Board of Directors

Barb Baker – Hacksneck, VA.
President

Term ending December 2019

Barb has been raising llamas since 1995 at Baker & Company Llamas, along with husband Steve Vicars (he’s the “Company”) and got wrapped up in the fiber about eight years into the venture and finds this part of the experience to be creative and rewarding. When not tending to their herd of 60 llamas and two alpacas, she is an avid show person and travels to llama shows around the country. Barb’s “day job” for the last seven years is the Associate Director of the International Camelid Institute, located at The Ohio State University. She has served on the boards of LANA and ORVLA and for five years was the coordinator of the Llama Cooperative exhibit at the National FFA Convention. She has also acted as the co-moderator for the annual Camelid Community meeting in Kansas City for the past nine years. She is proud and thrilled to be on the GALA board.

Barb can be reached at: bebaker@earthlink.net

Audrey Lee – Keswick, VA
Vice-President

Term ending December 2021

My husband , Ed, and I were introduced to llamas in 1993 and began our adventure with these remarkable animals with the purchase of 4 later that year. Over the next few years, through additional purchases and our own breeding program, our herd rapidly grew to nearly 50. My husband, a now retired physician, studied their veterinarian needs by attending numerous programs on health care and typical medical conditions which can plague llamas while I took responsibility for their day to day needs. We began showing our llamas in 1993 and have enjoyed not only the show circuit but also the wonderful people we met along the way. Though we limited our show experience to competing in halter classes, our granddaughter, who shares our affection for these animals, has begun training and showing the llamas in performances classes.

Our breeding program over the last 20 years had focused on:
1) preserving/improving sound conformation;
2) improving the quality of fiber;
3) maintaining the sweet disposition of our animals as above all else, llamas, for us, are companion animals.

Now that we are retired and have moved the herd to Charlottesville Virginia, our numbers have dwindled, down to 19. While our show days are over, Ed continues watching over the health needs of our geriatric herd and I am discovering the
rewards of learning about fiber arts. With more time to observe herd behavior, I find the sociology of the herd to be fascinating and with time to observe and study their social interactions, I am anticipating writing a children’s book “Llessons Llearned from Llamas”.

When I was approached about jointing GALA’s BOD, I was honored and thrilled at the opportunity to share what I have learned over the years and to give to others as many generously shared their knowledge with us.

Audrey can be reached at: bohnengela@aol.com

Katrina Capasso – Ballston Spa, New York
Treasurer

Term ending December 2019

We established Dakota Ridge Farm in 1990 when we obtained our first llama and farm namesake, Dakota, as a wedding gift from Gary to Katrina. Since then, many more of these regal, magical and mystical creatures have arrived. From our herd of over 30 llamas and having up to as many as 30 boarders at one time, it has been a wonderful number of years with llamas! We also rescue and re-home llamas when needed. Our farm offers Pet Therapy to folks with special needs, Farm Tours, Llama Treks, and Educational Visits to folks traveling as far away as China, Japan, Australia, and all parts of the U.S. In 2012, Katrina was the proud recipient of the Linda Pierce Memorial Award. (The award is given to an ALSA member in good standing as well as being a volunteer and/or sponsor for local and national ALSA events. Additionally, the person must exemplify Linda’s exceptional attributes as a llama lover and show person with respect to dedication, perseverance, integrity, being a good role model, and striving to do their personal best while creating a positive experience for others in both their lives and in the show ring.) Dakota Ridge Farm was featured in the NY Times and on Good Morning America! Katrina is a former GALA Board member and worked for an accounting firm for 16 years. She’s now working on the farm full time.

Katrina can be reached at: llamawhisp@aol.com
Visit her website at: https://dakotaridgefarm.com/

Carol Reigh – Birdboro, Pennsylvania
Secretary

Term Ending December 2019

Carol Reigh has been involved with llamas since 1997 when they bought their first 4 llamas to help keep the pastures mowed. Sixteen years later, she has 33 llamas with a commitment to stay between 30- 35 llamas. She has maintained that number every year except for one, when a new stud, Eskalero, was added to the herd. Besides the goals of breeding for good dispositions, solid conformation and ultra silky fiber, Carol is committed to GALA and PLAA because of their emphasis on educating current and future lama owners to Camelid care.

Since 1997 she has attended every GALA conference, served on the GALA and PLAA boards for 6 years and is currently serving this year to fill a vacancy. Carol has been a part of the election committee for at least 4 years, co-chaired two GALA conferences (2007 and 2010) and served on several conference committees.

An avid show person, Carol is also involved on a National level in showing both her animals and/or their fleece. She feels that showing helps to keep her educated for her own breeding program and also monitors how her animals compare to others. This prevents “barn blindness” in a breeder. She is currently in an apprentice program to become an ILR certified halter judge.

Besides showing, this llama lover takes her animals to nursing homes, schools, parades, and the polls on election day. Community groups and schools come out to the farm and every year Buck Hollow Llamas has an Open Barn to introduce and educate people to these incredible animals.

