William Elliott
Buck, born in Colorado in 1950, has been captivated by the outdoors for most of his life. He is the founder of Paragon Guides and Paragon Odysseys. Providing unique adventure-based experiences for individuals, families and organizations in an atmosphere that promotes an appreciation for the natural environment while providing both reflective and challenging opportunities to explore their spirit of adventure.
Buck is a certified coach through the Hudson Institute and has a passionate curiosity for exploring the human journey and what shapes the spiritual quest. Buck's love of the mountains and interest in education and human development has involved him in a number of organizations. He was a founding director of the Vail Leadership Institute; a founding director of the 10th Mountain Division Hut System; has served on the Board of Fountain Valley School; a past president of the Wipigaki Community; a past president of the Edges Coaching Community; a past Board Chair for the Walking Mountains Science School and continues to serve on the Board. Buck has also worked for a number of years with the Colorado Outward Bound School, as well as Colorado Mountain College and the Center for Creative Leadership.
Buck and his wife Holly have been active supporters of both humanitarian and educational endeavors both within the Vail Valley and beyond for many years. They live in Edwards, Colorado along with their two dogs and have three children: Piper, a life coach and OR consultant, who lives in Seattle with her husband JJ; Will who lives in Edwards and guides for Paragon Guides; and Meg who lives in Seattle and is pursuing a Masters Degree in Organizational Psychology.
"Our true calling is found in our natural intentions. As we seek to deepen our understanding of ourselves, we may find ourselves inextricably linked to our natural environment, both as a metaphor for our own lives and as a way of affirming life itself." "I feel that my commitment to both my family and the community helps me to better understand and reflect upon the spiritual aspects of my life and the values that support my sense of purpose. My life goal is to be an ongoing student of the human condition and pass along a more compassionate understanding of living to another generation."
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Richard J. Leider
Founder and Chairman of The Inventure Group, a coaching and consulting firm in Minneapolis, MN, Richard has a worldwide practice working with leaders from organizations such as Ameriprise, Caterpillar, Ericsson, Habitat for Humanity, MetLife, Pfizer and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Richard is consistently rated as one of the top executive educators and coaches in the world. He is ranked by Forbes as one of the “Top 5” most respected executive coaches, by Linkage as one of the “Top 50” executive coaches, and by the Conference Board as a “legend in coaching.”
As a speaker and seminar leader, he has taught over 100,000 executives from 50 corporations worldwide. He is an adjunct faculty on executive education programs at Duke Corporate Education and the University of Minnesota Carlson School's Executive Development Center. He is a guest lecturer in the Harvard Business School's General Management Program.
Richard is the author of eight books, including three best sellers, and his work has been translated into 21 languages. Repacking Your Bags and The Power of Purpose are considered classics in the personal development field. Claiming Your Place at the Fire and Something to Live For, have been touted as breakthrough books on “positive aging.” He is a contributing author to many leading edge coaching books, including: Coaching for Leadership, The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching, Executive Coaching for Results, The Leader of the Future, and The Organization of the Future.
Richard holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling and is a Nationally Certified Master Career Counselor. He is a Carlson Executive Education Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. He is a Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing where he is a founder of The Purpose Project. As a commentator on work/life issues, Richard appears in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and USA Today, and on PBS public television, NPR public radio and other media sources. Along with his professional pursuits, Richard has led Inventure Expedition walking safaris in Tanzania, East Africa for 25 years.
A pioneer and leader in the field of coaching, Richard is widely recognized for his leading edge work on helping people discover “their calling” in work and life. His work received recognition from the Bush Foundation, from which he was awarded a Bush Fellowship to study “purposeful aging.” He was named a “Distinguished Alumni” by Gustavus Adolphus College and to the “Hall of Fame” at Central High School in St. Paul, MN. Believing passionately that each of us is born with a purpose, he is dedicated to helping people to “discover the power of purpose.”
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Terry Minger
Terry Minger is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Piton Foundation in Denver, Colorado. He is also the President of the Gary-Williams Foundation. Prior to his recent appointment as Piton CEO, he served as Chairman of the Piton Foundation Board. The Gary-Williams Company is an established Denver, Colorado energy company, led by oil and gas pioneers Sam Gary and his partner Ron Williams. The Gary-Williams Company has a 40 year history in business and philanthropy, identifying the Piton Foundation as one of its active operating divisions. Minger’s role is to build a strategic link between the business and its community investment objectives – creating successful outcomes for Colorado’s struggling children and families. Minger plans to enlist the broader business community, political leaders, and public institutions in the foundation/company’s initiative in a Denver-Aurora “children’s corridor”.
