The Board of Directors

President Mindy Kaufman

Mindy Kaufman has lived and worked in Joshua Tree for 10 years. She owns and runs Spin and Margies Desert Hideaway, a small boutique Inn in town.

She is currently the president of the Joshua Tree Chamber of Commerce and a past president of the Joshua Tree Municipal Advisory Council serving San Bernardino County. Prior to living in Joshua Tree, Mindy and her husband, photographer Drew Reese, resided in San Francisco where she owned a successful home accessories design firm.

Mindy holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design in NYC.

Secretary John Simpson
john@mojavedesertlandtrust.org

John Simpson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA and began his career in commercial real estate. His experience includes market research and reporting, valuation, consulting and sales. He has worked for Cushman & Wakefield, CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) and First Interstate Bank. John is presently a real estate agent in Joshua Tree while developing the eco-friendly Joshua Tree Recreational Campground. John's love of nature has inspired him to work in every way he can to preserve the natural environment.

Treasurer Jane Grunt Smith
jane@mojavedesertlandtrust.org

Jane Grunt Smith is the owner of the 29 Palms Inn in Twentynine Palms, California. She grew up there and the Inn has been in her family since 1928. In addition to running a most successful inn in the California Desert, Jane serves as President of the Copper Mountain College Foundation and is on the board of the Action Council of Twentynine Palms, a nonprofit public art charity.

Director Gasper Patrico

Gasper Patrico is a strategic management, marketing, and creative executive with proven ability to build the competencies that take aspirational growth strategies from fiction to fact. At Intersection Studio, Mr. Patrico directs the Brand Strategy and Development practice using proprietary processes to leverage the nexus of strategy, brand, marketing, and organizational development disciplines. Currently his love finds expression as Co-Creative Director of the Autry National Center Magazine, Convergence, a publication he helped found while managing the brand creation of this new national center.

Prior to Intersection Studio, Mr. Patrico spent 20-plus years as a Creative Director, Writer, and Producer in the large international advertising agency. He has created award-winning television, radio and print communications for national consumer, business-to-business brands, and nonprofit organizations.

Mr. Patrico holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Michigan. He studied screenwriting in both the UCLA and USC programs and is an expert in story development.

Director Claudia Sall
csall@mojavedesertlandtrust.org

Claudia Sall has been a resident in the high desert for 49 years. She is a business owner, and has owned property and lived in Pioneertown for 30 years. She is President of the Pioneertown Property Owner Association and a community activist in rural conservation and water management issues. She is a founding member of Pioneertown Mountains Conservancy. Her areas of special interest are: protection of rural conservation (RC) lands and open space especially in regards to urban sprawl, and conservation land planning and resource based development.

Director Curtis L. (Curt) Sauer
Superintendent, Joshua Tree National Park

Curt began his National Park Service (NPS) career in 1979. From 1972 through 1979, he worked seasonally for the NPS at Rocky Mountain and Grand Canyon National Parks, as well as the U.S. Forest Service and BLM. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Park Management at Colorado State University in 1974.At Grand Canyon National Park he served as a park dispatcher, permit coordinator, and then River Unit Ranger. In 1984 he transferred to Unit Manager for Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, part of North Cascades National Park Service Complex. While managing the routine maintenance, interpretive, protection and administrative functions of the Unit he was directly involved in the writing and completion of the General Management Plan for North Cascades. He received the Regional Director’s Award for Excellence in the management of human resources in 1984. In 1988, he began a 16 year assignment at Olympic National Park in Ranger Operations, where he was responsible for leadership and management of 80 staff in the Division of Resource Protection and Visitor Use Management. Curt served on the National Ranger Activities Council from 1997 to 2001, coordinating the creation of “Rangers of the 21st Century” project, assisted in implementing a national Resource Stewardship and Protection Curriculum, and served on task groups involved with law enforcement and wildland fire policy. Following successful completion of the USDA Grad School’s Executive Potential Program Curt was assigned to Joshua Tree in 2003 and has been active in creating partnerships, fundraising, community building and addressing external threats to the park.