OUR BOARD

Jason Berv, Founder and Executive Director

Jason grew up in New England, and discovered the amazing beauty of Colorado after graduating from Brown University in Rhode Island. His previous experience with teens includes leading community service programs on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana, backpacking trips in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and biking trips in Nova Scotia and Maine. In addition to serving as the Assistant to the Head at Northfield Mount Hermon School, he has been a high school teacher of religious studies and ethics, trained teachers for a national test preparation company, and was an instructor in the University of Colorado's teacher education and Chancellor's Leadership programs. Jason received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, where his dissertation research focused on the experiences of Boulder area high school students, and what makes them feel connected to and interested in school. His research on curricular innovation has been published in the Journal of Experiential Education and the Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education. Jason currently consults with independent schools throughout the country on issues of schedule and curriculum redesign, and serves as the Executive Director of Watershed School.

Carle Churgin

Carle is a co-founder and principal of Chain Reaction Partners along with her husband, Andy. She is the mother of two daughters, including one who graduated from Watershed School last year. She served on the board and as board chair for Parenting Place, a local non-profit, for six years and has been actively involved in the support of other local non-profits.

Carle is a certified Co-Active Professional and Corporate Coach who coaches professionals and executives, conducts leadership development programs and facilitates team meetings and retreats. As a coach, Carle has coached hundreds of individuals internationally, worked with teams to be more collaborative and reach goals, facilitated strategic planning retreats and helped mediate interpersonal conflicts. She has also helped develop and deliver numerous workshops on managing, leadership, mentoring and communication skills.

Carle has extensive management experience in sales, marketing communications and public relations. For several years she owned an independent marketing organization where she gained knowledge and insight about the challenges of running a business.

Mary Lou Harrison

Marylou Harrison grew up in Los Angeles, California.  She and her husband, Dan, moved to the mountains of Colorado in 1991 with the hope of regaining the sanity that they lost from years of navigating gridlocked freeways and breathing too much Southern California smog.  After several years of working a little and playing a lot, life changed again for Marylou and Dan when they became the proud parents of two amazing children.  Playing mom to Samantha and Luke rekindled Marylou’s commitment to education and other child-centered causes.  She serves on several non-profit boards, all with the goal of improving the lives of children.  Her proudest non-profit milestone to date was the completion of a new community ice rink and tennis park in Nederland, Colorado.

Marylou’s professional experiences have ranged from teaching elementary school in inner city Los Angeles to working for NASA on the Mars Observer Camera Project.  Currently, she tutors struggling learners in reading and language arts, and acts as treasurer of her husband’s company, Corona Engineering, Inc.

Both of Marylou’s children attend The Watershed School.

Myriam Johnson

Myriam was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium, where she graduated from "De Stedelijke Normaal School" a teachers prep school. She caught the travel bug when she joined the international, educational, non-profit organization Up With People and traveled extensively for 19 years. After working in the Up With People corporate office in Tucson, AZ and later in Broomfield, CO as the Vice President of Admissions, Myriam created her own "cultural exchange program" when she married Scott, a California native. They now live in Boulder with their 2 daughters Sarah and Eva who attend the Watershed School. When she is not busy as a Realtor, you can find Myriam spending time with her family, on a hiking trail, having fun with friends or reading a good book. Oh, and English is her third language.

Dianne Ladd

Dianne grew up outside of Boston and moved to Colorado in 1979.  She has been captivated by the beauty of Boulder ever since and loves living in such a progressive community.  This year Dianne and her husband Bruce Holland are celebrating 30 years of love and happiness together.  They are the proud parents of their son, Hobie, who is a junior at The Watershed School.  Dianne enjoys traveling, playing tennis, cycling, gardening, hiking, skiing, photography and videography, reading, and hanging out with her cats.  

Dianne’s present non-profit work includes serving as a partner with Social Venture Partners, which she has done since the inception of the chapter in 2000.  She has served on the Boulder Day Nursery and the Intercambio de Comunidades teams.  She has also been an Intercambio de Comunidades  English as a Second Language (ESL)  tutor for the last five years and has enjoyed her friendships with the immigrants who have been her students.  Other non-profit work she is involved with includes serving as co-chair of the Social Justice Action committee, CROP Walk coordinator, and a member of the Program Coordinating Council for the Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.  She is on the board and serves as the education committee chair for Boulder Friends of UNICEF, which has served the Boulder County community for over 30 years, raising funds and awareness about global children’s issues.  Dianne is also a reader in the Boulder Valley schools with Reading to End Racism.

Dianne’s past non-profit experience includes three years on the board of Parenting Place, ten years on the board of the I Have a Dream Foundation of Boulder County, and serving as co-sponsor of the Lafayette class of IHAD Dreamers.  The Lafayette class graduated high school in 2000, with over a 90% graduation rate and over 86% attended college.  Dianne was president of Colorado Association of Professional Saleswomen in 1987/1988 and received the Boulder Chamber of Commerce “Women Who Light The Community” award in 2000.

Dianne’s business experience includes computer programming, computer sales, marketing, and training for 3M Corporation, Honeywell Business Systems, ATV Hospitality Systems, and NBI.  For six years Dianne owned and operated three Ecology House retail stores in Boulder and Denver, which sold gifts of environmental consciousness.

Dianne looks forward to bringing her experience and love of children to the Watershed School board and to helping the school become even stronger and more vibrant.  She is grateful for the opportunity for her family to experience such a wonderful school community and for Hobie to experience such a rich and dynamic education.

