The Bellows Institute Founders

Dr. Dieter Steklis, Ph.D., Founder

Dr. Steklis will be responsible for the research, development and evaluation of the academic curriculum and instruction of The Bellows Institute (“Bellows”). Accordingly, he will insure that STEM Practicums bring about student outcomes that prepare our students for creative, productive and responsible participation in our emerging global society and work environment.

Dr. Steklis received his Ph.D. in 1974 from University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on physical anthropology, primatology, and behavioral biology. He joined the faculty of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 1974, and, since 1987, held the rank of Professor in the Department of Anthropology. From 1983 – 1991 he served as chair of his department. He was on leave from Rutgers 1991 – 1993 while serving as Director of the Karisoke Research Center, operated by The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, in Rwanda, Central-East Africa.

In addition to his professorship at Rutgers, Dr. Steklis also served as Executive Director of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Int. (1993-1995), as Vice-President and Chief Scientist for the Fund (1995-2006), and since 2006 as Affiliate Scientist. Since 2004, Dr. Steklis has been affiliated with the University of Arizona as a Visiting Scholar on a Continuing Basis, and he regularly teaches in the Anthropology and Psychology departments.

Dr. Steklis has authored or edited over 70 scientific publications, including four books. For four years he served as the Editor of the scientific journal, American Journal of Primatology, and as Associate Editor for the Journal of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Dr. Orlando Blake, Ph.D., Founder

Dr. Blake will be responsible for the research, development and evaluation of the organizational dynamics curriculum and instruction of Bellows. Accordingly, he will insure that the operations of Development Simulators will bring about student learning outcomes that prepare our students for creative, productive and responsible participation in our emerging global society and work environment.

Orlando’s career has spanned more than twenty years and includes senior management positions at Mercantile National Bank, Warner Bros., Inc. and GUESS? Inc., the multinational apparel manufacturer and retailer. Orlando’s industry experience is uniquely diverse, from printing to food processing, from health care to construction. He is a monthly columnist at the maquilladora-focused Twin Plant News™, covering workplace-learning and performance improvement.
He received his masters from the University of Southern California, with a specialization in applied behavioral sciences. He followed this with a doctorate and breakthrough research at Claremont Graduate University that discovered new and unique techniques to solve interpersonal and organizational disputes. Harvard University has included his research in their study of critical moments in negotiation.

In addition to his successful mediation and organizational consulting practice, he currently serves on the University of California, Riverside Extension Advisory Board, where he teaches mediation, and at Claremont Graduate University, where he teaches in the School of Behavioral and Organizational Science. Orlando is passionate about human development and strives always to ensure that every individual, team and organization he works with is able to achieve its short and long-term goals. As a result of his commitment to human performance improvement, he received the experienced professional designation of Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) from the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). A certified mediator since 1994 and a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution, he is also a member of Society for Human Research Management

Dr. Tracy Baynes, Ph.D., Founder

STEP: Student Expedition Program (www.stepexpedition.org) and The Bellows Foundation are engaged in a collaboration that is designed to further the missions of both organizations. STEP will play a major role in engaging Bellows’ high school-age students in its in-depth leadership training to build persistence and resiliency for a transition to college and as a first step in developing each student’s own inner compass.

Tracy Baynes obtained her doctorate in oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego in 1993. After several years as a researcher at the University of Miami and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dr. Baynes turned her full focus to teaching in 1996. She joined Columbia University’s Biosphere 2 Center to teach in their undergraduate program. She later branched out to teach and develop field courses for Sea Education Association, University of Pittsburgh, Long Island University, University of Montana, Prescott College, Outward Bound, and the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). From 2001 to 2004, Dr. Baynes developed and ran a tall-ship-based ocean semester on the West Coast for Long Island University. SEAmester West sailed from California to the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, and across the Pacific to Hawaii. Students participated as active crewmembers as well as taking on a full load of college courses.

In 2002, Dr. Baynes founded the Student Expedition Program (STEP) to provide in-depth leadership training to low-income college-bound high school students in order to better prepare them for the challenges ahead in college. STEP’s overall goal is to break the chain of generational poverty in the families it works with by equipping students with the internal tools to be successful in college. STEP targets students who are living in poverty have shown academic promise and have exhibited a strong desire to go on to college.

At the core of STEP’s program is a profoundly empowering three-week leadership expedition with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). STEP is partnering with NOLS because it is at the forefront of leadership training nationwide, as evidenced by the fact that a NOLS expedition is now part of astronaut training before going into space. Working in collaboration with NOLS, STEP’s leadership expedition is specifically designed to increase students’ self-confidence, enhance their ability to meet unfamiliar challenges, and widen their view of what’s possible for the future.

