President

Cathy retired to Southern Oregon with her husband in 2018. Her career in the health insurance industry spanned 26 years working for Anthem Blue Cross and Cigna as an Account Management Executive responsible for negotiating renewals for large corporate clients in California. Prior to that, Cathy was Vice President of Personnel for a large privately-held company in Pasadena, where she obtained and maintained her Senior Professional in Human Resources certificate (SPHR) for almost two decades. Cathy graduated with a BA in Business Administration Management from the University of Phoenix, and has held multiple financial and insurance licenses in multiple states. Cathy has been a weekly volunteer at the OHRA Resource Center since 2018, and is active in her church and other philanthropic organizations.

Vice President

Deneice moved to Ashland from the East Coast in 2000 to raise her family (daughters Amelia and Greta). She has a B.S. in Economics from Penn State, a J.D. from Dickinson School of Law, and has worked as an antitrust attorney as well as in complex mergers and acquisitions. While in Ashland she has served her beloved community in many ways, including as chair of the Ashland School Board for many years and the ScienceWorks board of directors. She is excited by the good work OHRA is doing and hopes to support it in any way possible. 

Secretary

Diane de Ryss has nearly 30 years of experience in management and leadership, particularly with organizations undergoing significant growth and change. Throughout her career, Diane has gravitated to work anchored in social justice and equity, in the government, for-profit and non-profit sectors. Prior to retiring and moving with her husband Bruce to Ashland, she worked for 12 years at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Diane is a graduate of the University of Washington, and has a JD from USC in Los Angeles. She is an experienced board member, including the Seattle Audubon Society where she was recognized for improving SAS’s governance.

Treasurer

Eileen has 25+ years with JPMorgan Chase in NY and SF as well as 5 years with Crocker Bank in SF. After working as an associate in the Investment Bank, Eileen completed JPMorgan Chase’s Credit and Corporate Finance Training program in 1990. She held Relationship Manager and Credit Underwriter positions responsible for managing client relationships and developing new business in the Commercial Bank. Eileen worked with a wide range of Healthcare, Higher Education and Not-For-Profit clients as well as Mid-Sized companies in diversified industries located in California, New York and Boston.

Eileen has a BA Degree from Allegheny College and completed a Managed Health Care Certificate program from New York University as well as advanced accounting at Golden Gate University in SF and Pace University in NY.

In 2012, Eileen joined the San Francisco Board of Women’s Initiative for Self Employment. Eileen served as Co-President of the Board of the Community Center of Northern Westchester, one of the largest food pantries in Westchester County, NY and as Treasurer of the Board of A-Home, which provides affordable housing for seniors, disabled and single parent families in Westchester County, NY.

Since retiring to Ashland, Eileen has served as a volunteer with Trinity Episcopal Church (Board Chair and Finance Committee Chair), OHRA(Shelter volunteer and Finance Committee) and Medford Garden Club (Treasurer.)

Past President

Dennis has lived in Ashland since 1977.  He has had three careers during that time, first in the hotel business, then as a CPA and finally as an educator at SOU. Dennis has an undergraduate degree and an MBA  from SOU. Dennis has served on numerous community boards including the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, the inaugural  SOU Board of Trustees, and the Ashland City Council for two terms. Raised in the Bush of Alaska among the Native People, Dennis has a deep appreciation for communities helping each other and finding effective solutions to take care of those most impacted. Dennis is married to his best friend, Sandra, and together they enjoy being involved in many different paths of service to the community.

Jackie Bachman retired to Ashland with her husband, Jim, in 2015, after working for 36 years as a California public school teacher, site, and district administrator in Special Education. She served on the Ashland City Council as an appointed member from March to December, 2018.

Jackie actively supports several community organizations, including OHRA, the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission (ACPC), the Food Project, The Osher Life-long Learning Institute (OLLI), and the Senior Services Program. She also served on the Housing and Human Services Commission.

Libby Gill and her husband relocated to Medford in August, 2021 after many years of living in Los Angeles. She is the founder and president of Libby Gill & Company, a leadership coaching and consulting firm. Her clients include Bank of America, Disney, Honda, Microsoft, PayPal, Rogue Credit Union, Sony, The Human Bean, Women’s Leadership Conference of Rogue Valley and many more.

Libby is an international speaker and an award-winning author of six non-fiction books, including You Unstuck and The Hope-Driven Leader. Prior to founding her company in 2000, she was the head of public relations and corporate communications for Sony, Universal, and Turner Broadcasting. Libby is the former Vice Chair of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, the first and largest suicide prevention center in the country. With a deep commitment to serving people experiencing homelessness and mental illness, Libby is delighted to join the OHRA Board. In her free time, Libby enjoys gardening and attempting to learn golf.

Kate moved from the Bay Area to Ashland nine years ago with her husband, after retiring as director of a school-based health program in West Contra Costa. The program, affiliated with YMCA of the East Bay, oversaw services in 16 schools and included primary healthcare, behavioral health, dentistry, after-school enrichment services and parenting teen services. The “Y Team” also conducted a training program for a cohort of graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in psychology or social work and served as the lead agency in a county-wide collaborative of organizations serving families and children.

