Board of Directors

Jim Bissell has been a member of the Bear Valley Water District Board of Directors for over 18 years and served with original founding Board members Bruce Orvis and David Ritchie. He is a retired civil engineer with over 40 years of experience, most recently serving as construction manager in charge of all utilities for the $2 billion, 10-mile/2-station extension of BART to San Jose. Past experience includes duties as District Engineer for a bay area wastewater district where he was in charge of all engineering for a 20 million gallon per day wastewater plant, 15 pump stations and over 300 miles of pipeline collection system.

Jim's family built one of the original cabins in the new subdivision, back in 1966 and has witnessed the ebbs and flows of the Bear Valley Community over the past 50+ years.

Diane is a retired civil engineer who holds Professional Engineering licenses in California and six other states. Her primary area of practice was in environmental issues, helping clients navigate technical and regulatory requirements with the Regional Water Quality Control Board and other government agencies. She owned and operated an environmental consulting business for 14 years and subsequently became a Principal and Director for an international engineering and consulting firm. She retired in 2019 after over 30 years in the industry.

Diane and her wife Noël began visiting Bear Valley regularly in 1997 and have been homeowners since 2000. While maintaining a residence in Oakland, they consider Bear Valley to be “home,” and cherish the beauty, range of activities, and true sense of community among its full and part-time residents that make Bear Valley a special place.

John Boyle has a strong background in both business and non-profits/public service. His business experience includes both operations and finance, with over 15 years of experience in high-tech management and operational roles in companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies. He also has over 10 years of venture capital investing in partner and associate roles at multiple firms. Most recently, John served as the Director of the Purdue West Coast Partnership Center, based in Mountain View, CA.

Previously, John served a four year term as an elected City Councilman for the City of Menlo Park (2006-2010) including roles as the Vice Mayor and service on multiple finance and business development committees for various agencies. John has also previously served in board positions with San Mateo County based Samaritan House (Executive Committee, Finance Committee, and Treasurer), the San Mateo County Housing Endowment and Regional Trust non-profit, several school foundations, and other public sector boards and agencies.

John holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University, and an MBA degree from Stanford University.

According to John, he asked to be considered for the BVWD board because, “… As a homeowner in BV for nearly 20 years, my wife and kids and I really appreciate the community and want to help ensure that we protect it AND ensure its continued vibrancy and viability. The BVWD provides a critical infrastructure system for both existing and potential future residents and businesses.”

Ken's family has owned a house in Bear Valley for the last 57 years. Along with his wife and their kids, Ken has fond memories of his entire family learning to ski here and many memorable times in this community. More recently, Ken's children have finished college, are now leading their own productive lives and he and his wife have found themselves spending more time in Bear Valley. Ken determined that it was time to give back to this community that has given so much to his family.

Ken's primary emphasis is in Real Estate Finance and Construction. Ken has owned a Real Estate Development Company for the last 28 years. Ken has built and manages apartments in the Central Valley. He has served on the Board of Directors for Stockton Building Association, multiple owner's associations, a private Country Club and has served as President on each of these Boards.

Ken holds a bachelor's degree in Business and Real Estate Finance from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, a General Contractor's License and a Real Estate Broker's License.

Gunnar has a strong background in the private sector with a focus on water treatment technology and lends his unique industry perspective and experience to the District's management team. Gunnar was educated at the University of California, Davis with a focus in Economics.

In 1988 Gunnar co-founded Chemical Services Company with his partner Brent Simmons to provide alternative disinfection technology as a response to the toxic gas ordinance being adopted. Soon thereafter in 1988, Gunnar and Brent co-founded ClorTec® building the company from a small operation to a dominant On-site Sodium Hypochlorite Generator (OSHG) manufacturer. Under Gunnar and Brent's management and ownership, over 3,000 onsite sodium hypochlorite generation systems (OSHG) were developed, marketed, manufactured, installed and serviced.

ClorTec® was acquired by Severn Trent Services (STS) in November, 1999. Gunnar took over as Vice-President of the Water Purification Division of Severn Trent Services. Brent and Gunnar continued to work for STS until March, 2003.

In 2003 Gunnar then co-founded Process Solutions Inc. (PSI), a service company providing disinfection solutions and began development of the Microclor® technology, the next generation On-site Sodium Hypochlorite Generation Technology. Shortly after defining the new generation of OSHG, the Tank Shark® tank mixing system was developed to effectively mix and properly dose hypochlorite into water storage vessels. After the initial Tank Shark® mixing model in 2007, the simple mixer has evolved capabilities into a full-blown disinfectant residual management system — the Monoclor™ chloramine management system.

PSI now retains on a full-time basis nine individuals who jointly possess over 300 years of combined experience selling, designing, manufacturing, installing, and servicing similar onsite hypochlorite generation equipment and tank management equipment. With PSI systems across North America, the Pacific Rim, and Latin America, the team has been able to adapt to a wide variety of customer needs and preferences.

In his free time Gunnar is a private pilot and enjoys snow skiing, snowmobiling, boating and 4 X 4 rock crawling.