Council of Trustees
The Spellbinders Council of Trustees is made up of volunteers who maintain the valuable Spellbinders training materials and website, coordinate the annual meeting, respond to all inquiries from teachers and others, and help keep the Spellbinders dream alive and vibrant. The council, is a separate entity from the LLSOs (Spellbinders Licensed Local Storyteller Organizations).
Diana King (2023-24 Chairperson) Originally from St. Louis, Diana King graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs with a degree in mathematics. She later took computer science courses in Maryland. She served as a computer analyst and project manager for Federal grants systems development for 30 years in Washington DC. She developed some of the early electronic links between financial systems and grants systems and helped develop electronic grant applications processes across multiple Federal agencies processing over $250 billion in Federal financial assistance.
She and her husband returned to Colorado in 2008. She is currently Leader of the Boulder Valley Spellbinders, has served as President of the 350-member University Women’s Club at CU Boulder, and is active in other volunteer capacities. Diana became a spellbinder two years ago and now thoroughly enjoys telling stories in both English and Spanish to first and second grades at Columbine and Heatherwood elementary schools.
Lisa Radford (2023-24 Vice-chair) Lisa has been telling stories in Littleton Public Schools at every grade level in elementary and middle school for 20 years, but she also shares stories with the older adults in local assisted living communities. She is a member of Spellbinders of Littleton and serves on their steering committee. In a previous career, Lisa had been a computer programmer, so she has been able to utilize those skills to upgrade and maintain the Spellbinders.org website as well as the website for Spellbinders of Littleton. Although this work is important, it is her love of stories and storytelling that keeps her excited! Gardening, reading, fiber arts, mosaic, jewelry-making are some of her favorite pastimes.
Denise Jurgens (2023-24 Treasurer) Denise is a CPA and helped Alfred Dietsch form the Spellbinders nonprofit organization in 1987. A native Coloradoan, she works with many nonprofit organizations and enjoys helping nonprofits reach their potential. She is the Treasurer of Roaring Fork Valley Storytellers.
Karen Culver (2023-24 Secretary) Karen has been a Spellbinder for 22 years and was certified as a trainer by our founder, Germaine Dietsch, in 2003. She tells multicultural folktales in primary grades, offers continuing education programs for local Spellbinder groups, and created a reference page on our website for searching traditional tales sources. She was a leader in Jeffco Spellbinders for many years until moving back to Loveland, where she is a member of Spellbinders Oral Storytellers of Larimer County.
A former teacher of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing children, she also worked as a special education tutor and an elementary school library assistant until retiring in 2019 after 26 years in public education.
Paulette Foss has been a Spellbinder since 2014. She has a fondness for three key areas of storytelling: 1) The art itself, 2) The inherent magic, and 3) Finding one’s story. Her abundant regard for all three components sheds light to the inner-workings of her mind, which allows her to be both an incredible Storytelling Volunteer and a Trainer for Boulder Valley Spellbinders®. She currently serves as Treasurer for her local Spellbinder organization.
Linda Conte is currently the Leader of the Peekskill Spellbinders group in upstate New York and has held that position for a number of years. The Peeksill group is small but dedicated. Linda brings a slightly different perspective from the Colorado-based storytelling groups. She believes in the Spellbinders mission and wants to see it continue and grow. After this past COVID year she knows that a rebirth is needed to invigorate our tellers and to bring new recruits into the fold.
Bob Laborde started telling stories around 1994 when his two children first started school. He continued telling stories in schools, libraries, and senior citizen centers for many years. He loves reading tales and folklore from many different cultures, countries, and religions. He then takes those readings a step further and tells the stories to all who want to listen and enjoy a good story. Bob is a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) with Toastmasters International. In Toastmasters Bob has served in many leadership positions and won numerous speaking contests. He works as a Technical Writer where writes various operations, maintenance, and training material for the specialty hardware and software his company provides. He enjoys gardening and spending time outdoors with his wife and their two dogs.
Lise Nelson has been a Spellbinders storyteller for five years, having taken her training in February of 2016 after meeting Ray Mohr in a storytelling class. Always eager to improve her skills, she recently attended a two-week storytelling course in the UK. An avid bagpiper for 25 years, she brings along her pipes whenever she tells “The Pied Piper of Hamlin”. Lise served on Council of Trustees previously, and we are fortunate to have her join us once again.