Staff Spotlight: Meet Bill Koenig

Staff Spotlight: Meet Bill Koenig

We’re excited to welcome Bill Koenig, long-time Institute friend and advisor, to the staff in January! He’ll share the role of Co-Director with Heather Johnson, a member of our team since 2010.

Bill has woven his life into the Chinook story since he attended our 1982 Earth and Spirit Conference in Seattle. For the past fifteen years, he’s been deeply engaged here in various board and volunteer capacities. His career has ranged from traditional corporate life to adult learning, adaptive leadership and organizational development, and strategic planning. Today, his diverse skills, experience, and interests make him ideally suited to this new role.

He’s a past board chair here at the Institute, and helped define the Leadership pillar of our work. More recently, he’s been on our strategy committee as a volunteer advisor. In addition to his role on our staff, Bill is excited about bringing his passion for community building to play as a volunteer in Thriving Communities work, where he’ll work closely with his dear friend Jerry Millhon, who is in transition from Executive Director to Thriving Communities program leader here at the Institute.

“Having the opportunity to get involved first with the strategic planning process and then more recently with the governance process, and supporting Jerry through his transition, has let me get a finger on the pulse of the organization today,” he said. “This is an incredible time for the Institute in terms of the quality of the staff and board, and the commitment and impact we have.” Bill said he’s excited about what’s possible, given the organization’s strength and resources plus our mission’s fit with with “the needs of the world.”

Bill comes to us with myriad relevant experience, ranging from directing Organization Systems Renewal Northwest to working in the realm of community health. He’s also worked as founder, president, and chief executive of several successful start-up companies in the world of media and technology, and has consulting experience with companies ranging from the Ford Foundation to Yale University. He holds a Ph.D. in mythological studies from Pacific Graduate Institute, a Master’s Degree in whole systems design and organizational development from Antioch University, and a BA degree in honors English Literature from Dartmouth College.

“I have a really strong entrepreneurial genetic makeup,” he said. “I like to start things and to grow things, and in the case of the Institute [that will mean] focusing on the organizational life of the entity, and fully tapping into the potential of what’s trying to emerge. What’s the energy here? What’s trying to grow?”

While Bill has worked in both non-profit and corporate settings, he now knows that what he wants is not a conventional hierarchy. “At this stage of my life, I want to work with and learn from very diverse people in all walks of life . . . take people out of boxes, [and] create overlapping circles of common interests and goals.”

Header photo by Thomas & Dianne Jones

November 5, 2014

Partner Spotlight: Meet Karol White

Karol White teaches eighth grade at the Whidbey Island Waldorf School on the Chinook land, with a cohort of students that she’s been with since they were in first grade. She’ll be retiring at the end of this year, and she recently took time to reflect with me on what this land has meant to her and her students over the years.

“I step out into this forest,” she said, “and nature holds me. The rich curriculum and this place, which is so incredible—they marry together to present for the child an incredible experience as they grow and develop. It’s beyond words. It is such a gift for all of our students to experience those two things.”

Karol explained how work on the land mirrors work in the classroom, sharing examples from the third grade curriculum. Awareness of mortality and the reality of death is part of a child’s development around age 9 or 10, she said.  “There’s a beautiful innocence, and then this shocking revelation. That’s when we have our garden curriculum. Taking them out in nature, letting them see how things grow and wither, helps the child feel secure. Seeds fall. Life goes on. Death is beautiful, and a part of life.” Karol said she’s been able to share the incredible experience of gardening with Cary Peterson and Maggie Mahle, who she described as having an “infectious” love and care for the land. “They love it, and the children feel it and love it too.”

In fifth grade, Karol explained, children experience a golden age of childhood. “They encounter the totality of things, and they’re really in balance—even in muscular and physical capacities. They’re open to other ways of thinking. We introduce Hinduism and Buddhism, we study Persia, we go deeply into the mythology of culture. They gain a very global sense of being a citizen.” Karol said that she loves how the Whidbey Institute has the same theme, of global citizenship. “When they come on this land, they see [at the Institute], as in the classroom, a continuation of the theme that we are all one. There are so many incredible ways in which we are walking hand in hand.”