Prior to this, Terry served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Resource Management (CRM). The CRM is a Colorado-Utah based non-profit organization that, since its’ founding in 1981 by Robert Redford, has been dedicated to environmental problem solving and bringing together parties with divergent, often conflicting interests, to find common ground and reach sustainable solutions.Some of Minger’s accomplishments have included chairing Wal-Mart’s Environmental Advisory Board; leading the Golf and the Environment Initiative; directing the North American Telecommunications Environmental Initiative; co-leading the Western Charter Project with Daniel Kemmis of the University of Montana, and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation; and serving as the Chairman of the Western Consensus Council. In 2002, Minger was appointed Chairman of Three Sisters Mountain Village, LTD in Canmore, Alberta - a 2,000 acre resort centered around health, wellness and adventure. Minger has written two books on the impacts of growth and development in the Rocky Mountain West, and Greenhouse Glasnost, on the United States and Russia’s impact on global climate change. He is founder and Honorary Chairman of the 40 year old Vail Symposium on environmental and development issues facing the West and co-founder of the Western Rendezvous, a diverse gathering of westerners to discuss critical regional issues. He has served on the boards of the Board of Human Services for the City and County of Denver, Mile High Montessori, Colorado Open Lands, the Rene Dubos Foundation, the Piton Foundation, the Stapleton Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities, Water Watch Partnership, and the Vail Leadership Institute, and the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission. Minger is a frequent writer and speaker on children and families, education, green business, sustainable communities, health and wellness, and global environmental and resource management issues. As CEO of the Center for Resource Management, he organized a “Sustainable Summits” conference held in Vail, Colorado to provide a forum for constructive national dialogue between the ski industry, environmental community, and others focused on sustaining the health of mountain ecosystems; served as Project Director for Wal-Mart’s “Eco-Mart” prototype stores in Lawrence, Kansas; Moore, Oklahoma; and City of Industry, California; organized and co-chaired the First Sustainable Business and Advertising Awards Conference at the United Nations; conducted an environmental corporate assessment of Ben & Jerry’s; hosted the founding conference on “Golf & the Environment” at the Pebble Beach and Pinehurst Resorts; and co-founded Leadership Vail Valley. Minger received a B.A. in History and Economics from Baker University, an M.P.A. from the University of Kansas, and an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado. He was an urban Executive Fellow, Sloan School of Management at M.I.T., a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies at Harvard University, and a graduate of the Executive Management Program at Stanford University. Minger has taught Environmental Ethics at the University of Denver (DU) and Sustainable Mountain Resort Communities at the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business. Minger received the 1999 Jane Silverstein Ries Foundation Award for his lifelong environmental contributions to the Rocky Mountain West. He also received, along with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Onondaga Nation Chief Oren Lyons, one of the first Solstice “Sacred Mountain, Sacred Earth” Gold Medals in 2005 for his lifetime of service to the environment.
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Paula Palmateer
Paula and her husband, Oran, have lived in the Vail Valley for 40 years, arriving in July 1970 for a winter, and haven’t left!
The first 9 years, they lived in Lionshead, as property and rental managers at the Westwind. As Vail residents, Paula became very active in the business community, and the political world. She was elected to the Vail Town Council, and served as President of the Vail Resort Association (VRA, now known as the Vail Valley Partnership) for 3 years. In the early days, the VRA, was the reservations and marketing arm for Vail, as well as serving as Vail’s Chamber of Commerce.
Paula continued her involvement in the resort world, consulting for the Mammoth Lakes, CA business community, and working on special events i.e., the American Ski Classic, World Cup, and eventually, on the organizing committee for the 1989 World Alpine Ski Championships, as the volunteer coordinator. She brought together 1,200 people to carry out a wide variety of tasks, helping to make the ’89 Championships a successful event.
From 1989-1995, Paula’s world became larger than the Valley…..traveling to NYC in the summer of 1989, working as a volunteer in a private, homeless community in Harlem, which led to a partnership in creating a non-profit org. in Central Harlem. “StandUp Harlem” provided housing and support services to the homeless and addicted, who were also HIV+. Paula’s focus in 1997 turned back home, when she and several others formed Red Ribbon Project, a non-profit that provides awareness, education, prevention and support around HIV/AIDS in Eagle County. She remains active with RRP, acting as its volunteer Executive Director until 2009, and continuing to serve on its Board of Directors.
Paula’s relationship with Vail Leadership Institute began in 1997, the year the White River Institute (now VLI) was incorporated. She facilitated a planning retreat for founding members and supporters of VLI. She has worked with VLI in various capacities since then, most recently agreeing to become a member of the White River Council, mentoring a group of young leaders in the non-profit world in Eagle County.
