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Executive Management
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An
Introduction to the CLI Management Team The Executive
Management Council (EMC), which runs the Collectible Llamas, Inc.
organization, is in itself a “collection.”
Each EMC member was chosen for their particular talents and
experience. Each was chosen because they have the drive and dedication to
move the organization quickly toward its end goal: To enhance the
long-term viability and profitability of the llama industry. Further, each EMC member has made a significant
financial investment toward achieving our end goal and is committed to
continue their investment into the years ahead.
The most fundamental ingredient for the success of any
organization – and certainly for Collectible Llamas, Inc. - is the
management team. The pages that follow will
introduce each EMC team member and give a synopsis of their talents and
skills. We hope that you
will take the time to read about our team.
We are
proud of our team and look forward to helping all who own llamas by
enhancing the long-term viability and profitability of the llama
industry! An
Alabama native, Dale Peterson and his wife, Kathy, live in Birmingham.
They have one daughter and two grandsons. After
high school Dale joined the Marine Corps and served two tours
during the Vietnam Conflict.
Upon returning home, he became a motorcycle patrolman with the
Birmingham Police Department and entered college.
Dale earned his BS in Sociology at The University of Alabama and
a Masters Degree in Psychology. Dale’s
desire to shape his own destiny has led him down many successful paths
over the course of several decades.
After working in the industrial laundry business in both sales
and management positions, Dale began his first start-up business. He obtained a lengthy contract from a national company to be
the first company in Alabama to pre-wash jeans.
After several years, Dale sold this successful company. Next,
Dale negotiated a contract with the Alabama Department of Mental Health
to build and operate Medical Laundry Services, the largest commercial
laundry in the South. This
facility processed laundry for a single customer, The State of Alabama. A few years later, Dale sold the company. He
then approached the military services with the idea of replacing pay
telephones with telephone centers.
Eventually Dale's company had 33 military bases around the
country under contract. After several years, Dale sold his company to a
competitor. While
all of these business ventures were going on, Dale and Kathy became
interested in llamas. They
visited many farms, attended several ILA conferences,
Hartman's sales and the first Celebrity. Dale and Kathy were among the first members of ALSA.
They were llama judges before they bought their first llama.
They finally bought their first llama (a Fiduciary son) in 1990,
and he remains with them today in his own pasture at the front of their
home. Over time, their herd
grew to almost 60. When
Kathy retired in 1995, she and Dale started what would become a dominant
regional chain of full service pet stores.
Dale threw himself into his work at Pets America for the next
several years, leaving little room for anything else.
In 2003, Dale and Kathy sold their chain of pet stores and
revived their relationships with the llama community.
The severe drop that had occurred in llama prices over the last
several years was showing no signs of rebounding.
They got recertified as ALSA judges.
Dale was elected to the board of directors of the Llama Futurity
Association. Although
much of the experience was unpleasant, Dale gained a great deal of
insight before resigning from that board. Dale has always believed that, if the llama community in general does well and prospers, so will he and Kathy. That is why he and the members of the Executive Management Council (EMC) have established Collectible Llamas, Inc. Dale, along with the other members will devote considerable time, energy, money and will do what ever it takes to return the llama industry to a fun, enjoyable and profitable community. As Dale says, “This venture is no different than turning around a failing company. Some will be unhappy that change is under way; however, when the change occurs and the profitability and value of llamas return, everyone will be there to take part in the success. And, that is OK.” Kathy
Peterson, a native of Georgia, brings many talents to the Collectible
Llamas, Inc. organization. She
holds undergraduate degrees in Business and in Marketing from the
University of Alabama and a Masters degree in Public and Private
Management from Birmingham Southern College. Kathy
was employed by BellSouth Telecommunications for almost 30 years, where
she held management positions in many different organizations, including
president of an unregulated startup company.
