HPIC is a volunteer-driven non-profit and the Board is no exception. All Board members are unpaid neighbors working to ensure the continued viability of HPIC for the good of our neighborhood.
Board Meetings are on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 7pm.
2024 board members
President: Rhonda Smith | Board Member Since 2007
Rhonda first started as a Trustee working with the old guard (and a HUGE set of keys!). After serving 1-1/2 years replacing carpet, sanding floors and fixing doors, Rhonda was elected as the Board President. At that time, the Board recited the Pledge the Allegiance to the United States flag and used a gavel to bring meetings to order. The flag remains, the gavel is now retired, but the spirit of Robert’s Rules lives on.
Rhonda’s leadership on the Board has since overseen a complete overhaul of the Board membership, a growth in club membership and dedicated volunteers, a 501.c.3 non-profit organization designation, and with the collaboration of many others, it has become a place where people want to be, a place that is the heart of the community. Rhonda’s greatest happiness has come from the many friendships she has made in the neighborhood. New friendships continue to spark and old ones grow deeper. These connections have become the backbone of HPIC and provide strength in the community. Rhonda has and will continue to collaborate with her many cohorts to make HPIC an even stronger presence and valued resource in the community for years to come.
Vice President: Amy Durgin | Board Member Since 2024
Amy joined the Highland Park community in June of 2023. While exploring the trails at West Cress Park she saw a sign for volunteering with the HPIC and immediately reached out. Shortly after, she helped coordinate and set up the Trick Or Trees Halloween pet costume contest and free tree give-away. She also started joining the Thursday night gatherings at the Highland Park Corner Store. Neighbors were welcoming and friendly and she quickly started to see familiar faces between HPIC and the Corner Store gatherings. The community feel was immediate and she knew she wanted to get involved even more. Listening to HPIC members reminisce about the memories and relationships they’ve built through the community has been something truly special. While still a new member of the community, Amy is excited to build relationships and to support the continued growth of the HPIC. Apart from the club, Amy is a leadership coach and change management specialist. She enjoys spending time with her dog, Brock, working on her new home, and swimming or bicycling as much as possible.
Treasurer: Rachel Chernin | Board Member Since 2024
Rachel has lived in Highland Park since 2006. She has loved the HP spirit and the strong connections people feel to this neighborhood. Rachel’s background is working in Finance and Operations with a local LGBTQ+ nonprofit, GSBA. She is excited to work with this team to help rebuild the HPIC home. She and her family look forward to meeting even more neighbors at future community activities.
Secretary: Adrien Demelier | Board Member Since 2024
Having visited Highland Park for over a decade to see family, Adrien finally made the neighborhood home three years ago. Throughout the years, he has experienced the vibrant community spirit, especially during the New Year events and the memorable Reset Fest—a music festival in the park across the street that showcased the power and unity of HPIC. As a new board member, Adrien is eager to foster community engagement and enrich the lives within this neighborhood. Professionally, he is a data scientist specializing in cybersecurity at Travelers Insurance. Whether planning the next big community event or unfortunately analyzing data trends, Adrien is committed to making Highland Park a connected and amazing place to live.
Trustee: Julie Schickling | Board Member Since 2008
Stewardship Focus: Strategic planning and programming, grant writing, web, technology and graphics contributor.
Bio: Julie has lived in her Riverview home since 1992, and for many years the building with the big parking lot on the corner of 12th and Holden remained a benign mystery to her. Eventually she attended meetings there of the (now dormant) Riverview Neighborhood Council. At one of these meetings, Al Spry and Martha Mallett, Board members of the Highland Park Improvement Club at the time, came to ask for the neighbors’ help to keep the club going. At what seemed like the eleventh hour, a group of neighbors (many of the current Board) realized that they needed to join the club and become active members in order to help save it, or the club would be dissolved and its building sold. This core group of people worked through old ideas, new ideas and all kinds of challenges, and has become a group of friends, while adding new friends, volunteering together to make HPIC into the community gathering place it is now – a vital part of a great neighborhood.
Julie has a home office where she does CAD and graphics work for her small company, Teknograf. She enjoys gardening and is always curious to see what an unfamiliar plant might grow up to be.
Trustee: Kay Kirkpatrick | Board Member Since 2008
Stewardship Focus: Garden maintenance and oversight, general building maintenance, Signage and Membership committee lead, Giant Garage sale organizer, Highland Park Uncorked and other HPIC event decoration lead.
Bio: Kay has lived in Highland Park since 1999. After years of walking by HPIC she started attending membership meetings there and came to that “ah-hah moment” realizing our neighborhood had inherited a free clubhouse. Not something you see every day in these times in the big city. All we had to do was take some responsibility for it, and enjoy it like those before us. The activities and connections she has made there have become one of her favorite things about Highland Park. Kay has an art studio practice in the neighborhood and does public art installations around the region, as well as working as a librarian for The Seattle Public Library.
