Jefferson Rice, Board Chair, is a furniture designer/builder in Sebastopol and has been the Treasurer of Cedars’ Family Association and an officer with Disability Trust Services since 2001. Jeff joined The Cedars Board in 2002 and has served as Board Secretary since 2004. His sister, May, has been a Cedars client since she entered the day program as a five-year old in 1960 and became a resident in 1963. Jeff is an alumnus of UC Berkeley and did graduate work in English literature at Tulane. He volunteers with Art for Life, an art auction benefiting Face to Face/Sonoma County AIDS Network.

Mark F. Jackson, Vice President, is a General Partner of Peak Partners, LLC, a privately held real estate investment company in Larkspur. A graduate of Middlebury College and the Haas Graduate School of Business, Jackson is an avid sports enthusiast and coaches youth soccer. He’s a founding member of the Board of the “I Have a Dream” foundation in the Bay Area and has served on The Cedars’ Board of Trustees since 2005.

Michael Drilling, Board Secretary, is the stepfather of Richard Rousseu, who has been a resident of The Cedars for over 30 years. Michael is a retired international transportation executive and has been on The Cedars Board since 2000, currently serving as Vice President, and Chair of the Audit Committee. He lives in Millbrae, CA, with his wife, Carrie, and two cats, and lists his favorite avocations as growing orchids, sculpting stone and appreciating fine wine.

Andrew Hinkelman, Treasurer, is a certified public accountant and a senior managing director in FTI’s Corporate Finance practice in San Francisco. He has extensive experience representing debtors and creditors in formal bankruptcy and out-of-court restructuring, negotiating financing agreements and performing estate wind-down and trustee related services. He serves on the Board of Cedars and the Northern California chapter of the Turnaround Management Association.

Sterling (Terry) Ross has served on The Cedars’ Board since the late 1980s. A lawyer, who lives and works in Mill Valley, Terry is the originator of the Special Needs Trust used throughout the country in estate planning for parents with a disabled son or daughter. He’s the former chair of the California State Bar Certified Specialist Advisory Committee in trusts and estates; former chair of the Marin Bar Association Probate and Trust Section; and past president of the Youth Law Center of San Francisco and the Mill Valley Tennis Club. He received a B.A. from Stanford and J.D. from the University of Michigan.

Margie Ellis is an active community volunteer in Ross and has been involved with The Cedars since 2002. She’s a graduate of the University of Arizona with a degree in Art History, is the mother of four children, and serves as a trustee of the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum. She believes that The Cedars is a very valuable part of the community and feels fortunate to have an agency like this right here in Ross.

Mary Gordon is a Homeopath with a private practice in Oakland. Her sister Jeannie has been living at Cedars for about 15 years and she has served on the Board since 2002. Her experience includes working for 15 years at a facility very similar to The Cedars in the East Bay.

Michele Ritter lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and their four sons. She currently works with young Sudanese refugees, victims of genocide, who have been resettled in Boulder. Michele is active as a Director of the LIFE Foundation (Leaders in Furthering Education). Previously, Michele has worked as a teaching fellow at Boston University College of Communication, a book editor and a technical writer. She has served on the Boards of the University of Colorado College of Music and the Anti-Defamation League.

Jeff Stephens has been on The Cedars Board since 2004. A resident of San Anselmo, Jeff owns an Insurance Brokerage in Marin County that specializes in Business Insurance. Jeff is married to Lynn Hollis Stephens and has two young daughters.

Michael Breard is a Regional Director at Wollberg/Michelson Personnel Services, recruiting and managing the San Rafael office. Volunteering at the State Special Olympics in college led to both undergraduate and graduate degrees in education with a focus on the developmentally disabled and emotionally disturbed. He worked in a residential therapeutic camping program for emotionally disturbed teenage boys and as both Assistant Principal and Principal at a small private high school serving Learning Disabled students. He served on the Board of St. Hilary School from 1998-2002, two years as the President.

Stuart Leeb has been on the Board of The Cedars since the late 1980’s and served as President for more than 8 years. A graduate of the Harvard Business School, Stu is a semi-retired real estate developer on the San Francisco peninsula and spends many weeks each year in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where he’s involved with Friends of the Biblioteca de Vallarta, the city library.

James Brentano joined The Cedars Board in 2007 as the incoming President of The Cedars Family Association. James’s connection with The Cedars is through his brother Robert, who has lived on the main campus in Ross for a number of years. Currently James is Vice President of Sales for Intraware, an on-demand digital delivery company. Over the past 15 years he has held a number of senior technical and business positions in the computer technology field. James lives with his family in Orinda, CA.

Scott Price is a principal in Scott B. Price and Company, Certified Public Accountants, in San Francisco. Educated at Rutgers College and holding an MBA from SF State, Scott is the Treasurer of both the Rainforest Action Network, Inc. and Perinatal Medical Associates in addition to serving on the Board of The Cedars of Marin.