Our school is primarily a volunteer operation but we have a small paid part-time staff who are highlighted here.

Executive Director

Kathy Copeland spent her first 17 years in Vermont...skiing and racing from a very early age. She moved to Mammoth in 1971 and worked at Mammoth Mountain for 29 years, mostly in the Sports School and running the Children's Sports School.

She is certified by the Professional Ski Instructors of America; Alpine Level III, Adaptive Level II and Snowboard Level II. Kathy was also an examiner for Alpine Certification.

She was instrumental in developing the Mammoth Adaptive Sports School, which was part of Mammoth Sports School. And she is a founding Board of Director of the Mammoth Adaptive Sports Foundation which recently changed it's name to Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra. In 2001, Kathy "retired" from the mountain and pursued other interests.

Her main 'other interest' was launching Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra! This is her passion and with all her dedication and energy, this program is a winner.

Associate Director

Christine Souza joins Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra to raise funds and coordinate the heart of our program-volunteers!

With a background in business, two degrees in English Literature and eleven years of teaching at the college level, Christine brings a diverse set of skills to DSES. More than anything though, she brings an enthusiasm for working with people, seeing big smiles on students' and volunteers' faces and supporting our vision and staff.

Her story is typical of lots of Mammoth transplants: become addicted to the Mammoth snow report, spend every other weekend and holidays up here, save every penny for a vacation condo, fantasize about living here full time, move out of the O.C.!

Now she spends her time discovering all aspects of the Eastern Sierra with her husband, Nick, two sons, Cole and Trevor and her fierce mountain dogs, Karma and Dalai. Christine looks forward to becoming an even bigger part of this amazing community!

Training Manager

Cara Leonard is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to the Eastern Sierra after earning a degree in biology from the University of California Santa Barbara. A passionate skier from an early age, Cara started working and skiing at Mammoth in the early 90's.

She has an extensive background in instructing and staff training with both the Mammoth Mountain Ski School and at Mount Hutt in New Zealand. Cara has worked for the ski area for 14 years - most recently as a supervisor for the Ski and Snowboard School. As an Alpine Level 3 instructor and current Alpine examiner she brings a solid background of teaching and training to our organization.

In her spare time she enjoys hiking, cycling, back country skiing and traveling. Cara now lives in June Lake with her husband Dave and their son Jack.

Instructor/Trainer

Margaret Palchak is a wonderful instructor who has been a volunteer for years. She is now on our team full-time!

Originally from the East Coast, Margaret grew up in Southern California and received a Bachelor of Science in Biology (with a concentration in Ecology and Environmental Biology) from the University of California at Irvine. During her university years, she spent summers working in Yosemite National Park, exploring the Sierra Nevada and cultivating a love of outdoors.

Upon graduation she spent two years abroad, teaching Conversational English in Japan, traveling on the Trans-Siberian Express across the former Soviet Union. She then explored Turkey and Greece and finally settled in London, England. While in London she began pursuing her passion for photography.

On returning to the U.S., Margaret moved to Mammoth Lakes to work as a biologist and feed her love of the outdoors. She worked four seasons as a volunteer with DSES before joining the staff. Margaret has PSIA Level II Nordic Downhill and Level I Adaptive certifications and is thrilled to be working with DSES.

Summer Program Manager/Office Manager

Laurel Martin is a recent transplant to Mammoth and has been loving it ever since. Don't tell anyone, but she is much more of a beach girl at heart than a snow bunny. But her great new coworkers are planning on showing her a thing or two about having a good time in the snow!

After growing up in suburban Connecticut, Laurel headed west to attend college at the University of California-Berkeley. After graduating with a degree in Environmental Sciences with an emphasis on Biological Sciences, she headed back east to spend some time with her family and boyfriend. Following some pretty extensive travel and temporary employment opportunities, she found her dream job. Working at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo as a Zoo Educator gave her the opportunity to educate and excite children about nature and the environment. And since she was working in the community where she grew up, as well as where she had taught almost all the kids in the county how to swim, she was able to really feel like she was giving back to the community that had given so much to her.

Unfortunately her dream job did not include big mountains, something her other half quickly became addicted to, once he knew they were out there. So the time came for Laurel to pack her things and head west again. This time she landed in Mammoth where she happily divides her time between exploring, climbing, hiking, and spending time with her 40 best friends, the Mammoth Dog Teams sled dogs. Volunteering with Mammoth Dog Teams has allowed Laurel to still get to work with animals and see the difference they can make in people's lives.

Laurel is happy to be a part of the Disabled Sports team and excited about using her skills to help such a great organization.

Summer and Winter Interns

LOOKING FOR OUR NEXT GREAT INTERN! - check the Jobs Page for information.