Who We Are

Trained as a fashion designer, Carol has spent her life working in ‘design thinking’ and improving the lives of others. She incorporated her interest in garment construction and sewing into teaching experience in technical and higher education. Along the way, she worked with the community to create social capital and founded the Denver Design Incubator along with many industry symposiums with clothing, textiles, and manufacturers. Her teaching career at Colorado State University, with graduate degrees in Design & Merchandising and Education & Human Resources, was enriched by working with students to professionally prepare them for internships and careers. She brought her life experience of raising five children on a sustainable farm along with her work in Rotary International Youth Leadership to the university campus. Carol’s research led to a National Science Foundation Science of Organization grant to study network industry professionals in Apparel and Manufacturing. She co-founded the Rural Colorado Apparel Manufacturing network and worked with state economic development and small communities to develop small-batch manufacturing centers. Her passion for social-emotional skill development and effective communication came full circle as she co-led the project team to develop the concept and purpose for the School of Statesmanship, Stewardship, and Service – SOSSAS. Carol devotes her time to constructing course content and curriculum, planning the launch of this new non-profit, and preparing classes that will lead others to create a future we all want to live in.

Public service has led to professional choices for Mike Butler. After graduating from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in Behavioral Sciences, Mike began his 41-year career in law enforcement in Boulder, Colorado with a desire to serve and make a difference.

In 1993, he was selected as Police Chief in Longmont, Colorado and set into action his ideals for community policing to improve public safety. In 2008, he became Public Safety Chief of Longmont overseeing Police, Fire, and Emergency Management. Along the way, Mike incorporated stewardship principles in his leadership. He co-founded the Longmont Community Justice Partnership (LCJP), a non-profit organization, and introduced restorative practices and principles as an alternative to the criminal justice system. He worked with the community to develop strategic plans for public safety in the community. Many of the initiatives he led assisted citizens dealing with substance addiction and mental health including the Angel Program, the EDGE Program, LEAD (Law Enforcement Assistance Diversion), CORE (Community responder teams) and LEVI (Longmont Ending Violence Initiative). He was named ‘Individual of the Year’ in 2018 by Mental Health Colorado. From 2013 to 2018, Mike and a former city councilman walked neighborhoods every Sunday to invite citizens to engage with their community in the ‘Belonging Revolution.”

After retiring from his office in 2020, Mike founded SOSSAS as a non-profit organization with a group of active citizens as outreach and leadership training of statesmanship, stewardship, and service for the world. The school and customized training teaches the skills and application of principles he practiced in public safety. Mike serves as a Board member of LEAP, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a national progressive police organization, a public speaker and writer on healthy relationships, neighborhoods, public safety and civic responsibility. His illustrious and countercultural leadership style is featured in the newly released book, “Walk the Walk: How Three Police Chiefs Defied the Odds and Changed Cop Culture” by Neil Gross.

Charlene Santal Gearing, Ph.D., devoted her research and career to numerous educational issues in order to improve programs and organizational effectiveness. During her career, Charlene was a member of the NEA Academy Board that developed national quality standards for online learning for adults. She served as a national trainer for both the Educational Testing Service and Cognia, school and district accreditation. She was the District Administrator of Instruction at Green Bay and Somerset WI, as well as the Director of Teaching and Learning for Wisconsin Education Association. Most recently, she was a member of TEAM USA in triathlon at ITU World Competition.

For her PhD, Charlene studied how to build organizational commitment and how to get people to work hard to help an organization achieve its goals. She has worked with both principals and teacher unions and successfully helped them change how they interacted and ultimately collaboratively redesigned evaluation systems with both. She has also worked with coaches, parents and students to reshape co-curricular codes.

Charlene offers her knowledge on effective leadership and organizations, as well as her expert facilitation skills, to SOSSAS. She feels connected to the SOSSAS mission and curriculum because of her shared beliefs around excellence in leadership.

Wein-Pin Yeh is a visionary program leader with a career history of driving technical and solution training program success to meet the evolving business needs of Fortune 500 customers (i.e., Microsoft, Cisco, Ernst and Young, Johnsons Controls, Cigna) and non-profit organizations throughout the Americas, EMEIA, and APAC. She earned a Doctor of Education in Instructional Technology and HRD (Human Resource Development).

