Gateway Center Directors
Executive Director
Robert Freiri
Email: rfreiri@gatewaycenter.org
Robert Freiri is the Executive Director of Gateway Center of Monterey County. Robert is currently a member of Rotary Club of Monterey. Robert has been a nonprofit Executive Director for 23 years including seven years as Habitat for Humanity Executive Director and seven years as the Executive Director of Chamberlain’s Children Center and a Nonprofit Manager for 35 years. His wife of 32 years, Bridget works for the Loma Prieta School District, daughter Christiana is a Special Education Teacher in San Jose, and son Nicholas is attending the University of San Francisco Sports Management Masters Program. Robert is currently a member of Rotary Club of Monterey, Robert was the 90th Hollister Rotary Club President in 2014.
Chair
Jim Landman
Email: jim1348@gmail.com
My brother Paul, has been living and thriving at Gateway Center since 1977. I have been on the Board since 2007. Before me, my parents were very involved from the 1980’s through the mid 2000’s. My current term as Board Chair started in 2019. My background is in managing a small, family coffee business from which I retired several years ago. In addition to spending time on Gateway, I like to visit grandchildren, bike ride, camp, read and work on my pottery skills. Serving on the Board of Gateway Center has been a challenging and deeply rewarding experience.
Jim Landman
Vice Chair
Jeanette Fassler-Walker
Email: jfwalker@ccvna.com
Jeannette Fassler-Walker, RN, CHPN, CHA, ACE
Director of Patient Care Services
Central Coast VNA & Hospice
I am a registered nurse for over 20 years, I am a Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse, Certified Hospice
Administrator, and Certified Advanced Coding Expert.
My career has taken me from traumatic brain and spinal cord injury (and I had the pleasure of traveling
the United States and Canada representing this specialty) to ICU, CCU, trauma to working with
developmentally and cognitively disabled children and adolescents to now hospice care of children and
adults.
My goals and aspirations are to make a difference in our community by serving those who are under-
served including our Latino and our developmentally and cognitively disable citizens.
I would like to be described by others as; professionally; compassionate, passionate, and dedicated.
Personally; fun, crazy, and kind.
Secretary
Rachelle Hill
Treasurer
Leon Heller
Email: leonoid@comcast.net
Father of a 46 year old woman with severe disabilities who attends the Gateway Day Program. Resident of California for almost 40 years including over 35 years in the San Francisco/Monterey Bay Area. Gateway Board member for almost 20 years, and currently the Gateway Treasurer. Currently an IHSS caregiver for my daughter. Retired from NOAA (National Weather Service-Lead Forecaster).
Kristina Olfson
Email: olfson@aol.com
Terry Wecker
Email: tweck@pacbell.net
Terry was born in Carmel, where he still resides, and was raised on the Monterey Peninsula and attended Golden Gate University. He played baseball in high school and at Monterey Peninsula College and was scouted by the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. He served two years in Army Military Police with a tour in Vietnam. He served on the Pacific Grove Police Department and has been involved in the real estate business for over 40 years, and is managing the family real estate business, Custom House Realty & Property Management in Monterey.
Terry has been a member of the Rotary Club of Monterey with perfect attendance since 1983, and served as Club Secretary for 12 years and was very active with the Rotary District 5230 for many years. He has served on the Gateway Center of Monterey County Board of Directors since 2004. His father the late John F. Wecker was the co-founder of Gateway Center, and his brother John Jr. was a consumer for many years at Gateway. I have chaired Gateway Center’s major fundraiser and awareness event, Monterey Rock & Rod Festival since its inception in 2007.
Dave Tanis
Email: davetanis@yahoo.com
Retired from Tech Industry September 2018 after living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area for 33 years. Relocated to Pacific Grove.
Career Highlights
Board Experience – Former member of Tanis Communications board. A firm that provides public relations, marketing communications, brand strategy to high tech companies.
Product Management – Leader of large-scale programs that delivered NetApp’s next generation Enterprise and Entry products. Business analysis, pricing, forecasting and product definition.
System Performance– Leader of teams at HP that generated leading industry benchmark submissions for TPC-C, SPEC SFS, SPC-1 and others for both servers and storage platforms.
Customer Experience – Roadmap development and presentation, future product requirements, market trend information collection, and customer support.
Enterprise Information Technology - Application programming, datacenter infrastructure design and build up, specification and recommendations for datacenter systems, and management of IT personnel.
Brad Barbeau
Email: brad@ascend.us.com
Brad combines experience in both academic and entrepreneurial environments. He has been a university professor, entrepreneur, and advisor to multiple startup companies. He currently teaches in the College of Business at CSU Monterey Bay, is Executive Director of CSUMB's Institute for Innovation and Economic Development and consults to and has operating roles in startup ventures, designing and implementing startup and growth strategies.
Brad is an engaging speaker on entrepreneurship, startup strategies, and building entrepreneurial business strategies. He is skilled in facilitating strategic planning and team development.
Specialties: Entrepreneurship, new ventures, business model development.