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The GCC Board of Directors Nominees for 2009
The GCC board is made up of a Chairperson, Co-Chairperson, Treasurer,
Secretary and multiple Directors at Large.
The election will take place on November 21, 2009.
Co-Chair - Chris Moratz
The GCC Chair
- be the chief officer of the Board;
- preside at all meetings of the Board and call special and emergency
meetings;
- perform such other duties as customarily pertain to the office
of Chair, and shall have general and active supervision over the
property, business, and affairs of the Board and its officers;
- sign, execute, and acknowledge, in the Coalition's name, contracts,
deeds, mortgages, bonds, and/or other instruments authorized by the Board,
except as otherwise provided in these Bylaws, and/or by law;
- appoint standing committees and their members with the approval
of the Board, appoint special committees and their members, appoint
all committee chairs;
- serve on all committees as a member ex officio, without right to
vote;
- delegate such of these duties as is reasonable; and
- perform such other duties as may be required from time to
time by the Board or these Bylaws.
- A Director must be an active Director for at least one year
in order to be eligible for the Chair position, except for the
initial election of officers after the adoption of these Bylaws.
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Chris Moratz, has been involved with the GCC since its inception,
and was recently designated Regional Coordinator for the Gunks and Catskills.
William Christopher "Chris" Moratz born in Pasadena, California in 1961
grew up with many moves and changes all around the US and Europe.
Chris started rock climbing in 1980, discovering the Shawangunks from his home
base of Ithaca, NY at the time. After a traditional "old school" apprenticeship
of a few years, he was a regular at the cliffs. Over the years Chris kept a
fairly low profile and climbed with only a few regular partners, with his
Gunks climbing career interrupted first in 1986 when a foreign assignment
took him to live in Germany for an extended period of over two years - fortunately
right "next door" to the Frankenjura - then returning in 1989 when his life
took another turn with marriage and life in Western NY followed by the
Boston area. After a divorce in 1994, he decided to settle permanently in
his beloved Shawangunks, after all, this sense of place has never been equaled
for Chris in any other region in which he has lived. In 1995, his long standing
dream came true when he purchased a house on Sandhill Road in the Town of
Shawangunk with a beautiful view of Skytop. His corporate engineering job
again took him away to Germany from 2001 to 2002 but since then he has
enjoyed the local mountains more than ever.
In addition to rock climbing, Chris also boulders frequently at a moderate
level. His favorite cliff is Millbrook, which admittedly both terrifies and
fascinates like no other climbing area. "It reminds me of a remote
mountain fastness or citadel, shrouded in mystery, with unique, unparalled
imposing beauty and wildness, a place where the climbing gods dwell."
Since this is one of the greatest climbing areas anywhere and a great
community, Chris feels lucky to serve and "give back" to a
place that has given him so much.
When not climbing rock, ice or bouldering, Chris is an avid
road cyclist in the summer and a cross country skier (member of
the ski patrol at Minnewaska State Park) in the winter. First and
foremost an artist and creative person, he also maintains a small art
pottery studio out of his house on Sandhill Road. His profession in
mechanical engineering has turned into a 15 year career with the same
company and a staff-level position.
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Co-Chair - Ajax Greene
The GCC Co-Chair
- Have such powers and perform such duties as may be assigned
by the Board or the Chair.
- In the absence or disability of the Chair, the Co-Chair shall
perform the duties, and exercise the powers, of the Chair.
- sign, execute, and acknowledge, in the Coalition's name,
contracts, deeds, mortgages, bonds, and/or other instruments
authorized by the Board, except as otherwise provided in these
Bylaws, and/or by law;
- A Director must be an active Director for at least one year in
order to be eligible for the Co-Chair position, except for the
initial election of officers after the adoption of these Bylaws.
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Ajax Greene has been climbing for 37 years and
specifically actively climbing in the Gunks
since 1970. With about 100 FA & FFA's in over a
dozen states and several countries Ajax did his
time living in the dirt with the play volume on
11. Ajax has been active in access issues since
almost the beginning, including supporting several
of the early Access Fund rendezvous' and being the
organizer of the 1994 Access Fund Rendezvous in North
Conway, NH the most successful fund raising event for
the Access Fund up until that time. Although Ajax has
participated in all forms of climbing (hiking, biking,
skiing etc) and appreciates them all, today he is
struggling not to rack up vendetta's on trad routes
he used to solo for a warm up. Beside climbing Ajax
is a leader nationally in the socially conscious
business movement. He brings both an executive mind
set and advocate's passion to the GCC.
