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All-Volunteer Leadership

Board of Directors and Officers 

  • governs the organization by establishing broad policies and objectives

  • ensures the availability of adequate financial resources

  • approves annual budgets

  • provides the day-to-day management of LLCC

  • produces courses and events, and registers attendees

  • keeps track of our membership

  • communicates with members & the public

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Jeff Green

President, Board Director & Webmaster

Jeff has been President of LLCC since 2012.  Before that he was the President of the Board of Members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal Poly for two years after he served as the chairman of its curriculum committee. He also served on the boards of the San Luis Obispo Historical Society and the Former Grand Jurors Association.  Before moving to San Luis Obispo in 2000 he lived in the Washington, D.C. area where he held various leadership positions in the U.S. Treasury Department. He spends way too much time playing fantasy football.

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Marianne Buckmeyer

Vice President & Curriculum Committee Chair

Marianne was one of the founding members of Save the Mesa and was its president for seven years. She also had the job to set up the monthly speakers for many of those years and did community interface with groups like the Land Conservancy, Ride Nipomo, and the Nipomo school board. She was a member of the Greenhouse committee that was formed by a former County supervisor to solve the problems that were arising from the growth of greenhouses in the neighborhoods.  Took the lead in establishing the truck route in Nipomo, coming up the Good Neighbor Policy, and is now the community liaison between the area residents and CCGGA for solving problems.  Marianne is a retired human resources professional.

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John Frey

Secretary & Board Director

John taught chemistry and engaged in chemical research for 40 years at several universities and is now retired.  He was a founding member of the Northern Center of Lifelong Learning in Marquette, Michigan. He is a member of the Cuesta Master Chorale, sings in the chorus of Opera San Luis Obispo and teaches courses on opera. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Marquette MI and has been a member of the Rotary Club of SLO since 1998. He is currently vice-president of the Board of Opera Lovers Meet and secretary of the Board of Directors of Opera San Luis Obispo.  

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Debby Grisante

Treasurer & Board Director

Debby brings to the LLCC Board 25 years of running an engineering firm with her husband.  She performed all accounting functions except for income tax filing.  She also has the same amount of experience of volunteering with non- profit organizations such as Newcomers, Rotary, Los Osos Community Advisory Council, San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden and Sunrise Terrace Recreation Board in capacities from treasurer, docent, facilities manager, to President. 

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Ed Cabrera

Board Director & IT Coordinator

Ed Cabrera is our audio-visual manager and IT Coordinator. He is responsible for assuring that our presenters have all the audio and visual tools and support they need to be successful. Ed is a native Californiano who was born and raised in the Salinas Valley hamlet of Gonzales, received his B.A. at San Jose State and entered the corporate wars in the Bay Area on behalf of the Xerox Corporation, where he was the youngest senior sales representative on the West Coast at one time. A timely epiphany inspired him to enter the classroom as a secondary teacher. His career spanned 36 years with stops in Perris, California and nearby Atascadero High School. Ed not only taught a variety of social studies classes but also coached football, baseball and soccer at various levels and was advisor to yearbook and newspaper staffs as well as finding time to earn an M.A in education from Cal Poly. At the time of his retirement Ed was the only teacher in his district to attain national certification. He feels that his association with Lifelong Learners is a natural progression in his lifelong dedication to the field of education.

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Gail Hill

Board Director

Gail is a founding member of the Lifelong Learners of the Central Coast.  She was Chair of the Curriculum Committee for both LLCC and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal Poly, served on the Board of the San Luis Obispo Historical Society, and served on the San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury.   An East Coast native, she received her BA in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson U. and MA in Business and Education from the University of Florida.  She is retired from a career in Human Resources Management with the U.S. Federal Government.  Working at several Federal agencies, she held a variety of positions including Human Resources Director and EEO Manager.

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Merill Lynn

Board Director

Merril has been involved with various boards and community organizations during her employment years and since retiring, including serving on her homeowners board for 13 years.   She is a graduate of UCSB, was a school aide for Special Education, had an 8-year career as a professional in Behavioral Therapy (IBIP) for Tricounties Regional Center and  a 20-year career as Systems Analyst for SBRC/Hughes/Raytheon.

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Connie Thomas

Board Director & Venues Coordinator

Connie is a registered nurse (student nurse of the year for the state of Massachusetts—she’s not saying what year) with a master’s degree in public administration.  After dedicating a few years to in-patient psychiatric nursing, Connie did an about-face and made a career of medical data management and profiling.  She worked in hospitals as well as the USC School of Medicine, Postgraduate Division.  Her home state is Michigan but she has lived in California since 1973.  She has a deep interest in making low- cost growth and educational opportunities available to adults of all ages.  Her recreational pursuits include photography and duplicate bridge.

