Jim Pacey (2018 – 2021)
Treasurer
Jim started his own consulting and coaching company in 2019, which has focused primarily on improving small nonprofit organizations in Austin. His areas of expertise are board governance, strategic planning, community development and engagement, and fundraising. Jim has worked with Stronger Austin, Truth Be Told, Nourish Foundation, Chestnut Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation, and AISD. He’s also facilitated workshops at ACC’s Center for Nonprofit Studies.
- Executive level nonprofit operation manager, national leadership trainer and facilitator, trained leadership coach and senior-level nonprofit fundraiser. Certification in coaching and neuroscience.
- Strategic planning expert
- Community builder and project facilitator
- Grass roots nonprofit entrepreneur.
- Authored three leadership development workshops – Emotional Intelligence for Leaders; How to Make Habits and Routines Sticky and Connections Matter integrating neuroscience, Emotional Intelligence and habit forming and change.
- Connector and networker: Leadership Austin Essential Class of 2018
- Nonprofit Board Chair:
- 3 Day Startup
- Central Texas Allied Health Institute
- Certified in Neuroscience Coaching & Leadership (Specialization in Neuro Health) through Optimind Neuroscience Coaching & Training Institute
Cinnamon Henley (2018)
Treasurer
Cinnamon started her adult life journey as a AMS Certified Montessori Teacher for early childhood as a Montessori Teacher in Hyde Park in 1996. She soon realized she had found her love of teaching and learning but wanted to offer her skills children who might not have the same support at home and decided to teach as elementary teacher in Del Valle ISD.
In 2005, she joined the founding team of a project-based, natural learning progressive charter school, Austin Discovery School. She advanced to Principal and Superintendent/Executive Director and lead the school community through growth, stumbling blocks and successes. in 2013, she transitioned to Community Leader (Executive Director) of the East Communities Branch YMCA a half mile from the school she ran so she could still serve the same community she was tied to.
She believes that all children, parents, and every person in the world is doing the best they can at every given moment and that service to each other is what helps us learn and grow.
Cinnamon is the mother of two teens (one homeschooled and one traditionally schooled…cause you know no two kids are ever alike or have the same needs!) She has been married over two decades and co-owns a martial arts school in Bastrop with her husband. She believes in the power of creativity, community and the human potential…and, with that all great things are possible.
I hold AMS Montessori Certification, Bachelors in Education with Minor in Science from UT, and Masters in Community Leadership from Texas State.
Wendy Hale Davis (2018 – 2019)
Education
Wendy graduated in 1973 from Southern Illinois University, with a Bachelors in Comprehensive Design Science, a program under the aegis of Buckminster Fuller. The emphasis of the program was on creating generalists who could communicate between specialists by teaching whole systems thinking.
Music
Wendy got her first guitar for her twelfth birthday and wrote her first song a few months later. She began performing it in public with covers of songs by Dylan, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and Dave Van Ronk. In her mid-twenties, she met Joe Ely on a train trip from Dodge City to Chicago, spending the night jamming in the club car. He told her about Austin, and she moved as soon as she could. She’s played in R&B bands, a jazz duo, and an improv rock band, among other things, adding new originals regularly. Currently she plays with Lisa Fancher and Joanna Howerton in Gal-DangIt! She now performs mostly original songs.
Employment
Wendy worked for twenty years doing graphic design and calligraphy for small colleges, print shops, and a small press, as well as freelance. Since she was eighteen, she has kept a journal. In the beginning, it was very sporadic and mostly visual, but over the years, it became more wordy, in an attempt to document a day in the life. Because she often carried her journal with her, the books – she started out using Strathmore sketch books – would come apart as the months went by. In 1992, she apprenticed as a bookbinder at the Adolphus Bindery in Austin, Texas. Over the next few years she learned to restore and repair books, make new books, and containers for books. She began teaching beginning bookbinding at The Art School at Laguna Gloria in the early aughts, and also teaches workshops occasionally. Her journals have evolved as her skills have improved and as the process of figuring out what her ‘perfect’ journal is. She also serves as the manager of the Optimist Club of Austin’s Christmas Tree Lot. The lot has been in operation since 01952, with all the profits going to youth charity in Austin. The lot opens the day after Thanksgiving every year, and goes until the trees run out or Christmas Eve, which-ever comes first.
