Board Of Directors
Our board members are the wisdom keepers of our organization. They come from a myriad of lifestyles and experiences and are dedicated to the Balanced Rock mission. They are a very hands-on part of our organization. We are honored to have such a rockin’ board!
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Pete Van Kuran
President
Pete Van Kuran and his wife Virginia have been living in Palo Alto, on the San Francisco Peninsula, for over 50 years. Pete has been an avid climber and backpacker since his first trip to Tuolumne Meadows in 1958.
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Eliza Kerr
Vice President, Instructor, Co-Founder
Eliza has been living in Yosemite since graduating Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley in Conservation and Resource Studies in 1993. She has been leading people on adventures in the outdoors since 1989, working for NatureBridge (formerly Yosemite Institute),
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Monte Meyers
Treasurer
Monte S. Meyers, MBA, has over 30 years of experience in the fields of accounting, strategic planning, budgets, financial systems, accounting processes, and financial reporting.
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Sarah Cupery-Ottley
Secretary
Sarah Cupery Ottley joined the Balanced Rock Board of Directors in 2014. Sarah is the Executive Director of Adventure Risk Challenge (ARC), a youth development nonprofit empowering underserved youth.
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Marcia Hodges
Board Member
One of the first Board members for Balanced Rock. She was very eager to accept the responsibility because she was on the very first backpack trip when the program was called “Wild Women Workshops”.
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Anne Baxter
Board Member
Anne W. Baxter came to California to attend Stanford University and promptly fell in love with the Sierra Nevada Mountains. She taught 5-6th grade in Redwood City…
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Maggie Jones
Board Member
For the past 9 years, Maggie been working for NewBank, a company her father started 45 years ago. She works in the Marketing department, marketing NewsBank’s products to Public and Academic Libraries
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Kerry Carter
Board Member
Kerry Carter, MBA, lives in Austin Texas. He has over 30 years of experience in the field of IT Consulting, software project management and small disadvantage business consulting.
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Robb Hirsch
Board Member
Biologist by training, naturalist by heart and photographer by passion Robb Hirsch has an intimate relationship with the natural world. This connection was established early during annual childhood visits to Yosemite.
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Yvon Chouinard
Member Emeritus
Yvon Chouinard is founder and owner of Patagonia, Inc.,He began in business by designing, manufacturing, and distributing rock climbing equipment in the late 1950’s
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Shelton Johnson
Member Emeritus
Shelton Johnson is renowned for his National Park Service interpretive work & living history program telling the near-forgotten story of the Buffalo Soldiers.
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Julia Clarke
Yoga Instructor & Lead Facilitator
Julia Clarke, E-RYT 500 & MS Maharishi Ayurveda is the author of the book Restorative Yoga for Beginners, a yoga teacher & university instructor currently based in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Grace Anderson
Wilderness Guide & Trip Leader
Grace Anderson fell in love with wild spaces after a week long backpacking trip with the Student Conservation Association in Joshua Tree National Park.
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Miho Aida
Educator, Filmmaker & Activist
Miho Aida (she/they) is originally from the Island of Rising Sun, aka Japan. The two characters of her name 民 (mi) 穂(ho) represents her parents’ wish for her to become a creator of the greater democracy