Ajax views the GCC as a platform for progressive
climber world domination. Long live the radical center!
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Treasurer - Dana Perry, CPA
The GCC Treasurer
- have charge and custody of all funds of the Board;
- shall maintain, or cause to be maintained, an accurate
accounting system;
- shall perform or cause to be performed all other duties
as are customary and incident to the office which may be assigned
by the Chair or the Board.
- present, or cause to be presented, financial reports to
the Board in such manner as the Board may determine; and
- Upon the Board's decision, the Treasurer shall arrange
for an audit of the Corporation's books.
- In the absence or disability of the Chair and the
Co-Chair, the Treasurer shall perform the duties and exercise the
powers of the Chair.
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I am a long time traditional rock climber that started climbing in the late 70's at Sky Top.
I've since climbed in Yosemite, Red Rocks, Acadia, New Hampshire and the Daks.
I am a CPA and MBA from Columbia Business School with some not for profit experience.
My purpose for joining is to facilitate the mission of the GCC. I am a strong
traditionalist but feel that the best way that I can help further the cause is by
helping out with the administrative aspects of the GCC. To that end I have been
helping keep the books for the past year or so and recently was named acting Treasurer.
Thank you for your support.
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Secretary - Jannette Wing Pazer
The GCC Secretary
- give, or cause to be given, notice of all meetings;
- take, or arrange for the recording of, minutes of each meeting;
- record, or cause to be recorded, all votes of the Board;
- keep, or cause to be kept, all books, papers, writing,
and other records of the Board;
- have custody of any seal or official stamp; and
- shall perform or cause to be performed all other duties
as are customary and incident to the office which may be assigned by
the Chair or the Board.
- In the absence or disability of the Chair and the
Co-Chair, the Secretary shall perform the duties
and exercise the powers of the Chair.
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I have been rock climbing at the Gunks since 1981, first learning how to
climb from my college outing club, and later from partners who served as
mentors to me. I have also climbed in various other areas in America and Mexico.
I have a degree in computer science and a career background in UNIX operating
systems development and program management. I am the webmaster for the Gunks
Climbers' Coalition, the Working Mothers' Network of Millburn and Short Hills,
and my own website, cliffmama.com.
I also administer online mailing lists for 4 groups, including the GCC.
In my past I have been secretary and newsletter editor of the Syracuse University
Outing Club and for 2 caving clubs, the Northern New Jersey Grotto, and the
Shawangunk-Catskill Area Grotto. I am also a life member of the Mohonk Preserve and
contribute to numerous environmental organizations.
As secretary of the Gunks Climbers' Coalition, I will continue what I have been
doing since the organization's inception: helping in any way I can to
communicate our mission, and using the computer to help disseminate information.
While the official role as Secretary does not include the webmaster and mailing
list administration roles, as the GCC "Geek", I enjoy being able to contribute
by taking on any computer-related jobs for the organization.
This includes maintaining our gunksclimbers.org website, our Facebook Gunks
Climbers' Coalition Fan Page, administering our mailing list, administering the
GCC Board of Directors' google group, sending out email news flashes to our
membership and a wider audience of interested climbers, participating in climbing
website discussion groups and posting GCC announcements there.
As Secretary, my tasks include archiving letters and memorabilia from our
activities, taking minutes at our meetings, and participating in GCC planning,
events and decisions. I also contribute material to our newsletter and website,
I would like to ensure that we disseminate information from the GCC board to the Gunks
climbing community at large on a timely basis.
Because of my background as a program manager for large computer software projects,
I also contribute by helping with project coordination within the GCC, making to-do
lists, sending out reminders to the team, keeping track of our schedules, and planning
events.
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Director of Communications - France Menk
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A brief climbing history:
My climbing career started when I was still less than 3' high, with chairs, garage roofs and
fences. After my hire as an Outward Bound instructor in expedition travel at the Minnesota
school, I changed to rock as a climbing medium. I was the first woman to complete a mountain
search & rescue course with Norwich University in Vermont. Outside of New Paltz, New England,
Minnesota and Western Ontario, I have climbed in Switzerland, the UK, Australia and Spain.
For hobnobbing ;-), I've climbed with our own Dick Williams, Tony Sartin, Peter Darmi and
Julie Seyfert in the Gunks, with Dougal Haston in Switzerland, and have scrambled on the
bottom slopes of Everest and Annapurna. I engage in buildering from time to time (that's
not a typo). I moved to New Paltz 15 years ago to be nearer the Gunks and still be able
to travel to New York City within a reasonable time frame.