Marc Levinson

Marc joined the National Business Officers Association (NBOA) as Associate Director in 2007.  Prior to joining NBOA, Marc spent six years as the Business Manager at Alexander Dawson School in Lafayette, Colorado.  Prior to entering the Independent School world Marc spend three years as Director of Operations and Finance at Sounds True, a Spoken Word Audio Publishing company and three years in a similar position at Community Food Share, Boulder County's Food Bank.  Much of his career has been in the food industry, owning and operating a number of very successful restaurants in Boulder and Denver, as well as providing executive direction for a natural foods grocery store.  In addition to his position as the Chair of the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees of Watershed School he is a member of the Board Facilities committee of Alexander Dawson School.  He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science and a MBA (Organizational Development) from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Kathy Lower

Kathy recently concluded nearly 30 years in the private practice of law. In her practice she focused on advising and representing employers on the myriad aspects of federal and state employment law, most recently as a litigation partner at the firm Otten, Johnson, Robinson, Neff & Ragonetti, P.C. in Denver. During her career she represented employers large and small, national and local. She spent six years as a member (two as chair) of the Committee on Conduct of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, and is currently a member of the Colorado Supreme Court Standing Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct. She holds a B.A. in Government from Carleton College and a J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School and is a member of the Order of the Coif, the legal honor society.

Having attended private schools from kindergarten through high school (The Haverford Friends School in Haverford, Pennsylvania and The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania), Kathy particularly appreciates Watershed’s innovative approach to education, the academic rigor the School expects from its students, and the personalized attention the staff gives to each student. As a Trustee Kathy hopes to utilize her skills to help the School continue to grow and to help fulfill the dream of its founders to create a national educational model for other schools to emulate.

Kathy lives in Thornton with her husband, David Smith, and is stepmom to David’s two grown sons and their wives, and the happy grandma of three great grandkids. She and David are lucky enough also to have a home in Tabernash, outside of Winter Park, which David built himself. They enjoy skiing and mountain biking, adventure travel, and movies.

Arno Niemand

Trina Peterson

Having grown up in the Boston area, Trina Peterson moved out to Colorado in 1991. Since 1996, she and her husband, Jess, have lived with their two children, Soren (a Watershed Middle School student) and Tessa (a Nederland Elementary student) on Glacier Lake, six miles north of Nederland. A political science major at Princeton and an Instructor for The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) during college summers, Trina went on to teach in the experiential education department of Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico for several years before returning to the east coast for an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth.

Upon graduating from Tuck in 1991, Trina headed straight for the Rockies. She spent several years in the venture capital world identifying and shepherding promising investments, then headed up strategic and marketing initiatives for a small manufacturing start-up. With the birth of Tessa in 1997, Trina stopped full-time work in order to focus on bringing up her children. She remains a part-time consultant and has sat on a number of boards, including The Women's Wilderness Institute, Leave No Trace, Inc., and The National Outdoor Leadership School, headquartered in Lander, WY.

Jane Saltzman

Jane moved to Boulder in 2001 with her two sons, Ben and Adin. Jane briefly practiced criminal defense law in Chicago before having children. Fortunately, her draw to raise her children was stronger then her desire to protect the rights of criminals. She left the law and once her oldest son, Ben, became proficient at spitting-up she designed and launch the first backpack diaper bag. Never underestimate the power of law school to prepare you for anything but the law. The diaper bag business and children remained her focus for years before she opened LMNOP, a children’s clothing store in Chicago. She sat on the board of The Pegasus Players Theater in Chicago for 3 years.

Upon moving to Boulder, Jane sold her store, said goodbye to diaper bags and re-entered the legal field peripherally via mediation and arbitration. Not able to find the attraction to warring parties, she turned to art and is currently managing the Exhibitrek Gallery and producing works of art in the form of quilts and Ben and Adin. Jane is also a freelance grant writer.

Jane is an improv performer at the Bovine Metropolis Theater in Denver, a skier, avid cook and all sorts of other wonderful things. She is on the leadership council of the Adventure Rabbi organization.

Diane Washburn

Diane was raised in Minnesota on a beautiful lake northeast of the Twin Cities. She was/is an avid water skier (state champion), snow skier , sailor, ice skater, climber and biker (generally any outdoor activity).

Diane graduated from Hamline University with a degree in Psychology/Sociology along with a teaching certificate. During college her summers were spent working as a counselor at a YMCA camp, where she met her future ex husband. By the time she had graduated from college she was living on a farm, growing her own food, living off the grid, and starting the business; Sky Chairs. She moved from her home in the woods into a converted school bus, traveling, making and selling Sky Chairs at renaissance festivals and craft fairs around the country.

In 1982 she moved from the bus to a house in Boulder, CO . Diane raised 4 children in Boulder. All of her children benefited from alternative education systems. Her youngest child Axel attends the Watershed High School. A believer in expeditionary education she has traveled the world with them.

Diane retired from Sky Chairs in 2005 after starting a real estate development company. She has been working on urban mixed use developments. She is also part owner of Omtime Yoga Studios.

In her leisure time she loves outdoor activities, yoga, music concerts, reading, movies, adventure travel and spending time with her children and good friends.

Karel Starek

Karel is now retired after owning and managing Gold Lake Mountain Resort & Spa

In his eleven years with Gold Lake Mountain Resort & Spa, Karel and his wife Alice transformed the former camp property near Ward, CO into a year-round destination getaway resort and European style spa. During this time he also held a position on the board of the Wild Bear Center for Nature Discovery in Nederland.

Karel’s interest and strengths as a manager included organizational and operational strategy, marketing, and human resources.

Before purchasing Gold Lake with wife Alice Starek in 1994, Karel was the head swimming coach for the City of Boulder’s year-round Poseidon’s Swimming Club. Prior to that, he attended business school at Washington University in St. Louis, following four years with Abbott Laboratories in Chicago.

A graduate of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, Karel holds a bachelor of science degree in biology.