A respected instructional designer, client-facing consultant, and change manager, she has been recognized for leadership and development of global virtual teams and programs, as well as cultivating positive and productive dynamics among cross-functional collaborators to achieve company and customer deliverables.

Wein-Pin led the development of global curricula that strengthened customer deliverables to win multi-million-dollar contracts, including the largest transaction deal in Brazilian corporate history of $18B. She was also the founding President of a 501(C)3 non-profit organization, raised $460K in donated capital and secured project sponsorship which spearheaded a 25-million-dollar project critical to organizational advancement and success. Most recently, she was the first female minority and immigrant president of Longmont Rotary’s 100+ years of history. Accomplished immigrant to be Longmont Rotary’s next president – The Longmont Leader.

Wein-Pin recognizes that our community, nation, and world are divided right now – the community needs SOSSAS now more than ever. Everyone, regardless of age, gender, background, and position, can benefit from the SOSSA curriculum. The skills participants learn through the curriculum will help them become better neighbors, community members, leaders, and most importantly, positive influencers in our community, nation, and the world.

Scott Cook was raised in Longmont and started his career at the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce in 2006 as the part-time receptionist at the front desk. Over the next decade, Scott worked his way up to Event Director and in 2017 assumed the role of CEO. His favorite part of his job is the work he does in advocacy. Fighting for a business-friendly environment is not only his work, but his passion.

Scott was drawn to the SOSSAS mission because he believes that without statesmen, the United States would probably never exist as it does today. In these current times, it seems we have lost our way. Our communities, states and nation need a return to true statesmanship if we want to see prosperity continue for future generations. He believes what worked in the past will work again.

Tim Waters, EdD, represents Ward 1 on Longmont’s City Council. Tim was elected initially in February 2018 and was re-elected in November 2019.

Prior to election to Longmont’s City Council, Tim served as President and CEO of McREL International from April 7, 1995 until September 30, 2014. He joined McREL in 1993 following 23 years in K-12 education as a teacher, assistant principal, high school principal, assistant superintendent, education policy advisor to Arizona’s Governor, and Superintendent of the Greeley/Evans School District #6. During his tenure at McREL, Dr. Waters served on a variety of national boards and commissions. He was appointed by Governor Roy Romer to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education on which he served from 1993 – 2001.

During his 44+ year career in the field of education, Tim authored numerous articles on the topic of education leadership. He co-authored School Leadership That Works; from research to results (ASCD 2005), and District Leadership That Works; striking the right balance, (Solution Tree Pres 2009).
Tim earned a BA from the University of Denver, with Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Arizona State University.

Tim knows from experience that communities, big and small, need more and better leaders. He believes that the SOSSAS project has potential to develop them.

He holds an MFA Critical Studies, California Institute of the Arts and is currently a Curator of Public Programs at the Longmont Museum.

SOSSAS’s mission aligns with his own–has has dedicated his life and work to producing and curating signature programs and events designed to foster an increased sense of community and civic identity, towards a more informed, engaged and democratic community.

In his 30 year career as a line manager, executive and consultant, Bill specialized in turning around failing operations. The critical issues were never technical; they were always fundamental leadership issues. During that time, he tested and proved the concepts that became his Authentic Leadership Insights model which is the foundation of his Executive Leadership Development practice.

In working with Executive Leadership teams, his company guided the creation of agile, enthusiastically engaged teams that create for themselves, a low-stress environmental ecosystem, free of chaos and destructive conflict.

He found that the key was evolving “HOT” Relationships, that is, relationships grounded in Honesty, Openness and Trust, where the leaders acquire a high level of Social Emotional Intelligence. These leaders project their individual authentic presence-generally characterized by humility, humor, intuition, curiosity and vulnerability. They create a safe environment where creativity and innovation flourish.

Bill’s extensive background in executive leadership development and unique contributions to the practice were invaluable assets to the SOSSAS board and participants. He offered deep experiential wisdom with a jovial and sincere delivery so as to inspire and encourage anyone seeking to elevate themselves in their lives and leadership abilities.

After ongoing negotiation with prostate and bone cancer, Bill quietly and gently passed from this adventure to the next one on October 15th 2023, aged 89 years. His jovial, energetic, and compassionate presence forever touched the lives of everyone with whom he interacted. Bill’s legacy and wisdom were an integral part of the forming of SOSSAS, so we honor him as Chairman Emeritus.