSB Latino Business Association.
Screening Judges:
Doug Bradley, Writing Program Lecturer
Madeleine Sorapure, Writing Program Lecturer
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