Santa Barbara Maritime Museum Logbook

We offer a warm welcome to SBMM Board Member John Doordan and his wife Tracie, who have recently joined the Flagship Society by making a provision for SBMM in their estate planning.  “We are honored and delighted to have the Doordans as Flagship Society members,” said SBMM Planned Giving Chair John Brinker. “Making a planned gift is one of the most important ways to ensure the long-term financial stability of the museum.”

John, a longtime senior manager with worldwide corporate experience, is determined to help preserve Santa Barbara’s historic heritage and is president of the nonprofit Santa Barbara Club ‘s Preservation Foundation and also serves on the board of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, where he currently chairs its historic resources committee. Raised in the Midwest, John earned his S.B. degree from MIT and subsequently served as a naval aviator, piloting carrier-based strike fighter aircraft. He joined Hewlett-Packard, then co-founded a Silicon Valley start-up in consumer electronics. QAD, Inc., a Santa Barbara-based company, recruited John as employee #6, beginning a 25-year career there. He started the Silicon Valley office, then became the first managing director in eight countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region. From his Hong Kong headquarters, he opened QAD’s successful China business in the 1990s. After posts in Brazil and Europe, he came to Santa Barbara in 2002 to semi-retire and lead QAD’s senior management development program.

Tracie has always loved the beach and the ocean.  She worked at Deckers in their early days, then QAD for 15+ years, where these two met.  Tracie was a scuba diver and one of the original Santa Barbara outriggers on the local team.  She now spends many days hiking in the “front country” in our hills or beach hiking at the shore. Winter sees both Tracie and John on the slopes as Tracie taught downhill skiing including teaching John 20 years ago.

“I became interested in SBMM due to my naval background,” explained John.  “I’ve visited most major global ports and have always been fascinated by history and maritime history in particular, so the connection to SBMM was obvious.  I was drawn to the Flagship Society as a way to promise future support for the museum’s community outreach, especially the education programs such as Girls in Ocean Science, which encourage kids’ interest in the ocean and its wealth of opportunities.  I joined the Flagship Society because I believe in the mission of the museum and want to support it – and also I was asked to do so!  We must say how easy it was to join using our donor advised fund.”