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Sarah Smith-Orr – Chairman Emeritus
Sarah Smith Orr is the owner/principal in a management and planning consulting firm, Smith Orr & Associates specializing in the social/nonprofit sector. She is an adjunct professor at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) teaching leadership and governance in the social/nonprofit sector, a lecturer for the Women’s Studies Program at CGU, and also a guest lecturer at the Claremont McKenna College in the area of leadership studies.
She is currently serving as the Interim Executive Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute (KLI). She is also a founding member of the Board of Advisors for KLI. She and colleague, Ron Riggio co-edited and published Improving Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations (Jossey-Bass, 2003), a text that includes chapters she authored or co-authored; one entitled “Soul-Based Leadership,” the other “Transformational Leadership.” She also wrote a book chapter entitled, “Women Directors in the Board Room: Adding Value, Making a Difference,” included in Boardroom Realities, with Jay Conger, Editor (Jossey-Bass). The Drucker Difference, a compilation of essays on the ‘Drucker Difference’ includes Sarah’s chapter “The Twenty-First Century: The Century of the Social Sector,” (McgrawHill, 2009).
Sarah is a certified trainer and a member of the Advisory Board for the Connective Leadership Institute. Due to her deep interest in the role of leaders and a commitment to support the advancement of women, she has been involved in the founding/start-up of Leadership California, a statewide educational program for women leaders in California (founding Executive Director), Leadership Berks County and Leadership Pasadena.
She currently serves as the Chair of the Vail Leadership Institute’s Board of Scholars and as a founding member of the National Advisory Forum for The Women’s Museum, An Institute for the Future. She serves as a member of the advisory board for The Global Women’s Research Institute and the Applied Women’s Studies Advisory Committee, both based at Claremont Graduate University. She recently completed a term on the board of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Sarah holds an Executive MBA from Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and is currently completing her PhD in Education at CGU. Sarah lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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John S. Tamerin, M.D.
John S. Tamerin, M.D., practices clinical psychiatry in Greenwich, Connecticut. He serves as a Clinical Associate Professor at the Weill /Cornell Medical College where he has taught resident psychiatrists and medical students for over twenty years the skills of interviewing and psychotherapy. Dr. Tamerin has twice been honored by the graduating residents in the Department of Psychiatry and chosen Teacher of The Year “in recognition of his outstanding contribution as teacher and scholar”. Dr. Tamerin has been repeatedly selected by his peers as one of the “Best Doctors In America” and is regularly included in the Castle Connolly Guide of Best Doctors in the New York Metropolitan Area.
Dr. Tamerin’s interests and commitments have been wide ranging. He has served as a member of the American Psychiatric’s Association’s Committee on Psychiatry and Religion. He is a member of the Group For The Advancement of Psychiatry’s Committee on Alcoholism and the Addictions and has been an active participant in the Committee’s development of several significant monographs and books in the field of addiction. Dr. Tamerin is also a member of the American College of Psychiatrists and a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He has published extensively.
He has been a faculty member at the Yad Vashem Center of Holocaust Studies in Jerusalem. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). Dr. Tamerin is currently the psychiatric consultant to the Greenwich Connecticut Chapter of the National Depression and Bipolar Alliance.
Dr. Tamerin is an enthusiastic jazz musician who plays the alto saxophone. He is married to Susan Penry-Williams and has two children and four grandchildren.
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Bob Vanourek
Bob is a dynamic and popular speaker and consultant, drawing upon his considerable turnaround experience with NY Stock Exchange companies and non-profit organizations. He has taught leadership at Denver University and at Colorado Mountain College, is Chairman Emeritus of the Vail Leadership Institute, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Enterprise Ethics at Denver University. Bob has served on the boards of and consults with numerous businesses and community organizations
From 1995 to 1999 as CEO, Bob guided Sensormatic, a $1 billion NYSE company, through a successful turnaround after major accounting irregularities were discovered by the SEC. During his tenure, cash flow improved from a perilous -$100 million/year to +$100 million. Previously, Bob was appointed CEO of Recognition Equipment Inc, a $250 million NYSE company, after it was accused of illegal activities. His leadership team settled all litigation, downsized the company 40%, rebuilt it to its previous size, and arranged a successful merger.
Bob has served as Group VP and Division President of two major divisions of Pitney Bowes and VP, General Manager of two divisions of Avery International. All these challenges resulted in strategic turnarounds including the introduction of successful new product lines in half the previous development time.
Bob’s businesses have won numerous local, state, and national awards including a state-level Malcolm Baldrige Quality Prize and the Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Excellence (shortly after Bob left). He was Group VP of Pitney Bowes' core mailing machine business during the time PB was identified by Jim Collins in Good to Great as one of the eleven "great companies."
