4 Elements Earth Education Inc (4EEE) is governed by a Board of Directors that is collectively responsible for the management and administration of the affairs of the corporation. Members serve the Board of Directors on a volunteer basis and do not receive a salary or any compensation for their service. Board members are committed to exercising an objective point of view, having in mind at all times the well-being of the community and advancement of the 4EEE mission.
JUAN VILLARREAL
Founding Board Member
Founding Board Member
Juan, Southern Lipan Apache, connected with Rick in 2007 through the Tracker School. Passionate about keeping the old skills alive, Juan brings a unique indigenous view-point to every educational experience.
Juan worked with Rick at many programs across the Country from Alaska to his home town in Alice -South Texas. Juan helped start 4EEE and continues to be a part of 4EEE with his Wife, Daughters and Grandkids.
Whether he's helping lead 4EEE programs or teaching wherever he goes, Juan serves as a gentle guide, helping people create sacred relationships with the land and life, as a care-taker and healer.
Juan worked with Rick at many programs across the Country from Alaska to his home town in Alice -South Texas. Juan helped start 4EEE and continues to be a part of 4EEE with his Wife, Daughters and Grandkids.
Whether he's helping lead 4EEE programs or teaching wherever he goes, Juan serves as a gentle guide, helping people create sacred relationships with the land and life, as a care-taker and healer.
ANNI MCCANN
Board President
Board President
Since 2008, Anni McCann has been working alongside Chairman Don Ryberg and spiritual elder Fred ‘Coyote’ Downey raising funds and coordinating the Indigenous Peoples Days event in support of the Siakumne tribe, with the aim of manifesting their vision for the return of traditional ceremonial ways and honoring Mother Earth, developing a village site, educating and sharing cultural knowledge & elemental wisdom with all people of good heart and mind in the name of ancestral healing. She feels aligned joining the 4EEE team, who now co-coordinates Indigenous Peoples Days.
Anni holds a degree in music education and has taught music to children grades K-12. She has been a professional musician for over 50 years holding the belief that music is not just entertainment but an avenue for emotional healing, and describes her original music as Sacred Earth music. An avid outdoors adventurer and world traveler, a supporter of Mother Earth and natural ways, she has interacted with many diverse cultures, and at home tends to her organic garden, growing her own food and making herbal medicines now for more than 40 years. Anni believes the future of humanity lies in the hands of the children and that through 4EEE, a foundation of interaction and co-creation with nature & natural laws guides them towards acknowledging and honoring the natural world as well as creating inner harmony through the practice of learning to trust their innate intuition, wisdom, and full body knowledge.
Anni holds a degree in music education and has taught music to children grades K-12. She has been a professional musician for over 50 years holding the belief that music is not just entertainment but an avenue for emotional healing, and describes her original music as Sacred Earth music. An avid outdoors adventurer and world traveler, a supporter of Mother Earth and natural ways, she has interacted with many diverse cultures, and at home tends to her organic garden, growing her own food and making herbal medicines now for more than 40 years. Anni believes the future of humanity lies in the hands of the children and that through 4EEE, a foundation of interaction and co-creation with nature & natural laws guides them towards acknowledging and honoring the natural world as well as creating inner harmony through the practice of learning to trust their innate intuition, wisdom, and full body knowledge.
Heather Vasquez
Board Treasurer
Board Treasurer
Heather Vasquez has 2 children that have been with 4EEE for some years and has participated as a volunteer with 4EEE summer camps, and Indigenous People Days. She has been a practitioner and teacher of a variety of ancient healing modalities from many cultures for the past 15 years. She has been a part of indigenous practices since her early teen years and has a deep passion for deepening her journey with these philosophies and earth skills and being a part of ensuring these traditions are past on to our children who she believes are our greatest teachers. She has a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts from Sacramento State University and believes art is a sacred tradition, a way of praying and expressing the nature of our relationships with all that surrounds us.
MEGAN SOTO KANE
Board Secretary
Board Secretary
Megan Soto Kane is a mother of 2 participating youth of the 4EEE Fox Walker Programs. She holds a degree in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara and has been in support of inter-faith relations and communities since 2007. After a career as a theater producer and director featuring new BIPOC works in San Francisco, CA, she co-founded and designed curriculum for an educational nonprofit academic nature school in rural central valley of California for primarily socio-economically disadvantaged youth. Megan’s paternal ancestral lineage is Aztec and Mayo. It is those bloodlines that inspire her on-going support of the vision of 4EEE and its effort to pass on earth skills to more native children.
KRISTI KNAPP
Board Member & Visiting Instructor
Board Member & Visiting Instructor
Kristi joined the 4EEE Board in August 2021, bringing over 16 years of experience with 4EEE/COTEF programs. As a long-time friend of our mission, community, and teaching philosophy, she is committed to growing the organization's presence on the East Coast in particular and to shaping the future of 4EEE to maximize its global impact.
Don Ryberg
Pata Panaka Land Steward & Board Member
Pata Panaka Land Steward & Board Member
Don Ryberg is Chairman of Tsi-Akim Maidu for 23 years.
Don Ryberg represents the Siakumne California Indigenous Tribe and has a voice in how the land is stewarded and the preservation of his cultural ways. Only a half of a percent of his people; Siakumne survived the "Gold Rush" of this foothill region. Don now works daily on the land at Pata Panaka as part of his ancient responsibility as a steward of the land. Don is supportive in a working partnership with 4EEE, where youth can be in a "Native Village" site and learn directly from the land.
Don Ryberg represents the Siakumne California Indigenous Tribe and has a voice in how the land is stewarded and the preservation of his cultural ways. Only a half of a percent of his people; Siakumne survived the "Gold Rush" of this foothill region. Don now works daily on the land at Pata Panaka as part of his ancient responsibility as a steward of the land. Don is supportive in a working partnership with 4EEE, where youth can be in a "Native Village" site and learn directly from the land.