Hilda Zacarías—a former Santa Maria City Councilwoman and Allan Hancock College alumna—is now the newest member of the Allan Hancock College Board of Trustees.
“I remember back to 1985 when I first returned to Allan Hancock as a young mother. Those 10 years between 1985 and 1995 were built on the foundation I received from the AHC family of counselors and teachers,” Zacarías said in a statement to the media. “To now return as a trustee is both an honor and a privilege. I like to share the story that I went from Head Start to Harvard—with an important stop at Allan Hancock College.”
Voters elected Zacarías to the board in November as a four-year representative of Area 1, which includes northern Santa Maria. Zacarías, who owns her own tax accounting firm, said she’s dedicated to making sure the Board of Trustees listens to all voices in the community. She started her career in public service on the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees in 1993—the group’s youngest member. She was elected to the Santa Maria City Council in 2006 and was the Democratic nominee to the State Assembly in 2010.
A Santa Maria native, Zacarías completed her general education at Allan Hancock College, graduated with an accounting degree from Cal Poly in SLO, and received a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2006. Zacarías has also served as a lecturer at Cal Poly, a trustee emeritus of the Santa Barbara Community Foundation, and a former board member for the Fund for Santa Barbara. She’s a current member of the Allan Hancock College Foundation.
“I would love nothing more than to know that the entire Northern Santa Barbara County community considers Allan Hancock College its greatest asset, a place for all of us. As our motto states, ‘Start here, go anywhere.’ I am living proof of that principle,” Zacarías said in the statement.
Also sworn in, for their third terms, were current board members Bernard Jones (Area 4, Lompoc Valley) and Tim Bennett (Area 2, southeast Santa Maria). Both men will serve four-year terms.
This article appears in Dec 20-27, 2012.