Trustee: Billy Stauffer | Board Member Since 2014
Bio: Billy and his wife, Carolyn Stauffer, have lived in Highland Park since the spring of 2005. They are busy raising three young boys (Franklin 9, Wiley 7, and Sidney 5) and look forward to Corner Bar EVERY SINGLE MONTH! Billy has been very active in Highland park ever since moving into the neighborhood. He and his wife were captivated by the energy of the neighborhood and moved to action when the city of Seattle threatened to build a jail at the bottom of our little hill. It was during an HPAC meeting in 2010 when Billy became so incensed at the notion of this happening he was quoted saying, “he’d chain himself to a bulldozer before he let a jail get built anywhere near his Highland Park home.” (WSB article here)
Since then he’s calmed down, but the 4 years after that meeting Billy and Carolyn became co-chairs of HPAC (until 2016) and led several other initiatives that hit home just as hard (homelessness, strange humming sounds, and Highland Park elementary, to name a few), too many exciting meetings to describe here. Billy and Carolyn were glad to have handed the reigns off to fresh energetic leaders while focusing on their family. Billy is an architect and a general contractor. In 2014, he was asked to join the HPIC board as a trustee and has been working together with the other members to reprogram and remodel the club to better suit its members.
Trustee: Galen Van Horn | Board Member Since 2024
Galen has loved living in Highland Park since 2021. He grew up cooking alongside his mother, who taught him how to bring people together over food. He worked as a professional baker for nearly 10 years, pursuing a passion for creative recipes and the “magic” (science) of fermentation. He’s led seed-to-table culinary education programs for middle-school students and worked in social sector consulting, supporting change management and strategic planning. He currently manages the Washington State Local Food System Infrastructure grant, investing in local food supply chain capacity for our vibrant small farm and food business entrepreneurs. He’s a twin dad, an avid gardener, a board game nerd, and an amateur trumpet player.
Trustee: Alex Wheeler | Board Member Since 2024
Alex has lived in Highland Park since 2020. He joined the HPIC board with more than 13 years of nonprofit experience, both as an employee and volunteer. Originally from the Great Plains of Nebraska, Alex tries to embody the well known midwestern friendliness, and is thrilled at the community around HPIC. These days he likes to hike in the summer and cook in the winter. If you see him walking through the neighborhood with his Doberman Pinscher, Lincoln, be sure to say hello!
Trustee: Nick Montrond | Board Member Since 2024
Nick moved to Highland Park in 2019, drawn intentionally to the neighborhood because of friends who spoke highly of it, the allure of cool, locally-owned businesses, and the diversity. When he’s not on an adventure in the neighborhood with his partner and toddler, you’re likely to find him baking an ambitious number of cookies or enjoying a few games of bowling. Recently, Nick’s commitment to the community led him to take a step further by joining the HPIC board. As a new member, he is excited to bring weird ideas and energy to the table. Nick looks forward to learning from the experienced board members and to serve the community he has grown to love.
Trustee: Silva Ianeva | Board Member Since 2024
Silva moved to Highland Park in 2009 and started volunteering at HPIC soon after as she was excited to meet new people, participate in the club activities and help in organizing events for the local community. In 2024 she joined the HPIC board to work with the other members in rebuilding the club, so it can resume the events and activities beloved by the community, and add new ones which the new modern club would be able to offer. Silva also enjoys dancing and walks in nature.
Trustee: Emily Schauer | Board Member Since 2024
Emily has lived in the neighborhood since 2016. She first experienced HPIC through the Corner Bar and holiday markets and was immediately drawn to the community that HPIC cultivates. Emily joined the Board in 2024 to support marketing and communications efforts, ensuring that HPIC is strongly connected to that community. For over a decade Emily has led communications for businesses going through moments of inflection. She grew up in the Pacific Northwest and returned here with her partner after their Peace Corps service. In her free time, Emily loves to try new creative outlets, go on public transit adventures with her two young kids, tend her garden, and generally be outside with friends.
Trustee: Adam Tageldin | Board Member Since 2024
Adam excitedly moved to the neighborhood in 2020, less than a month after the birth of his first child. After working in marketing and communications for over a decade, Adam and his (future) wife left the rat race of New York City to travel abroad for a few years before ultimately landing in Seattle. Now firmly planted, raising two young kids in Highland Park, Adam joined the board to support marketing and communications efforts for HPIC and hopes to continue giving back to the community he now calls home. Adam enjoys exploring new areas of Seattle, finding different ways to be active with the family, jamming to salsa classics, and rooting for his favorite NY teams.