Who We Are

The Santa Cruz County Business Council (SCCBC) is a 501(c)(6) advocacy group representing the county’s largest employers, focusing on business and quality-of-life issues like housing, transportation, homelessness, and water infrastructure. It serves as the public affairs voice for the local business community joining coalitions, drafting support letters, and helping business leaders engage in local decision-making.

With over 80 member organizations, SCCBC’s leadership includes representatives from Google/Looker, UC Santa Cruz, Cruzio Internet, Marianne’s Ice Cream, and Kindpeoples. The Council supports policies and projects that promote affordable housing, walkable communities, and shorter commutes. Its advocacy includes measures like D, H, L, M (oppose), R, Y, and Z, as well as key developments such as UCSC’s Student Housing West, the Mixed-Use Library Project, and 831 Water Street.

SCCBC approaches development as an intersectional issue affecting the economy, workforce, transportation, climate, and social equity and engages when those impacts shape the broader community.

Executive Committee

Each year, the SCCBC elects new officers to lead the organization and serve on a small team that works directly alongside the executive director. Officers are nominated and approved by the Board of Directors at the annual December Board meeting.

Chair - Treehouse and The Hook Outlet

Bryce Berryessa

Bryce Berryessa is a recognized leader and entrepreneur in California's regulated cannabis industry. He currently serves as President of Joint Efforts. A resident of Santa Cruz County since 2006, Bryce lives with his wife Crista and their sons Odin and Sage. He began his cannabis career shortly after earning a BA in English and Interpersonal Communications from the University of Utah. He then moved to California and dedicated several years to mastering sustainable agriculture and medical cannabis cultivation. Bryce has co-founded several notable businesses, including the award-winning dispensaries Treehouse and The Hook Outlet—the first cannabis outlet store in California—and Grow Co, a hydroponic indoor cultivation provider. His expertise spans retail operations, facility design, manufacturing, extraction, and product development. Through active leadership roles, Bryce has significantly influenced cannabis policy and industry standards, serving on boards such as the California Cannabis Manufacturers Association and the California Cannabis Industry Association. Internationally recognized, Bryce has been featured in "High Times," "The New York Times," and "The Cannabis Encyclopedia." He was honored among Marijuana Ventures Magazine’s Top 40 Cannabis Professionals under 40 and received the Community Prevention Partners Vision Award in 2019 for his dedicated community engagement and impact.

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Vice-Chair

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Past-Chair - Graniterock

Shanna Crigger

Shanna Crigger has served as Director of Communications for Graniterock since 2014. She previously worked at the Santa Cruz Sentinel for 10 years. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Stanford and communications degree from Sacramento State. Shanna lives in Aptos with her husband and daughters.

Policy & Issues Committee Chair - Cruzio

Peggy Dolgenos

Peggy Dolgenos is co-founder and co-CEO of Cruzio Internet. Founded in 1989, Cruzio was one of the first Internet Service Providers in the country, and it's still going strong. From dialup internet with noisy modems to quiet fiber optic connections at gigabit speeds, Cruzio does it all — and if we can't get the internet to you, you can co-work in our space and use ours! We serve facilities for some of the largest companies and government entities in Santa Cruz County, right down to small shops and popup cafes. We're often able to get internet to places that others can't.

Treasurer - Cabrillo College

Kristin Fabos

Kristin Fabos is the Director of Marketing and Communications and the Public Information Officer (PIO) at Cabrillo College, where she has led the marketing, communications, public relations, community relations, and government relations activities of the College since 2010. Prior to Cabrillo, she was the Executive Director of a national nonprofit. Before that, she was the Advance Press Chief for the Athens 2004 Olympic Torch Relay, and prior to that, she spent 12 years in high technology marketing and PR. She serves on the boards of the Second Harvest Food Bank, the Aptos Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce, and the Santa Cruz County Business Council. She is past president of the Watsonville Rotary Club and since 2022, has served as the Rotary Assistant Governor for District 5170, Area 7 (Santa Cruz County). She is past Chair of the Santa Cruz County Business Council. Kristin holds a degree in Communications and Journalism from Santa Clara University. She lives in the Santa Cruz mountains with her husband, and has two grown stepsons.

Executive Director - Santa Cruz County Business Council

Zoë Carter

Zoë joins us from Monterey County where she has spent years in policy, economic, and community development. Our friends across the Monterey Bay experience virtually all of the same issues as Santa Cruz County - unaffordable workforce housing, water shortages, land use and zoning complexities, old infrastructure and more. Zoë has grappled with these issues at the local, state, and federal levels through the lens of stakeholder engagement and coalition building. We could not imagine a better fit for our organization and countywide business community.