Team

Resident Caretaker

Thomas lives onsite and works with the team to ensure all participants and visitors find a welcoming home at the Institute. He supports the land and facilities, helping to create an environment that facilitates the life-affirming work happening here. As a photographer, filmmaker, contemplative juggler, and teacher of movement awareness, Thomas seeks to inspire a sense of wonder and delight in our relations with Earth and Other.

Operations Manager

Noel has a strong interest in continuous improvement and making sure processes work. In addition, he is passionate about addressing homelessness, dysfunction in the foster care, system and college debt. Away from work you may see him hiking, sleeping at a musical, or engaged at a community event.

Housekeeping Manager

Lynne oversees our housekeeping team and helps tend our lodging and communal spaces onsite. Horses and horse rescue have a special place in her heart. She enjoys spending time with her human and animal family, being physically active, and drinking gigantic smoothies.

Housekeeping Assistant

Jessica is a member of our housekeeping team. In her spare time, she enjoys sewing, painting, and baking. Jessica also loves gardening, spending time with family, working out, hiking, and enjoying her dog and birds.

Photo © Heather Ramirez

Development Lead

Holly is a mission oriented, passionate, and experienced business strategist. Her academic and professional expertise ranges from industrial engineering, manufacturing, and marketing to economic development, business development, and grassroots network development.

Groundskeeper

Erik joined the team in summer 2017, working on a variety of building maintenance, landscaping, and forest stewardship projects. Erik has a degree from Evergreen State College in business and natural resource stewardship with a minor in land use planning, and recently completed an internship at Sound Experience doing online marketing for their summer programs aboard the schooner Adventuress. He also holds roles with Whidbey Island Waldorf School and Island Athletic Club.

Communications Manager

Marnie has a background in teaching, journalism, editing, blogging, and graphic design and a B.A. from Suffolk University. She has three daughters, a partner, and a number of four-legged family members. Her interests include gardening, boxing, home renovations, rock hunting, vegan cooking, and photography. Her favorite photographic subjects are her dogs, cats, mules, rabbits, and cow.

Executive Director

Heather is passionate about ongoing adult development and growing organizations that are committed to positive change. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, is a graduate of Pacific Integral’s Generating Transformative Change leadership program, and has held previous roles with Sustainable Connections in Bellingham (as founding staff), Sustainable Seattle (as Interim Director), Excellence Northwest (as Interim Director), and Blue Marble Biomaterials (as Director of Finance and Accounting).

Facilities Manager

Beno lives according to a simple philosophy: “if you take care of what’s in front of you, close by, then by extension you’re helping to take care of the world.” Beno has been involved for decades as a volunteer and for several years as a staff member, serving as a handyman/go-to-guy with extensive skills, a creative outlook, and a contagious attitude of honesty, service, and dedication.

Westgarden Steward

Jules LeDrew grew up near Boulder, Colorado and loves nature, plants, and people. She is an instructor at Half Moon Yoga in Langley as well as a clinical herbalist, and holds a premed degree in Herbal Science from Bastyr University. She brings her passion for botanical medicine, Ayurveda, and the potential for thriving human/plant relationships to her work as our Westgarden Steward.

Land Steward

Robert’s academic and professional background includes experience in holistic science, wilderness ecology and education, transformative learning for sustainable living, permaculture design and landscaping, and ecological literacy. In addition to stewarding the land. Robert engages in collaborative organizational strategy, community engagement, and land-based education.

Volunteer Coordinator

Marta is a part-time Volunteer Coordinator for the Whidbey Institute as well as Power of Hope Camp Manager, landscaper, and board member of Sister Island Project and South Whidbey Youth Soccer Club. Her past experience includes co-founding and coordinating volunteers for Calyx School, volunteering with the Peace Corps, teaching English in Guangzhou, China, and working as volunteer coordinator at the Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services. She is active in local arts and theater and is a nationally certified Sign Language interpreter.

Database and Office Administrator

When she’s not at the Whidbey Insistute keeping our office in order, Madisun runs her own brand of community merrymaking as a freelance events coordinator and operates a non-profit program under the Whidbey Island Arts Council. In her free time, she can be found on a historic pumpkin farm, living as a steward of the Reserve with her husband, a rescued street-to-farm dog, and four hilarious ducks.

