BOARD OF ADVISORS - EXPECTATIONS
Advisory board members attend the annual full board retreat, as well as at least one of the following “special events”:
Winterfest (February)
Stakeholders Dinner (April),
Semester Graduation (June, December)
Summer Staff Training (June)
Summer Program Endings (July & August)
End-of-Summer Banquet (August)
Advisory board members offer expertise and energy in a variety of specialties, such as fundraising, facilities management, curriculum, risk management etc. Advisory board members serve on ad-hoc committees and respond to requests for advice from staff and other board members.
Current Advisors:
Misha Golfman is the founder of Kroka Expeditions, and after directing Kroka for 28 years he now serves as the Executive Director of the Mad River Path in Waitsfield Vermont. Together, with his partner Lynne, he has raised four children on a nature-connected homestead and guided over one hundred wilderness expeditions in remote areas of the world.
Joe Marks is a local entrepreneur, business owner, and dedicated community member. He was instrumental in founding the local Monadnock Food Coop in Keene, NH and served as its board president for three years.
Joe previously stewarded the farm that is now at the heart of Kroka’s campus in Marlow. He currently resides next door to Kroka’s campus and keeps a watchful eye over all of our activities. Joe served on Kroka’s board of trustees from 2007-2009.
Kam Bellamy is advocate for whole person, experiential learning to develop the next generation of purposeful self-leaders.
After graduating from Georgetown with a degree in Race and Gender Studies, she moved to North Yorkshire, England to live in a community with people with developmental disabilities and study biodynamic vegetable growing. Later, intrigued by the power of business in the world, she completed an MBA at Yale School of Management. She is passionate about ensuring young adults have spaces in which they can develop their capacities for bold and personal visioning and creating a world around them in which all can thrive. Kam is the Executive Director of Springboard.
Ben Holmes spent over 30 years founding and elevating The Farm School, a vibrant non-profit that has connected tens of thousands of people to the land. During his tenure, he fostered the development of new perspectives and leadership, turning the organization over completely to the next generation in the fall of 2021.
Ben now uses his personal experience in every aspect of the growth and maintenance of a successful non-profits to support moving other people’s projects forward through Ben Holmes Consulting.
Aviva Argote‘s work centers on justice and diversity education, inspiring resilience, and modeling authentic leadership. As vice president of culture and learning at the Institute for Nonprofit Practice, she designs curriculum and develops faculty, bringing her experience facilitating dialogue, creating generative workplace culture, and weaving relationships among diverse stakeholders.
As an independent consultant to NGOs and global philanthropies, Aviva focuses on adaptive leadership capacity, designing inclusive work spaces, and enhancing nonprofit strategy. As an urban homesteader, she builds community and facilitates nature-connected home learning for her two children in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Jed Williamson – Jed has served Kroka in a variety of critical roles throughout the past decades, and his career in education spans a variety of influential roles and institutions. Jed is a President Emeritus and now Adjunct Faculty of Sterling College in VT. He is co-author of the AEE Accreditation Standards for Adventure Programs, was editor of Accidents in North American Mountaineering for 40 years, and co-designer of the “Live, Learn, and Teach” graduate program in experiential education at UNH, where he was on faculty for ten years. He was an instructor, program director, and director at various Outward Bound Schools. Jed is one of the founders of the Wilderness Risk Managers Committee. He has conducted over 50 on site accident investigations and 20 accreditation reviews. He has served on several boards, including Kroka Expeditions, Central Asia Institute, NOLS, SCA, and AEE. He is also currently the Chair of Kroka’s Risk Management Committee. His avocations include skiing and climbing, which he has done for decades. His climbing expeditions have taken him to the top of North America twice, to Mount Everest, and to mountain ranges worldwide. He was a WEMT for 20 years and is currently a certified Wilderness First Responder. Jed and his wife Perry reside in Hanover, NH. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.
