Janet Garufis is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Montecito Bank & Trust, with more than 50 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry. She began her career as a teller with Security Pacific Bank (now Bank of America) and advanced through retail, commercial, and private banking leadership roles after completing the Security Pacific Management Training Program. She joined Montecito Bank & Trust in 2004, became President and CEO in 2006, and was named Chairman of the Board in 2017.
Born in Los Angeles, Janet graduated from Marymount High School and attended UCLA before earning both B.A. and M.A. degrees from California State University Northridge. After relocating to Santa Barbara in 2002, she pursued doctoral studies in Composition and Rhetoric at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UC Santa Barbara and is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington. In 2022 Fielding University awarded Janet the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Humane Letters for her leadership and contributions to Fielding and the Community.
Janet is deeply engaged in civic and nonprofit leadership at the local, regional, and national levels. She currently serves on the Pacific Bankers Management Institute’s Board of Directors and the California Bankers Association’s Board of Directors, and has served as Chair of the Western Independent Bankers Association and as National President of the Federal Reserve Bank’s Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council. She currently serves as Chair of the Santa Barbara Symphony and holds board or advisory roles with organizations including the Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts, the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, the UCSB Economic Forecast Project, and the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics. Her leadership and community service have been widely recognized with numerous regional and national honors. She previously served on the Music Academy Board from 2016 - 2019.
