The Academy Board welcomes you. The Board members bring a wealth of experience to the Academy. They have organized a top notch program.

President: Ralph Plimpton
Ralph was a manager and Vice President of Human Resources with Arco and Amoco until the early 80’s. He next founded and operated an outplacement consulting firm serving corporate clients in seventeen states in the Mountain States and the West. He worked with thousands of individuals in developing their best skills and capabilities in the process of finding new opportunities or careers. Ralph has had a lifelong interest in economic, political, cultural, and social issues. In recent years he has developed expertise in several subjects of interest to senior adults. He is a regular Academy facilitator. Over his career he has given hundreds of lectures to a wide range of participants.

President Elect: Bennie Bub
Bennie Bub is a South African neurosurgeon who is board certified in three different specialties on three continents.  His teaching career began with teaching physics at a technical college in return for free car maintenance courses.  He has studied or taught at the University of Cape Town, the Royal College of Surgeons in the UK, the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases and Epilepsy, Harvard College, and the Boston Conservatory of Music studying the violin. He founded the first multidisciplinary clinic in South Africa for the management of intractable pain.  He immigrated to the USA in 1976, joined a Denver practice, then founded a successful database company.

Treasurer: Jim Kneser
Jim worked many years in the financial world specializing in mergers, acquisitions, speculative markets, and corporate finance.  Now he is enjoying retirement, especially as he strives to increase economic literacy for others and knowledge of music for himself.  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from Ripon College and an MBA in finance from the Wharton School.  He is a CPA.  This is his thirteenth year of leading economics classes as a volunteer, having led over 50 classes (economics, public policy, opera, symphonic music, and immigration) with over 3,000 class members.  One of the founders of the Academy, Jim also led the first two classes.

Secretary: Bil Buhler
Bil was born and raised in central Idaho. He received his Masters degree from DU in Computer Science, when he first fell in love with Denver. He worked in Seattle and Chicago before moving to Denver 20 plus years ago. After retiring from computer programming his avocation as a potter became a primary focus. He thinks he should have made that switch much sooner, because he’s having so much fun with his creations.  “Mr. Pots” has been accepted into multiple juried art shows and enjoys demonstrating his craft for others.

VP-Curriculum/Facilitators: Sheila Porter
With an undergraduate degree in art history, a PhD in Psychology and 30+ years as a clinical and forensic psychologist, Sheila has joined those interests in her retirement to study and lecture on the impact of artists’ psychological makeup on their artistic production.  Sheila has said, “I always return to the study of art & artists because it is good to remember that the world has always produced beauty in spite of itself.”  Sheila divides her time between the Academy, where she chairs the Curriculum Committee, doing psychological evaluations of victims of torture seeking political asylum for Healthright International and her grandchildren who make her laugh and look to  the future.

VP-Facilities: Paula Kauffman
Although Paula has pursued the usual retirement pleasures—travel, new hobbies (a perennial beginning golfer, a knitter of scarves, and a recent duplicate bridge competitor), volunteer work, and learning—she has also had the uncommon experience of working for one-month in southern Africa, where she helped the government of Namibia set up a social insurance program. Having spent her professional career in the United States Social Security Administration, Paula has strong opinions about the privatization of the program and does public speaking on this subject from time to time.

VP-Social: Sherma Erholm
A career public school teacher, Sherma holds a bachelor's degree in speech and music, and a master's in communication theory and psychology. As a “learning junkie', she now enjoys researching in order to facilitate discussions in widely varying subjects. She has taught music and communication theory in public schools and has facilitated adult courses of interest, in and out of her field of expertise, e.g., futurism, China, Iran, evolution, the U.N. persuasion, and others. Other fun for her consists of travel which emphasizes the local culture, singing with the Alpine Chorale, gardening, mountaineering, paleontology, and skiing.

Member-at-Large: Bernhard Abrahamsson
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Bernhard joined the Swedish Merchant Marine at an early age, sailing on both Swedish and Israeli ships and earning his unlimited Master's License (Sea Captain).  He reached the rank of commander in the Swedish Naval Reserve before becoming a US citizen.   After leaving the sea, he completed a Ph.D. in economics and worked at the International Monetary Fund.  He next pursued an academic life focusing on international relations and maritime affairs. He has taught, done research, and consulted in the US and abroad. He joined the faculty of the (then named) Graduate School of International Studies at DU where he also served a lengthy term as Interim Dean.

Member-at-Large: Fredrick R. Abrams, M.D.
Fred is currently the Director of the Clinical Ethics Consultation Group, a medical consultant to the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care, an Adjunct Professor of Ethics at the Iliff School of Theology, and also a volunteer faculty for the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at UCHSC.  In 2003 he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Center for Bioethics and Humanities of the UCHSC. In 2006 he was selected to receive the Isaac Bell and John Hayes Award for Leadership in Medical Ethics and Professionalism from the Board of Trustees and Foundation of the American Medical Association.

Member-at-Large: Iris Fontera
Iris has worked in both the public sector, for a District Attorney, and the private sector, owning her own business for many years.  She married a college professor and enjoyed the extraordinary opportunity to live in England for a year and India for two years. It was the India experience that changed her life, changing the way she looks at the world and at her own country.  Iris believes that education and learning about different people, cultures, and religions, are the key to any change in our world.  She feels privileged to have the time to take the interesting and educational classes at the Academy.

Member-at-Large: Margaret Hinman
Upon retirement, after thirty-one years as a middle/junior high school counselor, Margaret decided that her first year after retirement would be a year of transition, a time to explore her interests and get a feeling about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.  Now in her ninth year of transition, she is exploring the varied offerings at the Academy, volunteering as a Master Gardener in Adams County, producing the Colorado Post-Polio Connections, a quarterly newsletter focusing on those aging with polio, and archiving her family’s collection of photos.

Member-at-Large: Jan Melson
Having spent her career in information technology as a programmer, technical writer, trainer and system installer, Jan is delighted to have escaped the world of bits and bytes and is now enjoying the real world through travel and taking courses at the Academy. As a member since the Academy's inception in 2003, Jan has enjoyed participating in a wonderful variety of courses—everything from art and architecture to economics and history, from Africa and France to Persia and Poland. As a member of the board, Jan's goal is to help the Academy continue to grow and provide opportunities for intellectual stimulation and new friendships for all members.

Member-at-Large: Bebe Telles
Originally from Texas, Bebe has also lived in Connecticut, Colorado and Lima, Peru. Her work experience ranges from teaching high school and adult education that included literature, grammar, communication skills and English for non-native speakers to managing the editorial office of The Journal of Clinical Investigation at the University of Texas medical school in Dallas, Texas. More recently she started a home based business designing and creating beaded jewelry. She also creates beautiful hanging name badge holders in case you would like one for your Academy name badge.  Her passions include traveling, reading, the ballet and music.

Executive Director: Sally Kneser
Through the years Sally has described herself as a “learning junkie” and the Academy provides opportunities to feed that habit.  As one of the Academy’s founders, Sally has enjoyed applying her planning and organizational skills to an educational group.  While volunteering with the Junior League of Denver, Sally chaired several committees, including the Facilitators. She has served as president of various nonprofit guilds involving children, gardening, and learning.  When not enjoying herself at the bridge table, she attends two book clubs, skis most Wednesdays in the winter, and stops to smell the summer roses in her gardens.

The original board worked tirelessly to organize the Academy. The response has been overwhelming as hundreds of Denverites discover added pleasure in learning.

Board members enjoy spirited discussions at their meetings. Diana shared information with Bob Stark.

Larry, Sally and Jim review classroom layout plans.