Nettie Pardue

Executive Director

Nettie Pardue's (she/her) roots go deep at Outward Bound beginning as an instructor 21 years ago. She currently serves as the Executive Director at Outward Bound California and has over 20 years of global experience working for Outward Bound in 13 countries.  In addition to Outward Bound, she has worked in the peacebuilding and conflict resolution field with Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding the United World College and SEEDS Community Resolution Center where she acted as facilitator and trainer for communication, conflict resolution, mediation and cultural competency courses. Nettie has a Master's in Applied Behavioral Science and has presented at conferences in the US and abroad.  

In her early 20's she worked for one of the Kurt Hahn United World Colleges in NM. Working with students from over 80 countries cultivated a sense of the power of outdoor experiential learning and how it can be transformative to underserved and underrepresented populations. Today, she brings experiential outdoor learning to diverse communities. As Executive Director she hopes to inspire and provide access to more staff and students to get outside! 

She is climber / mountaineer (favorite route - Sun Ribbon Arete in the Palisades), kayaker (whitewater and sea) skier, and long-distance runner, completing more than six 100 mile races in the US and Canada. Nettie thrives in pushing herself to overcome my personal limitations and I am always looking for the next NEED (new experience every day).

BJ Allen

Director of Student Services, Director of Equity

BJ (she/her) came to OBCA with a background in clinical social work and a specialty in animal assisted interventions. Her work with experiential therapy and humane education led her to seek a role where she could support programs that foster people's inherent resilience, create a space to learn from one another across differences, and cultivate meaningful connections.

Her investment in this role at OBCA is rooted in the belief that all people have a right to the resources they need to thrive, and that the systemic barriers to access faced by folks with non-dominant identities need to be addressed. She is grateful to work within a community of dedicated, passionate individuals who continually seek to evolve and strengthen our ability to provide relevant, responsive, and responsible programming for all of our participants.

Outside of work, BJ loves to run and hike and spends much of her free time engaged in outdoor adventures across the Bay Area with her partner, kids, and the family dog.

Emma Rapp

Director of Advancement

Emma (she/her) never saw herself in a direct service role - all her career and strengths finders growing up told her to be a teacher but she forged a different path, instead dedicating her career to supporting the work of educators as they change the lives of students.  A serial career monogamist, she came to OBCA 7 years ago after 7 years in administration, fundraising, and volunteer organizing at Playworks, based in San Francisco.

Programs like Outward Bound formed her as a leader, channeling her energy and persuasive powers for good.  She can remember vividly on a 10-day canoeing expedition in Maine at the age of 13, learning, through trial and error, her ability to tank or motivate the group depending on the leadership tack she took.  These days her preferred methods of challenge and discovery include snowboarding, all-female backpacking trips, triathlons, and shaving her commute down to as close to an hour as possible.

Jason Schmidt

High Sierra Program Director

Jason (he/him) started working for Outward Bound in 2007 at the North Carolina Outward Bound School before heading west in 2009 to instruct in his favorite place on earth, the High Sierra. He then followed the seasons working in Appalachia, Everglades, rivers in North FL and AL, Joshua Tree, Bay Area and always returning to the mountains of California. 

Jason is a proud AmeriCorps alum who was drawn to Outward Bound during that time for OB's commitment to service. His favorite OBCA tasks revolve around service: he participated in the Service Bus, managed a beloved OBCA program, the Youth Leadership Corps, organized staff involvement at the yearly Yosemite Facelift.

Sara Grimmer

Finance and Operations Coordinator

Sara (she/her) is the Finance and Operations Coordinator of OBCA. In 2017, Sara started as a Logistics Coordinator in the Bay. After learning the nuts and bolts of Bay Area programming, she has transitioned into the role of Finance and Operations Coordinator to better understand how the organization operates in the nonprofit world.

Sara's first introduction to Outward Bound was through her mother, whom completed a month long backpacking and rock climbing course through Colorado’s San Juan mountains in 1974. Growing up with a family that loved backpacking and camping, Sara fell into outdoor education where she led outing trips throughout high school and college. The positive impact the outdoors has had in her life, and seeing how the outdoors brings people together, has driven her to work towards making the outdoors more accessible for all. 

Danelia Lopez Casco

Bay Area Program & Internship Coordinator

Growing up in 'La Mission' of San Francisco, Danelia (she/her) has a strong sense of duty to her community. She manages the Internship program, Youth Leadership Corps (YLC) program, course directs, instructs, and supports program development through many channels. Social justice is a strong undercurrent of her work.

