Executive Director

Kevin Sylvester

Originally from Connecticut, Kevin led recreation and conservation programs throughout the U.S. When he moved to Montana over a decade ago, he became a ski volunteer at Eagle Mount Billings, and pursued his passion for helping nonprofits to thrive. He has served as Program Manager at Montana Conservation Corps and Executive Director of Family Promise of Gallatin Valley. Kevin holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut and a MA in Public Administration from MSU. He enjoys all kinds of outdoor recreation with his wife Carolynn.

Senior Director of Programs

Shannon Stober

Shannon’s career in the nonprofit sector began with the completion of two terms of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA, followed by senior management positions with the Montana Campus Compact, the Montana Conservation Corps, and the Montana Governor’s Office of Community Service. She is an accomplished consultant and highly regarded speaker, trainer, and program strategist. A native of Colorado, Shannon graduated from Fort Lewis College with a degree in Sociology and Communication. She is passionate about community, leadership, and play, and enjoys playing spending time with her husband, Joe, and their pack of pets.

Director of Operations

Trevor Olson

Born and raised in Bozeman, Trevor learned about Eagle Mount while obtaining his degrees in Physics and Mathematics at Montana State University. After college, Trevor spent several years fixing wind turbines by rappelling off of them and spending his winters as an adaptive snow sports assistant for Eagle Mount. During that time he obtained his Level 1 Alpine and Level 2 Adaptive PSIA certifications, and helped lead the Eagle Mount Bridger and Big Sky programs. The love of Eagle Mount kept pulling at Trevor and in the winter of 2020 he accepted the position of Director of Operations. In his free time, Trevor enjoys spending time with his wife and two children, and spending time in the outdoors, be it rock climbing, skiing, camping, or any of the other plethora of outdoor opportunities that we get to enjoy by living in the treasure state.

Associate Director of Development

Anna Smoot

After growing up in Colorado, Anna earned BAs in English and Secondary Education from the University of Wyoming in 2006 and completed her Certified Fundraising Executive, CFRE, in 2017. Anna has spent her career raising support for causes from education to mental health and substance abuse, spending eight years in healthcare philanthropy at UCHealth in northern Colorado and Bozeman Health Foundation prior to joining the Eagle Mount team. Anna, her husband Doug, and their two young sons live in south Bozeman with their energetic lab mix, Ginger, and spend their free time hiking, skiing, camping, grilling in the back yard, gardening, and enjoying all that Montana has to offer.

Associate Director of Development

Stephanie Uter

Born and raised in Athens, Georgia, Stephanie moved to Bozeman in 2012 with her husband Daniel and dog Tabasco. Before moving to Bozeman, Stephanie spent five years doing political fundraising. Before joining the Eagle Mount team in 2016, Stephanie worked at HeyDay as a sales associate and the Museum of the Rockies as the Membership and Special Programs Manager. Stephanie is a graduate of Leadership Bozeman, Leadership Montana and currently serves as a member of the One Valley Community Foundation Give Big Committee.

Associate Director of Finance

Pearl Nixon

Eagle Mount has been a part of Pearl’s life since she started volunteering with the Horsemanship Program as a teenager, where she discovered that helping others enjoy something you love is truly rewarding. However, her passion for supporting friends and neighbors with disabilities started when she was lucky enough to have inclusive classrooms in the Bozeman schools. Pearl joined the staff in 2013, and has a special place in her heart for activities that offer adults with developmental disabilities lifelong recreation.

Adaptive Horsemanship Director

Maggee Harrison

Maggee was an active horse 4-H member while growing up in Connecticut. She earned BA and MA degrees in Animal Science, and did post graduate work in Special Education. She is the past-president of the Bozeman Area Special Education PTA, which she helped establish in 2004. Maggee is also a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International Credentialed Therapeutic Riding Instructor, and serves as the PATH Region 9 Representative. A PATH Mentor, Site Visitor and Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning.

Adaptive Horsemanship Volunteer Coordinator

Claire Brunner

Claire, a Midwesterner, moved to Livingston, MT with her husband in 2013. Being a PATH International Certified Horsemanship Instructor, she was immediately welcomed by Eagle Mount and started as a volunteer instructor. In 2019 her dream job was realized and she became a full time staff member. She loves making Adaptive riding fun and spending time with her favorite horse, Wilbur.

