Meet the Team

To learn more about each team member, click on their name below.

Board:

John A. Johanson – President
Edward G. Stamy – Treasurer, Certified Accountant
Connie M. Wood – Secretary
Gary Spencer – Board Member

Staff:

Bruce Vincent – Executive Director
Patti Jo Vincent – Executive Director Assistance
Echo Jo Venn – Communications Director
Doreen Gruber – Education Coordinator
Lacie Farmer – Education & Provider World Management
Vance Vincent – Camp Counselor
Colleen Snyder - Site Manager
Kevin Davis – Web Master

Chas Vincent – Volunteer

John A. Johanson – President

John was born in 1948 in Seattle Washington and raised in a working class family. Hisfather’s family had immigrated to Seattle when he was an infant from Norway and his mother’s family hadmoved west from the “Dust Bowl” of Oklahoma to the Seattle area when she was a child. He graduated from Shoreline High School in 1966 and the University of Washington School of Communications in 1971 with a major in radio and television. He is also a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School affiliated with the University Washington as well.

John worked in broadcasting for five years before changing to a career in banking in 1977. He has worked for the former United Bank in Libby for ten years as a loan officer and president in 1985 prior to its merger with the First National Bank in Libby in 1987. He was hired as a vice president in the loan department and was the Libby branch president from 1999 until May of 2007. He is currently working as a vice president for the Libby Branch of Glacier Bank.

John is married with two daughters, a stepdaughter and a stepson. He also has seven grandsons and one granddaughter. His family enjoys all outdoor activities and tries to take advantage of all of the outdoor opportunities that they have here in northwest Montana and the Libby area.

John is a recent past board member with the Libby Area Chamber of Commerce and currently active in Rotary International Club.

Edward G. Stamy – Treasurer, Certified Accountant

Edward G. Stamy, CPA, PC, has been offering accounting services to the Libby, Montana area since December 1985.  Prior to 1985, he was with the accounting firm of Roberts, McMains, Sellman & Company, Lewiston, Idaho.  He was with that firm from 1977 to 1985.

Ed has been an active community member and has served on many boards of non-profit organizations.  He currently serves on the Libby Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors, the Christ Lutheran Church Trust Fund committee, Communities for a Great Northwest board of directors, and the Treasure Mountain Ski Committee.

Ed is married to Carolyn Stamy and they have two grown daughters.

Connie M. Wood – Secretary

Connie Wood has lived in Libby, Montana for over 40 years.  She owned and operated Topper Wood Trucking with her husband for 25 years until his death in 1983.  She owned and ran the Hallmark Shop from 1984 until 1992 when she went to work with her daughter at Farmers Union Insurance.  Connie is currently owner and agent of that business.

Connie has actively been involved in numerous community groups including Communities For A Great Northwest, Wings Regional Cancer Support, Girl and Boy Scouts of America, The Lincoln County Economic Development Council, The Libby Area Chamber of Commerce, the St. John’s Lutheran Hospital Foundation, The Elks Lodge and Habitat for Humanity.

She has raised two sons and two daughters and currently enjoys her many grandchildren.

Gary Spencer – Board Member

Additional information forthcoming.

 

 

 

Bruce Vincent – Executive Director

In 1984, after completing college, Bruce moved his family back to Libby, Montana and joined Vincent Logging as business manager.  Vincent Logging, a small family owned business, was started by Bruce’s father in 1968. Bruce is a third generation logger.

In 1988, Bruce helped form Communities For A Great Northwest, a non-profit education and information group dedicated to the intelligent use of our natural resources.  The group has members though out the Northwest.  The Great Northwest Log Haul, which helped focus national attention on resource supply problems in the Northwest, was the first of many of the group’s activities.

Bruce is currently serving as President of Communities For A Great Northwest; President of the League of Rural Voters, serves as Executive Director of the Provider Pals© cultural exchange program, serves on the board of the Evergreen Foundation, the board of the Pacific Logging Congress, and serves on the Kootenai Forest Resource Advisory Committee, the Cabinet/Yaak Grizzly Bear Community Involvement Team, and the State of Montana’s Thompson Chain of Lakes Citizen Management Council.

Bruce has been appointed by the Governor to serve on the Montana Consensus Council and helped form the Temperate Forest Foundation, an international foundation that disseminates forestry information concerning the difficult decisions we face in defining sustainable forestry.

He speaks throughout the United States and the world to groups including resource, recreation, banking and business associations, Chambers of Commerce and Rotary Clubs.  Bruce is a highlighted national university campus speaker for the Young America Foundation. 

Bruce often provides testimony on resource issues before Congress.  He has been reported on by Outside, Wheat Life, Range, Tree Farmer, Time and Audubon magazines, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and other periodicals.  Bruce has appeared on “60 Minutes” and participated in radio shows, documentary videos and news broadcasts throughout the nation and in several countries including Canada, Iceland, Scotland, Australia.  Bruce has appeared on the cover of Evergreen Magazine and was a highlighted “hero” in William Perry Pendley’s book It Takes A Hero.

