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 Board of Directors
May 2008
Diane
Ronayne, President,
functions as a community builder and a web-weaver, helping individuals and
organizations to better communicate with and understand each other so they can
accomplish the goals they set for themselves. A free-lance writer, editor and
photographer by profession, she has been active as a volunteer in founding and
nurturing numerous Idaho organizations, including the Fund for Idaho, Idaho Nonprofit Center, City Club of
Boise, Log Cabin Literary Center, Boise Front Coalition, Idaho Conservation
League, Boise Neighborhood Alliance and Idaho Photographic Workshop.
Diane writes about non-profit
sector activities in her weekly Idaho Statesman column. She documents
activities of many progressive organizations, for which she makes her images
and writing skills available at little or no cost. In 2004, she was awarded a
one-year Boise City Public Art commission in photography.
Diane earned a B.A. in
Communications from Stanford
University, and has taken
numerous writing and photography workshops since 1977.
Christopher Hormel, Treasurer, lives in the Snake River Canyon
south of Bliss, Idaho.
From 1991 to 2000 he served as Executive Director of the Global Environment
Project Institute (GEPI), a private foundation dedicated to environmental
education, citizen action and a sustainable future. He has served on the board
of Naropa University,
a Buddhist inspired college in Boulder
Colorado, since 1994, and is
currently chair of Naropa’s Endowment Committee. Christopher was a founding
board member of the Fund for Idaho
and chaired the grantmaking committee for many years. He has been a Buddhist
practitioner for 30 years and is a meditation instructor and teacher in the
Shambhala Buddhist tradition.
Christopher has a B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature from
the University of California at Santa
Barbara and an M.A. in International Relations from
the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy with concentrations in International
Business and Finance, East Asian History and International Law. He is currently
working towards an MA in Contemplative Psychotherapy at Naropa
University in Boulder, Colorado.
Marty
Durand was born
and raised in Casper, Wyoming. After dropping out of high
school, she attended Mesa State College, the University
of Kansas and the University of Wyoming,
where she earned a B.A. in Political Science and a J.D. Following
law school, Marty worked in California
as an academic research assistant and a law clerk. She returned to the
Mountain West in 1992, landing with her husband, Mark Holeman, in Idaho Falls. Marty
entered private practice, focusing on employment law. In 1997, Marty
headed north and became a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Valley County,
and later a Public Defender. Soon tiring of deep snow and lengthy
winters, Marty moved to Boise
and joined the ACLU of Idaho in 2000 as legislative counsel, where she promoted
civil liberties in the State Legislature. Marty served as Executive
Director of the Idaho Women's
Network in 2006-2007.
Marty is
now an associate attorney with the law firm Herzfeld & Piotrowski, where
she focuses on labor and employment law. In her spare time, Marty enjoys
political intrigue, shameless agitation and gardening. She shares her Boise home with her
husband Mark, and her brown dogs, Scooter and Marley. Marty believes that
social change can be accomplished through community organizing, political engagement,
and last but not least, litigation.
María
González Mabbutt was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. In 1970,
María migrated with her family to the Mini-Cassia area of Idaho and settled out of the migrant
farmworker stream. María worked in Idaho’s
fields through the summer of 1974 before going to college.
María’s work has focused on farm
worker issues (worker’s compensation, minimum wage, farm labor contractor
licensing & bonding, and pesticide education) and Latino political empowerment
(voter registration, education, and mobilization). María was a 2003
finalist for the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World award and
was a 2005 Alston/Bannerman Fellow.
Maria has conducted outreach and
community education services on women’s leadership and other environmental
health campaigns (medical waste incinerator at the VAMC, Boise,
and mercury in seafood campaign against Albertsons Food Centers) targeting
women and children coordinated by Women’s
Voices for the Earth, Missoula,
MT.
Currently,
María serves as part-time ED for the Idaho Hispanic Caucus, Caldwell, Idaho.
Maria serves on the Western States
Center Board and serves on the Mujeres
Unidas de Idaho Board. María has four daughters; Andrea (30), Annette
(29), Marisol (26), and Marisa (8). Maria is married to Richard Mabbutt. María
graduated from Minidoka County High School
in Rupert, Idaho
and has a Bachelor’s degree from Boise
State University.
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Ruby A. Valdez was born and raised in Caldwell, Idaho.
She is the mother of three beautiful children and engaged to Vincent J.
Sanchez of Caldwell Idaho. She is currently a Boise State University
student majoring in Mass Communications/Journalism with a minor in Leadership
skills. Ruby believes that people should be the change they want to see in
this world. With that in mind, she has been active in her community,
volunteering for such organizations as: United
Vision for Idaho, Canyon County
Democrats, Citizens for Sanchez, Grant For Congress, Stiles for State
Senate, Advocates Against Family Violence,
The Women’s and Children’s Alliance,
and Model United Nations. Ruby has served, as a board member for The Caldwell
Community Theater, and is currently a community board member for The Idaho Press Tribune. She also serves as
Public Relations officer for Boise
State University’s
Model United Nations club.
Ruby believes in a working class
hero and that anyone can achieve his or her goals. It just takes the drive,
the vision, and the belief that anything is possible. She is excited to be a
new member of the Fund for Idaho Board of Directors, a group of individuals
who care about their communities and work hard to make this state a better
place to live for generations to come.
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Gail Heylmun, Executive Director, began her role with the Fund for
Idaho in July
2006. She brings a broad knowledge of nonprofit organizations and expertise in
organizational startup to the Fund for Idaho.
Gail is working to expand our donor base and maximize our impact in Idaho by creating a
solid foundation of support for the groups we assist.
Gail's previous experience
includes serving as initial staff person and Executive Director of The Sounding
Board, which provided community based mediation to Boise,
and the Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations (CANPO), which provides
a broad range of services and benefits to its member organizations in Colorado. For 10 years,
Gail also ran her own consulting firm that provided fundraising and technology
assistance to nonprofits in Boise
and the Northwest. As a trained mediator, Gail expresses her long-standing
interest in conflict resolution by serving as Treasurer of Common Ground Conciliation Services,
a nonprofit organization providing mediation, facilitation, and conciliation
education services to groups in the Treasure
Valley.
Gail and her husband, Gary
Sandusky, have three sons, two dogs and two horses on their 1½ acre
property in Boise’s
north end. When they have the opportunity, they also enjoy playing music
together.
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