Where Learning is an Adventure!

Danielle Moser
President
Evergreen Parent

Danielle is the proud mom of both middle school and primary grade students. She has a passion for learning and believes Evergreen facilitates that passion in its students! Professionally, she is a consultant for Right Management, a global talent solutions company doing career and executive level coaching. She works in a virtual environment with clients from all over the US and occasionally international locations. She also is a managing partner in Blended Learning Team LLC, a career services firm that specializes in helping individuals create more meaningful work lives.

Danielle’s consulting and coaching experience in the career management field spans almost 17 years, and straddles both the North American and European continents. With her passion for helping people lead better lives through better work, it is the thread that unifies her experience through careers in organizational effectiveness consulting, corporate training, management analysis, and retail management. Danielle completed her BS in Business/Marketing from Providence College, before pursuing a Masters in Education (Human Resource Development) from the University of Southern Maine. Along the way, she also served as a Graduate Assistant with Dale Carnegie, and has completed Doctoral-level coursework in Leadership at the University of San Diego.

Tyson Miller
Vice President
Evergreen Parent

Tyson Miller is the proud parent of two Evergreen children and a social entrepreneur and leader in the environmental movement who has been developing new organizations and initiatives since 1993. Starting at age 20, he has focused his efforts on increasing public awareness, spreading success models, and catalyzing sustainability in markets.

Since that time, he has completed a documentary on success models in environmental education and founded or co-founded multiple organizations and initiatives (SEE Innovation, Green Press Initiative, Dream of a Nation, Recycled Products Cooperative).

He and/or his programs have received awards from the U.S. EPA and have been featured on NPR, ABC news, BBC Radio, the New York Times, and others.

Dan Leroy
Treasurer
Evergreen Parent

Dan is Co-Counder and Co-Executive Director or Green Opportunities, an Asheville-based nonprofit dedicated to improving lives, communities and the health of the environment through green collar jobs training and placement programs. Originally from Connecticut, Dan spent most of his adult life in northern California before moving to North Carolina in 2007.

He enjoys riding his bike in the mountains, practicing Tai Chi, and hanging with his wife and two boys, Leif (Evergreen 1st Grade) and Kai (age 3).

Jennifer Harsch
Secretary
Evergreen Parent

Jennifer is the mother of three Evergreen students. Jennifer graduated from West Virginia University with a BS in Journalism. She worked for three years in Washington DC as a reporter for a news service and then moved to Atlanta where she worked in advertising sales.

She also worked in customer service at REI, attended Cosmetology School and was a hairstylist for several years. For the past three years Jennifer has been an active volunteer at Evergreen.

She is a member of the PAL committee, where she helped plan and organize the Spelling Bee/Contest and has been a coach for the Odyssey of the Mind teams for two years in a row.

Ingrid Bolick
Evergreen Parent

Ingrid grew up in Florence, SC. She later moved to NC and graduated from UNC-Greensboro in 1991 with a BA in Psychology. Ingrid relocated to Boone, NC to work with disabled adults for several years. She then became certified in massage therapy in 1996 from the NC School of Natural Healing and worked as a massage therapist for several years. In 2008 Ingrid received a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Appalachian State University.

Since 2007 she has worked at Family Preservation Services as a school based and family therapist. She works with adolescents in their homes and schools managing mental health issues using systemic and solution focused strategies. Ingrid served on her Fairview Forest Homeowner Association Board for two years as director and secretary. Ingrid has two children at Evergreen.

Forrest will be in seventh grade and Sawyer will be in third grade in the fall of 2011. Ingrid and her husband, Gary, live in Fairview, NC with their family.


Richard Foor
Evergreen Parent

Richard Foor and his wife Tina reside in Leicester, NC with their three daughters Phaidra, Eilonwy, and Eidela and house full of pets. This is his 4th year as an Evergreen parent and he is an active member of the school’s SIT committee. Ricky is an Asheville native and is deeply rooted in WNC.

Ricky has been the IT Director of Hot Springs Health Program for 5 years and is excited about his first year on the Board of Directors. When work is done, Ricky enjoys hiking, camping, snowboarding, and finding new ways to enjoy and challenge his family in these beautiful mountains!

Susan C. Gottfried, Executive Director
Evergreen Staff

Susan Gottfried has a B.S. degree in Special Education; an M.Ed. in Special Education, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of NC-Greensboro. Susan has worked as a School Improvement Consultant with the Southern Regional Education Board providing consultation, coaching and professional development to schools across the country implementing the school reform model, High Schools That Work/Making Middle Grades Work. Susan was also the Director of The Piedmont School, an independent school for children with learning disabilities, in High Point, NC.

Under her leadership TPS developed a Full Day program, significantly increased student enrollment, acquired numerous grants for the scholarship fund, held a successful $1.2 million capital campaign, and constructed a new facility. In her role of Executive Director at Evergreen, she provides forward-thinking leadership with strong organizational development skills.

She has led the school in aligning the many initiatives, programs and partnerships and creating a collaborative leadership team structure. Susan also led the school through the AdvancEd accreditation process, resulting in full accreditation. She has worked in partnership with board members and Samsel Architects through the master planning process. Susan strives to create structures and processes within which her highly skilled and passionate faculty and staff can create magical learning opportunities for children.

James Kilbourne
Evergreen Parent

With a law degree from UNC Law School, James is an attorney with Asheville’s Dungan Law Firm. He spends most of his time in court handling construction and real estate litigation. He is also a panel attorney for Federal Defenders of Western North Carolina, for Federal Criminal matters. Before returning to private practice, James was the first tribal prosecutor for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, receiving national recognition for his efforts on Justice in Indian County.

