Meet our board
Phillip Vincent, President | Sean Radway, Vice President | Alec Holser, Secretary
Barb Knop, Treasurer | Christine Coulter, Member | betty gearen, Member
Phillip Vincent, President
Phillip currently serves as Director and Chief of Staff within the Microsoft Services business; and has worked in many roles during his 20-year tenure. From hiring, training and leading engineers, to creating and implementing international training programs for leaders and executives.
Phillip volunteers at the Cannon Beach Community Food Pantry, is a member of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and has served on the Cannon Beach Academy board as President since 2020.
Phillip and his wife Tina have lived in Cannon Beach for 7 years and have two daughters and 5 grandchildren ages 4 to 12.
Prior to moving to the west coast, Phillip lived in Morrice, MI. where he was elected to serve two terms on the public schools board of education, 4 years as president.
Along with helping his local community, He has traveled to help others outside his community as well. Phillip has traveled to Nairobi Kenya twice, Fairbanks Alaska, and New Orleans (Hurricane Katrina relief)
Phillip enjoys helping others learn in all types of environments. At work, through mission’s work (Kenya, Alaska), and through public school education. Mr. Vincent shares “Serving on the Cannon Beach Academy Board, helping to bring the best possible education to students in our community is my top priority and essential to ensure learning is fun, and a lifelong goal for all students.”
Barb Knop, Treasurer
Barb earned her Undergraduate degree from Western Washington State College in Business Education and her Master’s Degree from Western Washington University in Business Education. She is a retired teacher with 26 years of classroom experience'; her final 17 years were spent at Broadway Middle School in Seaside. She serves as a member of the City of Cannon Beach Parks and Community Services committee, the chair of the 12 Days of Earth Day committee, a member of the Cannon Beach Farmer’s Market committee, a member of the Friends of the Cannon Beach Trail and the coordinator of the monthly trail cleaning project, a member of the the Cannon Beach CERT team, and is the treasurer of the following nonprofit organizations: The Cannon Beach Academy, Cannon Beach Food Pantry and Seaside Scholarships.
Alec Holser, Secretary
Alec Holser is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture and a founding partner of the nationally acclaimed Opsis Architecture. The Portland-based practice has competed projects across all of western states with a focus on educational, civic and institutional facilities. Alec lives in Arch Cape with his wife, daughter, granddaughter, two dogs and two guinea pigs. He enjoys skiing on Mt. Hood and riding his bike on the beach. He grew up in Eugene and graduated from the University of Oregon. He spent 12 years working in Boston before returning to the beauty of Oregon. His transformative designs for learning and cultural environments have elevated and integrated pioneering sustainable design to the highest level of beauty and craft while connecting users to a future in balance with nature. Alec’s projects emerge from an open dialogue with communities and a nuanced understanding of program, space, material, and light. Alec has led the design of many of the firm’s award-winning education projects that teach through discovery, connections, and synergies. Some of Alec’s most notable education projects include the nation’s first ILFI Certified net-zero energy public school - the AIA COTE Top Ten award-winning Hood River Middle School in Oregon, and the net-zero national AIA COTE Top Ten award-winning Oregon Zoo Education Center. His recently completed Portland School District’s McDaniel High School received a 2022 Oregon AIA honor award.
Christine Coulter, Board Member
Christine is the co-owner of Exit Sunset, LLC. She is a graphic designer and photographer. Christine and her husband Derek started the business in 2020 after moving to Cannon Beach in the summer of 2019. She has two children, one dog, and two cats. Christine is originally from Texas and has a degree in graphic design. She lived in Austin, TX after graduating from college and resided there for a decade. She worked for a wholesale printing company and then a publishing company before moving to Oregon. She and her family moved to West Linn, Oregon in 2017 for her husband’s career. With her husband working remotely they decided to move to Cannon Beach and raise their family there. She also enjoys walking the beach, hiking with her family, and exploring nature.
Betty Gearen, Board Member
Betty was the Executive Director and Founder of The Green House in Hawaii, whose mission was to educate children, adults, and families in adopting sustainable living practices that build on traditional knowledge of and respect for the land.
She has a BFA in fine art from the University of Hawaii and 30 years of teaching experience and curriculum development. She has taught art at both high school and elementary school levels. She was Garden Coordinator for the ‘AINA In Schools Program of the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, a project funded by the musician Jack Johnson and his wife Kim. She has taught environmental education classes in 15 after-school programs across Honolulu, coordinated and written the curriculum for the adult Garden Basics Training program at the Institute for Human Services homeless shelter, and helped develop the gardening program for Windward Community College’s CNA nursing program.
Teaching allowed her to spend summers off in Cannon Beach since 1972. In 2020 she and her husband Mike decided to spend most of their time in Cannon Beach. She now serves as a member of the Cannon Beach Parks and Community Services Committee and organizes the 12 Days of Earth Day Street Fair. She is a member of the Friends of the Cannon Beach Trail and coordinates their monthly trail cleaning projects.
She is very excited to be volunteering at the Cannon Beach Academy in their new Seed to Table Gardening Project and head up the weekly after-school Eco Kids Camp where the goal is to create fertile ground where the ‘seeds’ of sustainability can grow! She feels blessed to be back in the classroom where she can fuel her sense of joy and hope for future generations.
Our monthly board meetings occur on the third Wednesday of each month at 6:00pm online.
Please feel free to explore our previous meeting minutes, director’s reports, Oregon State Report Card, and updated board policies.
Policies: click here
Board Minutes: click here
Director’s Reports: click here
OREGON AT-A-GLANCE SCHOOL PROFILE - 2021-22 English, 2021-22 Spanish, 2022-23 English, 2022-23 Spanish