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Board of Directors
July 2008
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Diane Ronayne, President, functions as a community builder and a web-weaver, helping individuals and organizations to better communicate with and understand each other so they can accomplish the goals they set for themselves. A free-lance writer, editor and photographer by profession, she has been active as a volunteer in founding and nurturing numerous Idaho organizations, including the Fund for Idaho, Idaho Nonprofit Center, City Club of Boise, Log Cabin Literary Center, Boise Front Coalition, Idaho Conservation League, Boise Neighborhood Alliance and Idaho Photographic Workshop.
Diane writes about non-profit sector activities in her weekly column in the Idaho Statesman. She documents activities of many progressive organizations, for which she makes her images and writing skills available at little or no cost. In 2004, she was awarded a one-year Boise City Public Art commission in photography.
Diane earned a B.A. in Communications from Stanford University, and has taken numerous writing and photography workshops since 1977.
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Marty Durand was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. After dropping out of high school, she attended Mesa State College, the University of Kansas and the University of Wyoming, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science and a J.D. Following law school, Marty worked in California as an academic research assistant and a law clerk. She returned to the Mountain West in 1992, landing with her husband, Mark Holeman, in Idaho Falls. Marty entered private practice, focusing on employment law. In 1997, Marty headed north and became a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Valley County, and later a Public Defender.
Soon tiring of deep snow and lengthy winters, Marty moved to Boise and joined the ACLU of Idaho in 2000 as legislative counsel, where she promoted civil liberties in the State Legislature. Marty served as Executive Director of the Idaho Women's Network in 2006-2007. Marty is now an associate attorney with the law firm Herzfeld & Piotrowski, where she focuses on labor and employment law.
In her spare time, Marty enjoys political intrigue, shameless agitation and gardening. She shares her Boise home with her husband Mark, and her brown dogs, Scooter and Marley. Marty believes that social change can be accomplished through community organizing, political engagement, and last but not least, litigation.
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María González Mabbutt was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. In 1970, María migrated with her family to the Mini-Cassia area of Idaho and settled out of the migrant farmworker stream. María worked in Idaho’s fields through the summer of 1974 before going to college.
María’s work has focused on farm worker issues (worker’s compensation, minimum wage, farm labor contractor licensing & bonding, and pesticide education) and Latino political empowerment (voter registration, education, and mobilization). María was a 2003 finalist for the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World award and was a 2005 Alston/Bannerman Fellow.
Maria has conducted outreach and community education services on women’s leadership and other environmental health campaigns (medical waste incinerator at the VAMC, Boise, and mercury in seafood campaign against Albertsons Food Centers) targeting women and children coordinated by Women’s Voices for the Earth, Missoula, MT.
Currently, María serves as part-time ED for the Idaho Hispanic Caucus, Caldwell, Idaho. Maria serves on the Western States Center Board and serves on the Mujeres Unidas de Idaho Board. María has four daughters; Andrea (30), Annette (29), Marisol (26), and Marisa (8). Maria is married to Richard Mabbutt. María graduated from Minidoka County High School in Rupert, Idaho and has a Bachelor’s degree from Boise State University.
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Ruby A. Valdez was born and raised in Caldwell, Idaho. She is the mother of three beautiful children. She is currently a Boise State University student majoring in Mass Communications/Journalism with a minor in Leadership skills. Ruby believes that people should be the change they want to see in this world. With that in mind, she has been active in her community, volunteering for such organizations as: United Vision for Idaho, Canyon County Democrats, Citizens for Sanchez, Grant For Congress, Stiles for State Senate, Advocates Against Family Violence, The Women’s and Children’s Alliance, and Model United Nations. Ruby has served, as a board member for The Caldwell Community Theater, and is currently a community board member for The Idaho Press Tribune. She also serves as Public Relations officer for Boise State University’s Model United Nations club.
Ruby believes in a working class hero and that anyone can achieve his or her goals. It just takes the drive, the vision, and the belief that anything is possible. She is excited to be a new member of the Fund for Idaho Board of Directors, a group of individuals who care about their communities and work hard to make this state a better place to live for generations to come.
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Gail Heylmun, Executive Director, began her work with the Fund for Idaho in July 2006. She brings a broad knowledge of nonprofit organizations and expertise in organizational startup to the Fund for Idaho. Gail is working to expand our donor base and maximize our impact in Idaho by creating a solid foundation of support for the groups we assist.
Gail's previous experience includes serving as initial staff person and Executive Director of The Sounding Board, which provided community based mediation to Boise, and the Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations (CANPO), which provides a broad range of services and benefits to its member organizations in Colorado. For 10 years, Gail also ran her own consulting firm that provided fundraising and technology assistance to nonprofits in Boise and the Northwest. As a trained mediator, Gail expresses her long-standing interest in conflict resolution by serving as Treasurer of Common Ground Conciliation Services, a nonprofit organization providing mediation, facilitation, and conciliation education services to groups in the Treasure Valley.
Gail and her husband, Gary Sandusky, have three sons, two dogs and two horses on their 1½ acre property in Boise’s north end. When they have the opportunity, they also enjoy playing music together.
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"We're all in this together!"
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