Her passion for this work is fueled by the belief that every person no matter where they come from, has the right to access nature, especially youth. Nature is medicine and has the power to heal and restore. She is one of many in the movement for more equality, inclusivity, and diversity of people in outdoor spaces.

Emilytricia Marchena

Student Services Associate

Emilytricia Lopez Marchena (she/her, they/them) is ecstatic to continue her journey with Outward Bound! She finished up the Outward Bound Fall 2019 internship with a focus of bringing her 7+ years of experience in grassroots social justice work to outdoor recreation, while also obtaining many of her first time experiences in the backcountry. She’s worked within various community-based organizations in the Bay Area around youth work, organizing, the Latinx community, bike equity and so much more as she continues to grow. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in International Relations, a minor in Women and Gender Studies, and another minor in Latinx Studies. 

As a daughter of the diaspora that identifies as Xica Nica with Mexican and Nicaraguan roots her connection to the outdoors started as a child with her Abuela's garden, chickens, and plant medicine that has been rooted within her family for generations. At a young age, she developed a love for riding bikes and picked it up again in college as a mode of transportation. As a volunteer member of Bicis del Pueblo for over 4 years, a program of the grassroots organization P.O.D.E.R., she helps create more access to bikes for people of color and advocating for transportation justice. 

She strives on bringing her passion for the outdoors and social justice together to create more access to the outdoors for underrepresented communities. She believes that bringing people together outdoors is not only transformative and empowering but also healing when we connect with mother earth!

Yolanda Clark

Human Resources Manager

Yolanda started her journey with Outward Bound California in December 2019. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration at John F. Kennedy University, where she also completed MBA program work. She’s inquisitive, innovative, and a critical thinker. Academia and learning environments have always intrigued her. For fun, she enjoys bike rides, traveling, shopping, exploring cultures, and food. For discipline, she works out 2-3 times per week.

With over 15 years of Human Resources experience, Yolanda is a proven HR professional and practitioner. To raise her two sons, and work from home, she’s devoted several years to consultancy work. Thus, she’s coached numerous small to midsize businesses and leaders in areas of Employee Relations, Performance Management, Training and Development, Compensation & Benefits, Staffing, Retention, and myriad business strategies. Prior, Yolanda worked in various industries and HR capacities. All of these experiences contribute to her rich perspective and valuable skill set that she brings to OB with eagerness to make a positive difference.

Jeremy Robertson

High Sierra Associate Logistics Manager

For the past seven years, Jeremy (he/his) has been in the field with Outward Bound California at all three of its bases in the bay area, Southern California and the High Sierra. Though not finished with his time in the field, Jeremy is excited to transition in his role to focusing more on supporting students and staff through the logistics of the program in the High Sierra.

He loves spending time in the outdoors exploring the mountains, rivers, and hot springs. Jeremy also enjoys working with plants on a farm or in the garden. Being able to eat fresh produce from the ground or plant brings a big smile to his face. Jeremy loves sharing space with people over playing games, dancing to live music, or cooking up and eating a decadent breakfast.

Emily Ford

Student Services Associate

A decade ago, Emily (she/her) was a participant on an Outward Bound climbing course that ignited her career in the outdoors. Since then, she has guided multi-day river trips through southwest canyons, instructed thousands of students in the rugged North Cascades mountains, and supported international community-based conservation programs. She believes that people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities have a fundamental right to access outdoor spaces, where they can grow a deeper connection to nature, to themselves, and to their communities.

As a part of OBCA’s Student Services team, Emily spends most of her time communicating with future students and their families, preparing them for positive and fulfilling course experiences. She also collaborates with the program teams to design safe and individualized support for every student. Outside of the office, Emily enjoys birdwatching, climbing, biking, and spending time on the water.

Rosy Woodruff

Insight Program Manager

Rosy (she/her) came to Outward Bound with a decade of facilitating and training ropes course programs in the Bay Area and across California. She estimates that she has planned and implemented over 1000 individual ropes course programs. As a student at San Francisco State University, Rosy was introduced to outdoor education in her first semester and was hooked - having never realized that you could make it a career. 

Her work and passion for connecting people to the outdoors and experiential education don't end there, she has also led backpacking and sea kayaking programs along the Point Reyes Seashore, and is the Conference Convener for the West Coast Region Association for Experiential Education. Rosy is organized, driven and passionate about seeing growth in others and is looking forward to the challenge of getting the new OBCA Challenge Course off the ground! 

While she is not developing challenge course systems and programs, you can find Rosy out for a weekend in the redwoods, baking elaborate treats for her friends and family, or laying in the hammock with a ball of yarn and a crochet hook. 

