Interested in Becoming a Director?
Snowlands Network is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors.
We are always seeking qualified, enthusiastic individuals who wish to serve as a director of Snowlands Network. Here is a brief description of Snowlands Network and the qualities we seek in a director.
Directors
Marcus Libkind
President
Marcus has worked on winter recreation and environmental issues for the past 23 years.
- Founder and Issues Coordinator of the Nordic Voice, a conservation group within the Ski Touring Section of the Loma Prieta Chapter, Sierra Club. (1986-2001)
- Founder and Chairman of Snowlands Network, a nonprofit organization specializing in California and Nevada winter recreation and environmental issues. (2001-present)
- Inspiration for Winter Wildlands Alliance, a national nonprofit organization specializing in winter recreation and environmental issues. Director from 2000 through 2008. Currently on the Advisory Board.
- Member of the California Winter Recreation Committee (WRC), a legislatively mandated committee within the Department of Parks and Recreation, from 2002 through 2008. The mission of the WRC is to advise the Director on the development of facilities for all winter recreation activities (except Alpine skiing).
Marcus is a mechanical engineer by profession having graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1971 with a BS and MS in engineering, and is now retired. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi honor society. For five years he owned and operated two mountaineering stores. He has authored seven guidebooks to backcountry skiing in the Sierra Nevada. He is currently building an electronic version of his books (www.BackcountrySkiTours.com).
Marcus’ love for the outdoors began when he went camping for the first time with his high school biology teacher. Since then he has filled his free time by exploring the wilderness by foot, kayak, canoe, raft, and, of course, skis. He is married to Clara Yen, and their daughter, Sophie, attends high school. They live in Livermore, CA and enjoy many outdoor activities together.
Jim Gibson
Secretary
Jim has been involved in winter conservation activities since 1987. He has served as the Conservation Chair of the Ski Touring Section (STS), Loma Prieta Chapter, Sierra Club. He has also served as Secretary and Treasurer of the STS. A founding member of Snowlands Network, Jim has served as a Director and Secretary of the Board since its inception. Jim manages the Snowlands website.
Jim represented cross-country skiers on the Off-Highway Vehicle Stakeholders Roundtable from 2000 to 2006. The Roundtable was an advisory citizen's body to the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division, part of the California State Department of Parks and Recreation. The Roundtable advised the Division on policy matters and changes to legislation regulating the State's OHV recreation program.
Jim Gibson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA in 1966. Jim received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Physical Chemistry from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1971.
Jim has enjoyed a career in computer science since 1971. He is currently an employee of SAIC. He served as Vice President of Recom Technology from 1980 to 1987, Secretary of the Board of Directors from 2001-2003, and as a Trustee of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan from 2001 to 2007.
Art Ewart
Art Ewart joined the Board of Directors of Snowlands in December 2008 after retiring from his position as Director of Mental Health for Sonoma County after a 36 year career. He is a life-long skier, climber and backpacking enthusiast with many backcountry ski trips including trans-Sierra adventures. His passion for the last ten years has been telemark skiing.
Art is the author of “John Muir and Vertical Sauntering” in John Muir Life and Works, Sally Miller, ed., and his book, “They Came Every Summer, Sorensen Resort from 1876,” a history of that venerable old Hope Valley resort.
Art holds a Bachelors degree in Political Science from Sacramento State University, as well as Master’s degrees in Counseling Psychology and History from Sonoma State University. His other interests include writing and storytelling. Art has also recently been named to the Board of Directors of the California Alpine Club.
Gail Ferrell
Gail Ferrell has volunteered her time working to protect winter wildlands for skiers and snowshoers since 1999. Her primary work has focused on an area outside her home in Reno, Nevada called Tahoe Meadows. The success in banning snowmobiles from a majority of Tahoe Meadows’ 4000 acres can be attributed to her perseverance.
Gail has built a Nevada constituency of members for Snowlands, and has contributed extensively to the raising of funds through events and grants. She also serves as Snowland’s Lake Tahoe and Reno Coordinator. She was interviewed in three articles in 2004 for the Reno Gazette-Journal and her opinions on the need to protect public lands for human-powered winter recreation have been published in the Opinion Section.
Gail is a past director of the Winter Wildlands Alliance, the national organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of areas for human-powered winter recreation. She volunteered her time for six years to work on important national issues with Winter Wildlands Alliance such as the protection of Yellowstone National Park in winter.
Gail holds a Bachelors degree in mathematics and a Masters degree in the Teaching of Mathematics, as well as a Masters degree in Educational Psychology. She has been a professor of mathematics at Truckee Meadows Community College since 1990 and was awarded Teacher of the Year in 1995 and received Nevada Regents Teacher of the Year in 2008. Her interests include backcountry skiing, bicycling, dancing, singing and environmental issues.
Bill Flower
Bill has been on the Snowlands board of directors since the founding of the organization. Bill has been cross-country skiing since the mid-1970s and has been active in winter conservation issues for the past eight years.
Bill is a member of the Sierra Club Outing Committee and is currently Chair of the Knapsack Subcommittee, which each year organizes over 30 Sierra Club National Outing backpack trips in California and Nevada. As a National Outings leader, Bill has led nine-to-ten-day backpack trips in the Sierra Nevada, the Rockies, and Southern Utah canyon country for the past 19 years.
An engineer by training, Bill received his BS degree from Stanford University. He was awarded an MS degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his thesis work on a general model of urban air pollutant distribution and received a PhD from Stanford University for experimental research on the formation and decomposition of nitric oxide. Bill is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi honor societies.
Bill was on the research staff of Sandia National Laboratories for over twenty years and more recently has worked as an independent consultant. He is author of over 50 technical publications and reports on a variety of subjects related to thermal sciences, combustion, laser measurement techniques, and sub-micron particles, and he holds three U.S. patents for innovations related to the measurement of metals in small particles.
Treasurer *
Janet Hoffmann
Janet has been involved in winter conservation activities since 1987. She has served as secretary of the Conservation Committee of the Ski Touring Section (STS), Loma Prieta Chapter, Sierra Club. She has also served as Secretary, Treasurer, and VP/Scheduler of the STS as well as being an outings leader in the section for many years. As the Outings Chair from 2006 to present she oversees the section outings program and ensures that leaders are qualified.
Janet represented cross-country skiers on the Sno-Park Citizens Advisory Committee for the California State Off-Highway Vehicle Winter Recreation program from 1990-1997. She was a founding member of Snowlands Network, served as a Director from 2001 to 2007, and worked on membership building and fundraising activities.
Janet Hoffmann received a Bachelor of Science degree in Ornamental Horticulture from California State University, San Luis Obispo, in 1979. She completed her Elementary Teaching Credential at San Jose State University in 1998.
Janet currently works for the Youth Science Institute educating elementary school children about science and natural history in the San Jose, CA area. She worked in the nursery industry for many years. She still uses her horticultural background managing YSI's organic garden at Sanborn Park near Saratoga and renovating a native plant trail in Vasona Park in Los Gatos.
* The position of Treasurer is currently not a Board of Directors position.