Diana H. Pereira

Diana is passionate about building businesses and social enterprises that make positive, long-lasting change in our communities.

Diana H. Pereira, director of finance at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, is passionate about building businesses and social enterprises that make positive, long-lasting change in our communities. With over 25 years of business start-up and management experience, she has seen the successful launch of multiple start-ups, nonprofits, and private equity and investment management companies, including several high-profile Santa Barbara–based entrepreneurial ventures that she envisioned and built. Diana is the visionary and founder of the Impact Hub Santa Barbara (now Kiva Cowork), a successful entrepreneurial coworking space.  

Diana founded Balance in 2009 to support innovative organizations and companies that see profit and social impact as complementary goals. The Balance team brings a holistic approach to providing full-service strategic business counsel and customized financial management solutions for a spectrum of clients. Prior to forming Balance, Diana served as chief compliance officer of Morton Capital Management, chief financial and compliance officer of West Coast Asset Management, and chief financial officer at a venture engineering firm. 

Diana is currently the chief financial officer of Pensionmark Financial Group, a retirement plan investment advisor firm with over $80.7 billion in assets across a variety of channels.   

She also serves as an officer of Cognixion, a neurotechnology artificial intelligence company building a commercially viable biosignal-recognition system that moves neuroscience from the lab to market. Cognixion recently completed a seed financing round to advance assisted-reality technology for millions affected by communication disabilities. 

Diana earned a bachelor’s degree in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and her doctorate of law from the Santa Barbara College of Law, and she is a member of the State Bar of California. Diana has been a Social Venture Partners member and served on the boards of UCSB Affiliates, the California Coast Venture Forum, and Wilderness Youth Project. She currently serves on the board of Anacapa School and is the 2022 commodore of the Santa Barbara Sea Shells, a youth sailing organization. Diana lives in Santa Barbara with her husband and two sons.