Relevant career history to aspiration to the position as communications and PR outreach director
for the GCC:
My professional career has spanned TV commercial storyboard design; editorial & corporate
identity design; fashion, editorial and political illustration; political cartooning; photojournalism,
photo editing for the web as well as print and fine art photography and multimedia design.
I maintain a website: france-menk.com, as well as some blogs (linked from website).
My contribution to the GCC started at its inception as a contributing member of the team writing
its mission statement. I designed our logo, the logo for the newsletter and the logo for our news
flashes. I now wish to expand my role to Director of communications and marketing; design; and
fund-raising coordinator.
My design and production work extends to any print material we need such as posters, stickers,
membership cards, brochures, maps, etc. And now, that we are engaged in projects that require
major monetary contributions, I will be heavily involved with fund-raising and attendant publicity.
With regard to my background in fund-raising: I have been on the American Cancer Society Special
Events Committee in Manhattan, involved in raising millions of dollars.
I find the design of information products for our outreach with the entire
community - along with the outreach itself as mentioned above - in addition
to participating in our policy meetings - to be the most effective way for me
to contribute to the coalition. I always look forward to working closely with
fellow members, both with the Board-of-Directors and with our extremely
supportive community at large.
My door is always open.
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Director-at-Large - Peter Cody
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I have been climbing in the Gunks for 30 years. I currently guide part-time
for High Xposure and teach piano and composition privately and at Dutchess
County Community College. I am currently most interested in access issues.
I believe that the climbing community is a resource that the land managers
can use. I think the Gunks Climbers Coalition can be a way of tapping into
that resource and organizing it.
I am also interested in exploring the GCC's role as representatives of the
climbing community.
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Director-at-Large - Dawes Strickler
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1990 was the first time I drove down RT 299 into New Paltz and saw the Shawangunk Ridge,
I knew at that time that this area was the place for me to live, grow and develop my climbing;
19 years later I am still here exploring and learning about the unique and diverse aspects of
the area. Since then my lively hood and pastime continues to be tied to the ridge. The
opportunity to work with on improving access, monitoring and improving anchors, along with
building sustainable programs for all user groups in the Gunks are at the forefront of my
mission with the GCC. Currently I work at the United States Military Academy teaching in the
Department of Physical Education, overseeing all of their climbing programs.
Even though my work involves climbing my dedication to climbing and the area has not diminished.
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Director-at-Large - Doug Ferguson
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Doug is the owner and one of the head guides for Mountain Skills
Climbing Guides. His love for the mountains and outdoors was seeded
while growing up in Michigan, skiing competitively in high school.
After clocking in 5 years at Kendall College of Art and Design in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, Doug discovered rock climbing while living in
Boulder, Colorado. This led him to the New River Gorge in West
Virginia were he started guiding and climbing full time. West
Virginia also gave Doug a first hand view of southern-style climbing
access activism by working for the founders of NRAC. Doug and his wife
Christie moved to the Gunks five years ago so Christie could
participate in a dual masters program at Bard College. Christie has
since moved on to become the Executive Director for the Wallkill
Valley Land Trust. While here at New Paltz, Doug has worked for Rock
and Snow, as well as guided rock, ice and hiking. As a board member of
the Gunks Climbers Coalition, Doug wants to improve climber/ land
owner relations and to engage area resources in order to empower the
GCC, making it more relevant in the public's eye. |
Director-at-Large - Dana Bol
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I have been climbing for 5 years and have climbed extensively in the Northeast as well as the
western states. Not uncommonly, climbing changed my life and became an integral part of my
identity and spiritual life. My mentor and climbing partner Dana Bartlett has been climbing
at the `gunks since 1975 and through him I have learned many of the traditions and rich
history of this special place. And heard a lot of the stories!
My focus is on preservation and reducing impact. I also realize that times are changing and a
certain level of modernity must enter into the equation. We are at a crucial juncture with our
natural world and I believe education is a crucial step in helping preserve what we already have.
When I'm not climbing, I am a film editor with a specialization in visual effects and
recently relocated to Beacon to be nearer to the cliffs. This winter I will be working
with the Children's Media Project in Poughkeepsie-a non profit that creates films and
curricula for children facing issues of poverty and risk.
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© Copyright 2003, 2004 - Gunks Climbers' Coalition - All Rights Reserved
Gunks Climbers Coalition - PO Box 325 - Gardiner, NY 12525
Contact us at:
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