BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mark is President of School of Ranch's Board, its Executive Director, and founder.  Mark's career was made because he happened to have a laptop when the Internet came around, and he became the Internet leader at a newspaper and magazine publisher.  After 9/11, Mark left publishing and became an award-winning International Relations teacher in a public school in San Jose. While teaching, he started School Loop, an innovative service for schools that saved teachers time while building a support community around each student.  Mark sold School Loop in 2018, and he and his partner Carolyn chucked it all and bought ten acres in rural Oregon. Here, School of Ranch was born.

Joan is School of Ranch's Secretary, and a recent transplant. After 30+ years as an engineer in corporate America, she retired to Central Oregon and bought a log home on 5 acres. Now what!?! She grew up following her father around helping with all his projects. DIY is in her DNA. Why pay for something you can do yourself? Her neighbor told her about School of Ranch on Facebook. Her first workshop with School of Ranch was welding and now she’s hooked. Joan is looking forward to many more opportunities to learn new skills. Her ranching education started with the OSU Master Gardener and Master Beekeeper programs. She has two honey bee colonies and wants to turn some of her land into pollinator habitat with an emphasis on native plants. Chickens and goats are on the list, but they need fencing, sheds and paddocks built first. 

Bob is School of Ranch's Treasurer. Bob has lived in Central Oregon for over 30 years.  He grew up ranching near Bakersfield CA. Every summer his grandad would send him up into the mountains with the cattle, a horse, and a rifle and tell him stay there till the fall.  Bob learned a lot.  Fast.  He served his country with distinction during the Vietnam War, and spent his career working with the railroad.  Bob never lost touch with the land and today has a spread outside of Redmond.   Bob can advise on a number of topics including tractors and accessories, horses, cattle, lumbering, landscaping, water management, fire prevention, power tools and fence building and maintenance.  

Beth's life is one big experiment.  Before leaving her artist career and moving here from Ohio six years ago, Beth studied up on desert gardening. On arrival, she became the garden department manager at a local retailer.  When her suggestions to stock climate appropriate plants went nowhere, she started High&Dry GardenWorks, her own lab for propagating plants that can thrive with limited water, excessive sun and wind, and deer.  Under High&Dry, Beth is rehabbing her non-irrigated 10 acres with natives,  maintaining her “Wildlife Habitat” and “Pollinator Pathway” certifications, and building bluebird nesting boxes.  Beth says High&Dry is about making a difference, by sharing her failures as well as her successes.