BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The following individuals volunteer their time and talent to serve MIS as trustees. The MIS trustees work with the administration to establish policies for MIS, and to manage its finances. Many MIS trustees are parents or grandparents of MIS; others are members of the Missoula community. All MIS trustees use their personal and professional experience to advance the MIS mission in the school and greater community and hold the school in trust for future generations.

Explore MIS's Strategic Plan: 2009-2014

Doug Webber, President

Doug Webber is a native of Berkeley, CA, where he attended public schools before receiving his undergraduate degree in History from Dartmouth. He went on to complete his medical degree from the University of California and finished his residency in Family Practice from the University of Utah. In 1976, Doug moved to Missoula and has practiced primarily emergency medicine at St. Patrick's Hospital since. He teaches students at the U of M School of Law and Pharmacy, and is a proud "founding mother" of Blue Mountain Clinic.

Doug is a dedicated outdoorsman and tennis player who lives in the Rattlesnake with his wife, Nancy Winslow, and their identical twin daughters. Not only is Doug the President of MIS's Board of Trustees this year, he is also a proud MIS parent.

Rob Fleming, Vice President

Rob is a native Missoulian who grew up in Missoula's public school system and is a graduate of the University of Montana, with a Business Administration degree in Finance and Marketing. Rob is the sole owner and President of American Mortgage and has been with the company for over twelve years.

A lifelong outdoorsman, Rob enjoys all aspects of living in the Missoula area including mountain biking, fly fishing, snowboarding and trying to play golf. In addition to active lifestyle, Rob devotes a portion of his time volunteering and has been a long time supporter of the University of Montana Excellence Fund. Rob has a passion for international travel and over the past eight years he has spent a good deal of time in Mexico and Central America. He is the proud MIS parent of two long time MIS students.

Betsy Maier, Treasurer

Betsy is a consultant for fundraising and marketing working with both for profit and nonprofit clients in western Montana. Betsy has a long history of working in education serving as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, and as Class Dean in 1996. Betsy worked as a Charter School Coordinator for the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, in which capacity she developed a plan for an elementary charter school, wrote a planning grant for state funding, and researched the history and background of charter school education. Betsy also worked as the Development Director for the Montana Natural History Museum where she was responsible for individual, corporate and foundation fundraising. She is a founder and steering committee member of the Missoula Nonprofit Network, an organization dedicated to training nonprofit professionals and volunteers. Betsy is very dedicated to independent education in Missoula. She and her husband, Peter Bensen, are parents of two children. Their son just graduated from college and is working at an independent school; their daughter is a tenth grader at Hellgate High School.

Ray Aten, Secretary

Ray is a lifelong learner having devoted his life to education and research at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels in science and math. Ray received a Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry at Yale University's School of Medicine. He then became a post doctoral fellow at Yale University's School of Medicine and went on to work as a research scientist for thirty years. After leaving Yale, Ray taught middle school and high school math and science for six years. Now that he lives in Missoula, Ray spends his time working with a number of community organizations such as the Missoula County Democratic Central Committee and the Leadership Team for his neighborhood council. He is also a Mended Hearts visitor-volunteer at St. Patrick Hospital. Ray is the proud grandfather of three MIS students.

Julie Cahill

Julie Cahill currently is the International Admissions Counselor for The University of Montana. Julie received her BA in Biology and Teaching License with endorsements in Biology and Broadfield Science from The University of Montana. Following graduation she taught business, math and science to at-risk youth in the Solomon Islands during her two-year stint in the Peace Corps. She has also taught Biology, Chemistry and Physics at Browning High School in Browning, MT and at Okaihau College in Okaihau, New Zealand. Therefore, Julie enthusiastically brings a breadth of international and educational experience to the MIS Board of Trustees.

