I was most fortunate to spend 1969 to 1972 in Côte d’Ivoire, as a TEFL teacher and a basketball coach. Côte d’Ivoire is where I also developed a love of West African food.  Upon my return to the U.S., I spent almost three decades teaching and coaching in Sonoma County before going into private enterprise with a team building company.  I have enjoyed every stage of my work career. And now, I enjoy the opportunity to work and share ideas with RPCVs. They provide challenges understanding  and balance. 

Holly joined the board January 2017 as a Regional Director for the South Bay to further the mission of NorCalPCA. She wants to encourage others to be more activity involved, especially in the South Bay area, since she resides and works there as well.

Holly has enjoyed living abroad multiple times and has worked in several industries. As an agroforestry volunteer PCV, she called a small village in Cameroon home from 2002-04. While Holly worked primarily with the substance farmers, she also taught in the village school as an English teacher. These experiences led her to earn her graduate degree in teaching upon returning to the US. After working in the classroom for 9 years, both in the States and International schools, she decided to change directions towards educational technology.  She moved to the Bay area desiring to be closer to her nieces and nephews.  And then after attending a NorCalPCA sponsored career fair, Holly took her first steps towards changing careers. She really valued the opportunity to work with the established RPCVs who helped to update her resume and provided information about opportunities in the area. 

Now, as a NorCalPCA Board Member, Holly looks forward to bringing people together at different events as well as helping people connect to be a formal or informal mentor or a mentee. Please contact her with questions or ideas for potential events.

Antonia (Toni) Gale is coming to NorCal board with over 20 yrs of management experience from veterinary medicine. She was Economic Community Developer and advisor to both city and county Mayors in  Ukraine from 2017-2019. After becoming RPCV, she focused solely on 2 passions: low-income housing and inclusivity/diversity at work place. She moved to Alaska to work for HUD in 2019, but transferred back to Bay Area in 2020 and is still working for HUD and focusing on low-income housing.  Toni currently resides in San Jose and shares the dog with her housemates. In her free time she likes to hike, re-organize her room (she was told she would be great interior designer if she ever wanted to change the career), cook, and have fun with her friends. She holds several degrees including MBA. She is definitely thinking of opening themed bar/restaurant after virus is over and is dreaming of interior design of this future 

Andrea served as a PCV in the Lower Rift Valley of Kenya from 2011-2013 as a Health and Hygiene Educator. There, she met her husband Adam and adopted her dog Sangala. Shortly after returning to the United States, Andrea attended American University Washington College of Law where she earned her Juris Doctorate. After graduation, she moved back to her hometown in the East Bay to pursue a career as a Deputy Public Defender. Another fur baby later, a biological daughter, and an adopted son, her family now owns a home in the quaint historical town of Martinez. She is currently a Reentry Attorney serving the formerly incarcerated and justice affected communities with their civil legal needs. Andrea remains in close touch with her village back in Kenya and the many RPCV friends she made along the way.

Tim spent 2 years in Ghana as a Small Business advisor where he developed a fondness for Fufu, warm beer, and flipcharts.  After returning to the US he completed his MBA at the University of Notre Dame (Go Irish!) and currently works in Tech.   In his free time he can be found hiking, working on his terrible Spanish, and rooting for the Ghanian Black Stars.      

Monterey/Santa Cruz: John Bost grew up a coast to coast Navy kid. He attended high school in California. After a degree in zoology from San Diego State College, he served in the Peace Corps as the science department of a small teachers training college in Sierra Leone (1967-69). There he met and after a very short courtship married VSO high school teacher Jennifer. It was, after all, the hot tropics. Post PC, a year in Yorkshire to get to know Jen’s family and to travel around Europe before entering Hastings College of Law in 1970. He passed the CA Bar in the summer of 1973. As a lawyer, John was CA Bar certified as a Specialist in Probate, Estate Planning, and Trust Law as well as a Specialist in Taxation Law. He served a three year term as a Commissioner on the CA Bar’s Taxation Law Advisory Commission. In 1979, he started teaching tax & law related courses at San Diego State University, eventually moving into a Finance Department tenure track position. He retired in 2003 as a Full Professor. John served two terms in the Faculty Senate and as Chair of the Senate’s Constitution and By-laws Committee. John served four years as the Director of the College of Business Faculty-Student Mentor Program. In the 1990s, John helped write the first national certification exam for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards becoming the Chair of the organization’s Board of Examiners in 1996. John was a co-author of the first three editions of West’s Federal Tax Research textbook and was the sole author of the 6th to 13th editions of Estate Planning and Taxation. John is no longer involved as author but both textbooks are still in use. He also wrote a number of journal articles and made presentations to local bar committees on matters related to estate planning and/or taxation. John and Jen’s two daughters attended the University of California Santa Cruz. At the end of their daughter’s first year, they bought a house for her and some of her friends to live, thinking it was a good investment. After their youngest daughter finished in 2003, John and Jen retired and moved up to the house in Santa Cruz having fallen in love with the area. John served two terms on the UCSC Arboretum Associates Board of Directors. In 2015, John connected for the first time with our local RPCV “chapter” and enjoyed meeting other RPCVs and engaging in activities. He stepped up to do the organizing with the help of a couple other RPCVs when the person who had been the moving force announced she was stepping back.

