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 University of Iowa, in Iowa City, where she earned her Bachelor 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 first met her future husband shortly before he joined the Army. After receiving her Master’s Degree, Alice began her working career as a research assistant to Harlow Shapely, Director of the Harvard College Observatory.
Following Chuck’s discharge from the Army, he returned to Harvard where he re-united with Alice and they were soon married. After Chuck completed his degree,the family moved to Pasadena, California, where Chuck could attend Fuller Seminary and Alice was able to teach math and astronomy at Pasadena City College. Eventually, the family returned to Cambridge, MA where Chuck completed his graduate studies before moving to rural Iowa in 1953 and then on to the University of Dubuque where Alice taught drawing, painting and art education. As an accomplished artist, Alice has displayed her work in several venues and solo exhibits at the University of Dubuque, Newton, MA and several other 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. He served as editor of a leading academic journal for 13 years and as a grant evaluator for the National Institutes of Health for the past 14 years.
Carlston 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 before returning to the United States and moving out West.
In 1980, Gary and his brother Doug co-founded Brøderbund Software in Novato, California, where he worked until 1989. He married his wife, Nancy, in 1985 and the two of them headed off to New Zealand in 1990 on the first of many trips visiting and, eventually, living there. In 1991, Gary and Nancy returned to live in Boulder, Colorado, where they accumulated four children. In 2007 they returned to New Zealand with their children to get some hands-on experience in wine making and founded a vineyard there. In 2008, the family returned to the Bay Area where they remain occupied, full time, running the vineyard business and raising their children.

Erin Carlston
Member

Erin Carlston received her Ph.D. (1995) in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford, 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.
Erin’s research concentrates on the intersections of comparative modernisms, sexuality studies, and Jewish studies. 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.

Diane Rapley
Member

Diane is a graduate of the University of London, UK. She is currently an education marketing consultant and writer with extensive experience in software and textbook publishing.
Diane co-founded the Broderbund Software Company’s School Division and led the company’s educational marketing and sales effort from 1988-1992. As Director of Marketing Communications for NetSchools and PLATO Learning, she was responsible for major brand/ identity updates and all marketing and communications activities.
In her consulting business, Diane has worked with clients such as ABC-CLIO, Cisco, CyberSmart, Harcourt, Inspiration, IntelliTools, MDR, Pearson, QED, Scientific Learning, Teachscape, TERC, and Wireless Generation on brand management, messaging and positioning, and marketing communications.

Thomas Marcus
Member

Tom received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall). He also serves on the Board of Governors of the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins.” Since receiving his Law Degree, Tom began his career in 1986 as the VP of Business Development and General Counsel for Broderbund Software, Inc., an entertainment and education software company that published such well-known titles as Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Myst, and Prince of Persia. Tom also led the Mergers and Acquisition initiatives at Broderbund.

Tom served as the CEO of PureDepth, Inc., a publicly-traded IP licensing company in the 3D technology/display space and the CEO of Everyone.net, a hostedservices email company. Tom also served as the Executive Vice President at Flycast Communications, a first-generation online ad network. Tom has worked extensively with overseas companies in Europe and Asia and currently works at Woodside Capital, where he focuses on online advertising; mobile space; and, consumer-facing software and internet/mobile companies, with particular attention on the gaming sector across all platforms.

Carisa R. Showden
Member

Carisa R. Showden is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She teaches classes in political ideologies, political theory, women and politics, and women and the law. Carisa received her undergraduate degree from Syracuse University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.