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.