Meet the Troika

By Olivia Diaz

In November, after hearing Ernie’s announcement that he was resigning as Chair effective December 31, a sub group of the CTL Committee met. This group drafted three committed members: Diane Boyer, Olivia Diaz and Liz Wise, to form a “Troika” of three co-chairs to provide future leadership. In January, the recommendation of the CTL Committee was approved by the Outdoor Activities Governance Committee (OAGC).
Diane Boyer has been coming to CTL for the past 20 years and has been active on the CTL Committee for over 5 years, serving as Secretary. She was formerly an Outings Leader and Napa Group Outings Chair and has spent many volunteer hours working on revitalization of Hutchinson Lodge with her husband, Wally Juchert. Diane brings many years of business experience including management, administrative, financial and negotiating skills to the Troika.
Olivia Diaz’ affair with CTL dates back to the 80’s with her future husband. Since moving to northern California in 2000 they have taken advantage of the Sierra and spent their first few Thanksgiving and Christmas days as guests of the Lodge. Since 2005, she and husband Ernie Malamud have been active in the CTL Committee. Olivia is Publicity Team leader and has co-led the Summer Fund Raisers since they began them in 2005. Olivia was previously a rehabilitation counselor in Los Angeles. and then executive director of a science museum in Illinois.

Liz Wise’s affiliation with the Clair Tappaan Lodge stems back to 1991 when she embarked on a school field trip with a group of 5th grade students from Marin County. When her second set of children developed a love of skiing and snow boarding, they became regulars at the lodge. In addition to teaching at Waldorf schools and taking children out on many, many camping trips and hikes in the woods, Liz has an extensive background in business administration, management and finance.

Diane, Olivia and Liz have been working together since early December to distribute the work among them that Ernie did as Chair of the Committee. Liz will be the liaison to the OAGC and to the CTL Staff. Diane will be liaison with the Board and Dave Simon and will continue as Secretary. Olivia will continue as leader of the Publicity Team and will oversee functioning of the overall committee to ensure the Troika is not ignoring issues that need attention. Together they will work to bring CTL to a break-even budget by the Sierra Club’s deadline of September 30, 2008.

In addition to overseeing the volunteers who are researching aspects of improving the south pathway, the Troika has worked on finalizing a draft of By Laws that reflect how the CTL Committee has been functioning in the past year. That draft is under review by the CTL committee and will be discussed at its next phone conference.

The Troika also has drafted a proposal to the FinCom to use an investment of approximately $40,000 the FinCom has offered to help increase occupancy.