Board of Directors and Staff

Kim Gingerich Brenneman - Vice President

Kim Gingerich Brenneman, WS ’79, arrived at Woodstock as a high school sophomore along with her parents and younger brother.  She credits her parents for instilling the travel bug in her and for setting her path on a professional trajectory to include cross-cultural research and leading educational experiences to India for undergraduate students. 

Kim received her Ph.D. in Developmental and Educational Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh (PA) and an Ed.S. in Counseling from James Madison University (VA).  After working as a child, adolescent and family counselor, Kim taught in the Psychology Department at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) and served as department chair for a number of years.  She has conducted research in the areas of adjustment and well-being of Internationally Mobile Adolescents, in the relationship between cross-cultural experiential learning, hopeful thinking and multicultural adaptation, and in the application of positive psychological principles to higher education learning.  A highlight of her time at EMU was organizing and leading four different groups of undergraduates to India for a semester long cross-cultural educational experience.  During these four months, at least two weeks of that time was spent in Mussoorie as Kim “showed off” Woodstock to them!  It was a gift to be able to re-connect with the Woodstock Community in person.

After 30 years as a professor in the Psychology Department at Eastern Mennonite University (VA), Kim retired and is currently training and competing in local agility competitions with her Shih-poo pup, Jampa.  Kim and Jampa are a certified pet therapy team through Alliance of Therapy Dogs, volunteer with a local hospice agency, and visit retirement centers several times a week.  Kim also enjoys conversations with friends over a good cup of coffee, traveling, reading, gardening and canning, and artwork using watercolor pencils and graphite as mediums. 

Kim is married to Bob and they have two grown children Jeremy and Rachael.  Bob, Jeremy and Rachael have all spent time in India (and Woodstock) as part of Kim’s cross-cultural work with EMU.  And of course, we are all looking forward to our next trip!

Steve Van Rooy, Treasurer

Steve Van Rooy's, WS '68, parents arrived in Bombay, India, in February of 1950 when Steve was six months old where they served as missionaries with TEAM for the next 18 years.  Following language school, their first mission station was in Dharchula along the Kali Ganga River on the border of Nepal.  After their first furlough, the Van Rooys moved to Mussoorie and Steve attended Woodstock School for 11 out of 12 grades.  His mother was the anesthetist at Landour Community Hospital and his dad started a Bible Correspondence Course ministry called Jiwan Jyoti (Light of Life).  Steve has an older brother and two younger brothers and in his last year in India his parents adopted one of his cousins in the US, his only sister.

After graduation from Woodstock in 1968, Steve attended Seattle Pacific University, followed by Dallas Theological Seminary and then joined the Wycliffe Bible Translators.  He married Judy Beekman, an MK from Mexico, and they headed to Sudan, first in Khartoum for Arabic and then to a village in the very SE corner of the country.  They lived with a remote tribal group called the Didinga and began learning that language and started the process of Bible translation. 

Several years into the process they discovered their daughter had a rare form of childhood cancer that was considered 100% terminal.  After six years in the US for treatment (which was successful—she was in the first tier of survivors ever) they went back to Africa, this time to Kenya and later finished out 25 years of missionary service in Dallas, TX.   Cammie’s cancer returned twice during this time.  They have two other daughters, both of whom went into medicine.  One is a physician and the other a nurse.   All three are married and live in N. Texas.  The Van Rooys have ten grandchildren so far.

Steve and Judy then started a real estate investment and property management business in Dallas which allowed them to retire in 2015.  Steve continues to be involved in their church in Dallas, where he is an elder, and is involved in several mission organizations in a variety of ways.  Steve serves on the FWS Finance Committee and considers it a privilege to have been invited to serve on the FWS Board.

Suzanne Turnier Hanifl - Secretary

Suzanne Hanifl, WS '63, wears many hats.  You may best know her name in association with the Hanifl Centre for Outdoor Education at Woodstock, the Turner Organic Garden at Woodstock, and her long association with WOSA, 1995 – 2014.  She attended Woodstock from 1956 – 1963 and is the Class of ’63 Secretary.  Suzanne holds a M.Ed. from Boston University, B.S. in Home Economics from Hood College, and is the President of the Paul and Suzanne Hanifl Foundation and President of Suzanne Stables.

