OUR BOARD

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Paul Fischburg

PRESIDENT

Paul and his wife Barbara began kayaking in the San Juan’s several years ago, finally purchasing a home in the Cape San Juan neighborhood in 2023, just a short walk from the community beach. Before that, Paul and Barbara were part of the first urban cohousing community in the Northwest…

Paul and his wife Barbara began kayaking in the San Juan’s several years ago, finally purchasing a home in the Cape San Juan neighborhood in 2023, just a short walk from the community beach. Before that, Paul and Barbara were part of the first urban cohousing community in the Northwest. Paul was the development manager for the community built in 1994. Paul brings to the board a 25-year career in community development during which he founded a non-profit community development organization in West Seattle. Over his 11 years as Executive Director, the group developed $40 million in affordable housing and community facilities including a youth arts and cultural center, a new home for the West Seattle food bank and a neighborhood branch of the Seattle Public Library – all collocated with affordable housing for low-income families. Now retired after his last career as a public high school teacher, Paul is excited to bring his love of community and his experience in the field to the Board of the Home Trust.
Paul served as the Home Trust Board President in 2025, and was elected to step into the Interim Executive Director role, in which he currently serves. Paul will support the hiring and on-boarding of our new Director before stepping back onto the Board.

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Rachel Brooks

VICE PRESIDENT

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Rachel began her career and family in Seattle. As part of the San Juan Island community, Rachel is an officer of the San Juan Island Grange and a parent at Friday Harbor Middle School and High School…

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Rachel began her career and family in Seattle. As part of the San Juan Island community, Rachel is an officer of the San Juan Island Grange and a parent at Friday Harbor Middle School and High School. She was inspired to join the board of the San Juan Island Home Trust by its skilled, driven staff and the critical role its mission plays in the well-being of the island. She currently serves as the Board Chair for the organization.
In addition to several previous board roles, her career spans the non-profit, technology, and social enterprise sectors both in the US and internationally. She began in marketing and communications at Adobe Systems, later taking on roles at Microsoft and LizardTech. Her international experience includes six years in Southern and Eastern Africa, where she worked primarily in rural microfinance and co-founded and led Echo Mobile, a mobile engagement platform acquired by Africa’s Talking, as CEO. Most recently, Rachel served as Executive Director of The Prosperity Agenda, a national non-profit dedicated to advancing human-centered community services.

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Robin Corak

SECRETARY/TREASURER

Home Trust Board member since 2026 - A resident of San Juan Island since August of 2024, Robin Corak has over 25 years of experience working with and for non-profit organizations, with 12 of those years in affordable housing development…

Home Trust Board member since 2026 - A resident of San Juan Island since August of 2024, Robin Corak has over 25 years of experience working with and for non-profit organizations, with 12 of those years in affordable housing development. As the previous CEO of the Multi-Service Center, Mrs. Corak was responsible for rehabilitation and new construction of affordable housing properties for low-income families, seniors, and veterans as well as oversight of roughly 1,000 units of affordable housing throughout South King and Pierce Counties. She is certified in Affordable Housing Finance Development as well as in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity and currently provides coaching and consulting in addition to being a published author.
Mrs. Corak is a former member of the Forbes Non-Profit Council and has won multiple leadership awards including the Advancing Leadership Robert Wroblewski award and the Women Helping Women award through the Federal Way Soroptimists. She currently resides in Friday Harbor with her husband, Richard, and her cat, Kaia.

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Erica Hamlin

Erica Hamlin and her husband, Nason, came to the Island as part time residents in 1991. Erica earned degrees in Biology and Molecular Biology at Smith College (MA) and Wesleyan University (CT). She taught (Biology, Music, Ethics, and English) and was an administrator (Science Department Chair, Dean of the Faculty) at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut for 20 years…

Erica Hamlin and her husband, Nason, came to the Island as part time residents in 1991. Erica earned degrees in Biology and Molecular Biology at Smith College (MA) and Wesleyan University (CT). She taught (Biology, Music, Ethics, and English) and was an administrator (Science Department Chair, Dean of the Faculty) at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut for 20 years. In 2002, Erica and Nason moved West where she took on the position as Head of School at University Prep in Seattle, and Nason as a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UW. After twelve years, they retired and became full-time Island residents in 2014. They have five children and five grandchildren.
Erica has devoted much of her professional career to inculcating within her school communities social justice and equitable access. She feels strongly that proactively sustaining functional diversity is essential to humanity, and that it takes hard work to make it happen. The SJCHT embodies that ethos.
Erica has also had extensive board experience as a trustee across several disciplines, most recently with the Seattle Chamber Music Society and the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools.

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Elliot Burch

PROJECT/STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE CHAIR

I live on San Juan Island, having retired in 2019 from teaching high school biology on the east coast. My wife and I built our own timberframe barn here in 2007 and then embarked on building our own house over a period of seven years. It's done, yea! Building things, whether a house or a boat or a beautiful vegetable garden has always been a part of my lifestyle and I come to the Board with a zillion practical skills to share. I am into my second term, chair the projects committee, and look forward to helping our community establish more affordable housing.

