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OFFICERS
Bill Tweed, Chair 
Cris Chater, Vice-Chair 
Andy Grinsfelder,Treasurer
Armando Quintero, Secretary  
Laurie Hoyle  

BOARD OF DIRECTORS     

Jim Holly 

ADVISORY BOARD     

Karen Taylor-Goodrich, Superintendent Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Colleen Bathe, Chief of Interpretation, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Deanna Dulen, Superintendent, Devils Postpile National Monument
Mike Chrisman
Tokkie Elliot
Richard Hatfield  
Gene Rose
Marilyn Riegel
Mark Tilchen, Executive Director, Sequoia Natural History Association     

OFFICER & BOARD MEMBER BIOGRAPHIES     

Dr. William (Bill) Tweed, serves as Chair of the Sequoia Parks Foundation. His association with the Foundation dates back to 1993, when he assumed the role of government liaison with the organization. He remained in that position until 2006, when he retired from the National Park Service after a career that included 28 years at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.     

During that period he served the parks in a wide variety of capacities, including chief park naturalist, park planner, public affairs officer, environmental compliance officer, special projects manager for the park superintendent, concessions management officer, and district naturalist. He joined the Sequoia Parks Foundation board in 2006.     

Dr. Tweed is the author or co-author of a number of books including (with Lary Dilsaver) Challenge of the Big Trees, the centennial history of Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Death Valley and the Northern Mojave (with Lauren Davis), and Sequoia and Kings Canyon: The Story Behind the Scenery. His new book, Uncertain Path: A Search for the Future of National Parks, will be published this coming October by the University of California Press.     

Dr. Tweed also serves on the board of the Sequoia Natural History Association and lectures frequently on subjects related to the history and natural history of California. He was a featured speaker at the recent National Park Institute organized by the University of California, Merced. Together with his wife Frances, he resides in Three Rivers.
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Cris Chater is currently the Executive Director of Senior Access, Marin County’s only adult day care program, specializing in caring for persons with dementia. Ms. Chater joined Senior Access in 2005 after three years with the University of California, San Francisco, where she worked as Project and Development Director for the John A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence. Prior to her work with UCSF, she spent five years as the Director of Programs and Volunteers for The Redwoods Retirement Community in Mill Valley, California. She designed and implemented the program department and special events, and also developed and coordinated the Scott Therapeutic Garden, which has become a model for other retirement communities.     

She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley; a Master of Arts from San Francisco State University and a Master of Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco. She is also a graduate of Leadership California and Leadership America, two of the longest running national women’s leadership programs in the world. She is the recipient of two distinguished leadership awards: The 2009 Marin County Heart of Marin Award for Excellence in Leadership and the 2009 North Bay Women in Business Award.     

Ms. Chater was born and raised in Mill Valley and now lives in Pt. Reyes Station. She is a runner and swimmer and avid backpacker. In September 2010 she completed her 11th trek along the John Muir Trail by herself!
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Andy Grinsfelder has worked in hospitality at national park lodges for 17 years, moving to California to open Wuksachi Lodge at Sequoia National Park, and currently manages reservation operations for Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts.
He holds a B.A. in mathematics and philosophy from the University of Michigan. Andy is the current board Treasurer and lives with his wife Stacy and four children in Three Rivers.
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A native of the San Francisco Bay area Armando Quintero, attended Cal State Hayward where he earned a Bachelors degree in Environmental Studies.      

For more than twenty years he was a career employee of the National Park Service where he worked as a ranger-naturalist, staffing specialist, special events manager, District Ranger, and had assignments in Central America. He has worked at the John Muir National Historic Site, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Point Reyes National Seashore, the Western Regional Office of the National Park Service and Golden Gate National Recreation Area.      

Mr. Quintero serves on the Board of Directors for the Marin Municipal Water District. He is past Chairman and current board member of the Sequoia Parks Foundation and serves on the Board of Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center and is a Commissioner for San Rafael City Parks and Recreation. He was a guest lecturer at San Francisco State University and has taught science, art and Spanish at several schools in Marin County.      

Mr. Quintero is currently the Director of Development for the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at UC Merced.     

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Laurie Hoyle, Vice Chair and Secretary, began visiting Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the 1960s and has since spent much time enjoying the parks’ front country, the high Sierra back country, and wilderness areas such as Alaska’s Arctic. She joined the board in spring 2006; her specific foundation-related interests are in the areas of communications, outreach to new park audiences/constituents, the arts initiative, and organizational capacity building toward major fund raising.      

In addition to her board commitments, Laurie continues her long career at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) where she serves as Executive Director of Student Affairs Grants and Development. In her 25+ year UCSB tenure, she has developed—and secured funding for—a wide range of projects and partnerships including large, multi-year projects. Many of these projects are aimed at ensuring access to the University of California for all of the state’s citizenry.      

Laurie holds an M.A. in education from UCSB’s Gevirtz Graduate School of Education. She lives in Goleta with her husband, landscape photographer Jeff Jones. An upcoming book of Jeff’s photography and Laurie’s essays on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is scheduled for release by the University of Alaska Press in September 2010.
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James C. Holly (Jim) is the founding President and C.E.O. of Bank of the Sierra. Serving the bank and its communities for more than 28 years, Jim has grown Bank of the Sierra from a one branch site in Porterville, to an 18 branch multi-community bank serving the vast needs of the Tulare, Kern, Fresno and Kings Counties. Jim’s revered for his commitment to building the bank one customer at a time.      

Jim has lived and worked in the South Valley for over 35 years. He is a native of Wisconsin and a graduate of University of Wisconsin where he earned a BBA and an MBA degree in business. He is also a graduate of the SWU Banking School. Following graduation from college, Jim served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army.      

Jim’s first banking job was in Whittier, CA with United California Bank. There he realized he wanted to be a banker in a family community. To accomplish this, in 1967 Jim and his family migrated first to Fresno, then Visalia and finally to Porterville, CA. Jim opened a former United California Bank branch successfully managing that branch for 10 years during which time the climate of bank relationships changed from customer and community service-focused towards operations. Jim didn’t care for that kind of banking. Jim believed the community needed a ‘country bank’ – a bank focused on customer service and family values.
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