Board of Directors
COMB regular Board meetings are held immediately following the CCRB Board meetings at approximately 3:30 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month. The meetings are open to the public and are held in the COMB Board Room at 3301 Laurel Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, CA.
Note: Dates are subject to change.
COMB's Board of Directors is composed of elected representatives from each of its Member Units. The current Directors are:
- Das Williams, President - City of Santa Barbara
- Bob Lieberknecht, Vice President - Carpinteria Valley Water District
- Lee Bettencourt, Director - Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District-Improvement District No. 1
- W. Douglas Morgan, Director - Montecito Water District
- Lauren Hanson, Director - Goleta Water District
Das Williams, President
City of Santa Barbara
Das Williams currently serves as President of COMB has been a member of the Santa Barbara City Council since 2003, and, as of January 2006, the City's representative on the Board of Directors for CCRB and COMB. Das earned his BA degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley, and finished his Master's degree in 2006, studying water pollution, planning processes, and land-use law at the UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science.
In 1994 Das was inspired by the first Democratic elections in South Africa and joined the efforts to work for Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. He was a volunteer at age 16 for slow-growth causes, served as President of the Environmental Defense Center, worked for Virtualis Systems, served as a junior high school teacher in Huntington Park, South-Central Los Angeles, and a teaching assistant at UCSB. Since being elected to the City Council, Das has been liaison to the Conference and Visitors Bureau and Lodging Association and a liaison to the Enhanced Transportation Sub Committee.
Bob Lieberknecht, Vice President
Carpinteria Valley Water District
Bob Lieberknecht currently serves as Vice-President of CCRB and has been the representative for Carpinteria Valley Water District (CVWD) on the Board of Directors of CCRB and COMB since July 2000. He was elected to serve on the CVWD Board of Directors in 1995. Prior to his appointment he was employed as the General Manager of CVWD for 31 years. His career in the water industry began in 1959 after nine years in industrial positions ranging from design, purchasing, sales engineering and management.
Bob is a life member of the American Water Works Association. Appointed by Governors Dukmejian and Wilson, he served nine years on the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. He has been a member of the Carpinteria Lions Club for 44 years, serves on the American Cancer Society Board of Santa Barbara and is a volunteer of the Braille Institute of Santa Barbara.
Lee Bettencourt, Director
Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District ID 1
Bio pending.
W. Douglas Morgan, Director
Montecito Water District
Bio pending.
Lauren Hanson, Director
Goleta Water District
Lauren Hanson was elected to the Goleta Water District Board in 2008 and was appointed in that year to be the District's representative on the COMB and CCRB boards. She is the chair of the Goleta Water District's Public Information and the UCSB Relations committees.
Lauren also serves on the Water Management and Long-Range Planning committee for Goleta Water District. Lauren received a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