Following her retirement from BellSouth in 1995, she and her
husband, Dale, spent the next eight years building a chain of retail pet
stores. Following the sale
of the pet stores in 2003, Kathy and Dale retired for the second time. During
her affiliation with the llama industry, which began in 1986, Kathy has
belonged to various boards, including ALSA and the ILA.
She has several years of experience as an ALSA judge.
She and Dale have owned llamas since 1990.
During the past couple of years, they have rekindled their
involvement in the llama industry and have begun once again to enjoy
breeding and showing their llamas, while getting reacquainted with old
friends and meeting new ones. Kathy
has noticed a few significant changes between the llama industry of
today and that of times past. First,
the entire market is highly depressed, with low prices and low demand.
Second, many “staple” breeders and owners have left the
industry. Third, most llama
owners no longer have a happy outlook about the industry in general.
Happy faces have been replaced with scowls and petty gripes about
any and everything. There’s
a great deal of bickering and end-fighting. Kathy
believes that it is time for the industry to reinvent itself and to put
the fun, excitement and profit back into the mix.
She looks forward to using her planning, organizing, marketing
and communications skills to support the goals of Collectible Llamas,
Inc. Both she and Dale are committed to helping the llama industry
return to the fun, exciting and financially rewarding industry that it
was in years past. Kathy
and Dale live in Birmingham, Alabama.
They are the proud parents of a wonderful daughter, who is the
mother of their two handsome grandsons. Mary
Reed is no stranger to the Camelid industry.
A Denison University grad, Mary first learned about llamas in an
alumnae newsletter that featured graduate Dick Patterson. That inspired her search to find llamas a little closer to
home than Sisters, Oregon and her introduction to llamas and alpacas
through Anthony Stachowski, DVM. Mary
purchased llamas in 1990 and alpacas a year later. She became active in the show association ALSA, serving as
chair of the budget and finance committee and then as a Director for six
years from 1993 through 1999. She
served on the ALSA Judges committee from 2000 through 2002.
Under Mary’s tenure as Treasurer of ALSA, the organization grew
from a deficit net worth to assets exceeding $100,000, all without an
increase in fees. Under her
Presidency, the first Grand National was held, at least one year ahead
of schedule due to the success of the ALSA Regional show network.
Mary was instrumental in establishing the ALSA llama fiber
competition and judging programs. Mary
served as a level III Alpaca Judge and Judges Instructor,
instructing/hosting four successful Alpaca Judging Clinics at Alpaca
Jack’s Suri Alpacas and Stachowski Alpacas.
Mary chaired the ALSA Alpaca committee from 1995 through 2002.
She managed the ALSA Buckeye Regional Show from 2000 through
2002. Mary
has been recognized as one of the premier judges of Suri Alpacas in the
United States, and she judged the Suri Division at the 2002 AOBA
National Show. She has
enjoyed judging llama futurity shows and the opportunity to lend her
expertise and knowledge of camelid fiber to the llama industry.
From
1995 through 1998 Mary served on the board of Fiberfest Limited, the
largest festival and educational program in the United States for
natural fibers and the animals that produce them. In
1998 Mary was asked to serve on the founding board of the Alpaca Fiber
Cooperative of North America. She
was elected to the first board of directors later that year.
Under her guidance as Treasurer, the organization was able to
grow its business and manage its financial resources.
