PATRICIA DURHAM joined the Music Academy Board of Directors in January 2014. A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Durham earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at UC Irvine before working as an office manager and business management assistant for a Southern California accounting firm. Upon joining the staff of Texas-based Durham Transportation she rapidly advanced, and was ultimately named director of marketing, later serving as chief marketing officer for parent company National Express Corporation. She currently works as a consultant. Ms. Durham serves on the Board of Trustees for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and is a former board director for CALM (Child Abuse Listening Mediation) and Jodi House Brain Injury Support Center. She has also supported the efforts of Girls Inc., Lotusland, Hospice of Santa Barbara, CAMA, and UCSB Arts & Lectures. A longtime backer of MERIT, the Music Academy’s youth outreach program, she has served on the organizing committee for the Cabaret gala fundraiser benefiting the Academy’s fullscholarship program.