Board Members
Board Member Biographies
Stephanie Yost, President
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After Stephanie Yost received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications Studies from UCLA, she began her career as a producer of live shows, records, and television commercials. During this time, Stephanie and her then-husband lived from 1987-1990 in Pine Cove, where their daughter was born. Leaving the Hill, she switched directions to attend Southwestern University School of Law, receiving her Juris Doctor in 1994, and thereafter clerked on the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. She began her law career as a media litigator at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, then became an IP/new media lawyer at Troy & Gould. In 2000, Stephanie joined Neopets, Inc. as General Counsel. After Neopets was sold in 2005 to Viacom, Inc., she remained with the same management team as they founded the education technology company Age of Learning, Inc. From 2007-2015, Stephanie served as EVP of Content and General Counsel, during which time they launched their flagship product, ABCmouse.com. In 2015, Stephanie returned to her production roots, serving as Sr. EVP of Content Production and Design until 2018, and served as Executive Producer, where she produced the company’s music and provides creative leadership for content development, until December 2023. She is a member of SAG-AFTRA and NARAS, as well as a Grammy nominee. In 2008, Stephanie and her husband Steve purchased a weekend cabin in Idyllwild, and in 2015 purchased a fulltime home, which they moved into in 2017 after renovation. In 2021, Stephanie was appointed as a Commissioner of the Riverside County Children and Families Commission (First 5 Riverside), and in 2022 she was elected as a Commissioner of the Idyllwild Fire Protection District. In 2023, Stephanie obtained her real estate license (DRE# 02187783) and started her own real estate business, Idyllwild Mountain Properties.
Brian Wilson, Vice President
Brian was raised in nearby Anza and first came to Idyllwild in his early teens. After serving six years as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy, he moved to the Coachella valley where he worked as a journeyman painter, plumber, and carpenter. After frequent visits commuting to participate in adult recreation like volleyball and softball with family and friends, Brian moved to Idyllwild in 2008. He became a professional carpenter, contractor, and at the same time fell deeply in love with the mountain, the community, and the spirit of Idyllwild. When life required a career change, Brian chose water treatment and distribution, and he currently works for Idyllwild Water District. In his free time, you may find him throwing horseshoes, refereeing volleyball, playing cards, or hiking the hills with his wife Toya.
Terry Shirley, Treasurer
Terry Shirley received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from San Diego State University (SDSU). Terry and his wife Annie raised their children in San Diego, where he worked throughout his professional career as a VP of Sales in marketing and promotions in the consumer packaging goods industry. While a resident of San Diego, Terry was very active with many local community organizations, serving as a Board member and Treasurer for the College Area Community Council, and Chairman of the Mesa Colony Community Group. In this capacity, Terry worked with government officials, the business community, and SDSU to help advance the interests and needs of area residents. Retiring in 2017, Terry and Annie moved to beautiful Idyllwild, where they are committed to serving their new hometown.
Susan Weisbart, Secretary
Originally from West Los Angeles, Susan Weisbart has been active both professionally and as a community volunteer for many years. While living in the desert, Susan was employed for more than twenty years with the City of Indian Wells, California in various positions involving municipal finance, grant administration, municipal research, and franchise negotiation. Additionally, she and her husband Chuck owned and operated their retail business, “It’s in the Bag”, for more than thirty years in Palm Desert, California. While in the desert, Susan also served as a Board member for several years with the Desert Symphony, and in various volunteer positions with Hadassah. Since Susan and Chuck moved to the Hill in 2012, Susan has served as Vice President with Mountain Disaster Preparedness, President of Rotary Anns, as a Board member with the Idyllwild Help Center, and as Interim President with Har Shalom.
Les Moon Gin, Board Member
Les Gin holds a BA in Finance, Business Administration, and Real Estate from Point Loma University. He began his professional career in residential and commercial real estate at the age of 22, in Tucson, Arizona, joining the Loan Officer Training Program at Valley National Bank of Arizona. In 1982, Les founded the Pan Asian Community Alliance to unite the Asian communities in Tucson. He organized funding to purchase a building and served for four years as Board president. PACA continues to serve the Asian community to this day. Les’s continued activism on behalf of the economically under-served Asian community, ultimately lead to Vice President positions with Valley National Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, and Wells Fargo Bank. In 2006, Asian business leaders approached Les to form the Asian Bank of Arizona in Phoenix, which he founded and served as President. For more than forty years Les provided his executive financial management experience to dozens of Arizona community organizations, including sitting on sixteen public foundation Boards. Les found paradise in Idyllwild in 2016 and has thoroughly enjoyed applying his community service experience to ICC, the Idyllwild Water Board, and as a member of Idyllwild Rotary and the Art Alliance of Idyllwild.
Sharon Jablon, Board Member
Born and raised in Montreal, Sharon Jablon graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from California School of Professional Psychology. For the past 30 years, while raising her two daughters, she has split her professional time between two passions: working with Veterans at the VA in downtown Los Angeles and founding and growing her business—PsychPrep—a test preparation company helping psychologists pass their licensing exams. Sharon discovered and fell in love with Idyllwild 20 years ago and feels blessed to have been able to buy a second home here with her partner Michael in July 2020. She looks forward to contributing to the Idyllwild community.
