Gary joined the Board of Directors in January 2020. He holds a BA from Saint Mary’s and 2 year degree in art and photography from San Francisco City College. Gary comes with a 40-year background in sales leadership experience with leading high-tech companies and was responsible for the development and introduction of the first “all-in-one” computer system. Gary’s professional experience also includes improving productivity and dramatically increasing sales for tech companies. In addition, Gary has real estate experience, was a Navy Veteran, and has served on the Board of other local organizations. He has three grandchildren and enjoys traveling the world. A fun fact about Gary is that he rode his motorcycle across the United States in 1971, and across Canada in 2010.

Jill has called Sebastopol home for other 30 years, and practiced criminal law for 36 years, including three terms as elected district attorney. She made elder protection a priority, and has served on boards that support seniors in the community. Jill is honored to join the board and to continue supporting seniors with exciting and engaging programs at the senior center.

John joined the Senior Center Board of Directors in 2023 and is deeply embedded in the Sebastopol community. John is a dedicated and detail-oriented individual with over 25 years of professional experience as a software engineer, retired from Cisco in 2006. John’s background centered around analysis, logic, numbers, and meticulous attention to detail, making him exceptionally skilled in organizing and handling financial-related aspects of organizations including the Community Church of Sebastopol and West County Softball Association. John is married to his wife Julie Smith who leads the Fall Prevention initiative at the Senior Center.

Alan joined the Board of Directors in 2017, and served as President for three years. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas, and an MBA from the University of Houston. He has had a 38-year career with AT&T and retired in 2020 as Assistant Vice President for Technology and Engineering. He and his family have lived five years in Sebastopol and living here was their retirement dream location. They love being in Sonoma County! Alan has also been a past member of a various non-profit board of directors in San Antonio, Dallas, and St. Louis.

Allan joined the Board of Directors in 2020. A native of Brooklyn, Alan did his medical training in Upstate New York, Los Angeles and Boston. He worked for Kaiser as a clinical neurologist and in the Research Department studying stroke, migraine, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. After retirement from Kaiser, he continued working in the community clinics, including West County, Petaluma and Santa Rosa. He is currently involved in teaching for UCSF and for OLLI at Sonoma State as well as being involved in clinical trials on Alzheimer’s disease. In his spare time, he maintains a fruit orchard west of Graton, with multiple varieties of apples, pears, plums, peaches, citrus and avocados.

Tate has served many years on the Board of Directors. As of July 2022, she served as the President of the Board. Tate specializes estate planning, probate, trust administration, wills, elder law, incapacity planning and trust and estate litigation. Tate’s practice has a particular emphasis in working with the LGBT community and estate planning with same-sex couples. Tate is actively involved in her community and focuses on issues related to seniors. She is a member of the Sonoma County Bar Association, the Trusts Estates Section of the Sonoma County Bar, the National LGBT Bar Association and more!

Brian has served on the Board of Directors since 2014, and as President for two years. Brian has lived in Sonoma County for 30+ years and has an extensive familiarity with the area weather patterns wells and septic and individual beauty of our beautiful County. Brian is a local Realtor, he is a Registered Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES) trained in special needs and concerns of seniors.

Alain joined the Board of Directors in 2006. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Math and Physics, Alain graduated from the University of Marseille as a Physical Therapist; Graduated from the University of Montpellier, France with a Ph.D. degree as a Senior Instructor in Physical Therapy. He also passed the California State Exam as a Registered Physical Therapist. Alain worked in a private practice in Pinole, California for about 10 years. While working in the private practice, he started a rehabilitation company which grew to 165 employees in 26 different settings. In 1988 he became an Administrator of a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly. He owns Mirabel Lodge in Forestville. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Sebastopol.

Amy joined the board in 2024.  She is originally from Georgia but has called California home for 20 years. She holds a BS in Biology from Emory University and a PhD in Cancer Biology from Stanford.  Amy currently works as an independent consultant in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry.  She lives in Sebastopol with her husband and two young daughters.  In her spare time, she enjoys reading, gardening, and volunteering.  She loves the community she finds in Sebastopol and is interested in giving back locally.  Amy volunteers with Ceres Community Project, is on the board of the Friends of Sebastopol Library, and is a member of Impact 100 Redwood Circle.  She is also passionate about supporting seniors to age independently and views serving on the Senior Center board as a way to help strengthen this vital community resource.  

