Joyce E. Dudley
Santa Barbara County District Attorney (ret.)

Joyce E. Dudley has a BA in psychology, and two Master’s Degrees in Education; one with an emphasis on Early Childhood Education and the other with an emphasis on Educational Administration. In 1990 Joyce received her JD degree. The day she passed the Bar she was hired by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office. For 20 years she was a Deputy District Attorney specializing in prosecuting violent crimes against vulnerable victims. In 2010 she was elected District Attorney. In 2023 she retired from that position.

In 2016 she was appointed by Governor Brown to be the Chair of the Police Officers Standards and Training Commission (POST), a position she retained until she retired in 2023. In 2023 she was appointed by Governor Newsom to serve as Chair of the Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board.

Additionally, Joyce is a law school professor who most recently began teaching a class entitled Leadership in Law.

Joyce is also the author of two crime novels: Justice Served and Intoxicating Agent.

Joyce has received numerous awards including: Attorney of the Year, Woman of the Year and Mentor of the Year.

Ron Werft
President Emeritus, Cottage Health

Ron Werft, President Emeritus, served as President and CEO of Cottage Health, a not-for-profit multi-hospital system serving     patients on California’s Central Coast from 2000-2025. With hospitals in Santa Barbara, Goleta and a critical access hospital in the Santa Ynez Valley, Cottage Health offers a broad scope of clinical services including those of the Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital and Cottage Children’s Medical Center.

Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital provides graduate medical education for medical, surgical and radiology residents and serves as a regional referral center for trauma 1, neurosurgery, cardiovascular, psychiatry, and pediatric care. Its mission includes a commitment to improve the health status of the communities it serves through its population health programs.

Before joining Cottage Health, Ron served as Associate Director at the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinics.

Currently serving as Board Chair of World Telehealth Initiative, Ron is past chair of the California Hospital Association, the Hospital Association of Southern California, and is a former trustee the Board of the American Hospital Association. He served as chair of the American Hospital Association’s Task Force on Workforce and served on their Quest for Quality Committee. Local leadership includes service on the boards of directors for Santa Barbara Partners in Education, CenCal Health, and the Fighting Back Steering Committee for the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. He was awarded the 2013 California Hospital Association’s Award of Merit for outstanding contribution to the California healthcare community, the 2015 Walker-Sullivan International Fellowship presented by California Health Foundation & Trust, and the American Hospital Association Trustee Award in 2025.

A graduate of the University of California San Diego, Mr. Werft earned his master’s in hospital and health care administration from the University of Minnesota.