During Bruce’s career he has been awarded the national Timber Industry Activist of the year, the Montana Timberman of the Year, the Sylvan Award for service to the national timber industry, the Public Service Award from the Association of Consulting Foresters of America, is this years Women in Agricultures “Keeper of the Tenth” award winner, and has been inducted into the Libby High School Hall of Fame.

Bruce holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.  Bruce has been married to his wife Patti Jo for over 30 years and has four children:  Chas, 29; Echo Jo, 26; Lacie, 23; and Vance, 20. 

Bruce’s family settled in Montana in 1904.  His current activities represent a family commitment to responsible environmentalism.

Patti Jo Vincent – Executive Director Assistance

Patti Jo Vincent, a native of San Jose, California, chose to live her life and raise her family in rural Montana. In addition to helping parent four children and serving on or leading a multitude of school, civic, and religious group boards, Patti has extensive accounting and bookkeeping experience having served as the office manager of the family logging company and the office manager and co-owner of Environomics, Inc.

When Patti Jo is not busy working, she enjoys spending time with her family. She is an exceptional cook, mother, and friend. Anyone who has been part of the program fully understands the level of support and energy she puts into making her husbands dream program function.

Echo Jo Venn – Communications Director

Echo Jo Venn was raised in Libby, a small town in northwestern Montana. She and her husband Justin love to spend as much time as possible with their friends and family. She has a deep seated love for Montana that is nurtured by the beautiful scenery and wide variety of outdoor activities.

Echo attended college at the University of Montana in Missoula and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communications and a minor in Political Science in December of 2002. She will pursue her Masters degrees in Communication Studies in the Fall of 2007. 

Echo has been actively involved in many aspects of the Provider Pals program for the past eight years. She feels fortunate to have the opportunity to reside in Montana and work for an organization with such a worthwhile, inspiring mission.

Doreen Gruber – Education Coordinator

Doreen Gruber has been a teacher in Libby, Montana for the past eleven years education students in Title 1, 2nd and 5th grades.  Prior to 1992, she taught 1st and 2nd graders in Judith Gap, Montana for three years.  She received her BSED from Eastern Montana College in Billings, graduating in June of 1989.

Doreen was born and raised in Malta, Montana, the youngest of nine children.  In 1990 she married Jeff and they had a daughter, Emma, in July of 2002.

Doreen is actively involved in the community.  She has volunteered at the Heritage Museum, helped instruct a local youth Nordicfest dance group, serves as secretary in the educator’s sorority, Alpha Theta, as well as performing duties at church.

Lacie Farmer – Camp Counselor, Education Advisor

Lacie K. Farmer is an educator from Libby, a beautiful rural town in Northwestern Montana.  She was raised in Libby and graduated from Libby High School in 2001. Knowing that teaching was her passion, Lacie K. embarked on a four year journey to Montana State University in Bozeman to acquire her B.S. in Elementary Education.  Lacie is now the on-staff teacher for Provider Pals.

While attending college, Lacie traveled with Provider Pals as an assistant during school visits and as a camp counselor at Raven Natural Resource Learning Center.  She had the opportunity to meet with educators, students, and providers from around the nation. Through this experience, she was able to connect with urban and rural peers while they embraced their cultural differences and formed lifelong friendships.

Lacie K. appreciates the Montana outdoors with her husband Cory.  During their leisure time they enjoy hiking, riding horses, and hunting in their small part of the world.  Most importantly, they love spending time with their family and friends.

Vance Vincent – Camp Counselor

Additional information forthcoming.

 

 

 

 

Colleen Snyder - Site Manager

Additional information forthcoming.

Chas Vincent – Volunteer

Chas is the oldest of four siblings and was raised in the mountains of northwestern Montana. For a period of seven years, Chas was a logger for his family business a college student. He attended OSU’s School of Forestry in Corvallis, OR and the University of MT in Missoula, MT. He received his Bachelor of Science in Political Science and minor in Communication Studies. Chas also serves as a District Representative within the Montana State House of Representatives.

Chas’s hobbies include hiking, hunting, fishing, camping and anything to do with the outdoors. He has been working with Provider Pals© extensively since the summer of 2003 and is looking forward to the helping fulfill the program’s mission well into the future.

Kevin Davis – Web Master

Kevin Davis is the founder of Beartooth Web Development, a web development and hosting company in Bozeman, Montana, founded in 1998.

A native of Oklahoma and Texas, Kevin graduate from Oklahoma State University with a degree in Exercise Physiology and Business. Kevin's career has taken some unexpected turns, from management of large fitness operations, to a start-up software company, and now, web development. Having the opportunity to serve his clients and work from an extensive home office, BTWD has made it possible to enjoy a successful business and family, for which considers himself thoroughly blessed.

Kevin enjoys playing guitar in his church's worship band, writing songs, camping, and other family activities, as well as building his 1965 Cobra Roadster. He is married to Michelle and they have two beautiful daugthers.