Adaptive Horsemanship Barn Manager

Joanna Rodgers-Liston

Joanna grew up in central Connecticut but quickly fell in love with the mountains after moving to Montana for college in 2011. While gaining a BS in Animal Science with an equine emphasis at MSU, Joanna was a part of the IHSA team and horse driving club, in addition to volunteering and interning at Eagle Mount in the adaptive horsemanship program. After graduating, Joanna gained valuable horse experience at various barns in the valley before returning to Eaglemount to join the horsemanship staff in November 2019. She is currently on track to be a PATH instructor and enjoys spending time with her cats, llamas, and her own retired eaglemount horse, Harley.

Adaptive Aquatics Director

Jen Wendel

Jen’s journey to aquatics began when her grandfather taught her how to swim during summer visits during her childhood. She continued the journey by joining her high school swim team in Salt Lake City and, two kids and a lifetime later, she began coaching high school swim teams in Portland, Oregon. Jen and her husband settled in Bozeman just a few years ago where she coached for the Barracudas Swim Team and worked as a para in special education at the high school before joining Eagle Mount. She has a degree in Therapeutic Recreation and feels most at home in the water. When she’s not in the water, Jen enjoys everything except vegetables, traffic, and natural disasters. She is passionate about finding greatness in others and providing a safe and healthy aquatic experience for everyone at Eagle Mount.

Adaptive Aquatics Assistant Director

Amalia Csaplar

Originally from Kalispell, Montana, Amalia found herself in Bozeman at the beginning of her junior year of college. She had left the state to pursue a bachelor’s degree from Gonzaga University, however, the lack of outdoor activities around Spokane sent her running back to the Mountains. In her final semester at MSU, Amalia interned for the Adaptive Aquatics Program and absolutely fell in love with everything about it. After graduating from MSU in the spring of 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science, Amalia applied for the Assistant Aquatics Director position at Eagle Mount and started working full time in January 2021. In her free time, Amalia loves to swim, hike, camp, ski, and enjoy time with her friends.

Young at Heart Aquatics Instructor

Pat Whitlock

Pat Whitlock was born in Montana, grew up in the midwest, and received degrees in Phys. Ed in Iowa and later a Masters in Health and Human Development here at MSU. Pat was teaching at MSU when she fortuitously met Greta Mathis in a water aerobics class in Romney Pool. Her relationship with Greta and Bob Mathis, Eagle Mount founders, developed into a 25+ year friendship. When the Bob and Greta traveled during their retirement from military service, Pat would regularly dog sit for Tuffy and Trooper. Eagle Mount’s early aquatics programming rotated locations across Bozeman, including hotel pools and even the Mathis’ pool at their home. As Eagle Mount’s aquatics programming developed, Greta brought her friend Pat along. Pat still jokes that Greta wanted the Barnard Pool for Pat to share her talents and loving approach with our many participants. Pat served as the Aquatics Program Director until semi-retiring in 2014. Now, 30 years after diving in with Eagle Mount, Pat still teaches Young at Heart water aerobics five days a week.

Adaptive Recreation Director

Patrick Quinn

Patrick was introduced to adaptive recreation in 2004 as a volunteer for a snow sports program in Massachusetts. Since then, he has worked as a summer camp recreation director, river guide, challenge course manager, ski instructor, and snow sports supervisor. Eagle Mount became a large part of his life as a volunteer for the Adaptive Snow Sports, Adventure Days, and Family Support programs. In his current title as CEO “Chief Enthusiasm Officer”, Patrick hopes to create recreation opportunities that empower, educate, and support the Bozeman Community.

Adaptive Recreation Coordinator

Kelly Krueger

Kelly, originally from southern Minnesota, fell in love with the mountains as a little girl when her family would come camping in Yellowstone National Park. She moved to Bozeman in 2002 and began volunteering with Eagle Mount in 2008. Prior to her work with Eagle Mount, she served as a youth and children’s minister in a local church. She has a BA in Biblical and Theological studies and Master of Divinity degree from Bethel University, St. Paul MN. During her free time she enjoys skiing, hiking, biking, fishing, backpacking, hunting, reading, baking and traveling the world with her friends and family! When she does get her dream dog, a Golden Retriever, she will name it Oaken!

Adaptive Recreation Coordinator

Colleen Smith

Colleen is a licensed Occupational Therapist whose heart is in community-based programming and outdoor recreation. Before joining Eagle Mount, Colleen spent her time balancing her educational pursuits and her love of adventure. Her excursions include cross-country road trips, long distance backpacking, bike touring, and spending time hiking and organic farming in the mountains of Argentina. Colleen has volunteered and worked in several adaptive sports programs and camps across the US, serving a wide variety of participants, which has prepared her for her journey with Eagle Mount. Colleen is excited to be in a position to create year-round opportunities for people to have access to the outdoors and enjoy the place she loves the most, Montana.

