PRESIDENT
Marly Bergerud
president.pswg@gmail.com

Marly Bergerud, President, Strategic Alliance Solutions^®, LLC. Marly Bergerud established Strategic Alliance Solutions in 2004 after a lifetime career of 30+ years in higher education within the California Community Colleges.
Her higher education career was primarily in management leadership and included serving as Vice President at DeAnza College in Cupertino, CA and Dean of Business at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA. Her earlier career was that of a Professor of Business at Cypress College, Cypress, CA.  Her reputation is that of a nationally recognized educational leader, author and speaker building national and global partnerships between educational institutions and their industry partners specializing in technology innovation and restructuring for the workforce of the 21^st century.
Recently, Marly moved to Palm Desert, CA and continues to be dedicated to building collaborations that “see the future” for the advancement and use of beneficial technologies for changing the way people learn, work and connect.  Her interests are serving as an advisor and consultant to businesses and educational institutions for analysis, design, and implementation of innovative, experiential and immersive learning systems, leading edge technologies and alternative modes of delivery. Additionally, Marly is an active member and Educational Ambassador of the Muses, a women’s fundraising and leadership group for the McCallum Theatre that provides enrichment, education and entertainment to the community. As a writer she is actively working on a book and enjoys being a Board Member on the Palm Springs Writers Guild and engaging with the Guild’s ever-expanding membership of talented writers.
Bergerud has authored and published 25 computer technology textbooks and most recently co-authored and led a team in the development of Interactive 3D Visualization Development.  She has a B.S. degree in Business Education from California State University, Fresno, CA and a M.S. degree in Education from the University of Southern California.

EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT
Matthew Lancellotti
mlancellotti@fullerton.edu

Originally from northern New Jersey, Matt has lived most of his adult life in California. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz he joined Out magazine in New York from its inaugural issue, working in advertising and leading their online media team. He returned to California to attend USC, earning his MBA in product marketing, and then his PhD in consumer psychology. He is currently Professor of Marketing (Consumer Psychology) in the Department of Marketing at Mihaylo College of Business, Cal State Fullerton. He has published numerous research articles for academic journals and business-trade and -advice publications. At the same time he has always enjoyed writing fiction, and has done so in fits and starts since childhood. He has finally just finished writing his first novel, and is in the final editing process. He has found tremendous value and camaraderie as a member of the PSWG to help him through that journey.Matt has a passion for geography and weather, and can often be found pouring over Google Earth or scouring radar images and weather alerts. He lives in Palm Springs, a truly inspirational place for writing, with his loving husband and adorable pooch Ollie.

SECRETARY
Candace Lee Fagan (Ace)
Secretary.PSWG@gmail.com
Account Manager, Visual Numerics, Inc. Accomplished, innovative, highly focused Enterprise Software Sales producer with 15+ years experience offering proven track record of consistent over quota performance. A driven leader with a career of profitable growth for corporations across various IT and computing sectors including technical solutions, new business development, custom enterprise applications, and consulting services. Generator of new revenue streams through achieving trusted advisor status with clients by offeringexpertise and experience with major OLAP, CRM, and BI tools.
I am a highly skilled contract negotiator, sales closer with an expertise in marketing and strategic planning.
Author and Writer: CL FaganProductions
Lightning Strikes the Colonies is my first novel published with AEG publishing Group and now I am in the process of publishing my second novel, Enlightening Strikes England. Stay tuned for further updates....

TREASURER
Kathy Weyer
Treasurer.PSWG@gmail.com
Kathy Weyer is a writer, having retired from many different professions including Human Resources Administration, Marriage and Family Counseling, and running several non profit agencies. Her experiences in those roles have given her fodder for writing fiction and some fact-based articles that have run in national magazines.A native San Diegan, she recently moved to Palm Springs with her husband of 40 years. She is involved with the Palm Springs Rotary Club, the Friends of the Palm Springs Library, Voices For Children, and devotes her time to creative arts and animal welfare.She lives with her husband and two black labs named Nick and Nora, a black cat named Freddie, who is her office mate and is sometimes helpful, but not always, at the keyboard, and a cockatiel named Socrates.
You can find Kathy at www.kathyweyer.com or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/kathyweyerauthor.

