Board of Directors

Timothy J. Allen, M.A.
Executive Director

Tim earned his BA in English Literature, his California Lifetime Teaching Credential and his Masters Degree in Educational Administration all from Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA. He began teaching English and Reading and coaching baseball and football at Arcata High School in 1970 before becoming a high school administrator. As a high school administrator, Tim created one of the first Student Assistance Programs in the United States, which became the model for over 200 high school substance abuse prevention, education and training programs throughout the United States. Tim also provided technical assistance and consulting to the California Department of Education “Right to Read” program and served as a technical assistant to the U. S. Department of Education.

Tim left Education in 1982 to work as the CEO and Administrator for substance abuse and psychiatric treatment programs, in Florida and southern California before taking on the role of Senior VP for Contracting and Behavioral Health for Adventist Health Care of Southern California. He has also served as a Distinguished Faculty Member of the Suzanne Somers Institute, an adjunct professor of Education at CSU, Humboldt and CSU, Fullerton and spent 13 years as the Director of Employee Support Services for the Anaheim Angels Professional Baseball Team.

Tim is the author of several articles, monographs and chapters on issues related to substance abuse and the family and is the co-author of the book “Powerful Parents...Competent Kids,” a book about effective parenting.

Doug Carlston
Chairman of the Board

Doug Carlston received his B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1970 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1975. He is the author of five published books, from Software People (Simon & Schuster, 1985) to Beginning Swahili (Butu, 1970). He has also had many published software products and written articles, including Storing Knowledge, in Time & Bits: Managing Digital Continuity (Getty Conservation Institute, 1998).

Doug was the co-founder, in 1980, of Broderbund Software, one of the world’s leading publishers of productivity and educational software, and served as CEO (1991-96) and Chairman of the Board (1981-98). He currently serves as CEO of Tawala Systems, an Internet technology company he co-founded in 2005. Doug also serves on several boards, including AH Belo Corporation, the Albanian American Enterprise Fund, the Ploughshares Fund, the Tides Advocacy Fund, MoveOn PAC, and the Long Now Foundation. He is an active member of the NOVA Science Visiting Council, the Committee on University Resources of Harvard University and the Board of Advisors of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Doug previously served on the board of directors of the American Bank of Albania (2000-2008), Belo Corp. (2007-8), Public Radio International (1997- 2009, Chairman 2004-09) and the Santa Fe Institute (1996-2005). He is also past Chairman and President of the Software Publishers Association, and a past trustee of Dominican University.

Alice Carlston
Secretary Treasurer

Alice Carlston was born in Ohio and raised in New York, where she attended public schools on Long Island. Alice’s parents were artists and her love of art took her to the State University of Iowa, in Iowa City, where she received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree in drawing and painting.
Because of World War II, Alice remained at the University to complete her Masters Degree in math and astronomy. While a graduate student at the University of Iowa, Alice met her future husband, Chuck, shortly before he joined the Army. They were married in January, 1945. After receiving her Masters Degree, Alice began her working career as a research assistant to Harlow Shapley, the director of Harvard College Observatory. Following Chuck’s discharge from the Army, he returned to Harvard to complete his graduate studies and re-unite with Alice. After Chuck completed his undergraduate degree, the family moved to Pasadena, CA, where Chuck attended Fuller Seminary and Alice was able to teach math and astronomy at Pasadena Jr. College. Eventually, the family moved back to Cambridge, MA., so Chuck could attend graduate school. They then moved to Iowa, where chuck had two small rural churches. In 1953 the moved to Dubuque, Iowa where Alice managed the art department of Dubuque University and taught drawing and painting as well as art education.
As an accomplished artist, Alice has displayed her work in several venues and solo art exhibits at Dubuque University and Newton, MA as well as several locations on the east coast.

Rev. Charles (Chuck) Carlston
Member

Charles (“Chuck”) Carlston graduated from Harvard in 1947, following three years in the U.S. Army. Following graduation, Chuck attended Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D., 1950) before returning to Harvard for graduate study (A. M., 1952; Ph.D., 1958). After serving two small Iowa churches, he taught New Testament (and church history) at the University of Dubuque, the University of Iowa, and Andover Newton Theological School. Chuck lectured briefly in both West and East Berlin and at Yale Divinity School.
Chuck married Alice Swain in 1945. They have four surviving children, ten grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

Don Carlston
Member

Don Carlston received his BA from Harvard University in 1971 and his PhD from the University of Illinois in 1977. He is currently a Professor of Psychology at Purdue University and President of the Midwestern Psychological Association.
Don served as editor of a leading academic journal for 14 years and has been a grant evaluator for the National Institutes of Health for the past 15 years. Don has co-authored or edited four books and over 50 scientific articles and chapters. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science and last year received the lifetime achievement award in the field of social cognition.