Big Sky Program Director

Sarah Wolf

After growing up in Washington, where skiing was an integral part of her life, Sarah traveled across the African, Asian, European, and South American continents. There, she honed her skills as an expedition guide, wilderness EMT, diesel mechanic, dive instructor, explorer, leader, and survivor. She has a BA in Communications and Business. Sarah was an Eagle Mount volunteer for five years and also served as our Assistant Director for three. She’s passionate about helping people of all ages, abilities, and temperaments navigate unique challenges and fun adventures.

Adaptive Snowsports Assistant

Corbin Merchant

Corbin was born and raised in Great Falls, Montana and moved to Bozeman in 2017 to attend MSU and obtain his degree in Cell Biology and Neuroscience. He was introduced to Eagle Mount in 2014 at a small local hill called Showdown where he first learned to ski 18 years ago. During winter, he spends his free time at the mountain skiing, and as things warm up for spring and summer, he enjoys fishing, hiking with his dogs, and lake days with his friends and family!

Adaptive Recreation Coordinator

Megan Shaver

As a lover of snow angels and snow cones, Megan has found the best of all seasons at Eagle Mount. Born and raised in Northwestern Montana, she grew up with a passion for the slow outdoor sports, including cross country skiing, canoeing, and hiking. In the fall of 2017, she began her time at Eagle Mount in the Cross-Country Ski and Snowshoe program. Years later, she spread her talents across a variety of programming, including the All-Abilities Aquatics program and the Big Sky Kids Oncology camps. After a brief stint in Colorado and Vermont, she settled in Bozeman and graduated from Montana State University with a bachelor’s of science in Sociology. In her free time, she enjoys cooking tacos with her husband Ben, and going running with her eclectic dog, Chili Pupper. Eagle Mount is an incredible coalition of recreation enthusiasts, and Megan feels lucky to be a part of an inclusive and accessible community.

Family Engagement Director

Maggie Lowry

Maggie has been with Eagle Mount since 2013, first as Assistant Aquatic Director and then hosting Saturday Night Out, Kids’ Night Out and Sibling Night Out, and founded the Parent Support Group with SEPTA in 2015. Maggie has enjoyed growing the family support offerings into a full-fledged program, and feels the future holds endless opportunities! In her free time, Maggie is an artist creating sculptural paintings, enjoys spending time with her husband and dog, and is an enthusiastic cyclist.

Big Sky Kids Director

Lauren Grover

Lauren’s passion for camp started when she was 17 as a camp counselor, when she realized you can have a career in “playing outside.” She grew up in Wisconsin, where she obtained a BS in Kinesiology & Health Promotion. During this time, she founded her campus’ Dance Marathon program and completed her first summer with Eagle Mount as the Big Sky Kids Intern. Following this, she traveled and pursued her studies abroad, finishing a MSc in Counselling & Psychotherapy in the United Kingdom. She made the move to Bozeman and started as Big Sky Kids Director in 2021. In her free time, she loves to make music, craft, get outside, and play with her dog, Juniper.

Adaptive Horticulture Coordinator

Lisa Hughes

Lisa moved to Montana in 1995 to work in Glacier National Park for the summer, settling in Bozeman later that year, and has remained ever since. She has over 20 years of horticulture experience and has worked in California, Maine, and Montana in retail nurseries, as a private gardener, and in landscaping and garden design. In addition, Lisa is a Certified Horticultural Therapist who is truly passionate about people and plant connections and the benefits gardening has on our physical, social, emotional, and psychological selves.

Lisa started at Eagle Mount as a volunteer for the Horticulture Program. She joined the staff as the Horticulture Program Coordinator in 2020, and is grateful to work with such compassionate, caring people.

Lisa enjoys time with her daughters, hiking to seek out wildflowers on local trails, Bozeman Film Society movies at The Ellen, reading, meeting new people, the month of June, anything to do with flowers, plants, gardening, and lots of laughter with amazing friends.

Administrative Assistant

Andrew Flakker

Andrew is a native of Glendive Montana and attended several universities throughout state before coming to work at Eagle Mount in January of 2020. As a child Andrew was treated by the Shriners Hospital for Children in Minneapolis Minnesota. He is overjoyed to add his experience of disability self-advocacy and disability community support to Eagle Mount’s already decades long commitment to adaptive recreation.