Karol said that she sees the advantages of being in the forest for the children’s development, and that trimming trails, working the garden, studying botany on the land, and walking the interpretive wetland trail have enriched her students’ experiences. Even in the classroom, the forest is with them. “We have huge posts in the rooms—Ross Chapin designed the building. The forest feels like it comes into the school.”

“When my students were young, we did eurythmy—movement to music or speech—in the Sanctuary,” Karol said. The character of the structure enriched the experience for all of them, she explained. “You really notice the sacredness of the space. In eurythmy, you need a sense of where you are in the whole thing, and where everyone else is, to move with a oneness. It’s a ‘point and periphery’ consciousness you’re trying to build—‘I’m just one thing, in this grand thing, and I have a responsibility.’ The wonder that the sanctuary creates—walking in the door, it’s really palpable. To get there, we walk through the forest, in silence, welcoming the birds to speak.”

Karol’s retirement is tinged with nostalgia, as she’s spent over 20 years working with students on and around this land. “In reflecting on what this land, these children, and this school have meant to me, I’m filled with appreciation. In the routine of our daily lives, it’s rare that we stop and take a look at what the full picture has been.” Facing the challenge of a thyroid tumor with courage and optimism, Karol admits that being with her students is a healing experience.  “My class gives me medicine for my soul. The land does, too. After work, I come out and walk the trails. I love Granny’s trail, with the bridge. I go on that one, and come up through the Wetland trail. You feel the vivaciousness of the land—that etheric energy is alive there, and it feeds me.”

November 5, 2014

Reflections on our Bioneers Launch Party

We kicked off Bioneers on Monday night in Seattle with our launch event at Impact Hub Seattle – and it was a huge success!

About 100 people joined us for the evening, which included incredible food, dynamic Ignite talks, and facilitated small-group dailogue to step deeper into each of the presented topics.

The food was otherworldly. Our food partner, Homegrown Sustainable Sandwich Shop, delivered a nutritious and mouthwateringly tasty assortment of sandwiches, salads, and cookies, all served with compostable service-ware and delivered in reusable wooden bins!

The Ignite talks were delivered by a dynamic group of local leaders including former Mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn, with topics that spanned a wide range of cutting-edge work. After the talks, the all-volunteer Bioneers design team facilitated a series of concurrent small-group breakout conversations, which served to deepen the dialogue.

The night ended with the announcement of an on-going, monthly, Bioneers Learning Community in Seattle, which will help strengthen the Bioneers network and move all of the inspiring ideas from the annual conference into meaningful actions in our communities. To learn more, email [email protected].

We couldn’t be more excited to kick off the Whidbey Island Bioneers Conference a week from today!

With joy and anticipation,

Dan and the Team

October 31, 2014

Reflections on the 2014 National Bioneers Conference

Last week, I had the incredible privilege of attending the Bioneers Summit Conference in San Rafael, CA.

Paul Stamets kicked off the conference by announcing a huge new breakthrough in his research on mushrooms and their relationship to bees; Eve Ensler rocked the room of 2,300 people with her radically re-imagined story of Eve in the Garden of Eden; Naimi Klein declared that “we can power our lives without poisoning anyone”; and Terry Tempest Williams reminded us that “finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world that we find.”

After the plenaries, I gathered with a fired-up cohort of over 20 young leaders who I know through my work with Generation Waking Up. The energy we created was magnetic, as we dreamed the future of the world together. At dinner, I talked with Charles Eisenstein about sacred masculinity and discussed the power of vulnerability with my dear friend, Rachel Bagby.

I left the conference with a deep, heartfelt motivation to create beauty in the world today. To offer my gifts in service to all of life, both around and within me. Nature is terrifyingly beautiful, magnificently powerful, and effortlessly abundant. My deepest dream for our time is that we learn what it means to live lives of service, to know and speak our truths, and to rise up into the fullest potential of our humanity – our human nature – so that we might protect and restore this faint, fragile blue dot we call home.

We’re all in this together, and we’re all connected more deeply and intricately than we might ever have imagined. It’s time we start acting like it!

Dan Mahle

Whidbey Institute staff member & Whidbey Island Bioneers Coordinator

October 27, 2014

Community Festival Reflections

I had a particularly special opportunity at yesterday’s Community Festival—the chance to bring my out-of-town relatives to Chinook! We’ve toured the land in solitude together before, but this weekend’s festive atmosphere combined with the sagacious storytelling of our friends Scott and Sawyer Mauk, Larry Daloz, Kurt Hoelting, and Sharon Parks provided my mother- and father-in-law with a deep understanding of what it is we do at the Whidbey Institute.

