Board of Directors

In 2011, Free Geek dissolved the Community Council — a regular meeting consisting of a changing cast of volunteers, staff, and board members, which for years had been charged with setting our vision and making organization-wide decisions — and reformulated our Board. The new board consists of seats devoted to different skills, stakeholder populations, and mission-related interests. The voice, ethic, and perspective of the Community Council is retained and formalized in seats for Volunteer Representatives, elected by and from “core” volunteers at Free Geek. Going forward, at least 25% of the Board will be pulled from active volunteers within the organization.

 

Board meetings are monthly and open to the public. The board’s discussion email list is also open to those who want to keep tabs on the issues currently being discussed. For less frequent email, minutes, agendas, proposals and announcements are sent to the lower-traffic, broadcast-only announcement list.

Volunteers who want to know more about the activities of the board or make suggestions or concerns known should contact the volunteer representatives (see the board membership list below to find out who they are).

 

 

 

My initial contact with Free Geek was by donating old computer technology over 5 years ago. Anne Glazer who I knew from other social justice circles invited me to the July 2011 Free Geek board meeting. After the board meeting, I took the Free Geek tour where I got a glimpse of the scope of work and the population served and I wanted to help. I was voted onto the Free Geek board in August 2011 and became board chair in October 2011.

I am a Public Health Informaticist. Informatics is the science of information management in a particular knowledge domain, such as health care. My background includes 40 years of building information systems for clinical and academic medicine and population health and I currently work for the State of Oregon. I have an undergraduate degree in Economics from Portland State University and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Washington.

I enjoy my family, yoga, music, birdwatching and being outdoors in the Pacific Northwest.

 

 

 

In 2009 I joined Free Geek for the free computer and stayed for the mission. I started attending Council meetings in 2010, where I was able to make a contribution, so running as a volunteer representative seemed like a natural transition.

I’m pursuing a bachelor of science in computer science at Portland State University.

 

 

 

I have been a volunteer since February of this year, and have volunteered almost 400 hours in that span. Most of the time has been spent as a Build Instructor, and I’ve done shifts in Advanced Testing and Laptops.

My full time job is property management. I have a portfolio of properties that I oversee operationally and financially. I am also a member of the Portland Football Officials Assoc. and officiate high school football games each Fall.

 

 

 

I joined the Free Geek board in early 2012. My educational background is in biology and natural resource economics. I worked earlier for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, supporting development of hazardous waste regulations and helping develop a national hazardous waste reduction program. More recently I’ve worked in Energy Efficiency at the Bonneville Power Administration, serving as a liaison to public utility conservation programs in the Northwest. In my free time I enjoy being outdoors – biking, hiking, and wandering in search of landscapes to photograph.

 

 

 

Originally from New Mexico, I moved to Oregon with my family in 2000. I went through the Free Geek volunteer training program about six years ago. In 2013 I was delighted to be accepted as a Board member, and am looking forward to using my informatics and education skills to add value to this great organization. Currently, I am a Senior Staff Engineer with a genetic technology company and an Adjunct Professor in Informatics at Oregon Health & Science University.