Bob is a Baker Scholar (top 5%) graduate of the Harvard Business School and a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University in economics. He has attended Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Program for teaching leadership, and was certified by Phi Theta Kappa as a leadership instructor. Bob and his wife, June, have been married since 1963 and have two sons and five grandchildren. They won the Colorado Governor’s Award for Volunteer Service in 2003.
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Larry Donnithorne
Dr. Larry Donnithorne began his formal higher education at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and he later earned two master's degrees from Stanford University (in economics and civil engineering) and his doctorate in education from Harvard University.
Dr. Donnithorne's years of military service after West Point led him initially into assignments within the Army Corps of Engineers in places including Vietnam and Korea. He maintained an active registration as a Professional Engineer for many years. He has served in varied executive roles ranging from commanding a company of 150 soldiers in combat in Vietnam and managing construction projects as the resident engineer to serving as president of two colleges.
Dr. Donnithorne also served for thirteen years on the staff and faculty of the United States Military Academy at West Point, teaching ethics and leadership and assisting the Superintendent with reforms of the institution’s character development and leader development programs. His book, The West Point Way of Leadership: From Learning Principled Leadership to Practicing It, was published by Doubleday (now Random House) in 1994 and has been used in numerous leadership development programs. A book review appearing in the Harvard Business Review concluded that “the West Point model of leadership is a fascinating and insightful one, one that Donnithorne presents modestly, carefully, and convincingly.... The philosophy that underlies it...is based on moral principle, timeless values, and the leader’s selfless commitment to others.”
When Dr. Donnithorne retired from active Army service, he served for fourteen years as president of two colleges: one in North Carolina and the other in the Denver area of Colorado. Retiring from the presidency of Colorado Christian University in 2006, he was honored as President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Leadership. He now teaches ethical leadership in the US and abroad.
Among his military decorations, Dr. Donnithorne received the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star (with 1 oak leaf cluster), Meritorious Service Medal (with 3 olc), Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal (with 2 olc), Army Achievement Medal, and the Vietnam Service Medal with 5 bronze service stars.
Dr. Donnithorne has been married since 1969 to Fran Donnithorne, and they have four adult children. In his leisure time he enjoys reading, hiking, and snowboarding.
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Randy J. Simmonds
Randy J. Simmonds, Ph.D. serves as the Clinical Director of the Samaritan Center of the Rockies. Dr. Simmonds graduated from Memphis State University in 1973, and also holds three graduate degrees in theology and counseling. He finished a Master of Divinity in 1977, a Master of Theology in 1982 and a Ph.D. in Pastoral Counseling and Psychology in 1986. In addition he did post doctoral studies in Marriage and Family Studies from 1987-1988.
Dr. Simmonds has served in a variety of pastoral and counseling positions over the last 25 years. He was on Young Life Student Staff during his seminary work, youth minister in Louisiana and Kentucky, Staff Chaplain at Baptist Hospital in Louisville, KY, Executive Director of the Samaritan Counseling Center in Shreveport, LA, from 1986-1992, Executive Director of the Samaritan Counseling Center in Atlanta, GA from 1992-1997, Interim Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Vail, CO from 1999-2000, Interim Pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Edwards, CO from 2001-2003, and currently the Clinical Director of the Samaritan Center of the Rockies in Vail, CO.
In addition to these vocational positions, Dr. Simmonds has served in a variety of academic leadership positions. He served as Field supervisor, School of Church Careers, Centenary College, Shreveport, LA, from 1978-1980; Laboratory Instructor, Dept of Psychology of Religion, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY, from 1980-1982; Pastoral Counseling Resident, The Pastoral Counseling Center, University of Louisville Medical School, Wayne E. Oates, supervisor in 1983; Supervisor, Supervised Experience in Ministry, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY, from 1981-1984; Garrett Teaching Fellow, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY, 1981-1985; Campus Group Leader, School of Church Careers, Centenary College, Shreveport, LA, 1991-1992; Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Colorado Mountain College, Vail, CO, 1998-2000, 2010-present
Dr. Simmonds is a Licensed Professional Counselor, State of Colorado; a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and has served on a variety of leadership positions with that organization, most recently as chair of the Finance Committee for AAPC. He is a Clinical Member, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy; a Clinical Member, Colorado Association for Marriage and Family Therapy; served on the Adjunctive Staff, CPC Brentwood Psychiatric Hospital, Shreveport, LA, 1986-1992; was a Member, Family Relations Council of Louisiana, 1989-1990, and on the Board of Directors, 1989-1990 and Chairperson, Counseling Committee, 1989-1990.
His civic involvement includes being named as “Outstanding Young Men of America” by the Jaycees in 1983; Who’s Who in the South and Southwest in 1990; Executive Board Member, Boy Scouts of America, Norwela Council, Shreveport, LA, from 1991-1992; and a member of the Rotary Club of the Eagle Valley, 1997 – 2005
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