The Skillmation team is a collection of volunteers dedicated to making Jefferson County the most brilliant and connected community on this planet.
Board Members:
Martha Trolin
Martha Jo Trolin MPA: Graduated too long ago to even mention. Has worked with pride and by choice exclusively in the non-profit world for over 30 years. Best projects ever, helping create New Mexico’s rural continuum of care for people with HIV, and passing civil rights legislation to include GLBT people. Interested always in spreading the wealth of human knowledge as far and wide as possible.
Doug Ross
Doug and his family were drawn to Port Townsend (from Vail, CO) in 2005. Our family loves being in PT and have had the chance to explore our region by bikes, skis, snowshoes, by boat, and by foot. You name it, we like being outdoors! Doug manages the North American Office for HFI Textiles (Taipei, Taiwan) offering outdoor/performance fabrics to the outdoor and active sports markets (like The North Face, Under Armour, etc). Doug has enjoyed his connection with our local youth through his son AJ's many sports and activities as well as his daughter Cassie's time racing for the local high school mountain bike team.
Ben Bauermeister
Ben is a serial entrepreneur tech-guy with a strong footing in graphical arts, print production, and music. He also loves to solve problems. So when the local Collective Impact group was discussing the issues regarding Jefferson County's large age gap, retiree asset, and strong desires from both local schools and startups to somehow connect those with a need to learn together with our community's vast experience the spark of Skillmation was born, and Martha Trolin shared that same vision. Ben likes to warm his hands by the friction that is created when technology and good deeds rub together.
Advisory Board Members
Sarah Rubenstein
Sarah Rubenstein is the Project Director for Maritime Discovery Schools, the Port Townsend School District, five-year, collaborative effort between the district and the Northwest Maritime Center aimed at transforming K-12 public education in Port Townsend through experiential and place-based education in a maritime framework. Sarah is a credentialed teacher with a Master's Degree in Biology. She has worked as a math and science teacher in Washington and California in grades 4-12, as well as a curriculum writer, and teaching coach, with specialized knowledge of teaching methodologies, learning styles, and experiential learning.
Magdalene Adenau
Magdalene Adenau loves discovering how to connect people and resources for the greatest possible good. She got to play with this skill a great deal through her experience as an in-house recruiter for a high-tech firm in Seattle; where connecting great people to highly specialized jobs was her forte. Magdalene has developed several engagement programs: Internship programs, mentoring programs, referral programs. Magdalene has a BA in Anthropology, and has Masters level experience working with Whole Systems Design. Magdalene grew up in Port Townsend and recently returned home where she is proud to work with the Jefferson County Chamber as their Strategic Director. Some of her dreams include, traveling to Angkor Wat (dream), Leadership skills (passion), creating great mentoring connections (goal) and she will gladly talk your ear off about movies, TV shows and books, really story-telling in any form.