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Rudy Xavier

Advisory Board Director

Rudy Xavier passed away in 2021.  He brought to LLCC a unique combination of Teaching, Business Analytics, and Marketing experience from over 20 years at high-tech software companies from Digital Equipment Corporation and Honeywell Information Systems, to Xerox. He was a highly sought consultant to the top ten drug companies in the clinical trials space & has taught at the university level at Georgia Tech.  Rudy held a BA in Premed, MS in Psychology, & a 2nd MS in Computer Science. He sang Lead in the Gold Coast Barbershop Chorus, led the 5 Cities Folk Jam Group, played folk and classical guitar, and led discussions as a speaker for 10 years in the management of Memory Loss as a Bay Area Facilitator for the Alzheimer’s Association. His LLCC course “Coping with Dementia” was offered many times as was "Demystifying Your Home Computer"

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Judy Yager

Advisory Board Director

Judy was Vice President of the Board of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal Poly for two years.  She also served as chair of its outreach committee, and facilitated workshops and special board meetings.  Judy was a trainer with the CA Employment Development Department and then manager of personnel, training, and various other departments in the CA Department of Transportation.  She also taught psychology for ten years at Butte Community College.  She sees her role with the Lifelong Learners of the Central Coast as helping to facilitate a thriving, collaborative, and rewarding organization for its community of learners.

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Paul Greiling

Advisory Board Director

Paul was active in Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal Poly for its last five years as member of the Curriculum Committee and on the Osher Board of Members as its Secretary. He has served on the Industrial Affiliates Board of the Cal Poly Electrical Engineering Department for the last 3 years. He has served on the Baron Canyon Homeowners Board for 4 years, one year as its President. He has also served on the Baron Canyon Mutual Water Company Board for 2 years. Before moving to San Luis Obispo he was a Professor and then Adjunct Professor at UCLA for 30 years. He was also the Manager of the Microelectronics Laboratory and a Director of Hughes Research Labs.

Marianne Buckme

Jeff has been President of LLCC since 2012.  Before that he was the President of the Board of Members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal Poly for two years after he served as the chairman of its curriculum committee. He also served on the boards of the San Luis Obispo Historical Society and the Former Grand Jurors Association.  Before moving to San Luis Obispo in 2000 he lived in the Washington, D.C. area where he held various leadership positions in the U.S. Treasury Department. He spends way too much time playing fantasy football.

Marianne Buckme

Marianne was one of the founding members of Save the Mesa and was its president for seven years. She also had the job to set up the monthly speakers for many of those years and did community interface with groups like the Land Conservancy, Ride Nipomo, and the Nipomo school board. She was a member of the Greenhouse committee that was formed by a former County supervisor to solve the problems that were arising from the growth of greenhouses in the neighborhoods.  Took the lead in establishing the truck route in Nipomo, coming up the Good Neighbor Policy, and is now the community liaison between the area residents and CCGGA for solving problems.  Marianne is a retired human resources professional.

 

Marianne Buckme

John taught chemistry and engaged in chemical research for 40 years at several universities and is now retired.  He was a founding member of the Northern Center of Lifelong Learning in Marquette, Michigan. He is a member of the Cuesta Master Chorale, sings in the chorus of Opera San Luis Obispo and teaches courses on opera. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Marquette MI and has been a member of the Rotary Club of SLO since 1998. He is currently vice-president of the Board of Opera Lovers Meet and secretary of the Board of Directors of Opera San Luis Obispo.  

 

Marianne Buckme

Debby brings to the LLCC Board 25 years of running an engineering firm with her husband.  She performed all accounting functions except for income tax filing.  She also has the same amount of experience of volunteering with non- profit organizations such as Newcomers, Rotary, Los Osos Community Advisory Council, San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden and Sunrise Terrace Recreation Board in capacities from treasurer, docent, facilities manager, to President. 

Marianne Buckme

Ed Cabrera is our audio-visual manager and IT Coordinator. He is responsible for assuring that our presenters have all the audio and visual tools and support they need to be successful. Ed is a native Californiano who was born and raised in the Salinas Valley hamlet of Gonzales, received his B.A. at San Jose State and entered the corporate wars in the Bay Area on behalf of the Xerox Corporation, where he was the youngest senior sales representative on the West Coast at one time. A timely epiphany inspired him to enter the classroom as a secondary teacher. His career spanned 36 years with stops in Perris, California and nearby Atascadero High School. Ed not only taught a variety of social studies classes but also coached football, baseball and soccer at various levels and was advisor to yearbook and newspaper staffs as well as finding time to earn an M.A in education from Cal Poly. At the time of his retirement Ed was the only teacher in his district to attain national certification. He feels that his association with Lifelong Learners is a natural progression in his lifelong dedication to the field of education.

