Chamber Connection (December 2022)

Chamber Ambassador of the Quarter: Diane Alleman-Stevens

Congratulations to Diane AllemanStevens, the Chamber Ambassador of the Quarter for Q3 2022!

Diane was born in Barking (London) England at the start of WW2. She immigrated to the States in 1954 and graduated from Rancho High School in Las Vegas in 1958. She later became one of first students at UNLV Southern Campus.

In 1961, Diane moved to Santa Maria for the first time before moving overseas in 1972 to Amman, Jordan. She served for three years as President of the American Women of Amman 1974. She then moved to Rota, Spain, where she volunteered at the Base Library and ran the Base Thrift Shop. Diane later returned to Santa Maria in 1979 and worked at Hall.Hurley.Deutsch Architects, until her retirement in 1999.

Diane has worked closely with Altrusa of Santa Maria since 1984, where she served in all officer positions and as President twice. She also became an Ambassador for the Chamber of Commerce in 1984, and has since served as an Ambassador for 38 years, including 5 years as Chief Ambassador. Diane is the longest standing Santa Maria Valley Chamber Ambassador.

In 1990, she was awarded the Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce/Oldsmobile ATHENA/Award and was named the SBAR County 4th District Woman of the Year. From 2002 to 2016, she volunteered with the Santa Maria Police Department and continues to serve as a special projects volunteer today.

She was in the inaugural class of Leadership Santa Maria Valley (1995) and has served on the Board for over 25 years as Secretary. Additionally, Diane is Treasurer of the Altrusa International Santa Maria Foundation and Treasurer of Santa Maria Public Library Foundation.

In 2019, Diane was named Elks Citizen of the Year, Retired Senior and Volunteer Program Senior of the Year (volunteering over 500 hours in 2016 to the community), and Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce Volunteer (nominated by the Santa Maria Public Library).

Thank you Diane for all you do for the Chamber as one of our Ambassadors!

If you are interested in joining the Ambassador Committee, contact Cara Martinez , Membership Manager, at (805) 925-2403 x 852 or email cara@santamaria. com. Additional information about the Ambassador Committee is available at santamaria.com/Chamber-AmbassadorCommittee