by Carol Leish, MA
With the percentage of elderly people in Ventura County forecasted to grow to 30% of the population within the next several years, preserving the high quality of advocacy that the Ombudsman of Ventura County has been providing since 1981 is even more critical. “We are very excited to have Keith Gosselin transition intro the position of Executive Director,” stated Sylvia Taylor-Stein, current Executive Director, who will transition into a new role and continue to serve the volunteers, long-term care residents, and the community that she loves. She said that, “He has effectively expanded the capabilities of several nonprofit organizations during his professional career.
Gosselin, who has a BA in Management from Loyola Marymount University, in Los Angeles, and an MBA from the College of William & Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been a tenured Associate Professor at Mount Saint Mary’s University, along with having been an adjunct faculty member at Cal State University, Northridge, California Lutheran University, and University of CA Los Angeles and UCLA.
During his 20+ years of college instruction, he taught mostly marketing classes, such as Principles of Marketing, Advertising Sales Management, Market Research, Social Media Marketing the Nonprofit, and International Marketing. And, with his MBA in Finance, along with a high-tech background, he taught Principles of Finance, along with Management of Information Systems at Mount Saint Mary’s University, every year.
Gosselin’s most recent position was as the Executive Director for His Hands on Africa, a nonprofit that provides free dental services in Rwanda. He was tasked with increasing U.S. donations to finance expansive efforts, which he did by growing the annual fundraising from $350,000 to over $850,000 in just one year. As a result, the number of Rwandans receiving free oral health care will continue to increase significantly over the next decade.
Long Term Care Services of Ventura County, Inc. is a 501c 3 nonprofit that advocates for the higher quality of life and care possible for all our disabled and elderly living in long term care facilities. The Ombudsman staff & volunteers make unannounced and unscheduled visits to long term care facilities to help ensure the quality of care and the quality of life for the elderly and disabled residents. Gosselin said, “I am honored to be a part of a best-in-class organization that represents the needs of two of the often-overlooked populations in our communities: the elderly and the disabled.”
In terms of goals, Gosselin said, “My priority at Long Term Care is to retain the incredibly high level of quality of services that the program has provided the community for the last 25+ years (courtesy of Sylvia Taylor-Stein)), through our staff and incredible volunteers. Secondarily, I plan on increasing and diversifying our funding to reduce our reliance on government grants and to expand upon our services into the areas of the community that we would like to better serve.
For more information about the Ombudsman of Ventura County program, please visit www.ombusmanventura.org.
