Board of Directors

Our bylaws currently allow for thirteen board members. We have seven of those positions filled at present. Their names and backgrounds are given here:

Henri V De Roule
Founder and CEO

Mr. De Roule has founded or cofounded five companies in two countries and has served on numerous boards of directors of both for-profit and nonprofit corporations. His background is in semiconductors and systems integration. He has presented papers on advanced semiconductor processing and participated in conferences on trade and technology in many parts of the world. He participated in the Danube Conference in Vienna, Austria in 1991 at the invitation of the United States Department of Commerce and the Austrian Department of Commerce. His interest in science predates his teen years. At age nine he was on the radio discussing the future of space travel. When he was thirteen he built his own short-wave radios.

He presented a paper and was on the discussion panel on advanced semiconductor processing at the 1983 Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits (VLSI ’83) conference in Trondheim, Norway, and In 2011 he had a paper on “Reality: Is it Digital or Analog?” published by the Foundational Questions Institute (www.fqxi.org). The Science Experience is the culmination of his desire to see people of all ages excited about, and able to participate in, our future. He holds an ASEE and is an alumnus of UC Riverside with which he is working to build solid academic support for this project.

Mr. De Roule is currently a member of the Career Technical Education (CTE) panel at Banning High School. He is also a member of the Mt. San Jacinto College STEM grant advisory panel and the IASTA advisory group developing the next generation science standards (to be implemented in the 2014-15 school year). He also serves on the District STEM Leadership Network (DSLN) committee for the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino, and on the CTE committee for San Bernardino County.

Rita Middendorf
Secretary/Treasurer

Ms. Middendorf currently holds the positions of Secretary and Treasurer of Banning Science and Technology Center. She also serves on the boards of four other nonprofits. She has spent the last fifteen years working for, or volunteering at, nonprofit entities. She is temporarily filling the position of our Treasurer until we find a permanent replacement.

David Fisher
Director, Facilities

Mr. Fisher is a Banning native. He has worked as the director of Maintenance and Operations for Beaumont Unified School District and has run a nonprofit conference center. He also has experience in real estate. Mr. Fisher has strong people skills and will work well with our contractor and our future employees to ensure that we have the type of facility that will be a credit to our industry, our contributors, and our city.

Bill Souder
Director

Mr. Souder built a science exhibit at the High Desert Nature Museum in Yucca Valley to introduce children to STEM disciplines.  The display included a cabinet with 4 different displays that varied from time to time. It was basically a children's "busy box". It was a very popular item at the museum.  He has a Masters Degrees in Engineering and Business Administration and 35 years experience in aerospace and industrial engineering.  Mr. Souder is also an amateur astronomer (for over 50 years) and have given astronomy presentations to science classes at La Contenta Middle School and Beaumont High School.

Carlos Gonzalez
Director
MESA/UCR

Mr. Gonzalez is the director of the MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement) program at the Bourns College of Engineering at UC Riverside. The MESA program is a national program dedicated to improving STEM education throughout the United States. Mr. Gonzalez combines his experiences working in private industry and directly in the classroom to manage the MESA program that for over 14 years has prepared countless Inland Empire students for careers in STEM. He has been active in curriculum development, teacher preparation and training, and the creation and implementation of engineering challenges for students. "My hope is to use the progressive and imaginative field of engineering as a tool to inspire even the most disadvantaged students to succeed in grade school, middle and high school, college and beyond," Mr. Gonzalez states. "Once students realize that one can combine the academic concepts of the classroom with imagination and creativity to solve real world problems, the outlook on that student’s own education changes. They are inspired to take their studies more seriously, and aspire towards lucrative careers in STEM that can not only change their lives, but those of their families and their communities."

John G. Williams, M.D.
Board Member
Retired Physician and Surgeon
Co-Chair of the Body Exhibit Committee

Dr. Williams received a Purple Heart for his service in the Army Medical Corps during his service inVietnam. In school he majored in Mathematics and minored in Chemistry. He has worked as a general surgeon at several hospitals and as Medical Director at four health plans and medical centers.  Dr. Williams was an Urgent Care Physician for the Beaver Medical Group for 2 years. He last served as an Emergency Room Physician at San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in Banning, CA. Dr. Williams currently serves as Co-Chair of our Body Exhibit Committee. His hobbies include Biotechnology/regenerative medicine, critical care technologies, medical humanities, preventative medicine and age management medicine, flying cameras and ping pong.

Wendy Zinn
CTE Project Manager
San Bernardino Community College District

Ms. Zinn currently manages the state CTE grant programs for middle and high school students as well as teacher professional development. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Southern California (USC).

Ms. Zinn has a varied background in both business and education including accountant, Chief Financial Officer and owner of her own accounting and financial planning firm. In education she has worked as a program coordinator for several projects, including GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Access and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) both for middle and high schools including a focus on Hispanic serving programs.

She currently works with school districts throughout San Bernardino County in developing and implementing their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and CTE (Career and Technical Education) programs as well as helping schools develop their college readiness programs.

Ms. Zinn is using her focus on STEM and CTE developmental education to help us develop programs that fit with the new Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). She has worked with numerous districts and organizations from elementary schools through colleges throughout the Inland Empire.

 

Although Mrs. Middendorf is currently Treasurer, she is holding this position temporarily. We are seeking a Treasurer – preferably one with nonprofit and/or banking experience.

We hope that the final board member will come from a large donor, and again we hope for someone who has nonprofit experience.

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