PRESIDENT - JERILYN GEMBERLING:
Jerilyn’s love affair with horses came to be a reality when her husband bought me a lovely gray mare! Quarter horses became their love and they had a father and daughter pair (pure black and gorgeous!) that they showed quite a bit as well as raising foals. Their proximity to the Amish led her husband to get into draft horses and they raised many foals for their Amish friends. They were one of a group that worked to achieve draft horse classes at our County Fair ... and yes, their Belgium team of Fred and Shorty took a championship or two!! Jerilyn discovered ERAF in 2007 when she came to the annual hoe down and signed up to volunteer. The first night she came out to volunteer at the barn was quite revealing. She had no idea she would be hit with so much emotion ... it had been probably close to 15 years since she'd been with horses! ERAF has become an ever increasing joy in Jerilyn’s life especially since she has been participating in REC ... thanks to Daryl and Kirsten!
VICE PRESIDENT- JAMIE GARNER:
Jamie was born in St. Louis, MO and was introduced to horses when her family moved to the Deep South. At the age of 13 she started taking riding lessons and soon owned a barrel racing champion Quarter horse Paint mare. Jamie’s family moved to Stuart, FL in 1978 and has been home for her family since. Jamie graduated from Auburn University with a BS in International Business and later acquired her MBS from Marymount University in Arlington, VA. She lived in the Washington DC are for 18 years was the Sr. Director of Marketing for Lockheed Martin Global Telecom when she left DC to move back Florida.
Jamie served as senior marketing or operations management as an employee at corporations like Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), MCI, and Lockheed Martin Global Telecom. She developed an expertise in merger management when FDIC created the Resolution Trust Corporation in the late 1980’s and as Lockheed Martin purchase COMSAT International. She later ventured to the consultant arena providing marketing, global operations and global merger expertise for corporations like British Telecom and Nextel Communications.
Since returning to the Treasure Coast in 2002 Jamie has been involved with several non-profits in Martin County. She is a Certified Disaster Relief caregiver for Red Cross, a mentor at Big Brothers/Big Sister, and serves on the Hibiscus Children’s Center Foundation Board of Martin County. Jamie looks forward to utilizing her marketing and communications experience, as well as her non-profit fund raising experience, to help Rescue, Rehabilitate and Adopt the horses of ERAF.
TREASURER - LUCY BUKOWSKI:
Lucy has been in museum finance and administration for over twenty years. She is currently the Chief Financial Officer of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida. She has an M.B.A. from DePaul University in Chicago, and is a graduate of the Museum Management Institute, a three week study program sponsored by the Getty Leadership Institute for Museum Management in Berkeley, California. She has been a horse lover since childhood, when she moved all of her clothes out of her closet and converted it into a stable for 20+ plastic horses. She now has two real horses and rides dressage.
LYSA HEATON:
Lysa’s love for animals started very young, but she didn’t have the opportunity to pursue a career with horses until about 9 years ago when she moved to Florida and married her husband Sam. She volunteered at another local horse rescue, which lead to the purchase of her horse “Cowboy”, an 11 year old Appaloosa gelding. Cowboy teaches and tests her on a daily basis and she loves the challenge. Lysa has been a student of Kirsten Nelsen since 2004 and has passed Level 2 of the Parelli system. Lysa is a former Accounting, Sales and Marketing Coordinator for Johnson Outdoors, Inc. and looks forward to utilizing her business experience to help ERAF into a bright future.
DIANA ISAIA:
Diana grew up with horses in New England, spending all of her allowance and doing odd jobs just to be able to spend more time around them. She enjoyed trail riding through the woods, often bareback, on thoroughbreds and clydesdales. Diana is a trained occupational therapist, has spent the last 14 years working with a mechanical engineering firm and is a certified pilates instructor. She has always been interested in body movement, mechanics and kinesiology, which she now applies to horses as well as humans. The miracles she has witnessed at ERAF through the REC program have solidified her belief that movement helps heal the body and soul.
DARYL TROPEA:
Daryl Anne Tropea was born and educated in Ontario, Canada, but has lived, since the mid 1980’s, in the United States. She graduated with two undergraduate degrees in Nursing and Psychology. Her first job, which required suturing lacerations, treating colds and delivering babies, was in an isolated, fly-in community in northern Canada. Over the years Daryl became more interested in preventive health care research and teaching which lead her to completing a Masters Degree in education and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Several years ago Daryl’s interest in teaching and health care research transferred from the human population to the equine population. North Carolina provided a unique opportunity to become an advocate for horses and horse owners through an equine education program called REINS (Regional Equine Information Network Systems). In 2002, Daryl continued her equine education by studying Parelli Natural Horsemanship up through level III and completing an Equine Science Degree through the University of Guelph in Canada.:
Today Daryl has two thoroughbred horses that she has shown extensively in the Adult Hunters in Ontario, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. Her equine studies continue in the field of “equine rehabilitation” with Arlene White at the Animal Rehabilitation Institute in southern Florida. Life is not only horses for Daryl; she is also a golfer, boater, pilot of a single engine airplane and wife of Tom. Daryl is the past-president of ERAF.
Advisory Board:
KIRSTEN NELSEN:
Kirsten focuses on foundation training for the horse and rider. Problem solving starts with understanding the horse’s emotional nature and how horses think. Understanding how humans learn and think helps too. Understanding the biomechanics of the horse and rider is critical to the successful team.
Kirsten’s coaches include Carol Brett, Terry Wright, Alois Podhajsky, Lesley Ann Taylor, and Gavin Scofield. Her natural horsemanship training has come from her time with horsemen as John Strong, Buck Brannaman, Ray Hunt, Tom Dorrance, Deb Cooper, Pat Parelli, Linda Parelli and Ronnie Willis. Kirsten is also a former 3 star Parelli Professional.
ROGER BROWN
Five years ago, Roger came to ERAF with his daughter with the hope of finding something they could do together. He now fully understands her fascination with these amazing creatures. Volunteering at ERAF is something that they continue to share together. Roger lends his many years of IT experience to ERAF and has developed the on-line means for ERAF to track the horses' progress through the REC program.
GRETCHEN NELSEN, DVM:
Dr. Nelsen is a graduate of the University of Florida's vet school and worked as a foal technician at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit during her last four years in Gainesville. She practices out of the Top Hill Equine Clinic in Eustis, Florida (Top Hill Equine Clinic) where they provide general equine care with an emphasis on reproductive medicine. She loves a good challenge and we are glad to have her as part of the ERAF team.
