Board of Directors

Board members support POH by:

• Supporting the mission and vision
• Attending monthly Board meetings, and other ongoing volunteer needs
• Supporting POH financially, attending and promoting fundraising events, connecting POH to potential funding sources
• Helping POH adhere to its strategic plan
• Bringing a sense of humor, creativity, and a commitment to youth empowerment

Although not required to, many of our Board members opt to attend at least one youth program per year to re-energize themselves and to connect with the youth.

The Power of Hope is committed to the development of a diverse, multicultural staff and we seek Board members that bring a diversity of age, race or cultural background, economic background, and experience to our membership.

For more information on how to apply for future Board openings, please contact our Executive Director, Mark Smith at msmith@powerofhope.org or (206) 938-6090.

Board of Directors: Power of Hope USA  

Mary Ledbury
Mary Ledbury joined the board as treasurer in December 2008. Mary is a consultant assisting medical practices in streamlining operations and implementing electronic health record systems. She brings a background in technology and operational management to the POH team. A seasoned IT professional, Mary is helping us upgrade our hand-me-down computers. As treasurer she is re-working financial reports to make them more useful to the board.

Kelly Smith
Kelly has worked and volunteered together in the non-profit sector for more than ten years, serving teens and youth. Kelly is a buyer for Nordstrom Rack. She has two children, a boy and a girl ages 13 and 11 who can’t wait to be Power of Hopers themselves one day.

Bill & Jeanne Carroll
Jeanne and Bill Carroll are our Founding Board Chairs and have been deeply committed to Power of Hope since 1997. They volunteer each year as Summer Camp counselors and 'elders' where they've witnessed first-hand the transformation that inevitably occurs. In1999 they launched Power of Hope-Whatcom County to help POH move from just summer programs to work with youth throughout the school year.

Jeanne particularly loves working with teens and staff to identify their strengths, values and passions and use them in service to our world. Bill has been a strong, quiet voice in support of teens and adds wisdom to the organization as a whole. He's cooked for weekend youth programs, as well as staff, board and facilitator retreats.

The Carroll's have a thriving professional practice as organizational consultants primarily serving the technology sector. They have grandchildren who attend PoH programs and a nephew who believes PoH is "the best program for teens in the universe." 

  Jonathan Keith
Jonathan H. Keith is a swing dancer, croquet player and lawyer. He joined the board after seeing the Power of Hope firsthand as a mentor and teaching artist at one of the week-long summer camps. He hopes to use his critical thinking skills for good, not evil.

James Sutter
James Lafond Sutter is an award-winning writer, game designer, and musician. A repeat youth participant in his teens, he returned as Power of Hope's Camp Manager in 2004 before joining the Board of Directors in 2008. He currently works as an editor for Paizo Publishing, writing and producing role-playing games and the Planet Stories novel line, and his own science fiction and fantasy stories have been translated into several languages around the globe. When not writing or creating impromptu art with his local community, he plays bass and sings for the local hardcore metal band Shadow at Morning. James attributes many of his personal achievements to his formative Power of Hope experience, and has believed since he was fifteen that this organization, more than any other, has the power to change the world for the better.
 

Board of Directors: Power of Hope Canada

Gloria B.N. Hansen
Gloria B.N. Hansen is the Canadian Founding Board Chair. She has been a devotee of Power of Hope since 2002 when she became a member of the Gettin’ Higher Choir, a major supporter of PoH, through their annual fundraising concerts in Victoria. Volunteering at several week-end events and seeing first-hand what a life-shifting experience PoH could make in the lives of youth (and adults) she was enthused about being able to serve on the board and bring some of her life experiences in the arts, in marketing and in board governance to this incredible organization. She is a parent and grandparent with a high regard for the capacity of youth to make a difference.

Ian Watson
Ian Watson, Chairman and C.E.O of Agrifirma Services Ltd which acquires and develops farmland in Brazil. Past Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Noetic Sciences http://www.noetic.org from 1999 to 2004. Chairman of the Global Board of Directors of The Hunger Project http://www.thp.org 1987-1991. He divides his time between London and Cortes Island, BC. He became interested in Power of Hope after his teenage daughter attended the camp on Cortes.  www.ianwatson.biz

Kathryn Molloy
Kathryn Molloy is a foremost a writer, musician and loves to cook for her friends and family. For exercise she practices yoga, madly tears down the road on rollerblades or her bicycle and whenever possible drops her kayak in the ocean for a paddle. She is passionate about gardening and growing her own food. Her career has been in non-profit management (primarily environment and sustainability focused) and that is how she bumped into The Power of Hope, helping them to develop a Canadian brand and subsequent funding plan. Her kids attended camp in Victoria over a decade ago and it had a huge impact on their lives. Kathryn lives with her artist/musician husband on Gabriola Island and is delighted to volunteer on the Board of Power of Hope.

Laura and Livingston Finch
Laura and Livingston Finch joined the POH Canada board in the summer of 2009. Laura Finch is a social entrepreneur, working actively in her community bridging First Nations with the dominant culture. She is a business entrepreneur: owner a bagel cafe in the Cowichan Valley where she employs young adults and loves the vibrancy of their interaction. Laura also has extensive experience doing group work as a multicultural trainer, focusing on race relations work and personal and professional development training. As part of that work, she has served mostly with disenfranchised populations: women in prison, immigrants, first nations, and people living in poverty. She is excited to be on the board of POH because she loves the idea of supporting youth in leadership, especially the unrecognized ones. Laura and Livingston have two sons, Paul (25) and Adam (23).

Livingston joined the POH board mainly because of an energizing and inspiring interaction with POH youth who performed gumboot dance with the Gettin' Higher Choir, which Livingston in a part of. Livingston runs a small private counselling practice in the Cowichan Valley of B.C. He loves playing music, swimming, cooking, meditating and studying the ways that scientific treatises expound proofs of a universal intelligence. He enjoys watching his and Laura's two sons engage the world, willing to face their challenges with courage and confidence.