My children enjoyed running and playing with friends old and new on the land, while we all relished the chance to enjoy Chef Christyn Johnson’s gourmet brunch and a bit of camaraderie.

Jackie rocked the Art Barn, while Mia the Raffle Queen was dashing in her tiara and scarf—selling tickets in style! The thank you’s are too many to list: Maggie Chumbley, for your expert facilitation and radiant smile. Staff and board, for your tireless energy and insight. Peggy Taylor, for the loan of PYE Global’s capacious tent. We thank our Waldorf student tour guides and work party coordinators, our musicians and storytellers, our raffle participants and lucky winners, our sponsors and community. We thank Maggie, Abigail, and Sonya for the herbal gift basket. We thank Mukilteo Coffee for helping us bring “Chinook Blend” coffee to life. We thank Live Edge Woodworks and Johannes Liebert, for the raffle grand prize, a stunning white pine coffee table.

The list goes on!

Most of all, thanks to each and every one of our neighbors and friends who came out to celebrate with us. You helped make it a magical day!

October 13, 2014

In Transition: Jerry Millhon

As Whidbey Institute Executive Director for four transformative years, Jerry Millhon professes to have followed a cardinal rule: “hire people better than yourself.” While those of us on the staff would argue that Jerry’s a match for us all, we do see his attention to team-building bearing fruit. Most of us are here because of Jerry’s leadership, the culture he helped create, and the potential that he saw in each of us to fill the right role at the right time for the health of the whole organization.

This winter, Jerry is following his heart’s calling and stepping into Thriving Communities Initiative (TCI) program leadership—a shift which brings to a close his four years of service as Director. He and I recently spent some time together reflecting on his experience here.

Both Jerry and his late wife Kay loved, and served, the Institute during their first years on Whidbey Island—Kay as a staff member, from 1995 to 2004, and Jerry on the board, from 1995 to 2002. Thereafter, the two moved to San Francisco where Jerry took a position as Executive Director of the Foundation for Accelerated Vascular Research (now Vascular Cures). When the pair returned to Whidbey, for a volunteer assignment with the South Whidbey School District, Jerry experienced what he called, “a powerful sense of community and a feeling of coming home.”

When Jerry returned to the Institute, first in February 2010 as Interim Director and then in May 2010 in the permanent role, the organization was seeking a programmatic rudder and stability. The need for new leadership at the Institute arose at that time, and Jerry and Kay saw, “a new opportunity to see how precious this place was.””Everyone cared immensely,” he said, “but we all felt like we were seeking something just beyond our reach.” The Institute was embattled by the economic recession and a lack of clear direction, while Jerry himself was entering a time of deep, challenging experience with Kay on her journey with cancer. “When Kay and I were examining [whether my] becoming the ED was the right move for us, what we saw was not the challenge ahead,” Jerry said. “No—I saw us on the shoulders of those who had committed talents, countless hours, financial resources, and love to this place over the years . . . those who had lifted this organization up, including my wife Kay. They became vivid in my mind.” With Kay’s blessing, and in part because of their shared history with this place and the rich promise of the land, he jumped into the fray.

Jerry described his early experience as Institute Director as a blend of team-building and culture-shifting. “One cultural challenge to overcome was the feeling of scarcity,” he said. “Can you put that in the context of an abundant, loving, and wonderful place? [We were] creating a culture of financial stewardship.” With that new culture came the first team member—Wendy, in accounting—who helped the organization take its next steps toward solvency.

When it came to adding staff, Jerry said he relied first on a new core team member—Heather—who knew what they were getting into. “To do the kind of thing we were talking about, you need a critical mass of people who are really committed. Heather understood the vastness of the challenges ahead, and could see beyond the immediate horizon.” In our conversation, Jerry spoke of current and former staff members who stepped into vital roles at the right times. With credit to all the people, past and present, who helped create what we have today, Jerry described our current team of staff and board as, “diligent, competent, and able to dance together.”

“The growth of a wise, energized and productive board has been key! We have had a number of wonderful supportive board members over the years,” he said. “We really have partners in this process. Because it has a complex history and complex cultures, [the Whidbey Institute] demands . . . a powerful board.”

