Downtown Organization Gets New Director

Bill Collyer, the Santa Barbara News-Press‘s operations manager for its commercial printing operations, has a new job as executive director of the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization, beginning on 3/20. Collyer worked in News-Press sales and management since 1985.

According to the Downtown Organization’s announcement of his hiring. Collyer also served as PTA president at Roosevelt Elementary and Santa Barbara Junior High Schools, and currently serves on the Santa Barbara High School PTA. The Downtown Organization is a 1400-member booster club for business and cultural activity in the area bounded by Anacapa, Chapala, Gutierrez, and Micheltorena streets. It has been without a director since August 2007, when it parted ways with Mark Chaconas, who served for less than half a year following Marshall Rose’s decade-long tenure.