CHRISTOPHER DANCH, OVFSC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Project Role: Project Manager for OVFSC, Grant Manager
Chris, a native of the Ojai Valley, is the executive director of the Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council (OVFSC). The Ojai Valley was ground zero for the 2017 Thomas Fire and the impact of, and the hard lessons learned from, this uncontrollable wildland fire prompted the OVFSC to undertake the development of a long-term, community-focused, community-driven Wildfire Risk Mitigation Strategy for the Ojai Valley and surrounding communities. Chris joined the OVFSC in 2019 to assist the Council in the Risk Mitigation Strategy initiative.
Chris has a broad, diverse background of law, business, education, and environmental and community service. He has over 40 years of legal experience including the areas of strategic legal planning and consultation, business law (litigation, transactional, organizational development, and reorganization), nonprofit organizations, environmental, agriculture and natural resource management, international law, construction and real estate/land use. He has 25 years of direct litigation experience at both the federal and state level, with jury and non-jury trials, judicial and non-judicial arbitration, administrative proceedings, mediation, and appeals.
When Chris is not working on wildfire risk mitigation, he maintains a part-time practice of law, with an emphasis on providing general counsel to select non-profits and for-profit organizations, including those involved in regenerative agriculture.
