Executive Director

India Downes-Le Guin (she/her) joined Hoffman in late 2022. After receiving her degree in Creative Writing at Pitzer College, India returned to her hometown in Portland, Oregon to work for the publishing company Tin House, where she spent 6 years developing her dedication to West Coast arts as the Assistant Director of Workshops.

India located to the coast full-time in 2020, and enjoyed participating in a number of programs at Hoffman, where she witnessed first-hand the magical place and incredible people who run it. When
the opportunity arose to serve, it was an obvious choice. It is with great excitement and gratitude for our community of residents and visitors that India joins the team.

Fun fact: In her free time India practices becoming mediocre at many hobbies, most recently of which include: knitting, running, printing, and natural dyeing. 

Photos by Trav Williams, Broken Banjo Photography

Board of Directors

The all-volunteer Board of Directors plays a critical role in the day-to-day operation of the Hoffman Center—helping ensure financial stability, good governance, and making certain our volunteers have the tools and processes they need to provide the wide variety of programming we offer. Click on their name to see their entire bio.

Janice Slonecker Berman, President
she/her/hers
Janice Slonecker Berman (Manzanita) recently retired from Nike, Inc. after 23 years, her last position being Sr. Director Product Creation Center (Apparel).  Her “encore” goal is to leverage her professional experience and passion for non-profit and board work, even going so far as to taking a grant writing course in preparation. Janice and her husband […]
Terri Desaro, Vice President
she/her/hers
Terri Desaro (Neahkahnie) grew up in Boise, Idaho and started her professional career in banking. She spent 13 years in the financial advisory industry with two regional stock brokerage firms. With experience in both operations management and securities sales, Terri enjoyed the dynamic world of the financial markets. After leaving the corporate career path and […]
Amy Bell, Secretary
she/her/hers
Amy Bell (Neahkahnie) is retired from working in the public policy arena, first for Washington State government in various leadership positions and then owning a consulting business that helped nonprofit, business and government clients successfully navigate the state and federal legislative process. She and her husband have been visiting Neahkahnie for more than 35 years […]
Jennie Hoff, Treasurer
she/her/hers
Jennie Hoff (Canon Beach) retired after over 30 years of executive leadership in business strategy, operational management, software development, change management, and organizational leadership. Her career includes strategic technology roles at Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and executive leadership roles in mid-size private organizations and six technology startups. Jennie has experience in the alternative lending, […]
Candace Kramer
she/her/hers
Candace Kramer (Manzanita) has a background as a designer for Neil Kelly Remodelers in Portland and for the past 16 yrs she has worked for Windermere Realty Trust as a Broker. As part of the Build Small Live Large Community, she has lectured and assisted her clients on living small and sustainably. In 2006 Candace […]
Dave Holt
he/him/his
Dave Holt (Neahkahnie) has spent all but 4 years of his life living in the Pacific Northwest – primarily Yakima, Seattle, Portland and Manzanita.  Professionally, he has had two fun careers.  The first being the restaurant industry where he owned and managed restaurants in Hawaii (Ray’s Hawaii) and Seattle (1904 and Italia).  His second career, […]
Sarah Johnson
she/her/hers
Sarah Johnson (Neahkahnie) trained to be a high school language arts teacher, but in reality, she spent most of her professional life working in the nonprofit world. She served 22 years as Executive Director of Portland-based Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington. After retirement, she began consulting with other nonprofit organizations in general areas […]
Steve Brier
he/him/his
Steve Brier (Manzanita) has had three careers:  most recently 17 years as Director of Planned Giving at the OSU Foundation and Willamette University; 13 years as an attorney, primarily as a tax lawyer at Stoel Rives in Portland; and 10 years in faculty positions teaching math and statistics.  Steve is most proud of his B.S. […]
Nancy Turner
she/her/hers
Nancy Turner is Managing Director‭ of The Turner Group‭, ‬LLC . ‬She is a Team and Leadership Coach‭ with over 35‭ ‬years experience as a business‭ ‬leader‭.  ‬For 13‭ ‬years‭ she was Nike Global Director‭. ‬She is also a HR leader and developer of teams and talent with business leaders‭. ‬Nancy previously worked at Bank […]
Ben Rosenberg
him/him/his
Ben Rosenberg (Manzanita) is an Adjunct Professor for Clark College in Vancouver, Washington where he teaches art classes on-line. He also teaches Printmaking at Clatsop Community College in Astoria and substitute teaches in the Neah-Kah-Nie School District. Ben received a BFA in Printmaking from Temple University and an MFA in Studio Arts from Portland State […]

Staff & Program Leads

Adria Badagnani

Adria Badagnani 

she/her

Adria Badagnani is a poet and mother who writes custom ceremonies and brings her background in music and live performance to her poetry compositions and public speaking engagements.  After completing her undergraduate studies in Theater and German at Butler University, she moved abroad for graduate studies in multimedia production at the Justus-Liebig Universität in Germany where she wrote and collaborated on site-specific pieces performed in England, Germany, Italy, and at the European Theatre Festival.

She brings professional experience in university administration, live performance direction, and production design and coordination for film & television.
She lives in Neahkahnie with her partner, Dan, daughter, Violet, and senior Pomeranian, “Grandpa Mack.”

Fun fact:  She performed at the Kennedy Center and toured Ireland with an ensemble of plays by Samuel Beckett and is certain she saw the ghost of W.B. Yeats while journaling in Coole Park, County Galway.  Paper is her favorite medium.

 

Kestrle 
Rayfield-Foote

Kestrle has been a part of the Hoffman team since December of 2023, and has recently taken on the role of Program Lead for the Visual Arts program. Kestrle is also the office and administrative assistant. Kestrle returned to the Oregon coast in 2022, after receiving a degree in Interaction Design from the Glasgow School of Art, and has since worked to find a home in the coastal creative community. As an attendee of Hoffman workshops, and a lover of all mediums, Kestrle is delighted to be working with The Hoffman Center for the Arts to develop its visual arts programming.

Fun fact: Kestrle is a botany enthusiast and natural dyer and can often be found tripping over tree roots at Elk Flats Trail or near the top of Neahkahnie mountain excitedly photographing lichen.