2012 Carmel Valley Board of Directors

Meet your Board

Nick Elliott, Holman Ranch -President
Nick was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and moved to Monterey County in 2005 with his wife Hunter Lowder. He graduated from Philadelphia's Creative and Performing Arts School and did a summer program at the CIA in NY. Nick has worked in the hospitality industry for 15 years, including management positions with several entertainment companies both here in Monterey County and on the east coast. In 2006, his family purchased and refurbished the historic Holman Ranch where they plan to continue and preserve the rich history of Carmel Valley. Most recently Nick has been working with Paradise Catering, Carmel Valley's most established caterer and long time member of the Chamber as their Director of Operations. Since 2005 Nick has held a seat on MCCVB's membership committee and represented the committee on their board in 2006. Nick also volunteers for MCHA, MCCVB, the Junior League of Monterey County and the SPCA when he is not spending time with his wife and son Max.

Tina Adams, Coldwell Banker - Co-Events Director                                                                                                                        

A Carmel Valley resident since 1989, Tina grew up in Newport Beach, CA and graduated from UC Irvine. She worked in several marketing and sales roles in the magazine publishing industry in Southern California.  In 1993, she was the co-founder with Tom of Adams Media Research, a research and consulting firm in the entertainment media industry, which was recently sold. Tina was a very active member of the local schools' parent organizations as her three children - Holly, Will and Kate - advanced through Tularcitos, Carmel Middle, Carmel High and Santa Catalina. In 2005, she obtained her realtor's license and affiliated with Coldwell Banker's Del Monte Realty. She was Hospitality Chair for the Women’s Council of Realtors from 2006-2010.

Candace Cate, Boekenoogen Wines - Co-Sponsorship Director
Candace was born and raised in Carmel, California. She comes to the table with over 25 years of public relations/customer service, event planning, volunteer coordination and project management experience. She was Event Director/Co-Producer for Carmel TomatoFest, a world renown lifestyle food and wine event, from 2006 to 2008. This included sponsorship development/sales for said event as well as extensive administrative/client support services. Candace also is currently working at Boekenoogen Vineyard and Winery as Director of Events/Tasting Room Host and is also the Volunteer Coordinator for Coastal Luxury Management’s Annual Harvest Farm To Table Event held at Quail Lodge. Candace looks forward to helping the CVCC in its efforts to promote Carmel Valley.


Linda Jacobs, Casa Del Soul - Co-Events Director
Linda has a rich history in Hospitality. Born and raised in California, she launched her career in Omaha, Nebraska and with the help of partners they built, owned and operated 2 award winning themed restaurants. On return to California, she found herself involved both in the Airline Industry and, later, hotels in the SF Bay Area. 1981 was the year she arrived on the Monterey Peninsula and immediately went to work at The Lodge at Pebble Beach where she was under the tutelage of our beloved Daniel Barduzzi. Retail was a leap of faith in 2005 and she's never looked back particularly after winning Retail Shop of the Year in 2009 for her store, Casa Del Soul located in Carmel Valley Village . Linda looks forward to assist in promoting Carmel Valley.


Tracy Lucido, CPA - Finance Director
Tracy was raised in Carmel and has been a CPA since 1992. She has extensive professional experience working in both public accounting and financial services. She obtained her CPA license through working in public accounting, primarily supervising audits in San Francisco. In addition to public accounting, Tracy spent a number of years working in financial services where she was responsible for financial planning and business development. More recently, Tracy has been involved in business valuations of small companies for a variety of purposes including estate and gift tax planning, divorce, business sale, family transfers, built in gains tax and partnership buyouts. Tracy also spends a significant portion of the year in tax practice focusing primarily on individual and business clients.

Jennifer Smith, Carmel Valley Branch Library - Membership Development Director
Jennifer has managed the Carmel Valley Branch Library since 2007. She is a life-long Californian, born and raised in Los Altos and Cupertino. She moved to Monterey in 2001 and now lives in Marina with her husband. She has over 15 years experience in libraries and archives, with a special focus on developing public programs.

Her first experience of Carmel Valley was in 2002 when she drove the Reading Safari bookmobile, taking early literacy services to children throughout the County, including Cachagua. Jennifer has a B.A. in International Development from UC Berkeley and a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. She has been an an Adult Services Librarian at the Stockton-San Joaquin County Library, Youth Services Coordinator at the Monterey County Free Libraries, and Read to Me Project Leader and Outreach Librarian at Santa Cruz Public Libraries. Before working in public libraries, she served for two and half years as Curator and Research Assistant at the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University. In 1990, Jennifer taught English and travelled in Spain for a year, practicing her Spanish skills. She loves to converse in Spanish. She has been an avid Internet user since 1991, before the creation of the Web, and she enjoys working and helping library patrons with technology.

Jennifer believes that libraries can be a partner in creating and maintaining vibrant and healthy communities. She is active in many library and community organizations.

Sonia Werk, Storage Pro - Marketing Director

Sonia has been in retail management for 20 years and has been managing the property of StoragePRO for Mirabito, Mooney, & Associates for 3 years. She loves the community of Carmel Valley and its people, so much so that she will be moving from Pacific Grove to Carmel Valley the last week of November 2011.

Serving people and seeing their needs met is one of her greatest joys. With the Chamber, Sonia hopes to use her gifts of service and marketing and plans to participate in growing the business community’s success by bringing innovative ideas and encouragement to business owners.  

Troy Reil, Bernardus Lodge - Community Relations Director

Sygale Lomas, Monterey County Herald - Co-Sponsorship Director

Managing Director
Elizabeth Vitarisi Suro
Email: elizabeth@carmelvalleychamber.com