Hilary Bates

Hilary Bates is an amateur upper level Three Day Event rider who competes throughout California, Oregon and Montana. She owns and operates a small Eventing barn on the north border of the Horse Park and enjoys the proximity of the Horse Park's arenas, trails, galloping track and cross country course for training and schooling. Hilary is a licensed California architect, and has worked in both group and private practice in the Bay Area for almost twenty years. Her Bachelor of Architecture degree is from Yale University and her Master of Architecture degree is from University of California, Berkeley.

Nancy Benson

My goal as a Horse Park board member is to bring in new ideas and approaches, as well as to continue the development and growth for dressage and event riders. I have been in love with horses since the day my father put me on a pony at the pony rides, although I was unable to own a horse until later in my life. My equestrian experience spans 20+ years, starting out in dressage and crossing over into the eventing world. I currently own a semi-retired dressage/event horse, that is leased out and is teaching others the art of dressage and I have a Welsh Cob that I compete at First/Second Level dressage and at Novice level eventing. I have served 2 years as a CDS-SPF chapter board member, in a secretarial role and supported other chapter functions/activities. At a professional level, I am an independent contractor/consultant for medical device/pharmaceutical companies. Prior to moving into independent work, I worked in the corporate world for 30+ years as a manager/director/vice president of Quality Assurance in medical devices companies.

Tracy Byars

Tracy Byars is a lifetime horse lover, "Pony Club Mom" of 15 years, occasional trail rider and former Executive Director and Development Director for the Horse Park. She is currently Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Sofia University (formerly the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology) in Palo Alto, a Certified Fundraising Professional (CFRE), VP Marketing for the Association of Fundraising Professionals Silicon Valley Chapter, and member of the Communications Committee of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Nan Chapman

A graduate of Pomona College, Nan Chapman has served for 41 years as PR/Publicity Chairman for the Menlo Charity Horse Show, which raised $450,000 for Vista Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired in 2010.
She was also a member of the Save the Folger Stable Steering Committee which raised over $3,000,000 to restore the barn in Wunderlich Park, negotiated with the San Mateo Historical Society to provide historical field trips at the facility for local 3rd and 4th graders, and currently conducts tours and open houses on site.
In the past, she has served on the Boards of Directors of the Junior League of Palo Alto, Family Service Mid-Peninsula, and the Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired. Nan and her horse are active competitors in Saddlebred Pleasure Driving classes. Last year, they were the Pacific Coast champions in that division.

Bonnie Crater

Bonnie Crater and her family live in Portola Valley. For the past 15 years Bonnie has been an avid polo player at both the Horse Park Polo Club and Menlo Polo Club in Atherton. Bonnie led the effort to rebuild the polo arena at the Horse Park in 2000 and has served as Treasurer, VP, or President of the Horse Park Polo Club since 2001. On the Horse Park Board and on the Executive Committee, Bonnie is now in her second term. She successfully led the effort to renew the Horse Park Use Permit with San Mateo County in 2008 and has also worked on many other operational initiatives. Bonnie has held executive roles at Oracle, Netscape, Genesys, and Salesforce.com leading marketing teams or business units for those companies.

Katrina Deane

Katrina is originally from the UK and has been a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area since 1985.  Katrina has two daughters, one a recent graduate of UC Davis, the other attending the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.  Both daughters have been active in United States Pony Club (USPC) and Eventing and spent countless days at the Horse Park when they were growing up.  Katrina has held leadership positions at the club and regional levels of USPC and currently serves as Treasurer for the Middle California Region and sits on the national USPC Board of Governors.  She is also the Cross Country phase volunteer coordinator for the Woodside Eventing shows held at the Woodside Horse Park. Katrina works as an analytics consultant at a major bank.  Katrina’s family own three horses who are kept at their home in Moss Beach.