Visit her website www.buckhollowllamas.com

Carol can be reached at: carol@buckhollowllamas.com

Andrea Parent-Tibbits – Hyde Park, New York
Director

Term Ending December 2021

Andrea Parent-Tibbetts acquired her first two llamas in 2008 through a local rescue organization, Northeast Llama Rescue (NELR) Middleburgh, NY to guard their families 4H Dairy Goats. A few years later, she rescued three alpacas and two more llamas and started a 4H Youth Development Camelid club in Dutchess County, New York. After retiring as a school administrator with a background in Finance and Operations, she and her husband purchased a 25 acre 1850 farm in 2016 to expand on their agricultural dreams and build a business around Agritourism, with her family at Clover Brooke Farm. Being an active and engaged community member in many different areas, Andrea’s focus continues with youth in agriculture, showing camelids, public relations events and community service. As an educator and 4H leader (The Spitters Club), it is important to Andrea that youth always have access to agriculture to learn and sculpt their personal interests.

Having camelids in her life for over 10 yrs, has allowed her to network with individuals and organizations throughout the Tri-state area, around something very interesting too many. She is fortunate to live just 1 1⁄2 hours north of New York City allowing her access to a broad audience of interests associated with agriculture through animal therapy, agricultural education in the classroom and public relations media spotlights. These values have led her to practice leadership, open-mindedness and positivity within all of her efforts, mainly concentrated in Youth Development and Agricultural Preservation.

You can learn more about Clover Brooke Farm at https://www.cloverbrookefarm.com and she can be reached at cloverbrookefarm@gmail.com You can also find Clover Brooke Farm on Facebook and follow them on Instagram.

Mike Sheridan – East Aurora, New York
Director

Term Ending December 2019

My first encounters with llamas occurred during three summer expeditions in the mid 1980’s when I was a NASA geoscientist mapping volcanic rocks in the altiplano of Bolivia. I was struck by the beauty and serenity of these majestic animals that were typically guided in huge herds by a lone man and his dog. The llamas transported essential goods such as salt from the playas in the high Andes down into the Amazonian rain forest below where they were traded for wood and other natural goods that they brought back to supply essentials for life in the mountains.

It was not until 1995, however, that I obtained the first llama for my 18 acre farm on the Niagara Frontier of New Your State. I soon after purchased the best foundation dam and herd sire that I could afford and started a small breeding program that focused on producing classic llamas for performance and conformation. My herd reached a maximum of 20 llamas and now stands at 9 llamas. Every day I spend at least 5 minutes with each llama in my herd in a one-on-one training/etiquette session to develop our relationships. I enjoy show competition at the local, regional, and national level, entering about 6 shows per year. I exhibit in fiber competition, when available, and also produce spun yarn for sale. A major part of my farm activity is training youth in llama husbandry and showmanship. Currently there are about 10 young people from my farm who compete in youth divisions at shows.

I am a retired university professor and researcher who spent his entire career in education, starting in 1965 Arizona State University and ending at the University at Buffalo in 2006. I have lived in several foreign countries and loved hiking to the top of the highest mountains available. This is my first term on the GALA board.

Mike can be reached at: mfsllamas@gmail.com

Pat McKinney – York, Pennsylvania
Director

Term Ending December 2020

My introduction to llamas began in 1998 when I obtained my first guard llama for my sheep and goat herd. I have always loved fiber and using it to make unique felted creations. As my appreciation for llama fiber grew, so did my llama numbers. My farm, Garden Gate Llamas, in York, Pennsylvania, now hosts nine llamas. My progression in numbers also included an appreciation for silky llama fiber, and the one classic guard llama has transpired into nine silky llamas. I am a retired high school health teacher and now continue my love of education by substitute teaching a few days a week with evenings reserved for family, the farm, and creating with fiber. Using camelid fiber has become my hobby which I love to share with others. I teach wet felting and needle felting classes for organizations and private groups, and continue to challenge myself by creating a unique type of wet felt which combines a variety of natural fibers, yarns, and silk into a fabric useable for fashion as well as crafts.

Pat can be reached at: gardengatellamas@gmail.com

Chuck Leach – New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Industry Liasion

Chuck Leach, Jr. and wife Sonja (the llama lady) began raising llamas in 1989. Currently they have 88 llamas at their 106 acre farm in the beautiful hills of western Pennsylvania. Chuck was co-founder and first president of the Pennsylvania Llama and Alpaca Association (PLAA).

Chuck can be reached at: leach@llamalove.com
Visit his website at: www.llamalove.com

Tabbethia Haubold-Magg – Yaphank, New York
Director

Term Ending December 2020

Tabbethia can be reached at: tabbethia@liyarnandfarm.com
Visit her website at: www.LIYARNANDFARM.com

Paige McGrath – Charlottesville, Va.
Director

Term Ending December

Paige can be reached at:  paigeink@aol.com