The Hanifl Family Foundation has also established the Angelic Organic Learning Center in Rockford, IL; Hanifl Soccer Fields in Hugo, MN; Hanifl Center for Performing Arts in White Bear Lake, MN; the Minnesota Zoo’s Hanifl Family Wild Woods Playground in Bloomington, MN; acts as the CPA for Children’s Performing Arts, White Bear Lake, MN; and philanthropic outreach for several U.U. Churches and Health Clinics.

Along with teaching, Suzanne has led many committees in several states, travels when she can, is an avid knitter and recently did a knitting tour to the Shetland Islands, belongs to two book clubs, gardens, and owns the son of triple crown winner, American Pharoah, among other racehorses. Married to Paul Hanifl for 52+ years, all three of their children have visited Woodstock.  Kerry and her family were at Woodstock for two years, 2014 – 2016.  Suzanne and Paul have nine grandchildren, ages 1 – 19. 

We are very happy to have Suzanne Turner Hanifl join the Board in 2020 and deeply appreciate her connections to Woodstock, her philanthropic expertise, and her many talents and interests.

 Stephen Alter

Stephen Alter, WS '74, is the author of twenty books of fiction and non-fiction.  He was born in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India and much of his writing focuses on the Himalayan region. WILD HIMALAYA: A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth (Aleph 2019) is his most recent work of non-fiction.  Becoming a Mountain:  Himalayan Journeys in Search of the Sacred and the Sublime (Aleph 2014) received the Kekoo Naoroji Award for Himalayan Literature.  In The Jungles of the Night: A Novel about Jim Corbett (Aleph, 2016) is his latest work of fiction, which was shortlisted for the DSC South Asian Literature Award. The Cloudfarers (Puffin, 2018) is his most recent book for younger readers.  He has written extensively on natural history, folklore and mountain culture, particularly in his travel memoir Sacred Waters: A Pilgrimage to the Many Sources of the Ganga.  Educated at Woodstock School and Wesleyan University, Alter has taught at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, where he was director of the writing program for seven years. Following this, he was writer-in-residence at MIT for ten years, where he taught courses in creative writing. Among the honors he has received are fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Program, the East West Centre in Hawaii, and the Banff Centre for Mountain Culture. Stephen Alter is founding director of the Mussoorie Mountain Festival.  

 Craig Cook – Principal, Woodstock School

Dr. Cook brings a wealth of experience in educational leadership, having worked at schools and in higher education in the USA, the Philippines and Indonesia. He has a Ph.D. in Sociology from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, a B.A. in intercultural studies and a M.Div. in Theology, both from Biola University, California. Before coming to Woodstock, he was Dean of the School of Education at Simpson University, Redding, California where he successfully led the school through complex accreditation procedures. He currently serves as President of the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee on Sociology of the Body.

Craig is married to Jamie Williams, J.D.  They met in Indonesia, where she was teaching international law in the Faculty of Law at Universitas Pelita Harapan.  Jamie holds a B.A. degree in Literature and Letters and a Juris Doctorate from Vermont Law School.  A licensed attorney in New York and Texas, she has practiced family, criminal, and commercial law.  Before Woodstock, she was a professor in the History and Political Science Department at Simpson University and an adjunct professor teaching restorative justice and international law at Le Tourneau University. Jamie was also the Program Coordinator for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), a nonprofit organization that advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children in the foster care system.

In Dr. Cook’s own words: “I have been an athlete and participant in vigorous physical exercise for the whole of my adult life, being a regular basketball and tennis player and a tennis coach for many years. We lived in a mountainous area of Northern California, where we enjoyed hiking on many beautiful trails… The heart of Christian leadership is being a servant to others, as evidenced by Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet and commanding us to do the same.”