In 1999 Mary was elected to the board of directors of the Alpaca
Registry, Inc. Mary served as President of ARI in 2000-2001 and refocused
the organization to sustain profitability and independence in the Alpaca
industry. Mary divides her time between the Camelid industry and her “day job” as a financial executive in broadcasting. Mary earned an MBA from John Carroll University. Her 10 year career in banking included Corporate Lending positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Ameritrust and Citicorp. She joined Scripps Howard in 1982, first as financial manager of the Broadcasting division and currently as controller of television station WEWS in Cleveland, Ohio. |
Donley and Dolores Gardner purchased their first llama, a male, in 1986 as a source of fiber for Dolores to spin and weave. At the time they were also raising Angora rabbits and Pygora goats as other fiber sources. Before the young male was brought home, Donley purchased a nine-month-old female. She remains in the Gardner herd today. Dolores promised her two years ago if she would have a female, she would retire her from breeding. She now lives in the front pasture with the mothers-to-be and the new babies; she teaches all the new mothers how to be good llama mamas. She produced babies that won in the ring if they were shown. One of these became a halter champion by age 13 months and is also a performance champion. The Gardners did not buy their first female to produce nice, correct llamas; in 1986 they didn’t know the difference. By 1988 they had learned a little about llamas. Dolores read everything she could find and Donley talked to everyone he knew who had llamas. They realized that the young male they had bought in 1986 was not herd sire quality. They bought an outside breeding and their llama business began as Diamond Oaks Llamas. Because Donley had been around dog shows, he was adamant about not entering any llama shows. In 1994, Dolores convinced him they had two llamas worthy of showing. By then they had attended several shows and he had decided that perhaps politics did not play as big a part in the llama industry as it did in the dog world. They went to their first show and one of their boys was first in his class and grand champion. Their other boy stood second behind his half sibling. Donley was hooked! During the first six years the Gardners had llamas, there was no veterinarian in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who would take care of the llamas. Dolores and a good friend, a human doctor who also had llamas, developed a feeding program and a general care program. A veterinarian in Mansfield, Texas, provided them with medicines and advice only. One day the doctor and Dolores, a nurse, decided the books had to be wrong about not being able to hear fetal heart sounds in llamas. After all, they had both been listening to fetal heart sounds in humans collectively for 50 years! How hard could it be? After six hours, they decided maybe the books were right. For ten years the Gardners breeding program produced only one female. All other births were male. So much for beginners’ luck! They did acquire a few females along the way though. In 1996 it was apparent they had outgrown their place. They had designed and built a house and were somewhat reluctant to leave it, but a decision had to be made. Sell the house or sell half the llamas? They made the decision to sell the house. After looking for homes and property in New Mexico and Colorado, Donley convinced Dolores they needed to be in East Texas near her parents, who were getting older. The search was on for a farm. Dolores would design another house. Donley would design the llama barn. Dolores’s mother convinced them to look at a home and property in Daingerfield, in the Northeast part of Texas. It had 25 acres and a six-acre spring fed pond and a house, which needed complete remodeling. After working for several months on new fences, repairing an existing barn, building another barn and remodeling the house, the Gardners moved in the week before Thanksgiving in 1997. Their llama herd continued to grow and in 1998 when asked by a friend about the goals of their breeding program, Dolores answered, “We want structurally sound, conformationally correct llamas and more champions and ROM’s than any other breeder. In 2001 they achieved this goal and walked away from the Grand National Show with the Grand Champion Light Wool Female and three others placing in the top ten in their classes. Donley hugged Dolores so hard he cracked three of her ribs! During the celebratory dinner they recounted all the fun they had had in the llama business and planned for future success. In their non-llama lives Donley owned and operated a business to provide physicians to hospital emergency rooms. He also consulted for health care businesses in administrative matters. He graduated from the University of Texas and earned a Masters Degree in Hospital Administration from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Dolores has a nursing degree and a management degree from Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, Texas. She currently is a legal nurse consultant for a law firm, which has offices in Daingerfield, Texas, Shreveport, Louisiana, Texarkana, Texas, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Saltillo, Mexico. She is enrolled in law school. She and an attorney co-author have completed a medical-legal mystery novel and are re-editing. Their agent tells them it will sell. The Gardners have been active in the llama community. Donley was a Level III performance judge and Dolores a Level III judge. They enjoyed judging together. Donley was chairman of the performance committee for ALSA and had an active youth group. Two of his “kids” received scholarships for a total of $10,000. Dolores served as president of the South Central Llama Association and on the education committee for ALSA. They often took llamas to schools and nursing homes. On October 11, 2003, Donley unexpectedly passed to another life. Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in April 2003, his chemotherapy had arrested his disease. However, the second to last treatment caused him to develop lung complications that could not be effectively treated. Dolores had to make some tough decisions. Stay in the llama business? Get out? Cut down? The herd was between seventy and eighty llamas. She knew she couldn’t take care of that many llamas by herself. She did have some help during the week, but felt she needed fewer so she could give each llama the individual care it needed. She sold llamas and today her herd consists of about thirty llamas. Along the way, she made some more decisions. Since she had decided to stay in the llama business and wanted to be profitable, she added a few suri llamas to her herd, as they seemed to be selling for higher prices. Then, she started looking at all the llama organizations. Did any one of them have a marketing program that could reach potential new owners and present owners? The answer was a resounding “NO!” Each organization had bits and pieces of a marketing program but most seemed geared to other llama owners. She saw the first ad in the Llama Banner for the Collectible Llamas, Inc. and read it with interest. She began to think perhaps this organization had some specific goals for marketing and sales. She made numerous phone calls to people she trusted, including one of the members of the CLI. She joined. Believing that she had talent and time to offer CLI, Dolores inquired about becoming a member of the Executive Management Council, the management team for CLI. She is delighted that she was accepted. Dolores is excited to be a part of an organization that is working toward a breed standard with those standards in writing. She sees the potential in a national advertising campaign and her vision for the future of the llama industry is focused on positive results for all llama breeders. Anthony Stachowski, himself a Canadian import, earned his DVM from Ohio State University in 1978. Upon graduation, he started a large-animal mobile practice that grew to a three man operation, specializing in equine and camelid reproduction in addition to general preventative medicine. During this time he also worked with a leading Mid-West feed mill to formulate specialized llama feed to balance forage with necessary nutrients needed for healthy animals and fiber. The equine practice was sold in 2000 and today Anthony limits his practice to drive-in camelid care. Anthony received his first llama, Victor Supreme, in 1974 as payment for transporting Arabian horses for Dick Patterson. For the next 10 years Anthony collected and bred llamas, increasing his herd to over 30. In 1984 he attended the Hunt/Catskill Game Farm sale of llamas and alpacas (the first imported from Chile in 50 years), to purchase llamas. Anthony went to the sale to buy llamas, but the range of hybridization and diversity of phenotype, color patterns and sizes in the group was a concern. By comparison, the homogenous appearance of the alpacas gave Anthony the confidence to invest in this "new" species of camelid. He purchased approximately 1/3 of the alpacas and became the first "large" alpaca breeder in the US. Anthony was instrumental with the development of AOBA and ARI. He served as Chairman of the Alpaca Registry Screening Committee from 1991-1994. In 1991 he organized his first importation of alpacas from Chile to Australia. Together with his Australian business partners, he maintained a herd of alpacas and Boer goats near Melbourne until 1998. In 1993 he became marketing agent for the first Peruvian importation of llamas and alpacas. He became a partner in the 1995 Peruvian importation, and completed four more importations until the close of the registry in 1998. During this time he spent months each year in Peru evaluating, screening and selecting llamas and alpacas for future import to the US. In addition he has exported animals from the US to Canada, Australia, England and Europe. Stachowski Alpacas hosted the first ALSA alpaca judge's training clinic in 1990. Two additional clinics were hosted in 1994 and 2000. A Senior Alpaca Judge, Anthony has judged livestock both in the US and overseas for close to 40 years. Perhaps the youngest certified large 'R' AHSA judge in Ohio, Anthony judged national horse shows at 21 years of age. Anthony enjoys teaching others how to evaluate livestock. He is a well-respected speaker on conformation (Form to Function) at the AOBA National conferences, regional shows and overseas. Anthony presently serves as a Director on the AOBA board. Having sold thousands of camelids through creative marketing techniques, he is recognized for organizing highly successful on-farm auctions and Internet sales. Anthony looks forward to sharing his knowledge and marketing expertise with the Collectible Llama community!
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