Rajiv Panchal, Board Member
Rajiv (Raj) Panchal’s path as a successful innkeeper began on a very different path in his home country of India. Although his original goal was to be a professional animator, with his young wife Anjali and baby daughter Yuvana, Raj found the animation industry tough to enter. So, in August 2012 they immigrated to the United States with the help of family. His brother-in law bought hotels and gave Raj and Anjali an opportunity to run a motel in Santa Maria, California. Their success resulted in more opportunities; soon they were managing a hotel in Green River, Utah. Although this hotel was much more of a “project”, within a year and a half the hotel was recognized in 2015 by TripAdvisor as the best turnover business in the US, as its ratings increased from 0.2 to 3.6 stars. In early 2017, another innkeeping opportunity arose, this time at the Idyllwild Bunkhouse. On their first morning in Idyllwild, people stopped by to introduce themselves and the Panchals soon realized that our mountain communities are like no other. Two years after the 2020 birth of their second daughter Khyana, Silver Pines Lodge and Village came up for sale. In October 2022, Raj and Anjali purchased the lodges, which include twenty-eight cabins, a grand hall for events, and koi pond. Raj joined ICC’s Board of Directors in 2022, welcoming the opportunity to give back to the community.
Advisor Biographies
Pete Capparelli, Advisor
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Born in New York and raised in Philadelphia, Pete Capparelli served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1960 to 1965. He was then a Philadelphia police officer until he moved to California in 1968. After earning his AA at El Camino Community College, Pete and his wife Suzy ultimately moved to Idyllwild in 1978. Pete started selling real estate in 1980 and went on to have a long and very successful career in real estate with his own local firm, Idyllwild Realty, which he sold in 2005.
Pete has been active in the mountain communities in various capacities, including as the President of the Idyllwild Board of Realtors, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Chair of CSA 36, President of the Idyllwild Community Fund, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Idyllwild Arts Academy. He has also volunteered extensively in other ways as well, including for twenty years with the Idyllwild Jazz Festival and an advisor for many years with the Idyllwild Community Center.
Suzy Capparelli, Advisor
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Suzy Capparelli earned her BA in Theatre Arts at Beloit College in Wisconsin in 1963, then headed to a teaching job with Los Angeles City Schools. She taught drama at Gardena High School until 1978, when she and her new husband Pete Capparelli moved to Idyllwild. In 1979, Suzy took a job teaching at the new local Morning Sky, a school for severely emotionally disturbed boys. During that time she earned her Masters Degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Vermont. She retired from Morning Sky in 1999.
Throughout her time in Idyllwild, Suzy has served as president of the Associates of Idyllwild Arts, secretary of CSA 36, a Trustee of Idyllwild Arts, Chair of Idyllwild Jazz Festival’s French Quarter, member and secretary of the Idyllwild Community Fund Board, a member of Soroptimists of Idyllwild, and a proud singer with Local Color for 20+ years.
Johnny Wilson, Recreation and Program Director
Johnny Wilson is a third-generation Idyllwild local. His grandparents first moved to Idyllwild in 1932. In 1998, he left ‘the Hill’ to go to college in Santa Barbara. After graduating UCSB with a bachelor’s degree in film studies, he then wanted to travel the world. He visited numerous countries in Europe and Central America, two of which he decided to live in full time (Norway and Costa Rica.)
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Johnny decided to move back to Idyllwild full time in 2011 and soon after reconnected with an elementary school classmate. They got married in 2013 and now have a two beautiful children (who are now the fourth-generation of Wilsons in Idyllwild.)
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While being a father, Johnny has simultaneously been a real estate agent, a soccer coach, a writer/musician, and in the Fall of 2023, moved up to being the Director of Programs and Recreation for the Idyllwild Community Center (ICC.)
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Leo Rodriguez, Director of Children's Programming
Leo Rodriguez has been a children’s theater educator since 1989, working with all ages from K - 12th grade (and even college “kids”). Besides his own theatrical endeavors as a playwright, producer and director, “Mr. Leo” (as the kids call him) has always supported enrichment of youth though theater, theater camps/exercises, and school performances by lending his talents as a theater educator. He has worked with Musical Theatre Works (in San Francisco), Missoula (Montana) Traveling Children’s Theater, and UCamps Overnight Camp (San Francisco). Leo, a long time visitor and now permanent resident of Idyllwild, serves happily as the Director of Children’s Programming for ICC.
Erik Marcussen, Advisor
After earning his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design, Erik Marcussen apprenticed with several architectural firms before earning his architect’s license. In 2002, Erik started his own firm based on Orange County, California, Ground Floor Design, Inc., which designs both residential and commercial structures. Despite having friends who vacationed in Idyllwild, Erik knew little more about the community than its name on a freeway sign off of Interstate 10. That changed in 2014, when a local artist suggested that his wife, Del, try selling her jewelry designs at the summertime Art in the Park fairs. Two years later they became full-time residents, drawn to the community’s spirit and its many friendly residents. As an architect, Erik embraces the idea of having an office in the trees and has discovered that a lifelong love of music presented an unexpected creative outlet in a town where it flowed freely. In 2020 Erik became the architect of ICC’s soon-to-be-built new community center building next to the Idyllwild Community Playground, eventually joining ICC’s Board in January 2022. Erik and his wife share a home with a couple of dogs and tremendous gratitude to be a part of this delightful census designated place.
Steve Olson, CPA​​
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Steve Olson received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from San Diego State University. Steve started his professional career at the public accounting firms of Deloitte, Haskins and Sells and KPMG Peat Marwick. After leaving public accounting, Steve held senior finance and accounting positions, including Chief Accounting Officer and Chief Financial Officer, at a variety of private and public companies before forming his own financial reporting consulting company, Financial Reporting Specialists, LLC. In 2008, Steve and his wife Stephanie purchased a weekend cabin in Idyllwild. In 2015, they purchased a fulltime home, which they moved into in 2017 after renovation. Steve is currently a director at the Idyllwild Water District and donates accounting and tax services to the Idyllwild Community Center.