About us
The Formative Foundation is a 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation incorporated in the State of Californian. We provide funding and staffing to support a variety of programs designed to implement project-based STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning experiences across the country and the world.
5 Year Vision - We have fostered innovative and transformative learning programs and catalyzed communities to co-create engaging and authentic learning experiences for all.
Mission -To support transformational learning experiences in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) for people of all ages to develop critical thinkers and creative problem solvers to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Board of Directors
Mike Brown (Vice Chair)
Mike holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the California State Polytechnic University- Pomona and a Masters of Business Administration degree from California State University – Channel Islands. He had a 14 year career as a Project Engineer, Engineering Supervisor and Program Manager with Honeywell and was a Captain for Sky West Airlines for seven years. Currently he serves as the Vice President / Business Manager of AMETEK-Pacific Design Technologies. He and his wife Janice have twin sons who graduated from the DPEA in 2019.
Lisa Couch
Lisa is a registered mechanical engineer in California. She received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley. Lisa worked for 34 years in heavy industrial engineering, design and consulting for upstream energy. She started her career with Chevron as a design engineer and joined TJ Cross Engineers, Inc. as President in 1995. The company provided multi-disciplinary engineering and design for heavy industry clients. The company was sold in 2015 to Parsons Corporation. In 2017, she helped start-up Anacapa Engineering and Design, Inc. to mentor the next generation of engineers in renewable energy. To date, the emphasis has been dairy biomethane, solar PV and Carbon Capture Sequestration.
Jamie Flint (Treasurer)
Jamie graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a Business degree, emphasis in Accounting. She has been practicing in the field for the last 30 years and is currently self employed with a variety of small business clients. Jamie has held many volunteer positions, especially in our local schools, while raising her two daughters, who both have been students in the DPEA.
John McClure
John is an executive coach and mentor with over 30 years of experience helping individuals and teams attain maximum effectiveness and manage through change. His background includes working with a wide range of leaders from the C-Suite of multi-billion dollar companies, series A-C start ups, to supporting the board members of nonprofits. John’s operational experience spans 27 years with Intel across 7 different countries. He lived 15 years abroad and held a variety of leadership roles spanning from General Management of geographic regions to Product Development. John has been an Executive Coach for 8 years. He has been able to combine his entrepreneurial, organizational, and operational acumen with a wide range of first-hand experience in driving change as a leader, producing a great mix of drive and empathy. John has extensive experience with organizational development initiatives and is especially skilled in change management and org design.
Eckart Meiburg
Eckart received his Diploma and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. As Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UC Santa Barbara, he teaches and conducts research in the field of computer simulations. Within the community, he has helped organize Science Fairs, and he has coached local Math Superbowl and Mathcounts teams.
Michelle Pickett (Chair)
Michelle is an experienced corporate attorney and has practiced law in Santa Barbara for over 20 years. Prior to moving in-house at Yardi Systems, Inc., Michelle was a shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck advising entrepreneurs, corporations, partnerships and nonprofits in various industries including water and agriculture, technology, gaming, and entertainment. Michelle has volunteered her time and expertise to the community’s nonprofit sector. Presently, in addition to serving on the Board of the DPEA Foundation, she also serves on the Board of Directors for the Santa Barbara City College Foundation and is a member of the CEC Partnership Council.
Liz Salentine (Secretary)
Liz is a graduate of Cal Poly, SLO with a BS in Business Administration and a minor in Marketing. Liz worked for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in the high tech industry for over 20 years. As an Advanced Systems Engineer and Program Manager, she supported contracts with General Motors, Hitachi Data Systems and the Navy Marine Corps. After retiring from the “corporate world”, Liz immersed herself in raising her two children and being involved in their schools and activities. Over the years, she has held many volunteer positions including serving as PTA President at Foothill elementary school.