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Bob Anderson

Bob first moved to the San Juan Island in 1977 fresh out of college to work for a Surveying and Engineering firm. He lived on Orcas until the mid-80s when he moved to Seattle. For the next twenty years Bob sailed in the San Juan Island and seasonally moored his sailboat in Friday Harbor…

Bob first moved to the San Juan Island in 1977 fresh out of college to work for a Surveying and Engineering firm. He lived on Orcas until the mid-80s when he moved to Seattle. For the next twenty years Bob sailed in the San Juan Island and seasonally moored his sailboat in Friday Harbor. In 1999 he joined the United Nations Development Program and was assigned to train the National survey staff in Bhutan. For five years Bob trained the Bhutanese surveyors in current digital mapping technology while mapping the 52 urban areas. The mapping was for community housing and infrastructure development. In 2005 he repatriated purchasing the survey company from the individual who originally hired him out of college in 1977 becoming owner of a firm in Friday Harbor. Since 2005 Bob has worked with the San Juan Islands affordable housing community by providing surveying, mapping, and platting on Lopez and San Juan Islands. He has provided surveying support for the development and construction of over a 100 affordable housing units.
Bob currently works with his survey company, manages his “tree farm” on Cady Mountain, and trains his three border collies for trialing. Bob is honored to be appointed to the Home Trust Board and contributing to the solution to provide affordable housing for San Juan Island community.

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Cole Arendt

Cole Arendt is a Home Trust homeowner in the SunRise neighborhood since 2020, where he also is active in the Home Owners Association. A Para-educator working with Special Education at the local public High School and Production Volunteer Manager at the San Juan Community Theatre. Cole moved to the island from Seattle in 2000 right after his daughter was born, and is the proud papa of two children currently in university/grad school, and a couple more ignorant cats. A Canadian by birth, Cole has lived and worked in the U.S. since the 1980's, primarily involved in volunteer coordination with various non-profit organizations. Cole joined the Board in 2023.

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Shauna Barrows

Shauna has been conducting ecosystem restoration and land conservation work in the Islands since 2017, and transitioned into being a full-time resident in 2020. She brings her background in education, community and political organizing, and land conservation with her to join the Home Trust board. As a working class Island renter, Shauna is acutely aware of the need for affordable, living housing on the Island that is balanced with environmental constraints and community concerns. She is currently a member of the Island Verse Literary Collective, a literary non-profit focused on community-building via poetic and cultural engagement, and avidly continues her land stewardship work.

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Jim Goetz

I was born and raised in a small town in central Wisconsin, graduated from Montana State University with a degree in Civil Engineering, and moved to Seattle to begin my career…

I was born and raised in a small town in central Wisconsin, graduated from Montana State University with a degree in Civil Engineering, and moved to Seattle to begin my career. Following a stint in the Army, I returned to Seattle where I spent 37 years with a consulting engineering firm designing and managing major wastewater projects including West Point in the 90’s and Brightwater for King County in the early 2000’s.
My interest in the islands began in the mid-70’s when we acquired a sailboat and would come to the islands on vacation. In the mid-80’s we moved our boat permanently to the Port of Friday Harbor and have had moorage there ever since. Following retirement in 2009, we moved full time to the island where I enjoy boating, fishing, woodworking, and volunteering.
I live in the San Juans because I enjoy island life and the water. I enjoy the people, the culture, and the services. I believe the island offers a unique living experience and provides excellent opportunities to give back. Joining the SJCHT gives me an opportunity to give something back to a community that I thoroughly enjoy.

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Adrian Kilpatrick

Adrian was born and raised on San Juan island and considers the health of the island community and its natural environments to be integral to our overall success and well being…

Adrian was born and raised on San Juan island and considers the health of the island community and its natural environments to be integral to our overall success and well being. Adrian fully realizes that this island is in desperate need of more affordable housing and rental spaces, hence his interest in joining the board of the San Juan Island Home Trust. Adrian is an appointed member to The Climate and Sustainability Advisory Committee, (2022-present) Which is an organization of working professionals and community members from around San Juan County, who, along with help from the county council and local non profit organizations, come up with strategies on how to identify and counteract the potential threats caused by a changing climate.
Adrian is also an appointed member of the Friday Harbor Arts Commission, (2022-present) which is a group of community members that help facilitate and organize the creation of public art in the town of Friday Harbor.

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Darcie Nielson

Born on San Juan Island in the era of mostly farming and fishing with very few tourists, Darcie has seen the island grow and change dramatically over the years…

Born on San Juan Island in the era of mostly farming and fishing with very few tourists, Darcie has seen the island grow and change dramatically over the years. With a public service career starting in community planning, then local elected official, followed by over a decade working overseas managing international development projects, she is well versed in community development and affordable housing issues. As San Juan County Commissioner in 2002, she worked closely with our state elected officials on the local option real estate excise tax (REET) which was passed by the Legislature that year and subsequently passed by local voters in 2018.
Darcie looks forward to retiring on the island and is in the process of developing an owner/builder home site on property that has been in her family since the 1940’s. She says "As islanders, we must continue to be innovative, inclusive, and persistent in developing a variety of affordable housing options in order to sustain the true essence and heart of our community."

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Chris Pope

I came to the island in1974 with Betsy, my new bride, to join my brother Sam and sister-in- law Anne in a building supply business–Pope Building Supply. We sold that in 1990, and undertook a property development in town, remodeling six buildings and adding one, along Nichols and A streets, into what is now known as Nichols Walk. Concerned about the lack of affordable housing and the many challenges that it creates for our island community, I joined the board of the Home Trust in its early days and served 4 years. The Home Trust has come a long way in the years since, and I look forward to rejoining the team to help chart its future.

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Alexis Morrigan

Alexis moved to San Juan Island at the start of 2022 after accepting a research position at a local nonprofit. She is currently a renter in a Home Trust property and is excited to finally make the dream of owning a home a reality in 2026…

Alexis moved to San Juan Island at the start of 2022 after accepting a research position at a local nonprofit. She is currently a renter in a Home Trust property and is excited to finally make the dream of owning a home a reality in 2026! After being priced out of her small apartment, Alexis understands firsthand the challenges facing the working community of San Juan Island, and the burden that comes with unstable housing.
She is dedicated to providing more islanders with the same life-changing opportunities the program provided for her. When not researching marine mammals in the Salish Sea or beachcombing and exploring the island, you can usually find her at one of the many excellent thrift stores in town!