Gary Carlston
Member

Gary Carlston grew up in Iowa and received a BA from Harvard in 1975 in Scandinavian Languages and Literature. Gary worked for the South Stockholm YMCA as a basketball coach for several years and coached the Swedish Women’s Basketball Championship team prior to returning to the United States.
In 1980, Gary and his brother Doug, co-founded Brøderbund Software in Novato, California, where he served as both President and CEO of the company, until leaving in 1989. As the Head of Product Development, Gary originated one of the most noted Brøderbund products, “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.”
Gary married his wife, Nancy, in 1985 and in 1990 the two of them headed off on the first of many trips to explore New Zealand. Gary and Nancy settled in Boulder, Colorado in 1991, where Gary served on many Boards of Directors and spearheaded the the building of a new YMCA in Boulder, Colorado. In 2007, Gary, Nancy and their four children they returned to New Zealand where they purchased raw land, planted a vineyard and founded Tarras Vineyard, In 2008, the family returned to the Bay Area where Gary and Nancy continue to work full time, running the Tarras Vineyard business and raising their children.

Erin Carlston
Member

Erin Carlston received her Ph.D. (1995) in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University, and her A.B. (1985) in English from Harvard. In 1999 she joined the Department of English, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she teaches a wide range of courses in twentieth century literature.
She is the author of Thinking Fascism (1998), which examines the relationship of 1930s women intellectuals to fascism, and has also written articles on Marcel Proust, Paul Celan, Mary Renault, and Audre Lorde, among others. She is currently working on a book manuscript called Double Agents, on literary responses to espionage trials involving Jews, homosexual men, and/or communists. Erin’s research concentrates on the intersections of comparative modernisms, sexuality studies, and Jewish studies.

Kathy Williams
Member

Kathy Williams received her B.A. from Stanford University in 1976 and her M.B.A. from University of Southern California in international business. In 2009 she helped startup Vivo Girls Sports, Inc., the online media property and resource for girls ages 13 -24 who share a passion for sports and a healthy, active lifestyle. vivoGS was sold last year to a premier sports company. Prior to vivoGS, Kathy worked as the senior consultant for MJCalhounConsulting, a management consulting firm that provided strategic operations and management consulting to the healthcare industry including NIH. She has over 20 years of varied management experience in personnel, regulatory and government affairs including working as Director for International and Regulatory Affairs in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles for Flying Tigers and Federal Express, and Personnel Relations Representative for Kaiser Aluminum. She served as Director of Admissions at Marin Horizon School, a non-profit toddler through 8th grade independent school located in Mill Valley, CA.
Kathy has served on the boards of The National Conference for Community and Justice, a human relations organization, Marin Horizon School, and The Mountain Play Association, and is a life long member of the NAACP. She has considerable cross cultural experience from extended stays in Kenya, Taiwan, Japan, and Mexico, speaks Mandarin Chinese and has done extensive travel throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. She has a son and daughter and two stepchildren.

Carisa R. Showden
Member

Carisa R. Showden is an Associate Professor of Political Science with a cross appointment in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Carisa received her undergraduate degree from Syracuse University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Carisa teaches classes in political ideologies, political theory, women and politics, and women and the law. Carisa’s book “Choices Women Make” was published in May of 2011.

Jan M. Rizzuti
Member

Jan M. Rizzuti has a Ph. D. from Cornell University in Mathematics Education, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.A. from Thiel College (PA) where she majored in mathematics. Her graduate research focused on high school students’ understanding of functions in pre-calculus mathematics.
Jan has had a long career as a professor of mathematics and mathematics education, teaching at Bard College, Antioch University Seattle, and Central Washington University, and she has worked with pre-service and in-service teachers at all levels of K-12 schools.
Jan is currently a consultant for Scholastic Corporation’s “Math Solutions” team, working with high school mathematics teachers around the country. She resides in San Rafael CA and offers workshops in Quantitative Literacy in addition to her consulting work.