THE FORMATIVE FOUNDATION GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE PAST SERVICE AND HARD WORK OF ITS FORMER BOARD MEMBERS:
John Martinis, 2007-2010
Alison Butler, 2007-2011
Kathy Logan, 2007-2011
Lisa Daniels, 2007-2012
Lars Bildsten, 2007-2013
Eric Tran Le, 2011-2014
Steve Green, 2011-2014
Denise Tisdale, 2013-2014
Gary Simpson, 2007-2016
Susan Christol Deacon, 2007-2016
Carol Rezec, 2014-2017
Mei Sheng Ng, 2012-2017
Sandy Seale, 2007-2018
Karen Lehman, 2012-2019
Daren Hillebrandt, 2016-2019
Igor Mezic, 2017-2019
Kevin Wojcik, 2017-2020
Sheetal Gavankar, 2020-2022
Doug Whetter, 2016-2023
Daniel Husthing, 2017-2023
Staff
Donna Voigt (Operations Assistant)
Donna graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in Biological Sciences. Upon graduation from UCSB, she worked in the Human Resources Department of Delco Electronics for 5 years before leaving that position to stay home and raise her children. She eventually re-entered the workforce once the kids were older and was employed as the Office Manager of a local construction company for 8 years. Donna became involved with the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy during the Fall of 2009 when the need arose for parent volunteers. In September of 2015 Donna was hired as the Operations Assistant for the DPEA Foundation.
Gary Simpson (CEO)
Gary is a graduate of the US Naval Academy with a BS in Naval Engineering and a minor in Nuclear Physics. He has an MBA from Pepperdine University. After 5 years as a Surface Warfare officer in the Navy, he spent 28 years working for Procter & Gamble retiring as Vice President - Global Product Supply - Baby Care. He spent several years as a Product Supply and leadership consultant before joining the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy Board in 2007. He left the Board in 2016 to take the role of CEO - Federal Prison Industries in the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Upon his return in 2018, he began consulting with the Board and was hired in 2022 as the Formative Foundation CEO.
History
The Formative Foundation is an evolution of the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy (DPEA) Foundation. Therefore it is important to know what the DPEA was about and why we are expanding the Foundation’s purpose beyond the DPEA.
DPEA
The DPEA is a four-year Career Technical Education (CTE) program based at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California. It applies a project-and-design-based approach to teach students critical analytical, design, and problem-solving skills. Students complete three CTE Pathways through the program coursework: Engineering Technology, Product Innovation & Design and Machining & Forming Technologies.
During their senior year, the Mechatronics capstone project is structured as a robust internship experience in an engineering company. Students work in teams to develop interactive exhibits that one might find in science/tech museums such as the Exploratorium in San Francisco, or MOXI in Santa Barbara.
These courses are taught by a team of teachers who are credentialed in physics, visual and performing arts, and engineering/industrial technology.
The DPEA retired FIRST Robotics Team 1717 after the 2015 season. Our senior capstone project now focuses on Mechatronics, a multidisciplinary field that combines several types of engineering. You can learn more about our Senior Capstone Project by visiting the Academics Page of our website www.dpengineering.org. However, the following videos are still relevant with regard to STEAM education and we would like to share them with you. This short video gives an overview of the DPEA teaching philosophy. A video documentary produced by Lynda.com also shows how project-based learning works at the DPEA
Mission Statement
To provide a project-based education in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math to high school students in a way that is:
Relevant: The exciting, hands-on projects provide a real world problem solving experience,
Business Oriented: The program teaches skills needed for success in established business and entrepreneurial ventures,
Team Based: The students work in teams on projects and in the community,
Engaging: The learning environment is accessible and exciting
So that graduates are well prepared to achieve their goals of pursuing higher education and contributing to the workplace and society.
Formative Foundation
The Formative Foundation concept was conceived in 2019 as a vehicle to support broader STEAM initiatives beyond the DPEA and actually support a project-based STEAM Institute. Facilitated by a $16MM Capital Campaign resulted in two new 12,000 ft2 buildings, the Formative Foundation is now supporting project-based STEAM learning in several new ways:
Elementary School Field Trips
Elementary School STEAM Kits
Elementary School Teacher Professional Development
Elementary School STEAM Curriculum Development
STEAM Facilities Consulting
Fundraising Strategies Consulting
Community Engagement Strategies Consulting
The Formative Foundation has also expanded its geographical reach with clients in other parts of California as well Michigan and other states and even international clients in Indonesia and Australia, just to mention a few.The Formative Foundation will, of course, continue to support the DPEA as it always has. In fact, the DPEA is now functioning as a “Lab School” for the Institute where innovative learning experiences are being modeled and later deployed.
Financials
The Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy publishes its annual 990/Federal Tax Return as it becomes available. The Academy's finance department supports the accounting, treasury, and investment activities overseen by our Board of Directors. All financial statements are prepared in accordance with accepted accounting principles.
2019-2020 DPEAF 990 with Schedules
2018-2019 DPEAF 990 with Schedules
2017-2018 DPEAF 990 with Schedules
2016-2017 DPEAF 990 with Schedules
2015-2016 DPEAF 990 with Schedules
2014-2015 DPEAF 990 with Schedules