Staff List

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden: 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93105
telephone: (805) 682-4726 

Frequently Called Numbers - Dial (805) 682-4726 plus the extension:

• Communications: ext. 126
• Development: ext. 133
• Garden Nursery: ext. 127
• Library: ext. 107
• Membership: ext. 110
• Registrar: ext. 102
• School and Youth Programs: ext. 161
• Tours: ext. 160

If you have a general question, please use the Contact Us web form.

Garden Staff email*:

*Note: All email addresses listed below require adding @sbbg.org after email name. For example, to email 'info' you would add @sbbg.org after name to obtain full email address. Result '[email protected]'

Administration

Steve Windhager, Ph.D.
Executive Director
email: swindhager
(805) 682-4726, ext. 123

Kathy Castaneda
Manager of Guest Services and Volunteer Programs
email: kcastaneda
(805) 682-4726, ext. 119 

Joan G. Evans
Accounting Coordinator
email: jevans
(805) 682-4726, ext. 135

Jill Freeland
Director of Human Resources 
email: jfreeland
(805) 682-4726, ext. 108

Kaile Katsumoto
Assistant to the Garden Directors
email: kkatsumoto
(805) 682-4726, ext. 125

Ed Marini
Manager, Design + Construction
email: emarini
(805) 682-4726, ext. 116

Conservation and Research

Denise Knapp, Ph.D.
Director of Conservation and Research
email: dknapp
(805) 682-4726, ext. 128

Sarah Cusser, Ph.D.
Terrestrial Invertebrate Conservation Ecologist
email:scusser

Matt Guilliams, Ph.D.
Ken and Shirley Tucker Systematist, Herbarium Curator
email: mguilliams
(805) 682-4726, ext. 124

Heather Schneider, Ph.D.
Rare Plant Biologist
email:hschneider
(805) 682-4726, ext. 148

Kylie Etter
Conservation Technician
email: ketter
(805) 682-4726, ext. 105

OPEN
Herbarium Curatorial Assistant
email: 
(805) 682-4726, ext. 147

Steve Junak
Research Associate
email: sjunak
(805) 682-4726

Kristen Lehman, Ph.D.
Conservation Geneticist & Laboratory Manager
email: klehman
(805) 682-4726, ext. 150

Josie Lesage, Ph.D.
Applied Ecologist
email: jlesage
(805) 682-4726, ext. 168

Rikke Naesborg, Ph.D.
Tucker Lichenologist
email:rnaesborg
(805) 682-4726, ext. 657

Zachary Phillips, Ph.D.
Terrestrial Invertebrate Conservation Ecologist
email:zphillips
(805) 682-4726, ext. 120

Sean Carson
Rare Plant Technician
email: scarson
(805) 682-4726, ext. 146

Kevin Mason
Rare Plant Technician
email: kmason
(805) 682-4726

Caitlin Hazelquist
Laboratory Technician
email:chazelquist
(805) 682-4726

Isabel Rivera
Plant Genetics Laboratory Technician
email: irivera
(805) 682-4726

Dieter Wilken, Ph.D.
Research Associate
email: dwilken
(805) 682-4726, ext. 124

Development 

Melissa Patrino
Director of Development 
email: mpatrino
(805) 682-4726, ext. 133

Jenny McClure
Donor Relations Manager
email:jmcclure
(805) 682-4726, ext. 156 

Rita Barton
Development Operations Manager
email: rbarton
(805) 682-4726, ext. 103

Education & Engagement

Scot Pipkin
Director of Education and Engagement
email: spipkin
(805) 682-4726, ext. 111

Hannah Barton
Archivist
email: hbarton
(805) 682-4726, ext. 107

Michelle Cyr
Youth and Family Programs Manager
email: mcyr
(805) 682-4726, ext. 161

Deborah Lupo
Registrar
email: registrations
(805) 682-4726, ext. 102

Michaela Mohrmann, Ph.D.
Interpretation Curator
email: mmohrmann
(805) 682-4726 ext. 169

Tours
email: tours
(805) 682-4726, ext. 160

Horticulture

Joseph Rothleutner
Director of Horticulture
email: jrothleutner
(805) 682-4726, ext. 104

Charlie Adams
Facilities Manager
email:cadams
(805) 682-4726, ext. 155

Jessica Fernandez
Propagator
email: jfernandez
(805) 682-4726 ext. 130

Betsy Lape
Living Collections Coordinator
email: blape
(805) 682-4726, ext. 152

Geege Ostroff
Security
email: gostroff
(805) 682-4726, ext. 608

Stephanie Ranes
Grounds Manager
email:sranes
(805) 682-4726, ext. 409

Christina Varnava
Living Collections Curator
email: cvarnava
(805) 682-4726, ext. 114

Bonnie Whitney
Plant Propagation Assistant
email: bwhitney
(805) 682-4726

Marketing & Communications

Jaime Eschette
Director of Marketing and Communications 
email: jeschette
(805) 682-4726, ext. 126

Taylor Keefer
Marketing and Communications Specialist
email: tkeefer

Elizabeth Raffensperger
Events & Marketing Coordinator
email: events
(805) 682-4726, ext. 131

Membership & Guest Services

Amanda Sanders
Membership Manager
email: asanders
(805) 682-4726, ext. 110

*Note: All email addresses listed below require adding @sbbg.org after email name. For example, to email 'info' you would add @sbbg.org after name to obtain full email address. Result '[email protected]'