COMMUNITY NEWS
Visit SC County’s Long-Time Second Maggie Ivy To Retire Harvest CEO Retiring A O With funding from the tourism fter 26 years, Maggie Ivy, CEO and executive vice president of Visit Santa assessment, the Santa Cruz County Visitors Cruz County, has announced she and Conference Council — as it was then known — changed its name, created a straplans to retire Nov. 12. Ivy, 58, of Aptos, told the 25-member tegic plan, launched a new website and rebranded with a new tagline, “Let’s Cruz.” Board of Directors in July. Ivy pushed for “shoulder season” “It is time for me to begin the next chapter of my life and to make way for new campaigns to increase visits by people within driving distance during leadership to guide and support non-summer months, fostered a our local tourism industry,” she stronger collaboration with Visit said. California, and developed longThe board will work on a term initiatives to promote Santa recruitment process. Cruz County overseas. Her leadership — establishing Statistics show international a countywide tourism marketing visitors to the county up from 8 district in 2010 with an assessment percent to 13 percent before the on hotel rooms and vacation rentals, Maggie Ivy pandemic. provided resources for promotional Ivy embraced expanding online, digital, programs and grew the budget for tourist and social media programs, and reports promotion by 500 percent. The assessment supported by the they, combined with traditional promotional lodging industry was recently renewed for channels, have made a significant, positive seven more years by elected city and county impact on the region’s economic vitality. She credited these successes to advoofficials, leaving Visit Santa Cruz County in a strong financial position, according to Visit cates who supported her. “It has been my great fortune to work Santa Cruz County. Careful oversight of resources by Board of Directors and staff has with hundreds of dedicated business leaders, elected officials and a plethora of talented ensured maintenance of a healthy reserve. Recovery is underway for the tourism staff,” she said. “I owe them all a debt of sector, which was heavily impacted locally, gratitude for their time, their commitment, nationally, and internationally because of and their loyalty to our tourism industry.” n orders to shelter-in-place to slow spread of ••• COVID-19. For information, visit santacruz.org.
“Friend” from page 9 In April 2020, a month after the pandemic shelter-in-place began, Coronado’s City Council created the “Lifeline Business Loan” program to provide loans up to $20,000 to small locally owned businesses generating sales tax and adversely impacted by COVID-19 to strengthen their ability to recover. The amount outstanding is about $300,000. Salary for Coronado’s city manager: Approximately $250,000, according to the post by the Ralph Andersen consulting firm. The job drew 65 candidates, and Friend was one of six invited to interview, according to the announcement from Coronado, resulting in two finalists. Family Balance riend comes from a military family and her father was stationed in Southern California. Her husband, Zach Friend, who was first elected to represent Aptos in 2012, is a native
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of San Diego and lifelong fan of the Padres, an interest he’ll share with their 6-year-old son. Asked about the new post, Zach Friend responded by email, saying, “I am exceptionally proud and supportive of my remarkable wife. To be selected to manage another storied community while giving our son an opportunity to spend more time with his grandparents as they age just speaks to who she is as a person.” He added, “Many families have carved a path for us on how to strike a balance between service and family especially when distance and two professional careers are involved. My career isn’t more important than hers and I am committed to finding the balance in actively representing my district while also travelling regularly down there to ensure I am deeply present for Tina and our son.” In Coronado, the city manager is the administrative head of the municipal government under the direction and control of the City Council, responsible for all city operations. n
n July 22, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County announced CEO Willy ElliottMcCrea will retire next June. The board of directors has started the process to hire his successor and build on his legacy. His retirement will coincide with the food bank’s 50th anniversary, and a big shindig is planned to celebrate both. Elliott-McCrea, 68, of Soquel, has been the Food Bank’s leader for more than 30 years, making many significant contributions during floods, fires and a global pandemic. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, Second Harvest was ground zero for disaster relief (epicenter was five miles from the warehouse) – scaling services sixfold for the first month and doubled after. Building a strong network of partners from every sector of the community, Second Harvest has consistently ranked in the top two percent of healthiest food banks in America, with more than 60% of food distributed being fresh fruits and vegetables. As founding president of California Association of Food Banks from 1995-98, Elliott-McCrea shaped the future of food banks across the state. Most recently, he led the Food Bank through COVID-19 and the devastating CZU fire. His experience led him to reach out to U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta as soon as shelter-in-place was ordered, prompting
Willy Elliott-McCrea
Congress and the Governor to deploy the National Guard across California food banks to keep services going. Since the pandemic began, Second Harvest has seen need for food double — and met that need. Second Harvest worked with not only the National Guard but also County Emergency Services, Twin Lakes Church, County Fairgrounds, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, local school districts and many others to provide fresh and healthy food to the community. As Santa Cruz County slowly recovers from the economic devastation of the pandemic and fires, the food bank is distributing 65% more food than before. Elliott-McCrea began his food banking career in 1978 as a warehouse manager and driver. n
www.tpgonlinedaily.com Aptos Times / August 1st 2021 / 9
