California State University Channel Islands
Vanessa Bechtel has served as president and CEO of the Ventura County Community Foundation (VCCF) since 2015. With the support of thousands of generous donors, the foundation has granted more than $111 million in service to the Ventura County community over the past five years. Prior to her work with VCCF, she served as the executive director of the Santa Barbara City College Foundation. She graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in law and society and received her master’s degree from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, as well as a master’s certificate from the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Oñati, Spain.
Ms. Bechtel is at the forefront of Ventura County’s most pressing issues. In response to the devastating Thomas Fire of 2017, she and other local leaders started the 805 UndocuFund to help extend emergency aid to undocumented residents. To help mitigate the impact of COVID-19, she launched the Ventura County Rapid Response Fund to support nonprofit organizations that address the needs of individuals and families with food and housing support, child care, wage replacement, mental health care and more. In preparation for the 2020 census, Ms. Bechtel and the VCCF started the Ventura County Counts Census Initiative to streamline efforts across the county to ensure as many people as possible participated in the census, with specific attention on hard-to-count communities and equitable distribution of funds across nonprofits involved in census work. She also has been a staunch partner of California State University Channel Islands in its efforts to create the Early Childhood Care and Education Center.
Ms. Bechtel has been recognized as Nonprofit Leader of the Year by the Ventura County Leadership Academy in 2019 and Humanitarian of the Year by the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, along with her spouse, Jim. In December 2020, she was named Woman of the Year by the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce and the 19th State Senatorial District and 37th State Assembly District.
In recognition of her shining example of caring and compassionate leadership, as well as her impact on the greater Ventura County community that will continue to be felt for decades, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and California State University Channel Islands are proud to confer upon Vanessa Bechtel the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.