Larisa Benson is the convener of the Government Joy Network, ushering in new ways of serving the common good. She coaches executive teams in mindfulness practices, unleashing human potential to thrive in challenging conditions.

Joel de Jong is a consultant at Limen and host of the Emerging Future podcast. Combining diverse experience, he approaches projects and life in general with an eco-centric, shared commons mindset that leads with authenticity and integrity and creates space for others to make novel contributions.

Mark Forman is a film maker, writer, and founder of Forman & Company. He has spent decades storytelling on behalf of mission-driven organizations and projects, and has been donating his services to the Whidbey Institute since 2016.

Sheryl helps non-profits, businesses, and public entities become stronger and more effective through her work as a principal at MacDonald Boyd and Associates. She also has a passion for social and emotional learning, and is a strategist working on awareness, policy, and practice in that field.

Treasurer

Cole is a Social Impact Consultant/Bridge Builder at Ponto in Seattle, and has held former roles as a lecturer at University of Washington Bothell, Director of I’mact Partnerships at Unleesh, and Director of Education at Global Brigades. He is passionate about creating equality of opportunity, and wants to make our land and programs more accessible to many.

Sanjay Kapoor is a steward of the idea that long-term economic value derives from creating social and environmental value. As principal of s² sustainability consultants, he has helped organizations, in the private and the public sector, to increase their value and effectiveness by integrating sustainability into their business operations.

Christie teaches at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and Seattle University. She’s one of the founders and former Vice President of The Seattle School, and has spent over twenty years offering training and consultation to agencies and individuals through the exploration of vocation and group facilitation.

Vice-President

Barbara lived on five continents in ten countries before age 18. Her work with Transition Dynamics, a consultancy she founded to serve expatriate and repatriate communities, is informed by her global upbringing. Before joining the Whidbey Institute Board in fall 2013, and in addition to her work with Transition Dynamics, Barbara co-founded Personal Leadership (PL) Seminars and the PL Facilitator Community of Practice.

Phyllis is a consultant focusing on community resilience and organizational renewal. She is a former Senior Policy Advisor to the Seattle City Counsel, and helped found the Puget Sound Regional Food Policy Council and the Washington State Food Policy Roundtable.

President

Kate is principal and owner of Floyd | Snider, Inc., an environmental consulting firm, as well as a certified mediator and former Seattle Girls’ Choir board chair. She’s played a key role in fundraising, event production, and strategic leadership.

Secretary

Ted is a voice for inclusion, accessibility, and a broader invitation to constituents around the region. He has spent much of his career in public service, with a focus on environmental policy, including as Director of Legislative Affairs and Policy for Governor Jay Inslee through 2014.

Hilary has served the Whidbey Institute since 2012, first as a graduate student-in-service with Bainbridge Graduate Institute—now known as Pinchot—then as a board member. Earlier this year, she brought her background in fundraising and event planning to a short-term role as Development Consultant, seeing us through the simultaneous launch of a development staff office and a capital campaign.

Appletree Garden Steward

Mara Grey is a botanist, Celtic harpist, storyteller, master gardener, and author of The Lazy Gardener and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Flower Gardening. Mara has studied Scottish Gaelic for many years, and enjoys experiencing the world from a multicultural perspective. She values the role of storytelling in work and life. 

Executive Chef

Christyn has a great reverence for food as an integral part of a healthy, balanced life. She has had a long career in fine dining and hospitality as well experience and travel in global vegetarian cuisine. In addition to running the Whidbey Institute kitchen, she owns Raw Indulgence, a gourmet organic raw meal service on Whidbey Island.

PHOTO © RAWINDULGENCE.KITCHEN

Forester

Bob frequently comes to the land for a day or a week at a time to build trails, remove hazard trees, clear windfall, and support our land care team with his labor, skill, and wisdom. “My personal belief has been that everybody who’s any good at anything ought to float a certain amount of that talent on the water,” he said. “Since the thing I’m best at is being a sort of a forest handyman, that’s what I’ve got to donate.” Bob is also skilled as a machinist, model railroader, and student of nature.

Web Designer

Matt McDowell designed and maintains our website, working closely with our team to understand our organization’s audience and needs, shape content decisions, and provide great design solutions as well as ongoing technical support. He lives in Langley with his wife and two sons, and provides design and consultation services to a number of other organizations and businesses in our community and around the nation.

photo © McDowell www.screenthumb.com