Marianne Buckme

Gail is a founding member of the Lifelong Learners of the Central Coast.  She was Chair of the Curriculum Committee for both LLCC and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal Poly, served on the Board of the San Luis Obispo Historical Society, and served on the San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury.   An East Coast native, she received her BA in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson U. and MA in Business and Education from the University of Florida.  She is retired from a career in Human Resources Management with the U.S. Federal Government.  Working at several Federal agencies, she held a variety of positions including Human Resources Director and EEO Manager.

Marianne Buckme

Merril has been involved with various boards and community organizations during her employment years and since retiring, including serving on her homeowners board for 13 years.   She is a graduate of UCSB, was a school aide for Special Education, had an 8-year career as a professional in Behavioral Therapy (IBIP) for Tricounties Regional Center and  a 20-year career as Systems Analyst for SBRC/Hughes/Raytheon.

 

Marianne Buckme

Connie is a registered nurse (student nurse of the year for the state of Massachusetts—she’s not saying what year) with a master’s degree in public administration.  After dedicating a few years to in-patient psychiatric nursing, Connie did an about-face and made a career of medical data management and profiling.  She worked in hospitals as well as the USC School of Medicine, Postgraduate Division.  Her home state is Michigan but she has lived in California since 1973.  She has a deep interest in making low- cost growth and educational opportunities available to adults of all ages.  Her recreational pursuits include photography and duplicate bridge.

 

Marianne Buckme

Rudy Xavier passed away in 2021.  He brought to LLCC a unique combination of Teaching, Business Analytics, and Marketing experience from over 20 years at high-tech software companies from Digital Equipment Corporation and Honeywell Information Systems, to Xerox. Rudy was the Project Lead for very large systems such “VA-TARGET”, which manages U.S. Veterans’ benefits for all 146 V.A. Regional Offices and 26 Medical Centers. Leveraging his in-depth experience in business intelligence and leading edge Computational Linguistics software, Rudy served as Vice President/GM for a division of Xerox PARC in Palo Alto, CA. He subsequently started his own company, IntelliDex, Inc. which makes it possible for health professionals worldwide to search all Pharma databases in any of 23 languages, summarizing structured and unstructured data at the unprecedented speed of 50 pages per second! He was a highly sought consultant to the top ten drug companies in the clinical trials space & has taught at the university level at Georgia Tech.Rudy holds a BA in Premed, MS in Psychology, & a 2nd MS in Computer Science. He sang Lead in the Gold Coast Barbershop Chorus, led the 5 Cities Folk Jam Group, played folk and classical guitar, and led discussions as a speaker for 10 years in the management of Memory Loss as a Bay Area Facilitator for the Alzheimer’s Association. His LLCC course “Coping with Dementia” was offered many times as was "Demystifying Your Home Computer"

Marianne Buckme

Judy was Vice President of the Board of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal Poly for two years.  She also served as chair of its outreach committee, and facilitated workshops and special board meetings.  Judy was a trainer with the CA Employment Development Department and then manager of personnel, training, and various other departments in the CA Department of Transportation.  She also taught psychology for ten years at Butte Community College.  She sees her role with the emerging Lifelong Learners of the Central Coast as helping to facilitate a thriving, collaborative, and rewarding organization for its community of learners.

 

Marianne Buckme

Paul was active in Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal Poly for its last five years as member of the Curriculum Committee and on the Osher Board of Members as its Secretary. He has served on the Industrial Affiliates Board of the Cal Poly Electrical Engineering Department for the last 3 years. He has served on the Baron Canyon Homeowners Board for 4 years, one year as its President. He has also served on the Baron Canyon Mutual Water Company Board for 2 years. Before moving to San Luis Obispo he was a Professor and then Adjunct Professor at UCLA for 30 years. He was also the Manager of the Microelectronics Laboratory and a Director of Hughes Research Labs.

 

Marianne Buckme

Paul participated in Osher Lifelong Learning classes when he first retired here in 2006, and is delighted to have found LLCC recently. He is a collection counter for Mission San Luis Obispo, and is the bookkeeper for his wife Carol’s life coaching business. He has been a treasurer for a variety of organizations over the years. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science, and worked for 40 years in the Aerospace industry in Southern California and Maryland in a variety of roles ranging from computer programmer to systems engineer and project manager. He enjoys reading, hiking, and golf.

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