Veriditas Board of Directors 2010
Board Chair
Gary Petersen
Pacific Grove, California
gelpete@aol.com
Gary Petersen is currently
chair of the Veriditas Board and the Airport Manager for the City of Salinas California Municipal Airport along with being
the Principal of Petersen and Associates a consulting practice that uses collaborative whole system processes to resolve
complex issues with communities, organizations and individuals. Gary has also served as the Nevada County Airport Manager
and before that served as an Airport Manager for the County of San Mateo for thirteen years.
In 1994 Gary began a parallel career as an Organizational Development Consultant working with communities, agencies and organizations to increase effectiveness and performance. In this capacity Gary is a graduate of the Association for Quality and Participation School for Leading and Managing Change and has been involved in the facilitation of interpersonal skills development for students in the Stanford University MBA program.
Gary has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Southwest Chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives, was a Board Member and Past President of the San Carlos California Chamber of Commerce, a volunteer with San Mateo County California Special Olympics for twenty three years, and served on the Board of Directors of the Peninsula Association for Retarded Children and Adults and Friends for Youth, a youth mentoring program. Gary is a founding member of the Housing Forum of San Mateo County and considers himself a community activist on issues related to planning, housing and homelessness particularly in relation to special needs populations. In his spare time he has restored a 130 year old Victorian house in the Sierra Nevada Foothills and currently resides in Pacific Grove California. Gary first walked the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in 1993 and has been walking them ever since.
Council Representative
Cindy Cleary
Occidental, California
cindy@veriditas.org
Cindy Cleary has been working with the Veriditas Council since its founding six years ago, and feels fortunate to be a part of the deepening collaboration between the Board and the Council at this extraordinary time in the history of Veriditas.
Coming from a long time community-based social activist perspective, Cindy’s professional background is in the fields of program development and implementation and non-profit arts management, with skills in organizational structure, grant writing, and arts and humanities program presentation. She has worked at California State University Long Beach and the University of Iowa, as well as with several San Francisco Bay Area performing arts companies.
In 1999, she returned to school, receiving an MFA in Studio Art from the Department of Arts and Consciousness at John F. Kennedy University. Her art primarily utilizes materials found in nature and focuses on the ephemeral; cycles of birth, death and regeneration; archetypal memory; and the intersection of art and life.
In addition to her work with Veriditas , she works as a studio artist and is an active member of her Buddhist Sangha (Stone Creek Zen Center) in Sebastopol. She lives with her partner of 28 years, Joan Pinkvoss; has two grown children and ten grandchildren, ages 14 ½ to 1 year old.
Christine Katzenmeyer
Lakewood, Colorado Katz138@msn.com
Christine Katzenmeyer is the Executive Director of the Consortium for Older Adults(COAW) in Denver, Colorado. COAW is the infrastructure and standardization agency for evidence based prevention programs for older adults in Colorado, including Stanford University’s Chronic Disease Self Management program. COAW administrates the Academy for Older Adult Wellness which is dedicated to teaching professionals programs in balance, balance prevention and chronic disease prevention. The Consortium is currently in partnership with Metropolitan State College and Colorado Mountain College for the delivery of the Certificate of Wellness for Active Aging, an 18 hour gerontology certificate in health promotion, and wellness programming for the working professional. Chris was the coordinator of the statewide Senior Wellness Initiative, and also teaches at Metro State College.
Christina Margason
San Jose, California
Tina Margason retired from teaching after 33 years of challenging and joyful work with children.
Now she has time to participate on the Board of Veriditas since joining in the Fall of 2005.
Tina first walked a labyrinth at a women's retreat in 1996 and has been actively involved with them ever since.
She is the coordinator for the labyrinth of Trinity Cathedral, San Jose, for which she has presented meditations and labyrinth walks for many groups in her area: Women's Day for the Diocese of El Camino Real, workshops and walks for several parishes in her diocese, a two-day labyrinth walk for University of Santa Clara during their spiritual renewal week for students and staff, and labyrinth walks for San Jose State University where over 600 students walk at the beginning of each semester. In addition to working with the Catholic Diocese of San Jose at parishes and at the yearly Young Adult Retreat at Lake Tahoe in the summer, Tina also helps the Grace Cathedral Labyrinth Guild with the Friday Peace Walks when she is not teaching. After completing her facilitation training in 1998, Tina attended Let Us Walk With Mary at Chartres in 2002, and facilitated there the last two years. Tina and her husband, Jim, enjoy volunteering for Veriditas and are supported in this by their three grown children. When she cannot get to a labyrinth, Tina nurture her soul with walks, centering prayer and sitting in a hammock with a dog in her lap.
Lee Matthew
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Lee Matthew
Cynthia J. Ries
Cleveland, Ohio
Cynthia Ries lives in Cleveland, Ohio and works as the Director of Development at Beaumont School, a college-prep high school for girls sponsored by the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland. She has over thirty years of experience working in the nonprofit sector, including grant making, advocacy, development and marketing. Twenty-five of these years were spent in New York City, where she held various positions at the New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Metropolitan Opera, American Composers Orchestra, Theatre Development Fund, and the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Her passion for women's issues and social justice led her to also work at The New York Women's Foundation.
A frequent speaker and consultant, she has served on several boards, including The Artists' Community Federal Credit Union and Women's Advocate Ministry and she continues to serve on the advisory council for the Images of Divinity Project. She currently is an adjunct professor teaching arts administration at New York University and Milano: The New School for Management and Urban Professions.
She is a member of Marble Collegiate Church, her first introduction to the labyrinth was in Ohio at Ursuline.
Cynthia holds a BA from Lake Erie College and an MPA from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service.
Rebecca Rodriguez
Canyon Lake, Texas
Rebecca Rodriguez lives in Canyon Lake, Texas.
