Patricia Benton, Chair
Patricia Benton is the former Chief Financial and Operating Officer for OPEN Health, Evidence & Access, a UK based health care consulting company. Her experience across private and public sectors yields a blend of management, financial and partnership building skills. Before joining OPEN Health through the merger of Pharmerit International, LP Patricia was the CFO and COO for Pharmerit. Patricia served as Chief Financial and Operating Officer at Salzburg Global Seminar, an international non-profit located in Salzburg, Austria. Earlier in her career she held the position of Vice President for Finance and General Manager at Comsat Corporation, at that time the leading satellite telecommunications company in the US.
Patricia is currently a board trustee for Lincoln School in Providence, Rhode Island, serves on the board of OICF as Treasurer, and on the board of OCRC. She holds a B.A. in Economics and French from Brown University and an M.B.A. in Finance from George Washington University. She is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Patricia lives on Orcas with her husband, Bruce, who is actively involved in efforts to build out the electric vehicle infrastructure on Orcas to secure a sustainable future for the island community. Three of her children live in Seattle and the fourth in New York City.
Margie Bangs, Treasurer
Margie and her husband, Bill, have a long connection to Orcas Island, more than 50 years. They became “snowbirds” in 2002 and moved here in 2016 when they retired. Margie was a computer programmer and a mathematics teacher, teaching all levels from first grade through university.
“Community service has been an integral part of my life since high school, even when I was working full-time,” Margie says, “It is a special privilege to be part of the OCRC Board. OCRC provides a vital support system for many Orcas residents.” She and her husband are Co-Treasurers of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, and Margie has also served on the boards of the Music Advocacy Group and Orcas Island Food Bank.
Rosedanie Cadet
Rosedanie is a food systems advocate dedicated to garden-to-table food security. Born in Haiti, she spent the first half of her childhood immersed in the rich mix of Taino, African, and European cultures until she moved to Brooklyn, New York where spent the remainder of her childhood. She has since traveled the world and lived in Japan.
An island person at heart, in 2008 Rosedanie found her way to Orcas Island, Washington, and made it her home. Drawing on her experience as a teacher, rugby coach, landscaper, and chef in a restaurant where the majority of the food comes from local farmers and fishermen, she was inspired to bring grassroots agriculture and youth empowerment to her home country of Haiti.
Roseanne also works with the Orcas Island School District school garden classroom, and Seattle’s Black Farmers Collective. She has been uniting communities through shared garden experiences in Washington state as well as Haiti since 2010.
Barbara Core
Barbara moved from California to Orcas Island in 2019 after many visits enjoying the pristine beauty, friendly community, and vibrant culture. She especially noticed how the community takes care of its own through creation and support of non-profit organizations with shared values. It was inspiring and something she wanted to be part of in the future.
Barbara has over 27 years of operational leadership at Hewlett Packard during a time of significant growth and challenging new business development. She led the successful expansion of HP’s printer operations, value delivery systems and efficient order-to-cash processes in North America. As a VP in global operations, she worked with regional teams to achieve desired company-wide results in these areas.
Barbara loves the process of discovery and believes that diversity and inclusion will create the best ideas for innovation and improved performance. She has 2 adult children and an extended family she loves. Barbara also enjoys hiking and new adventures, gardening, and music of all kinds.
Carie DeRuiter
Carie grew up in the Midwest, migrated to the SF Bay Area and attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a degree in Sociology and a lasting curiosity about individuals and what makes communities work. Early in her career, she was fortunate to join a team of other social scientists, environmental psychologists, and community planners interested in building tools and environments that support and enhance human development. In her position as Communications Director, she and her team worked on campaigns advocating for children’s health and strong families, encouraging energy conservation, recycling, clean water, and pedestrian safety. As a member of the founding executive team, she was instrumental in building a multi-disciplinary consulting firm into a national company.
She has volunteered on non-profit boards focused on art and children in nature, the Orcas Crossroads lecture series, and on a small, private foundation which identified individuals and organizations providing sui generis contributions to their communities.
Carie first discovered Orcas while on a road trip with her husband in 1977. They have had a residence on the island since 1986 and have lived on Orcas full time since 2007.
Jan Ehrlichman
Jan moved to Orcas 13 years ago from Seattle with her husband, Mark. Her professions have varied over the past 40 years. Jan was a middle school English and Music teacher for many years, a piano teacher for 40 years, and finally a painting contractor before retiring.
Here on Orcas Jan loves being active with a variety of volunteer activities. She has been on the MAG Board for more than 10 years and helps out in OISD’s music classroom regularly. Her days are full of hiking, playing tennis, singing in the Orcas Choral Society, practicing the piano, learning Spanish, painting and drawing, and playing with her three small grandchildren whenever she gets the chance.
In the past, Jan was a single parent of two small children and worked two jobs to make ends meet. Life was hard, but she was fortunate to have good family support. Without that support, Jan recognizes she would have needed help from an organization such as OCRC. Jan is enthusiastic about being a part of the important work OCRC does to help families and individuals in need.
Hugh M. Grant, Vice Chair
Hugh is a clinical social worker, an Episcopal priest, and a wilderness guide with a passion for helping people deepen on their psycho-spiritual paths. He offers psychotherapy and spiritual direction at his office in Eastsound, and he is an assisting priest at Emmanuel Parish.
He has a BA in Economics from Davidson College in North Carolina, a Master of Social Work from the University of Georgia, a Master of Theological Studies from Emory University, and a Master of Divinity degree from General Theological Seminary in New York.
He has lived on Orcas Island since 2013 with his husband, Berto Gándara.
Judy Scott
Judy lives in Olga and serves as a senior partner in the DC-based law firm of James & Hoffman. During her 40-year career in labor law, Judy focused on issues such as the national fight to end growing income inequality, problems affecting women and immigrant workers, and the plight of low-wage workers. She has served on various boards of organizations committed to economic and social justice, such as the National Partnership for Women & Families, Alliance for Justice and American Constitution Society. She retired in 2017 as General Counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Over her law career, Judy served as legal counsel to several unions, including the United Auto Workers, AFSCME, Teamsters, and United Mine Workers. She graduated from Wellesley College and Northeastern University School of Law, and previously worked for the Frontier Nursing Service in Hyden, Kentucky.
Judy and her husband, Don Stillman, a retired union activist and writer, have been coming to Orcas with their now-grown children, Scott and Sarah, for more than 35 years.
Lisa Steckley, Secretary
Like so many, Lisa's sojourn on Orcas began many years ago with the odd camping or boating stops during vacation. That eventually morphed into the purchase of her home and final move from Portland.
Lisa's career has immersed her in the technology industry. As a serial entrepreneur she is a partner in a couple small companies: 376Tech providing consumer tech support on Orcas and IOJ Travel, providing group tour production services, primarily for travel to Europe. From time to time she also provides consulting services to tier one industry in software related decision processes.
Orcas provided Lisa the opportunity to be of service to the non-profit sector. She was invited to serve on the OICF board in 2014, where she continues today. In her neighborhood, the Home Owners Association elected her as their president in 2013. In addition, Lisa has become a volunteer EMT with Orcas Island Fire and Rescue. She is also a board member for the volunteer fire association.
One of the great things on Orcas is the opportunity to be involved in many different types of activities at once. For Lisa, this has included volunteering for lighting design for plays at Orcas Center and the Grange, facilitating workshops and evenings with the Labyrinth at Emmanuel, sitting in on the VRBO group meetings, and working with Rock Island during its start-up phase in marketing and advertising.