Kathleen Campbell is an international economic development professional with more than 10 years experience facilitating job creation and market access with small and medium enterprises in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Haiti.

In her role as purchasing director for Ten Thousand Villages, the largest North American fair trade retailer, Kathleen managed product development with 90 suppliers in 30 countries to introduce more than 500 new items each year, which supported as much as $28 million in annual revenue.

Prior to joining Ten Thousand Villages, Kathleen worked as a senior communications specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Habitat Conservation. She served in the Peace Corps for two years as a micro-enterprise development specialist in the Philippines helping to increase the revenues of community-based businesses in rural fishing villages and supporting the viability of local marine sanctuaries.

At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Kathleen designed and conducted a survey of the U.S. renewable energy industry’s ability to serve international markets and pursued private-public sector partnerships to promote the use of small-scale renewable energy technologies in support of income development, health and education in rural communities abroad. She was part of the start-up team that built Innovative HR Management, a consulting firm that outsourced human resource management services to companies in Silicon Valley.

Kathleen holds an M.A. in Global Finance, Trade and Economic Integration from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

Madeline recently served in Peru Response in 2020  with her husband, Clint,  until they were evacuated in March of 2020. She also served with Clint in Peace Corps Guatemala, 2016-2018, returning in December of 2018. They both participated in the Peace Corps Virtual Services Pilot Project with their Peru non-profit, Minga Peru, in late 2020 and continue to work with them in 2021. She joined the Nor Cal PCA board in March of 2019 and serves as the regional representative for the North Bay, starting her second term (2021-2023). She is also an interviewer with the Peace Corps Oral History Project, a project of the National Peace Corps Association. A Berkeley native, Madeline and her family moved from El Cerrito to Novato 26 years ago to be closer to her job as administrator at Kaiser Santa Rosa. She served two terms on the Novato City Council as council member/mayor in 2007-2015. She has held a variety of leadership roles in health care and social service organizations, including Kaiser Permanente and the County of Marin Health and Human Services. In addition, she has served on several non-profit boards including the League of California Cities, 10,000 Degrees, and Homeward Bound of Marin. She and husband Clint, who is a biologist, enjoy travel and hiking.

Jovonna served in the Peace Corps as a TEFL Teacher Trainer in Dashoguz, Turkmenistan from 2010-2012. In addition to her collaboration with local counterparts on English curriculum development and direct instruction, she could often be found guzzling down endless cups of tea, coaching volleyball clinics and expanding her Turkmen koynek (dress) collection. At the end of her service, Jovonna said goodbye to bucket baths in her small village and moved to the capital, Ashgabat, where she began her career in international education. Her work has taken her to classrooms in London, Dar es Salaam, Medellin and San Francisco where she currently lives and works. When she is not glued to Zoom, grading papers or managing a socially distanced classroom, Jovonna can be found picnicing in the park, road tripping and daydreaming about future travels. 

Peace Corps Volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) 1978-80.

Associate Peace Corps Director in Mali 1985-88.

RPCV India 67-69 and Peace Corps Staff in US 1970-1990.

Membership Chair and NorCal Historian involved in founding NorCal in 1981-82. 

Former NorCal Board Member and President and NPCA Board Member.

Retired federal employee.

Married to Susan Neyer RPCV Philippines 62-65 and former NorCal President and NPCA Board Chair).  Met via NorCalPCA.