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Board President: Gisele Duehring
Gisele grew up in Iowa building bridges over a pasture creek using scrap materials, curiously watching water bugs skim the creek surface, munching mulberries, and loving violets and other wildflowers in the pasture. With a BS in Mechanical Engineering from ISU and some grad classes, she worked as a PE and PMP for a Texas power company/engineering firm mostly with coal-fired plants. One of her favorite volunteer opportunities was teaching illiterate adults to read and training tutors. Marquette’s Hunger Garden holds a special place in her heart. She has recently retired from Northern Michigan University’s Ripley CHP Plant. Architecture, flowers, children and pets make her heart sing. The BotEco Center, her passion, creatively encompasses those favorites and more! |
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Vice President: Cori Bodeman
Cori is a professor of Entrepreneurship in the College of Business at Northern Michigan University. She previously served as the Director of Marketing and New Business Development at Goodwill of Northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. She holds a BS in Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MS in Environmental Management from Illinois Institute of Technology and is pursuing a doctorate at Anderson University. She resides in Marquette on a small farm with a menagerie of animals. |
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Treasurer: Nhan Nguyen
Nhan was born and raised on a Vietnamese farm, where she gained a deep love for flowers, plants, chickens, dogs, and cats. She moved to the U.S. to reunite with her sweetheart in 2014 and since then has never stopped dreaming of a botanical garden in Marquette. Her dream eventually led her to BotEco, where she gets to work with those who share the same vision. She looks forward to one day seeing her children exploring nature on the dock in the long Michigan winter. Nhan earned a Bachelor’s degree for Science in Mathematics and is expected to graduate in December 2019 with another degree in Accounting. Joining BotEco’s Board is such a wonderful way to bring her number skills to this special not-for-profit but for-purpose organization. |
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Secretary: Natalia Rutkowski
Natalia is a freelance court reporter and owner of Rutkowski Court Reporting, LLC. She is a state-licensed CSR and nationally-licensed RPR, working as a freelance reporter for the past 10 years. She began her career at one of the leading court reporting firms in Chicago, and then as a self-employed freelancer and subcontractor, networking with many of the top court reporting agencies in Michigan. Prior to that, she worked as a legal secretary for 10 years while attending William Rainey Harper College and the Court Reporting Institute of America. She was born in Bialystok, Poland, and moved to Chicago when she was 5 years old, sparking her love for travel and adventure at an early age. She traveled back to Europe several times growing up, and embarked on a 3-month road trip around the United States with her husband, realizing that one of the most beautiful and interesting places to live was right here in Marquette, Michigan. She spends her free time enjoying the great outdoors year-round with her husband and daughter. Natalia is thrilled to be a part of the BotEco project that will expand the beauty and historical significance of the U.P. |
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Nancy Peterson grew up in a family business; her father was a landscaper and started 4 garden center business in different parts of Michigan. She obtained her horticulture degree from Ferris State University, was licensed by the State of Michigan for approximately 30 years in pesticide use, and has done landscape designing since 1981. Nancy worked in landscape construction, managed the Garden Center in Marquette, Michigan, and currently is Sales Specialist in the Lowes’ Outside Lawn and Garden Department in Marquette.
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Richard L. Price, P.E.
Senior Structural Engineer Richard is a project manager and senior structural engineer at GEI Consultants, Inc. He grew up in Wyoming building towers and bridges with cards, Legos, sticks, basically anything he could cobble together. With over 12 years of professional structural engineering experience, working on projects from coast to coast, that passion has not changed. Richard moved to the Marquette area in 2015 and spends free time with his daughter exploring the UP. Richard brings his construction and design expertise to the board, helping BotEco Center achieve its goal while remaining grounded. |
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Stacey DeLoose is an Instructional Technologist at Northern Michigan University’s Center for Teaching and Learning. She first came to Marquette from the Detroit Metro area as a student and fell in love with the area. The railway trestle leading to the Ore Dock was always the symbol that she was returning ‘home.’ Now that the trestle has been repurposed, making better use of the Ore Dock for the community is a very exciting project.
Stacey has two sons. Jack is a high schooler and Kristopher has recently graduated from NMU, is on his own, and has given her grandsons. |
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Sarah Paris
Growing up in the city of Chicago, Sarah enjoyed weekend trips to local nature preserves with her family. When college called, Northern Michigan University was the logical choice not only for academics, but also to be surrounded by nature every day. Since then, Marquette has been home sweet home. Sarah graduated with both a BS in Construction Management and an AS in HVACR Technology (Heating and Air Conditioning) and has put her expertise to use at Johnson Controls for over 12 years as a Project Manager working on energy efficiency projects. In her free time, she enjoys the nature that the UP has to offer in addition to exploring National Parks, working craft projects, and attending live music. Sarah is excited to see the BotEco Center come to life, particularly the year-round botanical gardens and the chance to see an iconic Marquette landmark repurposed in great way for the community. |
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Mitra Nite
Mitra is a graphic designer and visual artist with a background in fine arts and art history. Originally from Iran, she has lived in the U.S. for 20 years, first calling the Pacific Northwest home, and now the beautiful Marquette. She discovered the U.P. because of her husband Raj, who was born and raised in Houghton. Together they run Young Mountain Tea where she leads marketing and design, and she is thoroughly enjoying exploring this stunning part of the country and connecting with Marquette’s many vibrant communities. Mitra has a deep love for oceans and lakes, green spaces, and the revitalization of historic places, so when she met Gisele at a tea tasting event and heard about BotEco, reaching out to learn more and get involved seemed inevitable! She is excited to be a board member and to contribute to the advancement of this fantastic project. |
Previous Board Members:
Vice President: Joe Rom
Joseph Scanlan
Aurora Dobbs
Michael Marsden
Kristine Goupille
Dan Kill
Vice President: Susan Estler
Secretary: Jim Cantrill
Vice President: Joe Rom
Joseph Scanlan
Aurora Dobbs
Michael Marsden
Kristine Goupille
Dan Kill
Vice President: Susan Estler
Secretary: Jim Cantrill
