The Avalanche Center Team

Here is some background on who we are. These are the people who keep the project running through various contributions of time and effort. We've also included or kept some information on those who have been involved in the past.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors provides general oversight. Board members serve as resources from time to time as their expertise is required but are generally not involved directly in the day to day operations. The Officers are ultimately responsible to the Board.

Phil Caterino - Phil has an extensive background in non-profit management, oversight and development. Much of his work over the past thirty years has focused on preserving and conserving the precious water resources in the world. Phils avalanche related background includes planning projects through his business Alpengroup, other related consulting work, teaching both professional and recreational courses, and working on the ski patrol at Kirkwood Meadows in the Lake Tahoe basin. Phil is a long time resident of the Tahoe region. [Summary] [CV]

Dr. Steven A. Reinfurt - Steven is a ski industry consultant in Europe and the U.S. who has worked throughout the Alps in avalanche control & education, ski area risk management, and search and rescue. He is a Professional Member of both the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) and the American Avalanche Association, and a Certified Senior National Ski Patrol professional Alpine and Nordic patroller and advanced avalanche / mountaineering instructor. Steve lives and works in Germany and was co-responsible for creating the AAA European Section. [CV] [Philosophy]

Jim Frankenfield - Jim is the founder of the CSAC and has served since its inception as executive/managing director . During a period of several years overlapping the founding of the CSAC he was President of "Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center". It was under his leadership that it went from a paper shell to being a viable fundraising organization for the Forest Service, one capable of generating a significant percentage of their avalanche center budget. He has a degree in Engineering from RPI and a graduate degree in physics (specializing in snow) from USU. He also teaches courses privately, consults on technical issues such as mitigation projects, and guides professionally. [Avalanche Resume]

Officers

The officers are more directly involved in the general operation of the organization and project. They work with volunteer and paid part-time staff, keep records, and answer requests for records or information from members of the Board of Directors. The officers communicate and issue statements on behalf of the CSAC, complete tax forms and manage other issues as they arise.

Jim Frankenfield, President - Jim serves as President as well as a board member and is the one primarily responsible for the hands-on operational aspects of the project, including fundraising, web design, content expertise, cleaning the office and most things in between. Jim spends stretches of time in the office in Corvallis, Oregon but often works remotely from various locations in the mountains of the US and Canada, and occasionally Europe.

Tani Barbour, Treasurer - Tani keeps our records up to date in Quicken and produces the summaries and reports needed for our annual filings with the IRS and the Oregon Dept of Justice, for grant proposals, and for board members. Tani lives in southern California but spends a lot of time in June Lake on the eastern slopes of the Sierra. She has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and after working in Quality Assurance Engineering for a medical device manufacturer for 18 years she decided to freelance. Tani now does contract work writing technical product manuals for medical devices and software applications, and is currently doing some in-house statistical training for manufacturing personnel.

Paid Staff

The CSAC uses several paid staff members, all part time and seasonal. They typically manage office related tasks such as filling store order, sorting receipts paid and sending them to the treasurer, etc. Once in a while we entrust certain well-defined web tasks to a staff member (such as incident posting).

As of November 2006 we have no paid staff.