Martha Cheney

Martha Cheney has been involved in education for most of her life. When her children were young, she served on the board of their private preschool and in various leadership roles at their public elementary school, including a stint as president of the parent-teacher organization. In addition, she has about ten years of classroom teaching experience in preschool through grade five. In 2004, she obtained her Ed.D. in Curriculum Studies at the University of Montana in Missoula. There, she served as a graduate teaching assistant and worked for three years with teacher candidates in the School of Education. Currently, she is the Specialization Coordinator for the Early Childhood Education Teacher Preparation Program at Walden University.

Martha is a student of Spanish and also an avid reader and Scrabble player. She enjoys camping, hiking, and cross country skiing. Most of all, she cherishes time with family and friends. She has two wonderful sons and two unparalleled daughters-in-law as well as one beloved granddaughter. Her three “surrogate” grandchildren--Hannah, Lily, and Jack Baumes--are part of the MIS family.

Kay Grissom-Kiely

In 1997, Kay earned her Master's Degree in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, with an emphasis on modern/contemporary Latin American Art. She traveled to Cuba and completed her thesis on one of Cuba’s premier contemporary artists, Marta María Pérez Bravo.

Prior to graduate school she worked and taught art history at Marwen, an urban arts organization providing free arts programming to inner- city youth. Following graduate school she worked as Director of Education at the Hyde Park Art Center, one of Chicago's oldest community-based arts organizations with nationally-recognized education programs. Since moving to Missoula in 2000, Kay worked as the Fundraising & Communications Manager for homeWORD, served as Associate Editor of a Latin American Art book, and completed free- lance projects for various arts organizations such as the Montana Arts Council, Missoula's Día de los Muertos, the Missoula Museum Collective, and The Clay Studio of Missoula. Kay and her husband, Daniel, have two kids at MIS.

Amber Sherrill

Amber has lived in Missoula since 2000. She was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. She graduated from Ball State University with a double major in Business and Psychology. She worked for many years in different capacities of business but is now a stay at home mom. She has been on the Board of the Five Valleys Land Trust since 2002 and is an active volunteer. Her hobbies include: mountain biking, running, downhill skiing, skate skiing and travel.

Amber and her husband Colin moved to Missoula because they love the outdoors. Both their daughters were born here and they were thrilled to find out that Missoula offered exceptional educational opportunities for their children. One of their proudest moments was when, during a trip to Mexico, their then 5 year old ordered lunch for the family in Spanish.

Sandra Simmons, Parent Association Delegate

Sandra Simmons is a pediatrician at Missoula Valley Pediatrics. Prior to moving to Missoula she practiced in Indianapolis, Indiana for 5 years. She received her B.S. in Physiology at Michigan State University and her medical degree at Wayne State University School of Medicine. In addition to serving as board representative for the MIS parent association she has served several years as a board member for the Watson's Children's Shelter. Prior to starting her practice at Missoula Valley Pediatrics she volunteered for the Missoula Food Bank and has continued to deliver food to seniors once a month for the ROOTs program.

She is the proud parent of two MIS students. They have been students at MIS since preschool. It has always been her desire to raise bilingual children since she grew up in a Spanish speaking household. She was very interested in the established Indianapolis International School and was extremely delighted to discover the Missoula International School. It has been wonderful to see the school grow and look forward to further growth as a model school in our community.

Nicole Stimac

Nicole Stimac is a staff accountant for Mark Burke and Associates, CPA with fifteen years of tax and accounting experience. Nicole holds two degrees in Business Science from the University of Montana, with an emphasis in finance and accounting. She is responsible for tax preparation, financial statements and tax and accounting consulting. Nicole was raised in western Montana at Holland Lake Lodge. Her family moved to Missoula in 1979 when her mother opened the Queen of Tarts restaurant. She has a daughter, Kine, who attends the MIS Primary Years Program.

Norm Williamson

Norm Williamson joined MIS's Board of Trustees in the fall of 2009.  Norm is an accountant at Anderson ZurMuehlen CPA. Norm, and his wife, have two children at MIS.