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
Ellen Paris
eparis312@yahoo.com

Ellen Paris has lived full-time in the Desert for 20 years, raising her daughter from kindergarten to Palm Desert High School to UCLA where she recently graduated.  Ellen has worked as a business journalist, personal finance columnist, luxury lifestyle editor and public relations consultant for over thirty years. She is a long-time Contributor to Forbes.com writing about luxury real estate. Her career includes twelve years as a staff writer for Forbes Magazine and columnist for Entrepreneur.  As a contributing writer for Palm Springs Life Magazine for over a decade she wrote a variety of cover features, a personal finance column, and regional real estate columns.  Ellen was also editor of Palm Desert Magazine for two years. Her involvement with PSWG stretches over 15 years. Ellen is also a member of KESQ’s Community Advisory Board and former Board Member of The Children’s Discovery Museum Board of The Desert.

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
Kristina Hoffman
philanthropy.pswg@gmail.com

Kristina VanKirk Hoffman was born and raised in Northern California. After studying Art History and Political Science at UCLA and Barnard College, she directed Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica from 1984-1988 and Ace Gallery in Los Angeles from 1988 – 1997. During that time, she wrote press releases for each exhibition, coordinated exhibitions, acted as docent to museum tours, provided information and loans of artworks to major museums, placed artworks in significant collections and contributed an article to Flash Art Magazine. She then returned to the Bay Area and began her art consultant/interior design business. During that time she volunteered, chaired the annual fundraiser, and then became the President of Marin Charitable serving at-risk youth. In 2012 she and her husband moved to Sonoma, California where she served on the board of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and was the Chairperson for their annual fundraiser. She was also a contributing writer to Valley of the Moon Magazine. She is passionate about education, fundraising, writing and contemporary art.

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS
Kristina Hoffman
Programs.PSWG@GMAIL.COM

Kristina VanKirk Hoffman was born and raised in Northern California. After studying Art History and Political Science at UCLA and Barnard College, she directed Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica from 1984-1988 and Ace Gallery in Los Angeles from 1988 – 1997. During that time, she wrote press releases for each exhibition, coordinated exhibitions, acted as docent to museum tours, provided information and loans of artworks to major museums, placed artworks in significant collections and contributed an article to Flash Art Magazine. She then returned to the Bay Area and began her art consultant/interior design business. During that time she volunteered, chaired the annual fundraiser, and then became the President of Marin Charitable serving at-risk youth. In 2012 she and her husband moved to Sonoma, California where she served on the board of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and was the Chairperson for their annual fundraiser. She was also a contributing writer to Valley of the Moon Magazine. She is passionate about education, fundraising, writing and contemporary art.

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
Cynthia West
education8151ca@gmail.com

Cynthia’s background has been almost completely focused on education, having received her B.A. in English from the University of Tennessee and an M.A. and Ed.M. in English and History from Columbia University.  She has held teaching and administrative positions in a series of East Coast schools, each time increasing her teaching loads and levels of responsibility. She worked as a speech and grant writer for Princeton University.Cynthia is also a Fulbright Exchange Fellow, spending a year at the Antwerp International school in Belgium teaching the International Baccalaureate curriculum and researching World War I and World II landscape memorials.  Following that experience, she created a short documentary video, Remembrance and Reconciliation based on Carl Sandburg’s war poem, Grass.  Additionally, Cynthia contributed a chapter and video to the iBook, Bringing the Great War Home, produced by University of North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and The American Battle Monuments commission. 
In her earlier years, Cynthia played competitive tennis and enjoyed a decade as a teaching pro. She is a Life member of the United States Tennis Association, the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and a certified professional with the Professional Tennis Registry. For the last five years, Cynthia has enjoyed working in Media Services for the Indian Wells Tennis Tournament.
That exposure to the Coachella Valley is what brought Cynthia to Palm Desert, where she plans to continue Fine Tutoring, a service she started in North Carolina where she worked with high school and college students to improve their English and History skills.  She perfected the art of tutoring via Skype sessions to expand her geographic reach and now looks forward to teaching Coachella Valley students while keeping many of her former East Coast students and their siblings.
When she is not tutoring students or writing her first novel, she can be found biking, photographing, hiking and volunteering for the Disabled American Veterans and for the P.E.O. Sisterhood.
You can contact Cynthia at www.finetutoring.com