Melissa Hollatz

Melissa Hollatz is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she focuses on all aspects of public and private company representation, including mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, financings, and corporate governance, with an emphasis on technology companies. Melissa has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions involving both domestic and international deals by public and non-public companies. Melissa received both her B.A. and J.D. from Stanford University. Melissa has two horses she trains with Three Bay Farms.  She competes in eventing and local dressage and hunter/jumper shows and has a border collie who loves to go for morning walks at the Horse Park.

Tom Livermore

Tom retired in 2001 after a 30-year business career, including an entrepreneur in the photography business, management consultant in systems, financial and distribution operations and finally an executive for a manufacturer of protective packaging materials. Tom has served in numerous community service positions including the board for the Trust for Hidden Villa, Planning Commissioner for the Town of Woodside, and the Architectural Board for Woodside Hills Home Association. He and his wife, Ann, an executive at Hewlett-Packard, reside in Woodside. Their daughter, Emily, is currently a sophomore at Stanford. Emily has been an avid Hunter-Jumper equestrian since the age of 9. She currently trains with Willow Tree Farm and competes in the US and Canada in Show Jumping. Tom and Ann own four horses, three of which are stabled at the Horse Park. Tom was on the Menlo Horse Show Executive committee for four years and continues to volunteer for the annual charity event. He is an occasional trail rider.

Lesa Mellis

Lesa Mellis is a partner at PwC where she focuses on international tax for mobile employees. She has worked in the public accounting industry for over 25 years. Prior to this, she worked with the 3M Corporation for 2 years while attending St. Catherine University. Lesa is a certified public accountant licensed in the State of California and Minnesota. She has been around horses her entire life in a variety of different disciplines. Lesa grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and starting her riding adventures in Western, she moved on to ride hunters for several years before moving on to eventing. Married to George Mellis; the Mellis family have resided in Los Altos for the last 15 years, have three children and two horses that reside at the HPW. Lesa and her daughter, Katherine, both enjoy eventing. They train with Three Bay Farms and Katherine competes at the preliminary level.

Gina Miles

Gina Miles is a world class eventer earning the 2008 Olympic Silver Medal for the United States in the individual eventing competition. She has represented the United States at Pan American and World Equestrian Games, earning Team Gold and Individual Bronze medals. She is a United States Eventing Association ICP Level III Certified Instructor and has earned her United States Dressage Federation Silver Medal. Gina got her start in riding in Pony Club, achieved her “A” rating in 1993, and is an avid supporter today as she regularly gives clinics to promising pony club riders today at the Horse Park. Gina also recently supported the Horse Park in a moving speech at the December 2008 San Mateo County Planning Commission hearing where a dozen pony club members lined up behind her in uniform as she presented the next generation of land preservationists to the commissioners. On the Horse Park Board of Governors, Gina will represent the future competitive riders as well as current top competitors today. Gina holds a B.S. in Crop Science from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Eileen Morgenthaler

Eileen has lived in Portola Valley for the last twenty years with her husband Gary Morgenthaler, a venture capitalist. She is a graduate of Stanford University. After 20 years in sales and marketing, she retired to raise her two children ages 16 and 13. She is an avid eventer, boarding 5 horses at the Horse Park. She is also a passionate skier and traveler. Her daughter is in Pony Club and events as well. She formerly served six years on the Board of the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. She also served on the Horse Park Board from 2005-2011.

Tom Shanahan

Tom Shanahan is a 31 year resident of Woodside and polo player. He joined Needham & Company in 2002. He serves as the Head of West Coast Investment Banking and also is a General Partner of Needham Asset Management, LLC. Tom is the former CFO and co-founder of Agile Software Corporation (acquired by Oracle). Additional Silicon Valley experience includes CFO assignments at SBT Corporation (acquired by Computer Associates), DG FastChannel, Inc. (public) and Sherpa Corporation. He has 14 years of investment banking experience at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and The First Boston Corporation (now Credit Suisse). Tom served as an officer in the First Infantry Division in Vietnam. He is a graduate of Stanford University (Phi Beta Kappa) and the Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).