Along with the full-time team, we enlist a number of veteran VISIONS summer directors on a part-time basis throughout the year. Former field directors who no longer work summers with us remain close advisors and valuable resources for program planning. Read on for information about VISIONS full-time year round team. Read more about our seasonal team in Summer Directors.

Katherine Dayton, Director

Katherine Dayton's steadfast commitment to VISIONS and its philosophy emerged during her first season in 1996 as a leader in the Dominican Republic. She later directed programs in Montana, Peru and Ecuador. Over the ensuing years Katherine stayed connected to VISIONS in a part-time capacity, working as liaison to community partners, and also starting our Vietnam and Nicaragua programs.

Katherine holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Policy Studies from Dickinson College, PA, and studied for one year in Venezuela and Costa Rica. She also played Varsity basketball for Dickinson. She later earned an MBA, with side graduate work in Environmental Studies and a thesis in corporate social responsibility, collaborating with one of Montana's Regent's professors. Katherine worked for a budding technology firm before developing her own business as a contractor for nonprofits and businesses on marketing, fundraising and outreach. She joined the VISIONS executive team full-time in 2007 before becoming Executive Director in 2009. Katherine relishes being outdoors in her native Montana, and also spends some of her free time fixing up old houses.

Meghan Cotton, Outreach and Logistics

Meghan Cotton joined VISIONS in 2011 soon after moving to Bozeman, MT, from her home state of Kansas. Before VISIONS, Meghan spent two years applying her sharp accounting skills at Deloitte & Touche in Kansas City while concurrently completing all four sections of the CPA exam. She has a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Kansas and an Accounting M.B.A. from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Meghan has worked as a KU research assistant, youth swim coach, gymnastics coach, and Boys and Girls Club volunteer. During college she spent summers studying in Italy and China.

Meghan moves easily through spreadsheets and financial data, but it is her sociability and warmth that make her such a solid fit with VISIONS. Meghan's primary responsibilities include outreach to students and managing administrative and summer program logistics. When not plugging away in VISIONS' office, Meghan enjoys jogging, hiking, traveling, camping, spending time with friends and her two families -- her adopted family in Kansas and her biological family in Scottsdale, Arizona. Meghan lives by the credo: “Never settle for anything less than the unexpected adventure.”

Jim Earl, Technology Director

Jim Earl grew up in South Carolina and left soon after graduating high school to travel the western U.S. He cut his teeth on white water rafting, ice and rock climbing and mountaineering in the U.S., Canada, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina. He has professionally guided clients to the summits of many mountains throughout North and South America. While continuing to pursue his “virtual outdoor degree” Jim also earned a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Montana, after which he continued his wanderlust by teaching local petroleum workers in Bolivia and Argentina for awhile.

Jim also has explored the wide vistas of computers and internet communications while working for high-tech firms in Bozeman, non-profit environmental groups, and building websites for natural resource conservation groups. Finally settled in Montana, he remains inspired by the wide open vistas, rugged mountains and splendid rivers. Jim and his wife Debra have a two sons Devin and Justin, aged 2 and one-half years, and 6 months.

Joanne Pinaire, Director Emerita

Joanne Pinaire is a former owner/Director of VISIONS and played a primary role in creating, shaping and directing VISIONS since its inception in 1989. Before 1989, Joanne's eclectic background included writing and researching in non-profit arenas, marketing for an Equity repertory theater and a theater troupe founded to showcase the works of Western states playwrights. She taught ESL to Hmong refugees from Laos and high school English on Montana's Blackfeet Indian Reservation. At the Dalton School in New York City Joanne worked in Admissions and with the Assistant Headmaster for Curriculum Development. She was Administrator and taught for six years at The Children's School, a nationally praised early learning center in Stamford, CT.

In late 1969 while still in college, Joanne visited her Vista-volunteer sister on a Montana Plains Indian reservation; it was a a life-changing trip. She became a Montana resident for a decade, continuing to learn about its native people. She created VISIONS Montana programs and directed on the Crow, Flathead and Blackfeet reservations. She and her husband, Kevin, have one daughter, Claire, a graduate of Hendrix College, who, like her mother, values crossing cultures, having lived, studied and worked in Chile, Peru and Ecuador, and who lives in Portland, ME, where she is CIEE Study Abroad Advisor, Latin America.

