Tri-Valley Conservancy - Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Jim Perry was born in Missouri, lived for a short time in Albuquerque, New Mexico and came to Livermore in 1957. He holds a bachelors degree from the University of San Francisco and was a Livermore Police Officer for 12 years. He began selling real estate in 1976 and received his appraisers' license in 1986. His tenure on the Livermore Planning Commission for 16 years has given him unique knowledge of the planning and development of the Tri-Valley area. The County of Alameda appointed Jim to the Conservancy in 2002 and he serves as TVC Chair now. He is involved with numerous local charities such as the Valley Care Foundation, Livermore Education Foundation, March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, and American Red Cross, where he was a First Aid and CPR instructor for 12 years. He lives in South Livermore with his wife Cheryl. They have two children, a son, Jim and a daughter, Christine, who is married to Mike and are the proud parents of Caitlyn and Madison.

Rik Hansen currently divides his vocational efforts between his family's commercial real estate investment and development business and growing olives and wine grapes on the family ranch in Livermore. On this same property, he operates the first commercial olive oil press to be built in eastern Alameda County. The olive oil is marketed under the trademark Arroyo Windmill Groves. Rik is the fourth generation of his family to farm in the Livermore Valley. He attended local elementary schools, graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Geology, and earned an MBA in finance from Northeastern University in Boston. He joined the TVC Board as an at-large Director in October 2004 and is currently serving as Vice-Chair. His passions are farming, swimming, reading and motorcycling. His blessings are his children, Abigail and Andrew.

Karl Wente was appointed to the TVC Board in 2004 by the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association and is currently serving as Secretary. He is a fifth-generation winemaker at California's oldest family owned, continuously operated winery in Livermore. While earning his BS in Chemical Engineering at Stanford, Karl played on the basketball team for two years and then joined the "almost national championship" rugby team. He earned both viticulture and enology graduate degrees at University of California, Davis. After graduating from UC, Davis he worked two harvests, one at Peter Michael in Knights Valley and one at Brown Brothers in Australia, before returning to the family business in May 2002. In 2004 he was named Vice President of Winegrowing at Wente Family Estates, introduced his Nth Degree wines to the public. When Karl is not making wine he enjoys playing guitar, baseball, tennis, golf, and he loves to ski.

Jean King was appointed to the TVC Board in 2004 by the City of Livermore and is currently serving as Treasurer. She was raised on a typical family farm in southwestern Wisconsin. She attended University of Wisconsin in Madison and received BS and MS in mathematics. After college she took a job at Sandia Labs as a computer programmer. She is now an adjunct instructor at Las Positas College teaching mathematics. She is very active in the community, serving on the boards of Livermore Commission for the Arts, Livermore/Amador Symphony Assoc., Livermore Cultural Arts Council, Friends of the Vineyards and she is involved in local politics. Jean has more than a bit of adventure in her. She has already been to Russia, South America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Morocco.

Judge Mark L. Eaton received a B.A. at Brandeis University and his J.D. at Stanford University . He practiced general civil litigation law for 12 years prior to his appointment to the Alameda County Courts in 1976. He retired from the bench in 1999 and has been a private judge acting as a mediator and arbitrator since that time. He has served as an at-large director of the TVC since 2001. He also serves as a Director of the Axis Community Health and the Livermore Granada Boosters. Judge Eaton resides in Livermore with his wife, Joyce, and is the father of Scott who is a doctor practicing in Livermore and Pleasanton, and Joshua, who is an attorney in the Justice Department in Washington, DC.

Kathy Farrell joined the TVC Board as at-large Director in June 2008 and is currently serving on the Resource Development Committee. She has been a resident of Livermore since 1956 when her family relocated from San Francisco. After college she became an employee of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where she was employed for 10 years. She left the Laboratory in 1985 to pursue an entrepreneurial opportunity opening her own State Farm Insurance agency. She continues to enjoy success as a local business owner and is actively involved in the community and service oriented Rotary Club of Livermore. In addition to Rotary, she is a founding board member of the Center of Community Dispute Settlement and regularly participates in many activities that support and promote the community of Livermore. Kathy resides in Livermore with her husband, Michael, and has one son, Sean who is equally involved in service to the Tri-Valley Community.

Miriam Miller was appointed to the Board of the Tri-Valley Conservancy in 2007 by the Friends of the Vineyards. She holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of Illinois and a MA in Early Childhood Education from San Francisco State University. She helped design, develope, and administer a community based organization to provide child care referrals and subsidies for low income working families in the valley. By the time she retired, Child Care Links had grown to serve all of Alameda County and was active in Child Care issues. She has also been active in the her community and has served on Boards including Congregation Beth Emek, Child Care Links, the League of Women Voters and Interfaith Housing. She and her husband, Don, have two daughters, Nancy and Lynne, and two grandchildren, all living in the Washington D.C. area.

Michael Princevalle was born and raised on a family farm / vineyard in Modesto, CA. He graduated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Soils Science. He is a partner in Coastal Viticultural Consultants, a firm that provides technical support and management services to viticulture industry in the Livermore and Napa / Sonoma areas. He has lived in Pleasanton since the late 1980s. He is very involved in the community, particularly in the preservation of agricultural lands and wildlife habitat. He has served as an at-large Director of the TVC since 2001 and is a former chair. His hobbies include back packing, fishing, and kickboxing

Mary Roberts, was appointed to the Board of the Tri-Valley Conservancy in 2007 by the City of Pleasanton where she served as a Planning Commissioner from 1998 to 2006. As a Commissioner, she was involved with numerous land use issues from neighborhood concerns to the General Plan Update. She has served several terms on the Board of the Friends of the Vineyards, currently serving as treasurer. She and her husband, Dr. Ford Roberts, have lived in Pleasanton since 1972 where he maintains his orthodontic practice, and where they have raised their four children. They have an acre of vines, and make wine as a hobby at their home in the Vineyard Corridor; 2005 marked their 20th vintage. Mary received a B.A. from the University of Iowa, and a M.A. from Mills College.

Bill Thomson graduated with a BS in Business from California State University, Chico and received his J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. Bill has practiced law in Livermore Since 1987 and made his home here since 1991. He has served as an at-large Director of TVC since 2000 and is the immediate past Chair. He is also a wine grape grower and principal in Harris-Tesla Vineyards. He loves to snow ski, water ski, fish for salmon, and runs with his two dogs. Bill has competed in two Boston Marathons. He lives in Livermore with his wife Sandy, and has two stepchildren - Dustin lives in Brentwood and Brandon lives in Livermore.