Graduating from Wofford College with a BA in History and Government while editing the college newspaper, James’ many interests have often been pulled him in many directions at once. For example, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Asheville Lyric Opera and is also a licensed judge for the North Carolina Boxing Authority.

James joined the Board because he believes, “Evergreen and my son's education are extremely important to me. I have always known that there is nothing more important than a good education."

Stuart Miles
Evergreen Staff

Stuart Miles is a native of Greenwood, South Carolina. Stuart graduated from the SC Governors School of Science and Mathematics and the University of Charleston. He is an alumni of Teach for America and completed his Masters Degree in Science Education from Montana State University in 2010. Stuart hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in 2005, and moved to Asheville in 2006.

Stuart was named the 2010-2011 North Carolina Charter School Teacher of the Year, and is a 2011 recipient of the Career Award in Science and Mathematics teachers from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.   In his free time he enjoys hiking, whitewater kayaking, reading, and Duke basketball.

 

Judith Pohl-Zaretsky
Evergreen Parent

Judith Pohl-Zaretsky is a proud parent of two boys who have attended Evergreen for the past three years. She is committed to finding ways to help engage children in critical thinking and learning skills and values the diversity and complexity of childhood development. She works as a clinical psychologist in private practice with children, teens and adults. In her spare time, she and her family have an alpaca farm and are usually found busily scooping poop.



Stu Ryman
Evergreen Parent

A native of Oregon, Stu has been a resident of the Asheville area since 1998.  He is a founder and co-owner of Altamont Environmental, Inc., a 20-person consulting firm focused on assessment and remediation of contaminated properties and restoration of streams and wetlands.  Stu’s daughter Lila is in sixth grade at Evergreen. His son Will graduated from Evergreen in 2009 and now attends Reynolds High.  Stu also serves as the Board Chair for the Cradle of Forestry in America Interpretative Association.  He lives in Fairview with his wife Nancy, his kids, some goats, dogs, cats, a guinea pig, and a bird.




Diane Silver
Community Member

Diane Silver moved to Asheville in 2003, as the result of an intentional process of seeking THE community to which she wanted to contribute her time and energy as a resident. With no job lined up and no family connections in the area, she chose Asheville for its natural beauty, mecca of both folk arts and outdoor recreation, sense of creativity, and spirit of entrepreneurship. She brought with her her expertise in Environmental Education, with an MS in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan, and 15 years of professional experience in residential EE, zoo education, water quality education, and international youth diplomacy programs.

Soon after moving to Western NC, she joined the Cooperative Extension Service (part of NC State University), as the Coordinator of the Mud Creek Watershed Restoration Project, in Henderson County, where she has worked for the last seven years. The watershed project involves broad education and behavioral marketing efforts aimed at landowners, local officials, businesses, and institutions. But her passion for K-12 EE drove her to develop a school-based component, which continues to thrive as the popular Kids-in-the-Creek program in Henderson County. Diane served for 6 years on the Board of Directors of Environmental Educators of North Carolina (EENC), the state professional organization for environmental educators, including service as Treasurer, Conference Chair, President, and Past President, and she is active on the national level with the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE).

Diane brings strong skills in grant writing and management, curriculum design, and project coordination, as well as content expertise in water quality and general ecosystem management, and 20 years of experience in non-formal education and teaching. She lives in the Haw Creek neighborhood.

Gordon Simmons
Community Member

Gordon recently returned to the Asheville area from Ijamsville, Maryland where he was the business manager of Friends Meeting School. The past five years he has been working at independent schools in administration but has also found some time to teach. He is interested in ensuring schools to have diverse student bodies, teach to differentiated learning styles, and offer a safe learning environment for all their students.

Prior to working in education Gordon was a documentary photographer and a vice president in trust banking. He has an extensive background in administration, audit, estate planning, investments, and planned giving. His entire career he has volunteered with local and national non-profit arts and service organizations. He has worked both in direct services and at the board level. His board participation is focused on organizational effectiveness, development, and sustainability. He lives in Mars Hill and his nephew, Quinn Bidwell, is an Evergreen student in eighth grade, and niece, Caroline "Lilly Donaldson" is in fifth grade. 

Jo Smith
Evergreen Staff

Jo began teaching Adventure PE in 2004. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from Warren Wilson College. She also studied Outdoor Education at Unity College in Maine and attended an 81-day semester course with Colorado Outward Bound School. This class gave her leadership experience in rock climbing, canyoneering, boating, ice climbing, skiing, winter camping, and group process. With her teaching experience in the classroom, she brings academics into the world of physical education. Jo’s goal is to expose students to learning situations through physical activity.  She was named Teacher of the Year in 2008 and has served on the Health & Wellness Committee, Tech Committee, Board of Directors, and volunteers with Special Olympics.  Together with her husband, Kevin Smith, they enjoy outdoor sports, travel, and raising their beautiful son Brodie.

Heather Tate
Evergreen Staff

Heather Tate is currently a kindergarten lead teacher, who has been teaching with Evergreen since the school’s beginning in 1999.

Although she grew up in Asheville, she attended UNC-Charlotte before transferring home to UNC-Asheville where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in Sociology. Later, she attended Mars Hill College and attained her licensure in K-6 elementary education. She has a National Board Certification obtained in 2008 along with Basic Orton-Gillingham Certification and serves on the Evergreen Board of Directors. She was named Evergreen Teacher of the Year in 2006.

Heather and her husband, Chris, are the proud parents of two daughters. Keilayn is a fourth grader at Evergreen, while daughter Breona is at Reynolds High School.Heather has worked with children in various settings including daycare, summer camp, and Asheville City Schools. She has taught children all the way up to fifth grade, and has been a lead kindergarten teacher at Evergreen since 2001.