Lauren Dayton, Student and Parent Outreach

Lauren Dayton was born in Oregon and grew up in Michigan where she earned a Bachelor with Honors in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan. She then joined Teach for America and taught Middle School Special Education for two years on the Navajo Nation reservation in New Mexico. Lauren has a long-time interest in community service. In middle school and high school she participated in numerous volunteer service trips nationally and abroad; in college she volunteered in Madagascar and Chile.

Lauren worked as a VISIONS staff leader in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, in the 2011 summer season. Afterwards she joined the VISIONS home office in Bozeman where she now lives.  Lauren focuses on VISIONS outreach while actively engaging with alumni.  When not in the office, Lauren enjoys exploring hiking trails, spending time with friends, taking zumba dancing lessons and volunteering as a GED instructor at the local detention center.

Josh Gallatin, Outreach and Logistics

Josh Gallatin’s diverse background encompasses music, business and finance. A talented pianist, Josh attended the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA, where he studied Music Business and interned at Universal Music Group. He also worked at Opes Advisors in Los Gatos, CA, in documents compliance and drawing up documents. He holds a B.S. degree in Business Finance from Montana State University.

Before joining VISIONS Josh volunteered in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with “Children of the Dump,” and in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Josh hails from Polson, Montana, and regularly helped in his father’s construction business while growing up. He hopes to parlay his carpentry skills into a staff carpenter leader role in VISIONS’ 2012 summer season. During his free time, Josh enjoys playing soccer, boating, snowboarding, camping, and playing the piano.

Stacy Bodow, Staffing and Leader Training

Few individuals have been as committed to and as unifying a force in VISIONS as Stacy Bodow whose first summer in the field was 1997. Stacy has led programs in Dominica, the BVIs, Alaska, and Australia. She co-facilitates VISIONS' program directors' summit and the ensuing staff training. She has represented VISIONS to families and at camp fairs, and has been a trusted liaison to local community partners. Stacy's part-time role for several years is recruiting and hiring talented adults for our summer leader positions, and playing a central role in the week-long training of directors and staff.

Stacy has a Masters in International and Developmental Education from the University of Pittsburgh. She has managed travel services for an eco-travel company, promoting environmentally and socially responsible tourism; worked three years with Pittsburgh Habitat for Humanity; and was an urban crew leader for the Student Conservation Association, among other pursuits. Stacy lives in Pittsburgh, where she volunteers with Creative Life Support, a mentoring program that connects aspiring artists with advanced technologies and opportunities in media arts. Stacy and her husband, Frank, have two young children, Kai and Krya.

Wesley Hedden, Southeast Asia Coordinator

Wesley Hedden first joined VISIONS in 2007 as a leader for VISIONS Nicaragua. The next three summers he staffed in Vietnam and was Program Director there in 2010. Wes has a B.A. from Tulane University with a major in philosophy and Latin American Studies. In 2005 Wesley studied abroad at the University of Buenos Aires where he acquired a lasting passion for history. Since graduating college, Wesley has lived in China, Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and Cambodia, teaching English and world history and working in various capacities for NGOs.

In September 2010 Wes launched Sarus Exchange Program, an inter-cultural exchange program for Vietnamese and Cambodian university students whose name is derived from the endangered Sarus Crane, which migrates annually between the wetlands of Cambodia and Vietnam. Wes was awarded a Princeton-In-Asia Carrie Gordon Fellowship to create this unique programbased in part on VISIONS' philosophy and framework. Wesley, who speaks Spanish, Vietnamese and Khmer, and who can get by in Burmese, lives in Phenom Penh, Cambodia. SARUS Exchange Program, VISIONS, and his role as Southeast Asia Program Director for Volunteers in Asia keep him thoroughly engaged in development work in SE Asia.

Zheng Huang - Intern

Zheng Huang is a native of Shanghai, China. He came to Bozeman late 2009 to attend Montana State University (MSU) where he is pursuing a major in Business Management with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management.  Along with his native Shanghaiese language, Zheng is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English. He enjoys an active lifestyle and can be found on the basketball court or soccer field, playing ping-pong or pool, or generally exploring life in and outside Bozeman--that is, when not busy consuming his favorite Buffalo wild wings. He’s looking forward to more snowball fights with this friends this winter. Zheng joined the VISIONS home office team in 2010 and enthusiastically assists with administrative duties and seasonal projects.