Clark College Alumni Board welcomes new members

Five individuals join board to support alumni efforts

New alumni board members gathered with veteran board members and Clark College Foundation board, staff and spouses at Heathen Estate winery in Brush Prairie in January. Left to right, front row, Cheree Nygard, Carson Legree, Donna Roberge, Lisa Gibert, Carol Curtis, Azure Calder ’15, Mark Hughes, Michael Jaeger ’87. Left to right, center row, Billy Henry ’14, Ashlyn Salzman ’12, Michele Christian, George Welsh ’67, Anna Curtiss, Justin Curtiss ’09, Kathy Chennault. Left to right, back row, Hal Abrams, Andy Nygard, Jay Gilberg ’78, Monica Gilberg, Gene Christian (new member not pictured Denny Huston ’61)

The Clark College Alumni Board welcomed five new members in January 2018. They are Azure Calder ’15, Jock Coombe ’69, Justin Curtiss ’09, Denny Huston ’61 and Michael Jaeger ’87.

Calder is a mortgage lender for Evergreen Home Loans. She is based in Vancouver, Wash., and licensed in Washington, Oregon and California. One of the top five Clark County mortgage brokers in 2016 and 2017, Calder has worked in the mortgage industry since 2001 and is a former small business owner. She has two associate degrees from Clark College and a degree from Western Business College. Calder is a mother of two grown children and a grandmother.

Coombe is a retired Bonneville Power Administration engineer. He was also a plant accounting and information systems manager at Portland General Electric (PGE). He has served as a supervisor in the finance systems at General Dynamics and is a former executive vice president and chief operating officer at Associated Technologies Inc., in San Diego and Mexico. He has also served as a comptroller for Uniband Inc., in North Dakota. Additionally, Coombe was a site manager for immigration and naturalization in Los Angeles, and a senior manager of finance and accounting for the Computer Sciences Corporation at Edwards Air Force Base. He’s also a former Air Force program manager and flight test engineer.

Curtiss is a Clark County native and an attorney at Landerholm. He focuses on estate planning, probate and trust administration to help clients understand the complexities of estate planning, while achieving their financial goals. Curtiss relishes the time he spends with his wife and two children, especially while hiking, camping and exploring the outdoors.

Huston is a former head basketball coach at Clark College, Western Washington and Weber State University. He owned an Allstate insurance agency in Vancouver before retiring in January 2000. He is a graduate of Camas High School and Clark College. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Western Washington University.

Jaeger has 30 years of experience helping people communicate through technology. Upon graduation from Clark with a degree in telecom technology, Jaeger deployed complex networks for Fortune 100 companies. He has since enabled organizations from across the United States, Canada and Europe to utilize a myriad of solutions including telephony systems, computer networks, video conferencing and enterprise software. Jaeger currently represents the trade show production company, Face 2 Face Events, promoting conferences for information technology professionals. He has two children, and is an avid fisherman, competitive water skier and hiker.

The five new board members join current members Jay Gilberg ’78, president; Donna Roberge, vice president and professor emeritus; George Welsh ’67, former past president; Ashlyn Salzman ’12; and Carson Legree ’99, retired faculty.

The alumni board’s mission is to connect alumni with each other and the institution, while supporting current students through Clark College’s Guided Pathways, a new retention and student success program for community colleges that assists individuals through the higher education experience from entry to graduation and into their careers.

To connect with the alumni board by email or submit class news.