Deborah Mandabach has been named director of public relations and communications at the University of Redlands.

A long time resident of the Inland Empire and graduate of Redlands High School, Mandabach served as director of public relations at the University of La Verne for the last 10 years. Prior to that she was director of marketing for Saint Bernardine Medical Center.

Recognized for expertise in the areas of marketing, branding and media relations, Mandabach is also known as a communications strategist. She has presented seminars on the topics of marketing, imaging and communications.

An active member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Mandabach has chaired several district conference committees and currently serves as chair-elect of the Western Region. She will begin a two-year term as chair on January 1, 2004.

Mandabach is a member of the University of Redlands Town & Gown and was named a Woman of Distinction in 1992 for her service to the business community. She also has been a member of the Redlands Chapter of the American Association of University Women, and she is past president of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce.

Mandabach has a bachelor of arts degree in English from California State University, Long Beach and a master’s degree in management from Claremont Graduate University. She and her husband, Fred, reside in Loma Linda.

Ian Musto has been appointed director of the Redlands Institute after previously working as a private consultant for several government agencies and as the principal consultant for ESRI in Australia. He also served as a lecturer in Ecology at the University of South Australia and lecturer and supervisor in Regional Planning at the University of Adelaide.

Since 1979, Musto has been at the forefront of Geographic Information Systems development and implementation. From October of 1981 until January of 1986, Musto was employed as the Senior Scientist of the Environmental Survey Branch in the South Australian Department of Environment and Planning. After applying the first state-wide GIS and integrated geospatial database in Australia in 1982, he has since managed several major programs at the state and national level. Musto has worked for many years with forest modeling.

“For forest modeling, I worked extensively on writing models to predict fire devastation. We were able to introduce it to a number of government agencies and even try simulations with firefighters,” said Musto.

Musto has worked as an international advisor in the Middle East and South East Asia for the Australian government and United Nations agencies. He has also been a member of several geospatial standard-setting bodies.

Musto learned of the University of Redlands through his extensive involvement with GIS and ESRI for 24 years.

“I have always known of Redlands because of my experience with ESRI and I have been coming here for years. I actually had a chance to view the campus during one of my visits. When a position opened up, a friend called and told me about it,” said Musto.

With prior experience in managing programs similar to the Redlands Institute, Musto looks forward to continuing the development of the Institute as a significant Environmental Management research and development organization.

“The Institute is a wonderful concept and I envision a great future for it. We will further develop our expertise all across the field. I have already made plans to work more closely with other faculty in social and business,” said Musto.