Our school is primarily a volunteer operation but we have a small paid 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.

Inside Operations Manager/Summer Program 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.

Training Manager

Mark Spieler grew up as a typical Southern California kid in San Diego and Orange County. After a friend’s family took him skiing once he was hooked on the sport and the mountains. After graduating from SDSU with a BA degree in Applied and Physical Geography, he worked in Summit County, Colorado for one season and then moved to Mammoth Lakes, where he has resided ever since.

Mark started with the Mammoth Mountain Ski School in 1986. A few years after obtaining his U.S. certifications he started supervising and training for the School. In the summer months he taught skiing and trained other Instructors at the Mt. Hutt, New Zealand and Blue Cow, Australia Ski Schools. His most recent position was Training Manager for the Mammoth Mountain Ski and Snowboard School, where he oversaw training for all of the school’s Ski and Snowboard Instructors. He holds PSIA (U.S.) Level 3 Alpine, Level 2 Snowboard, NZSIA (New Zealand) Stage 2 and Coaches Level 1 Certifications. He is also an Alpine Examiner for the PISA-W.

Mark has now joined the DSES staff and is looking forward to sharing his knowledge of Skiing, Snowboarding and Teaching with all of the remarkable DSES Volunteers. He is also excited to expand his horizons into the area of Adaptive Snow Sports Instruction.

Mark’s summers are now spent fishing in the Eastern Sierra, where he guides and teaches people how fly fish for the area’s beautiful varieties of Trout. Mark is married to Sandi Rowan, another long time Mammoth Ski Instructor and has two young daughters Kaylynn and Kendall, ages 2 and 4.

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.

Instructor

Zachary Ergish joined Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra winter 2008-2009 as the "intern". He returns in 2009-2010 as an Instructor. He graduated from the University of Chicago in June 2008 with an AB in Biological Sciences with a specialization in neuroscience. He grew up in Moreno Valley, CA where he first got involved with volunteering for organizations that give those with disabilities opportunities to participate in sports.

While in college, Zachary was on the varsity swim team and received an internship at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. At the RIC, he was an assistant for their Sports Program and Fitness Center. There, he became involved with their wheelchair softball team, the RIC Cubs, and the Caring for Kids program.

Before applying to medical school and aspiring to be a physiatrist, Zachary wanted to expand his service to those with disabilities through the sport of skiing. Throughout the season, Zachary will be working towards receiving Level I certification in Alpine and Adaptive disciplines.

Instructor

Diana Baldorf joins the staff as an instructor in 2009/10 after volunteering with Disabled Sports for 2 seasons. Diana was born and grew up in Denmark. Diana has always been a very sporty person. When she was 12 she started to do Trampolining. She learned fast and only a few years later she made it on the Danish National Team at age 15. This lead to a lot of travelling, but also to a 6 month stay as a trampoline exchange student in Indiana. Her first visit to the United States.

In addition to her own trampolining, she also coached the kids at her local club and planned and coached a couple of trampoline summer camps. She has also worked at many different jobs, including as a substitute teacher for children in grades K-9.

Diana learned to ski on a school trip to Norway when she was 15 years old. It was love at first ski. With her background in trampolining, it was very natural that Diana loved the park. More and more time was spent in the parks in France, but after hearing about the parks at Mammoth Mountain she did her first season here in 2004/05 and has been back every winter since.

In 2006/07 she started volunteering for DSES and loved the job as an instructor, so when she got the offer to be on staff in 2009/10 she had to say YES. She is excited to continue growing her skills as an instructor this season and still make time for the park!

Volunteer Coordinator

Marika Strauss recently moved to Mammoth Lakes from her hometown of Seattle, Washington, where she grew up. Marika and her husband, Opai, discovered Mammoth Lakes on a road trip around California. They felt instantly entranced by its alluring energy.

In love with the outdoors and the community, Marika and her husband re-located to Mammoth and added a Black Labrador puppy to their family. Marika started her relationship with Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra as a volunteer at their Second Chance Thrift Shop in 2009. Her high energy and easy going ways were valued and noted.

After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Communication Studies, Marika learned the world of underwater communications while working as a Scuba Diving Instructor in Roatan, Honduras. After her splendid year in tropical paradise, Marika returned to Seattle, where she worked as a Mediator and Family Advocate for the YMCA's Children's Crisis Outreach Response System. Her two years working with families in crisis were very enriching and gratifying.

We are happy that Marika and Opai have made Mammoth their home. They are both great additions to the community and Marika's outgoing friendliness is a huge asset to the DSES team!

Volunteer Coordinator

The big mountains of the West brought Lisa Hickson here, where she has lived since 1995, originally from the Berkshires of Massachusetts. She came to Mammoth once her A.A. in Environmental Science was complete and she chased some dreams of travel, sailing, and carefree fun. This pursuit consisted of two years rotating from Vermont Ski Instruction to Maine Schooner sailing then a trip to Europe with travel to far off lands such as Turkey and Nepal. In order to prolong her escapade she found work in Germany at the Armed forces Recreation center in Garmisch.

Once stateside again she spent a year back East catching up with family. She then headed to the Sierra in 1995, with her then boyfriend (now husband) and has been happily settled here ever since. Sailors' knots and woodfinishing turned into house building and a Contractors license. During the winters she has worked as a Ski Instructor or Supervisor for Mammoth specializing in teaching kids. Now however, she has found us at DSES and will be organizing our terrific volunteers. She says she is excited to go to work each day with a terrific team, and do meaningful, soul enriching work. 2009 is capped off with wonderful change and blessings of her first daughter Madeline's birth in July.

Manager, Second Chance Thrift Shop

Linda Summers Williams joined our staff in October 2009 as Manager of our Second Chance Thrift Shop. You might recognize Linda, an eleven year local, from her work at Sierra Park Orthopedics, California Friday Night Live, Mono County Mental Health or Stillpoint Wellness Center. A longtime community activist, not only in Mammoth but in her previous home towns in Colorado and Vermont, she has experience volunteering for local schools, community centers, art organizations and athletic programs.

Her skills and enthusiasm were just the combination we needed to spearhead our new venture. To quote Linda, "Since leaving Vermont I have made a conscious decision to put my energies into things that I have not done before which has been challenging, educational and most importantly FUN." Linda is married to Carl Williams, the General Manager of June Mountain and they have one grown son, Elliott.

Assistant Manager, Second Chance Thrift Shop

Riki Yanuck Barbo grew up in Southern California where summers at the beach and winters skiing fed her love of the outdoors. She spent her early years traveling and working in VIP services at some of the world's most famous hotels including The Lobby Court at the Century Plaza Hotel and being a "Goddess" at Caesars Tahoe. She moved to Lake Tahoe where she met and married her husband Jim. When they weren’t working, they spent their summer days water skiing and their winter days skiing.

Jim was offered a job back in Southern California and they moved to Huntington Beach where they spent over twenty five years living at the beach. Riki was a board member of the PTA for years, coached sports and helped to fund many programs at her boys’ schools. They have two boys; Cody age 20 and Ty 16 at the start of 2010. Riki moved to Mammoth Lakes full time in 2007 to help her younger son Ty fulfill his dream of being on the Mammoth Elite Snowboard Team. When not working at the Second Chance Thrift Store you can find her hiking or skiing in the Eastern Sierra.