Regarding his upcoming transition, Jerry said he is pulled to attend to the thing he loves most. “I sense the unbelievable hunger in the world for stories and replicable actions that are contributing to a positive impact. It feels really important to apply as much of my time as I can to the buildup of a sustainable flow for Thriving Communities.” He’s not worried about the Institute, which has become not only stable, but robust, and which is able to both honor its roots and contribute to today’s most vital personal, social, and ecological solutions.

Thriving Communities launched with a 2012 gathering around local food systems. Since then, the body of work has grown to cover topics including local economy and health, and has both showcased and nurtured community-building programs in over 33 communities around the Pacific Northwest. Now, Jerry is ready to help it grow into something even greater. “I want to be in the gravel, in the dirt,” he said. “I’m not talking about heady ideas: I want to be able to see eye-to-eye with those people who, for some weird reason, started something that has actually changed the fiber of a community. I want to feel why and how, and give people confidence in what they could do in their own community. Those are stories and conversations that don’t have an end.”

October 9, 2014

Remembering Martin

On September 1, 2014, our greater community lost a beloved friend.

Martin Wiebe Selch died at Whatcom Hospice House three weeks after suffering a head injury while bicycling. In addition to counting him among our friends and colleagues, we at the Whidbey Institute considered Martin a mentor in the art of living sustainably. Martin worked closely with Institute staff and site committee members in 2012, in his role as Sustainable Connections’ Commercial Conservation Specialist. The energy audit and recommendations he provided helped launch our Green Initiative, and we’ll never forget the cameraderie and counsel we enjoyed while working alongside him. His legacy at Chinook can be seen in current projects such as last week’s replacement of our commercial refrigeration units with new EnergyStar appliances, and next week’s scheduled replacement of the Thomas Berry Hall oil boiler with a planet-friendly heat pump.

Martin’s obituary describes him thus: “He was the best dad, husband and son that anyone could hope for. He had an amazing, analytical mind and an insatiable curiosity to learn more about almost anything. He enjoyed working with his hands and had a gift for building and repairing things. He had a positive attitude and a great sense of humor. Martin loved being physically active which evolved into a passion for being above tree-line and living a little gentler on the earth. His footprint in his field of work was larger than he would acknowledge.” Here, at Chinook, his passion for treading lightly has left a deep impression.

We offer our condolences to the wife and sons he leaves behind.

October 8, 2014

Partner Spotlight: Meet Sayumi Irey

As Sayumi Irey completed her 2012 dissertation on how Asian American women assume leadership positions in Community Colleges, she came to an exciting realization—one that led her to think her dissertation didn’t belong in someone’s database, but rather in a real-world program to nurture minority leaders in academia.

“My findings had a huge impact on the people I interviewed,” Irey said. “Leadership is holistic and relational, and the most important thing about leadership is infusing leadership identity within [one’s self]. Power comes from within.” Irey said that the relationships she built during interviews for her dissertation really made a difference.

The power of this finding to impact lives led Irey to a new mission of her own. Backed by research which shows the importance of role models in determining student success, and having seen firsthand the shortage of minority role models in academic leadership, Irey worked with colleagues and administrators to launch a leadership retreat series to support minority leaders in higher education. The team advocating for the program grew to include Bellevue College president David Rule and co-facilitators Ata Karim and Yoshiko Harden. This fall, their inaugural session was held at the Whidbey Institute.

“Six or seven schools were originally going to participate,” Irey said, “but by word-of-mouth, the idea spread.” When applications were opened to the 34 community colleges in Washington State, over 30 applicants expressed interest. Irey’s team quickly filled the 20 openings, in what she called, “an instantaneous, overwhelming success.” Irey said that her first cohort includes faculty and employees of color from community colleges all over the state. While recruitment focused on ethnic minorities, the group is also diverse in gender, sexual orientation, and age. Participants range in age from 25 to over 60.

Irey spoke of the sense of safety, and community, that the group experienced during their time together at Chinook. “When I’m working, I have to wear several masks. Higher education is very white and male-centered.” Here, the masks came off and participants got to connect in a way that was, for many, new. “For some, this was the first time their voices were really heard,” Irey said. “It was life-changing and transformative work.”