Dr. Baynes has worked with students ranging in age from fifteen to eighteen years of age and spanning six ethnicities (Hispanic, Caucasian, American Indian, African American, Asian and Middle Eastern). Through STEP’s Post-Expedition Speakers Program, graduates have given presentations to over 600 students about their STEP experience and the lessons they have learned. The Speakers Program is an excellent recruiting tool that effectively reaches underserved high school students.

Netzin Steklis, M.A., Founder

Netzin Steklis will be responsible for insuring that the global perspective of The Bellows Institute is realized in all of the programs. In addition to the development of mission-appropriate instructional content, her responsibilities will include: (i) establishing working relationships with Arizona junior high and high schools interested in having their students participate in STEM Practicums; and (ii) establishing working relationships with research facilities, centers and industrial work environments, both private and governmental, to participate in STEM Practicums, and (iii) reaching out to Arizona science and math teachers to enroll them in the retreat and revitalization environment offered by New Teacher Academy.

From 1993 to 2006, Netzin served as Director of Scientific Information Resources of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, a non-profit organization dedicated to wild gorilla conservation, habitat protection and research. In that capacity, she developed a comprehensive gorilla demography and life history database and published articles and book chapters pertaining to her research on gorilla demography and life history and the use of remote sensing and spatial analysis technologies for evaluating habitat characteristics and change.

From 2000 to 2005, Netzin also served as the Administrative Director of The Ammonius Institute, managing grants and annual graduate prize programs for research in the field of analytical philosophy. In 2006, she served as the Institute’s Director of Education. Since 2006, she has worked as a Conservation Education Consultant (Wild Minds Inc.) and serves as Affiliate Scientist for The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Intl., continuing her involvement in gorilla research and the development of a biodiversity database and training for Rwanda’s National Parks. She is also an expedition leader for gorilla eco-tourism in Africa, and a frequent consultant on Dian Fossey history projects.

She graduated from the University of Chicago in 1989 with a B.A. in Anthropology and Biology, and in 1995 she received an M.A. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University.

Irma Federico, M.B.A, Founder

Irma Federico will be responsible for the component of the Development Simulator that provides leadership development and team building within the organizational learning curriculum. Irma will oversee the Spanish language immersions provided to the students and teachers who participate in STEM Practicums.

Irma has more than twenty years of culturally diverse experience in facilitation, team building, and leadership development. Her career includes senior executive positions at General Electric and American Express. Her fluency in Spanish and English has aided her in her work as a master facilitator and in the development of unique and innovative bilingual training programs. As an associate for multinational consulting organizations, including Right Management Consultants and Lee Hecht Harrison, she has developed and delivered a full range of bilingual career transition and organizational change programs.

Irma’s perceptiveness and intuition around human behavior continues to be a catalyst for change for many of the world’s leading organizations. She now serves as a key instructor for California State University, Pomona, Extended University. She received her M.B.A. at the University of Phoenix and a B.A. from the University of Arizona. She is a certified legal investigator and a member of SHRM, PIHRA and The American Society for Training and Development.

Annette Brink, M.B.A., Founder

Annette will oversee the work efficiencies of Bellows and control its financial resources, accounting system, and data processing system, as well as its compliance with legal, insurance, and regulatory matters. She will be responsible for insuring that Bellows meets the terms and conditions required by its donor relationships.

Annette has substantial experience in operations management, human resource management, organizational development, revenue/profit management, partnership building and use of technology to link cross-functional teams to achieve mission-critical performance. She has substantial experience in budgeting, compliance and administrative matters. From 1986 to 1998, Annette held a number of positions of increasing responsibility within HSBC (formerly Household International), one of the top ten banking and financial services companies in the United States with assets approaching $300 billion and an international network comprised of over 10,000 offices in eighty-three countries and territories around the world. She was a Director/VP of HFC Credit Risk; Vice President, Chief Credit Officer; Vice President, Director of Operations-HRSI; and Group Vice President—HFC.

Annette holds a bachelors degree in Art History from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters degree in Business Administration from UCLA.

The Bellows Foundation, providing financial and management support:

Stephen Boyle, M.S., M.A.

Steve crossed over to the field of education in 2001 to work on an Ed.D. at Columbia University’s Teachers College. He is currently in the dissertation stage with a focus on research-guided, integrative, practicum-based learning. Since his return from Teachers College to Arizona in 2004, he has worked on a full-time basis in the creation of Bellows.

He left a thirty-five-year work effort in joint venture finance, including fifteen years with Wall Street firms; as Vice President and Treasurer of DLJ Properties Inc., an affiliate of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette; and as the founder and President of Hutton Real Estate Services, the national real estate investment affiliate of EF Hutton & Company. He left Hutton in 1983 to co-found L’Auberge Communities Inc., which acts as the general partner and fiduciary of joint venture partnerships.

He holds a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.S. in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts, and an M.A. from Teachers College at Columbia University. He served as an officer and reconnaissance platoon leader in the United States Marine Corps from 1963 to 1966.