William B. Gammon (2018 – 2019)
William B. “Bill” Gammon was born in Virginia and moved to Texas as a young child when his father went to work for NASA. He attended High School in Clear Lake, Houston and then came to Austin during the 1960’s to complete his under graduate degree at The University of Texas. He ran several successful small businesses both in Austin and in Houston before deciding to attend Law School. He attended UT Law School in Austin and holds the record there for the fastest graduating student. He completed Law School in just twenty two months.
Bill began his solo practice here in Austin in 1987 and now specializes in Real Estate Law, Foreclosure and Evictions, Business Law, Bankruptcy, Personal Injury, Wrongful Death and Medical Malpractice. His interests and hobbies include traveling, reading, scuba diving, sky diving, politics, piloting small aircraft and helicopters and absolutely anything connected to gizmos and gadgets.
Professional Licenses & Memberships:
- State Bar of Texas
- Admitted to Practice in the United States District & Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Texas
- Admitted to Practice in the United States District & Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas
- Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association
- Better Business Bureau
- The Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas
- Texas Trial Lawyers Association
- Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates
- United States Court of Appeals For the Fifth Circuit
- Save Our Springs Alliance
- The Sierra Club
- The Women’s Advocacy Center
- North Texas Great Dane Rescue Foundation
- The Guide Dogs for the Blind Foundation in San Antonio
Education:
- The University of Texas School of Law, J.D.
- The University of Texas, BA
John Thoms (2018 – 2019)
John Thoms has been an educator since 1996. He taught middle school in Austin ISD for ten years. During that time, he also volunteered, and co-founded the Austin Yellow Bike Project, where he taught bicycle mechanics to people of all ages. In that capacity, John started kids only classes and earn-a-bike program – where youth rebuilt a bicycle, thus earning and keeping it as their own. In 2008, he began working on a District wide level, providing behavior coaching, consultation and support for individual students, classes, and school wide. John worked with educators from pre-k through 12th grade. Since 2008, he has had a private behavior support practice, now called Behavior Creators (www.BehaviorCreators.com), providing behavior support to charter schools, private schools, Districts and families. John has two kids of his own. His daughter, Zora was born in 2001 and his son, Sasha, arrived in 2004. As a mentor at Integrity Academy, he has the pleasure of utilizing his experience as a teacher, behaviorist, and parent to work with the wonderful children and staff in an innovative and caring environment.
Thomas Heatherly (2018)
The Journey of Thomas has been filled with exploring systems that can stimulate a renaissance – via art, technology, food, community, and grassroots endeavors.
Some highlights along his path include marketing for Google, owning & operating Austin’s first CoWorking space, serving on the board for Slow Food Austin, volunteering at the UT Food Lab, and consulting with several conscious startups.
Thomas has been applying his unique gifts and vision to help co-create a vibrant and harmonious world. Most recently, Thomas has been contributing his time to researching and designing blockchain technology to identify equitable opportunities.
Vicki Wolf (2016 – 2017)
Her mission is “to provide the information and tools people need to take better care of themselves and the planet.” In an effort to fulfill this mission, Wolf has been a leader for public awareness of the connection between health and the environment. She also teaches yoga and meditation.
Over the past two decades, Wolf has written hundreds of articles on health and environmental issues for radio programs and websites including Citizens League for Environmental Action Now, Houston, Texas. Her radio series include EarthCare Radio, which aired daily on KPFT90.1FM, Houston’s Pacifica Network affiliate, as well as Hill Country View, a series on the conservation of natural resources that currently airs daily on many stations across the Texas Hill Country.