Early in her career Kate became a licensed marriage and family therapist, and in addition to a private practice served as a director in the non-profit world with organizations focusing on child welfare, including therapeutic foster care and family reunification, and domestic violence intervention and treatment.

Upon moving to Ashland, she chose Rogue Community Health as her health provider, and served as a board member for two terms, chaired the quality committee and also served as board president. Kate enjoyed supporting RCH through a period of tremendous growth and change, and learning how a governance board functions.

Kate is passionate about health equity and recognizes that every community struggles to find ways to provide adequate support to their residents. Housing insecurity is especially important to tackle in the midst of our current national housing crisis, and Kate sees it as not just a shelter issue, but also a health issue. She has always believed in community engagement and collaboration as the best way to improve the well-being of the entire community.

Catherine Greenspan is a financial professional, publisher, creative writer and community leader. She has worked with New York Life in Ashland since 2019 working with clients on retirement, planned giving and lifetime income strategies. She is the co-founder of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing, specializing in books that feature against-the-odds success stories and align with a philosophy of equality, justice, diversity, inclusion and women’s and gender empowerment. Catherine is active in the community. She has been a member of AAUW since 2009 with a focus on civil rights and social action. She is a member of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, chairing the committee on fostering business growth. She has a BA in English from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and an MA in writing from the University of San Francisco.

After a career in music and theater production in the Bay Area, Jordan lived 10 years in Sonoma County, CA where he worked as an electrical contractor and earned an AS degree in electronics and machine tool technology from SRJC. He worked as an exhibit builder at a children’s science museum and technical director/set builder at a theater company.

In 2001, Jordan relocated to Ashland, OR and founded Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library. He has produced many events and conferences including RVML’s annual Architects of the New Paradigm Conference. In 2008, he co-founded Love Ashland Network, providing free living essentials to low-income Ashlanders. Jordan is a co-founder of the Ashland Food Project and the Neighborhood Food Project.

 He is the Executive director of RVML Resource Center and serves on the Ashland Chamber of Commerce Board, and on the Talent Food Project Steering Committee. In 2012, Jordan began a real estate venture, renovating and managing several properties. Jordan is active in his church, CSL Rogue Valley, he loves playing and composing music, and teaching card tricks to his nieces.

Diego Rojas was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia, but was raised in a small town in New Jersey after his family immigrated to the United States. He is now currently working as a Program Manager at Lithia&Driveway, where he co-founded the DART program in 2020. The program has become a resounding success for the organization, helping to find great talent and develop future data-centric leaders. Prior to his time with Lithia&Driveway, Diego obtained his degree in Finance from Rutgers University in 2019 and graduated with Honors. Shortly after graduating, he packed his car and drove across the country to start his new life in Ashland. Diego was mesmerized by the town the first time he visited and knew he wanted to live there one day. He is now extremely blessed to have the opportunity to serve on the board at OHRA and help those in need to make our community stronger.

 After serving for six years as an Art Director and Vice President of Marketing at Citigroup, Sean relocated to Ashland in 2007. He then advanced his career in marketing with Musician’s Friend/Guitar Center before founding Ikusa, an Ashland boutique search marketing agency, in 2013.

Sean earned his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of North Florida in 1995 and subsequently obtained a Master of Arts in Practical Philosophy and Applied Ethics in 2007. He leverages his background in ethics and critical thinking to assist companies in authentically enhancing their online authority and prioritizing ethical practices in marketing. Under his leadership, Ikusa collaborates with organizations worldwide to improve performance and increase online visibility, ensuring their marketing strategies align with ethical standards and foster trust with their audiences.

Sean lives in Ashland with his wife Chikako, son Miles, and basset Bowie.

David Sommers is a senior executive with over 20 years of leadership experience across journalism, government, corporate, and philanthropic sectors.

Most recently, David served as the inaugural publisher of the Rogue Valley Times and Chief Revenue Officer of EO Media Group, where he spearheaded business growth and sustainability efforts. David also served for five years as the CEO of Pacific Community Media and publisher of the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer of a multinational private equity fund with $350 million in assets under management and his corporate experience includes serving as an Associate Vice President at Molina Healthcare, a Fortune 150 company, where he led internal and executive communications, cultural competency initiatives, change management and workforce engagement efforts for 25,000 employees across 42 states.

David’s career also includes significant leadership experience in the public sector. As the chief communications executive for Los Angeles County, he directed unified messaging, crisis communications, and reputation management for an organization with 108,000 employees and a $42 billion budget. In this role, he oversaw critical public information campaigns, managed multilingual outreach initiatives, and played a key role in managing high-stakes crises.

Brett has over 30 years of pastoral ministry and currently serves at Ashland First United Methodist Church. He holds an MDiv from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA and a PhD in Theological Studies from the Graduate Theological Foundation. Brett also taught at Marylhurst University as an adjunct Sr. instructor for 6 years. He served as a founding board member of the Jackson County Community Long Term Recovery Group following the Almeda Fire. He has been a literary consultant, wine server at the August Cellars tasting room, and an ‘extra’ for Netflix and ABC. He enjoys reading, spending time at the beach, traveling, and flying stunt kites.