Alice is new to this board. She has previously served as a director of the Sonoma County Arts Council and Face to Face and the Sonoma County Area Agency on Aging. She is founder and former board member of the Jewish Community Free Clinic and has served on numerous other non-profit boards. She is also a member of Friends of the Sebastopol Library. Alice moved to Sonoma County in 1992 and worked as an Estate Planning and Elder Care Attorney in private practice and initiated and helped run an Elder Law Drop-In Clinic for many years in Santa Rosa. She became interested in an Elder Law practice after her father developed Alzheimer’s disease.

 She hails from the East Bay where she studied at UC Berkeley and earned a PhD in ancient history from UC and the Graduate Theological Union. She maintains an active interest in archaeology and history of the Near East. She is retired from active law practice and currently lives in Sebastopol with her spouse. They enjoy gardening, walking with Steve, and extensive travel.

A native Californian, Colin grew up in the Riverside County town of Corona. Coming from a working-class family of four children, Colin and their brother are the surviving members.

Colin served in the United States Air Force from 1967 to 1971. Following military service, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from Chico State University, initially planning to pursue a teaching career. Instead, Colin worked as a union carpenter for more than 20 years.

In 1990, Colin relocated to Sebastopol and took on the role of Director of Maintenance for the Bellevue School District in Santa Rosa.

Steve grew up in Pasadena and worked in high-tech operations for 16 start-ups before retiring in 2001. He lived in Arabia for three years and continued consulting in the Middle East for over 15 years. Married for 55 years, Steven moved to West County in 2010.

He has volunteered with Ceres Project and Palm Drive Hospital and enjoys building and improving projects, including fixing up and selling 15 houses across California. A prolific writer, Steven maintains a website featuring over 200 articles and has a passion for researching and creating graphic presentations.

In 2024, Steve recently completed his 50th Monday presentation at the Sebastopol Area Senior Center. Inspired by the connections he’s made with his audiences, he has decided to dedicate more time and energy to contributing to the community through joining the Board.

Catherine grew up in Altadena and Newport Beach, CA, finding great joy as the #1 player on her high school tennis team. She earned a Ph.D., became a licensed psychologist, and spent 50 years in mental health—clinically, academically, and as a volunteer, primarily serving the homeless. She was deeply involved with The Living Room, the Nomadic Shelter Program, First Presbyterian Church, Kids Street, and supporting local Ukrainian families.

Known for her warmth, humor, and dedication, Catherine has served on multiple boards in Santa Rosa and Costa Rica while traveling for missions and leisure. For the past 18 months, she and her husband, Dave Berg, have hosted Ukrainian war refugees in their home. They met 20 years ago after both losing spouses to pancreatic cancer and now share a large, blended family of 10 children (+9 spouses/partners), 21 grandchildren, and a new great-grandchild. Their German Shepherd, Liebchen, takes her role as Hurlbut Avenue’s dog leader seriously—at least in her own mind.

Having enjoyed the Book Club, Balance Class, and Harvest Café at SASC, Catherine looks forward to serving on the Board, with interests in expanding access to mental health resources and offering mini classes, like Shakespeare, for those interested.

As an Army Veteran, Stephen continues to remain engaged in issues affecting the Veteran community and serves as a coordinator of a free Veterans’ Legal Clinic at the Santa Rosa Veterans Clinic. He represents low income domestic violence survivors with child custody issues and serves as minor’s counsel. He serves as a judge pro tem for small claims proceedings in Sonoma County.

As a former San Francisco Public Defender, he represented our youth for over eight and half years and our adults for three and a half years. He continues to be concerned about how exposure to traumas continue to affect youth. He is always looking for ways to uplift and support our youth, especially our BIPOC and LGBTIQ+ youth. He served on the Chamber of Commerce and Arts Center Boards and currently serves on the LANTERN Board, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding the square footage of our library as well as the Sonoma County NAMI and Legal Services Foundation.