Jessica Haist

Staffing and Hiring Manager

Jessica (she/her) hires all field staff positions for OBCA including instructors, interns and logistics coordinators and schedules all return field staff at all 3 OBCA locations. Jessica started as an instructor at our High Sierra Basecamp in 2006 and has worked her way through many positions over the years including course director and staff trainer.

Originally hailing from Ontario, Canada, Jessica was called to the mountains of Western Canada to pursue her passion for rock climbing and being outside. She then worked her way south, working with youth and adults in the Sierra and receiving her Master's Degree in Adventure Education from Prescott College. She has now settled down in her beloved Sierra Nevada's in Mammoth Lakes with her husband where she enjoys climbing, skiing, and biking in the mountains year-round.

Erin Thacher

Communications Coordinator

After five years of supporting logistics at OBCA's High Sierra basecamp, Erin (she/her) moved into the world of storytelling and communications. She brings a deep knowledge of OBCA's wilderness programs, an eye for graphic design, and a learner's mindset. While she will always feel most at home chatting with students over a plate of food, she is honored to collect and share their stories with the world. 

She is a transplant to the mountains from the flatlands of Kansas. Before her time at Outward Bound California, she had never slept under the stars. Although it took her a few years to develop what she calls "mountain legs," she now loves to travel the world in search of mountains and street food.

Sarah Murphy-Cook

High Sierra Program Manager

Sarah (she/her) was introduced to Outward Bound while volunteering with the Bay Area base. That first glimpse of service and community is what drew her in and has kept her coming back each year to Outward Bound. Sarah has spent the past five years working in the field across all of the basecamps in California as well as with the Northwest Outward Bound School in Washington and North Carolina Outward Bound School in Florida. 

Sarah attributes much of her personal growth to her numerous experiences with Outward Bound, from interning and the Service Bus to her countless experiences in the field that have impacted her. Though sleeping under the stars will never get old, Sarah is excited to bring this passion for the mission of Outward Bound to support programs in a different capacity. She is thrilled to be able to further serve programming while focusing on social-emotional learning curriculum and staff development and support.

If she’s not clicking her way through spreadsheets, you’ll often find her watercoloring, baking scads of scones, checking out too many library books at a time, and playing competitive board games. She also loves spending time with others outdoors, whether it’s paddling, hiking, traveling, or having long chats over tea and a view.

Lindsay Blake

Student Services Manager

Lindsay (she/her) started at OBCA as a member of the student services team in January 2017. She is currently the Student Services Manager and is grateful to have found such supportive and amazing people to work with!

Lindsay’s love of the outdoors truly began in 2001, when she challenged herself to try something new and signed up for a 10-day backpacking trip on Washington state's Mount Adams as part of college orientation. She was pushed way out of her comfort zone and loved the whole experience! Helping students and their families prepare for their own meaningful and transformative experience is something she now enjoys in her role at OBCA.

In her time off, Lindsay enjoys getting away from her desk and computer screens! Currently she's enjoying kayaking and day hiking with her family, and is doing her best to instill in her child a sense of wonder and love for nature.

Laura Lynn Del Ross

High Sierra Program Manager

Laura (she/her) believes in Howard Thurman’s ethos on living: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, & go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” This, the Outward Bound experience and community, is what makes her come alive.

Laura is delighted to serve Outward Bound California as a Program Manager in her treasured High Sierra. She spent twelve formative summers playing, growing, leading wilderness expeditions amid these pine dappled granite mountains before becoming an elementary school science teacher and then a park ranger in Death Valley, Humboldt Redwoods, and Yellowstone. Although her path to Outward Bound is rooted in education of the natural world, it is the pedagogy of elevating social-emotional learning that she now most deeply values. Laura’s role as a Program Manager inspires her to mentor this model of personal development to staff.

Laura embarked on her Outward Bound course in 2015 as an Instructor with the Voyageur Outward Bound School in Ely, Minnesota where she spent most of her time in the Intercept program, specializing in all-girls and semester courses. Laura brought her love of wild desert lands to reopen the Big Bend base in far west Texas in 2016 before incorporating Outward Bound California into her repertoire in 2018. Laura started in the Bay Area as an Insight Facilitator, before serving as a Lead Instructor, Staff Trainer, and Course Director. 

Laura’s California roots and passion for the students served here are what drew her home. The community of dedicated and passionate agents of change at the heart of OBCA is the principal reason why she continues to be inspired to stay. Laura loves feeling the magic of the sun on her skin, fervently activating plans for justice, playing Jeopardy!, dancing as a restorative practice, paddling desert rivers, and jumping into every body of water she encounters.