Before moving to Austin in 2002, Wolf worked as a medical and consumer health writer in Dallas, Texas. While a medical writer at UT Southwestern Medical Center, she wrote an award-winning daily radio health series, and contributed articles on nutrition and medical research for a variety of the medical school’s publications. She was co-producer and writer for a consumer health series on WFAA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Dallas, Texas, sponsored by Baylor University Medical Center.
Wolf’s leadership experience includes communications director for Texas Health Resources, the largest healthcare organization in North Texas. She created a new internal communication department and led a creative team to accomplish the organizations communication goals.
Wolf’s knowledge of health, wellness and resilience is deepened by 20 years as a yoga teacher. Her specialty is Yoga of the HeartTM, the yoga-based stress management program for patients who have cardiovascular disease, cancer or other life-altering diseases.
Wolf has a Bachelor of Science degree in Radio, TV and Film, specializing in News and Public Affairs, from the School of Journalism, Oklahoma State University. She has a 500-hour yoga teacher certification with Namaste USA Yoga and 500RYT registration with Yoga Alliance.
Cheryl Kruckeberg (2018)
I was born in Los Angeles, California in 1959, to a mom whose middle name was Adventure. Growing up we spent a lot of time traveling and were in and out of towns, states, countries and schools. In 1972, my mother, sister and I, along with assorted cats and dogs, moved to Austin. We quickly set down our roots and have been here ever since!
Public school had never been a good fit for our family and one of the great benefits of settling in Austin was the rural Holistic school just outside of town. This school, based on the Summerhill School in Suffolk, England, was perfect for us; dynamic, interest based education with caring mentors and over 100 acres of woods filled with trails and adventure. Students were considered partners both in designing curriculum and classes, as well as in addressing the many social concerns that arise in any community of people. With the pressure to make grades and “fit in” removed from my life, I developed a fondness for writing, nature, science, history, world cultures and religions, yoga, crafts, peaceful conflict resolution, and, eventually, even mathematics! In addition to my academic classes, I explored the woods and creeks, played music, dabbled in a broad range of arts and crafts and learned the lessons that have made the most difference in my life; identifying goals, finding personal mentors, the value of personal integrity, and how to resolve conflicts respectfully and honorably. I also learned what it takes to make mistakes and still look the people you respect in the eye, knowing that you are loved for who you are, not what you do.
I graduated from this delightful school in 1978, but it started me on a path that I have never left; Holistic Education. In the 4+ decades since my graduation, I have visited and worked in over a dozen holistic and non-traditional schools across the U.S., either as an assistant, a classroom mentor, administrator, director or consultant, and have served on several educational non-profit boards of directors, as well. Over the years, I have made it my business to interview graduates of holistic schools and homeschoolers wherever I find them, curious about what impact their unique education has had on their lives, any gaps they may have felt and what we, as responsive holistic educators, can do to fill those gaps for the coming generations. The question I have sought answers to is – how do we best support young people in fulfilling their dreams, become fully contributing members of their communities and keep the natural love of learning alive?
In recent years, I have found a passion for teaching through games, all sorts of games! Kids will play games for hours, rising to the inherent challenges and mastering skills in the process. In particular I have a deep regard for The Game of Village (c). As a Teacher, Mentor and School Director of 40+ years, I can confidently say that Village is the most powerful teaching tool I have ever encountered. It has completely transformed my understanding of learning and teaching and has provided me a platform from which to explore and teach applied academics in a meaningful context. Through Village, I have learned to trust the natural learning process to an ever deepening level, and have grown comfortable with the unpredictability that accompanies creativity, self expression and learning by experience, rather than imparting academic content in a controlled learning environment. Village has brought the spirit of play, creativity and trust back into my own own adult life, and it has become my passion and my goal to share it with as many young people and mentors as I can!
In addition to a consuming passion for holistic education and Village, my interests include yoga, playing outside in nature, swimming, arts and crafts, natural building, natural healing, singing, generally being with people, especially my own sweet family, including my new grandson, Calvin!