Describing the retreat participants as “intellectual,” Irey said that the first gathering focused on creating space for healing. “People tend to take the roles of healers, but they don’t have time to heal themselves. These people are all very intellectual, and can think very well—but how often can they stop and think about how well they are?”

Irey spoke to the relational aspect of leadership in describing what motivated her to create the retreat center, and she returned to the topic when asked what led her to choose the Whidbey Institute as a home for her work. “What made me think Whidbey was the best place, to be honest, was a conversation with Heather. How she responded to me—and you did the same thing—was so personal, rather than businesslike, that I knew I could have a long term relationship with the Whidbey Institute.”

We at the Institute also look forward to a long term relationship with Irey and her colleagues, and I’ll personally delight in welcoming Irey back again later this month, as she and I both embark on a journey together as part of the 2014-15 Powers of Leadership cohort.

—Marnie Jones, Communication Manager

October 8, 2014

Meet Our Team: Spotlight on Melissa

Melissa Dowd joined our team this summer in a database administration role, and has been embraced by the team both for her professional talents and for her commitments to honesty, communication, and personal growth.

She’s a mother, wife, and professional life coach, with a deep commitment to teaching her children to live naturally in alignment with the very values for which the Whidbey Institute stands.

Before coming to the Pacific Northwest, where she studied to become a coach and started a family with her husband Kirk, she spent almost ten years in France. During that time, she lived in Burgundy, ran a small business, and did post-graduate studies in winemaking and soil science at the University of Dijon.

Melissa is excited about the new connections she’s been forming at the Whidbey Institute, both with people and the land. “A patch of dirt can make me weep,” she said. The care she feels for the land is mirrored in the care she takes of herself and others. “I drew the Whidbey Institute and the Whidbey Institute drew me,” she said. “It matters to me to be in a community committed to things like peace, connectivity, and collaboration.”

September 5, 2014

Meet our Board: Spotlight on Victoria

Victoria Santos is completing a third year of her Board term for the Whidbey Institute, after a hiatus which included international travel, family time, and intensive work with two other organizations. She’s an impassioned community leader, volunteering for several area non-profits while running her own organization, Sister Island Project, alongside Co-Director Peter Blaustein.

Sister Island project is “a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting respectful international friendship and cultural, educational, and technical exchange between people of the United States and people of the Dominican Republic.” Victoria describes the work of the project as involving volunteers in such projects as the building of schools, homes, and wells in her village of origin, in the Yabacao region of the Dominican Republic.

Victoria also works and wears many hats with Young Women Empowered, an organization with close ties to the Whidbey Institute, as the program manager for the volunteers and mentors, and as a facilitator.

In a recent interview, Victoria described her motivating passion for liberation and freedom. “My driving passion is liberation—self determination for myself, and for people who have been marginalized and oppressed.” We spoke of the challenges of upholding those values in a culture based on materialism and consumption, and of the importance of personal integrity in the face of that challenge.

Victoria’s involvement with the Institute began with Power of Hope, a program offered by Charlie Murphy and Peggy Taylor. She came out from Massachusetts for an eight month apprenticeship with Power of Hope, during which time she assisted with several camps in the region and at Chinook. Soon after, she accepted a job at the South Whidbey School District—a role in which she stayed for 14 years! She became deeply rooted in our community. “I found it very nurturing and supportive, and I was able to grow and give back.”

Board service has been an opportunity to both give and learn, Victoria said. One of the rewards of Institute service, she said, has been the opportunity to work with a talented group of peers. She describes her fellow board members with respect, excitement, and appreciation. She said, “I love the energy, for instance, that Kate brings to the board—she embodies competence, delight, wonder, curiosity, and humility. I enjoy being around her and watching her work.” Victoria continued in her praise, touching on the qualities she admires in our Board President. “I like the leadership that Gabriel is bringing. His depth of commitment to the Institute beautiful to watch.”

Victoria lives in Seattle and Whidbey Island, travels extensively, and retains close ties with friends and family in her birth village. South Whidbey has a special place in her heart. Recently, she and I sat in the Westgarden together, just before she launched into a week at the Y-WE Write youth retreat on the land. Our conversation closed with her observations on Chinook. “I love this place and the many things it offers. This is a common space. It must be accessible to many, and that is worth giving of my energy. I advocate for that.”

September 5, 2014