Sarah Ullrich

Associate Program Director - Logistics

As Associate Program Director -- Logistics for the High Sierra program, Sarah (she/her) ensures proper inventory and leveraging of the physical resources that make programs run - vehicles, food, equipment. She also leads the rambunctious team of support staff who sweat their way to success every summer! Working with staff and building relationships with vendors are highlights of the job for her, and she

works hard to look at the logistics of outdoor education through an equity lens. She came into this career by accident while bouncing around as a seasonal worker in her early 20s when she discovered a deep love for solving complex logistical puzzles and has stayed with Outward Bound for over 10 years.

Sarah believes that the world is one big wilderness worth exploring. Whether it's learning about the intersection of colonial and indigenous religions in Bolivia, studying the historical and current role of the United States in foreign conflicts, or sitting on Western Mono ancestral lands next to Moose Lake in what is now called Sequoia National Park, she goes out into the world excited to experientially get to know other people, places and histories. She also believes that Black lives matter, women's rights are human rights, no human is illegal, love is love, and that the health of human beings should never be for profit. Outside of directing wilderness logistics, Sarah enjoys reading non-fiction books, examining her implicit biases, engaging in meaningful and important conversations, and watching cat videos.

Eli Fox

Outreach Coordinator

"It feels really wonderful to be working for an organization such as Outward Bound." - Eli Fox (he/him) When he was 14 years old, he had the opportunity to go on a 21-day multi-activity course in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.  On that trip, like so many people, he felt a new sense of pride and accomplishment which only arises when completing the rite of passage that is Outward Bound.  At that point, he learned from his instructors that working in the wilderness is a viable career path, so he set out on it, and 12 years later he now works for Outward Bound California! 

He could not be happier, as it is extremely fulfilling to be offering similar transformative experiences to what he went through and seeing the different lessons and experiences these young adults (and adults and veterans) are taking away today.  

Holly Lehr

Bay Area Program Manager

Holly (she/her) is a Program Manager at the Bay Area Center. She focuses on partnering in collaboration with local schools and non-profits to create meaningful experiences that resonate with their goals. She has enjoyed watching these partnerships grow, and is re-inspired seeing the transformative effect of these experiences.

Holly got started at Outward Bound in 2014 as a new Instructor in the Bay Area. Through various roles, she has maintained a strong emphasis on questioning our methods, being ready to adapt, and keeping student experience the focus of the work.

She was initially called to this work because it positively impacted herself as a youth. The outdoors, specifically a backpacking trip, illuminated her strengths and joy in a way that hadn't emerged in regular school or sports. She was hooked! She is motivated to help make experiences like these accessible to folks of all walks of life.

In her free time, she can be seen huffing up SF hills on her bike, Leon, skiing in Tahoe, devouring pupusas, and enjoying live music.

Simon Hill

Logistics Manager

Along with the rest of the logistics team, Simon (he/him) does all things related to food, gear, and transportation. On any given day his crew may be found sewing torn backpacks, outfitting students with boots or weighing and bagging hundreds of pounds of gorp.

Simon fell into the outdoor education industry because it gave him an opportunity to share the spaces and experiences that he loves. He's always felt a curiosity for new landscapes and a compulsion for exploration and adventure. In his first years as an outdoor educator, he saw how outdoor experiences can change people. They can be powerful. So this is how he's chosen to spend his time, well most of it anyway. He still sets aside time to follow his curiosity like exploring San Francisco and the greater Bay Area with a bicycle and a camera.

Sean Altman

Bay Area Associate Program Director

Sean (he/him) is the Associate Program Director for the Bay Area program at OBCA and helps manage staff training and development along with program leadership. Sean is also involved with the development of curriculum-rich outdoor programming for our program partners.

He grew up exploring much of California's natural spaces with his family, climbing in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and running rivers in Idaho. It wasn't until college that he understood that he could make "the outdoors" a career and graduated with a degree in Outdoor Education. Sean has worked in many aspects of outdoor programming including wilderness therapy programs in Oregon and managing a summer wilderness program in Yosemite before coming to Outward Bound in 2016. "Being a part of the shaping of our future has always been a driving force for me to work with youth in the outdoors."

When he's not working with instructors and students, he loves to work with his hands whether it's cooking, woodworking, gardening or restoring classic cars.

Matt Patchell

Development Officer

Matt (he/him) is a member of the high-energy team that helps to fund the Outward Bound California mission by engaging members of our community in our work.

Matt loves trail running, road cycling, hiking, food, reading, and exploring Bay Area neighborhoods and trails with his partner Ruth. Their college-age kids Zach and Nina are sources of pride and inspiration.