The Board of Directors

Chad Smith – President

Chad grew up in Florence and graduated from Florence-Carlton High School. He then attended the University of Montana, and graduated from the Skaggs School of Pharmacy in 1996. Chad started working in Stevensville as a pharmacist in 2000 and in 2006 he bought Family Pharmacy. In 2016 he purchased the iconic Valley Drug. Chad has served as a board member and president of the Montana Pharmacy Association in addition to his work on the Stevensville Community Foundation Board. Chad and his wife Tracey enjoy working, living and raising their family in this wonderful community.

Laurie Pelham, Vice President

Laurie and her husband, Doug, relocated to Stevensville from Redmond, Washington in 2011. Laurie joined the board in 2012 and served as President in 2015 and 2016. Laurie has worked in and around K-12 education for 30+ years in various capacities from professional development to classroom technology integration. She is currently working as a Senior Conversions Specialist for a schools website company. Over the years she has volunteered with PTSA, Schools Foundations, Little League, Junior Football Associations and St. Mary’s Mission Founder’s Day. Laurie’s interest in serving on the board is to help continue the tradition of working together as a community making Stevensville a great place to live, work and play.

JoyceAnne Jodsaas, Treasurer

JoyceAnne Jodsaas is originally from San Diego County and came to the Valley when she married her loving husband Robert who grew up in Florence, Montana. JoyceAnne stays busy with her businesses: Broker/Owner of Eickert Realty, LLC & Agent for You Property Management, Heatwave Heating & Cooling and runs her own bookkeeping/administrative service. JoyceAnne joined SCF to become involved in the community and volunteer her unique skill-sets. JoyceAnne wants to see integrity maintained in Stevensville’s growth and development to keep its small-town feel and a stable downtown business community.

Sandy Bollom, Secretary

Sandy grew up in west central Wisconsin and relocated to Stevensville with her husband in 2016. Why Stevensville? … a grand baby of course! Sandy has been in the banking world for over 17 years plus a 19 year stint as a CFO for a large auto dealership group. In her spare time, she was the bookkeeper for her husband’s residential construction business for 30 years.  Sandy is currently a commercial lender for First Security Bank and enjoying the opportunity to meet and work with customer’s in the Bitterroot Valley. The opportunity to be on the board for the Stevensville Community Foundation seemed a perfect fit. Sandy and her husband, Randy, enjoy spending time with their grandchildren, rafting, trail riding, camping, hunting, fishing, and life in general.

Cody Velin

Cody Velin was raised in Missoula Montana, graduating from the University of Montana in 2014. After graduation he began working as a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones which resulted in him relocating to Tempe Arizona for a short time before eventually making his way back to Missoula. In September of 2015, after being given the chance to run the Stevensville Edward Jones branch, Cody moved to Stevensville and shortly after joined the Stevensville Community Foundation Board. Cody is also the Chair of the Missoula Young Professionals committee and actively involved on the Stevensville Volunteer Fire Department.  Cody joined the SCF board to be a more involved in the community and looks forward to seeing the positive effects the Stevensville Community Foundation will have on the community going forward while still helping preserve the past.

Lee Starck

Lee and his family has called Stevensville home since Summer 2012. Originally from western Wisconsin, Lee moved west to Bozeman to pursue his graduate degree from Montana State after completing his undergraduate studies. He has served as a school counselor at Stevensville Schools since then, and he and his wife, Adrianna feel fortunate to be raising their two young boys in such a beautiful place building connections with incredible folks here. Joining the SCF to become more integrated in this community and foster deeper connections with our schools seemed like a natural fit. Lee feels most like himself when he is with his family and friends on the river, hiking, trail running, camping, reading, hunting, playing cribbage, or just spending time around a campfire.

Christie Burnham

Cassi Kopsa

Cassi was born and raised in Stevensville, and went to Stevensville schools from kindergarten
through 12 th grade. She graduated from University of Providence in Great Falls with a Bachelor’s
degree in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Law Enforcement. She worked for the
Stevensville Police Department for a year in patrol and as an SRO. Cassi currently works as a
Deputy for the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office. She was a student board member and then
joined the board as an adult. In her free time Cassi loves spending time with her family and
puppy, hiking and playing volleyball.

Kristin Kruse

Kristin Kruse was raised in Oregon, and spent most of her life living at the base of Mt. Hood in a small town called Zig Zag. She and her husband Steve made Stevensville home in 2020. Kristin took a job with the Stevensville Police Department to become involved and get familiar with her new community, which led to a passion for creating community outreach programs. In 2024 she went to work for the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office doing what she loves most, serving the Bitterroot Valley. She also enjoys doing some freelance writing for the Bitterroot Star. Joining the Foundation felt very much in alignment with what is important to Kristin, which is using her skills to help others. With four grown children and a newly retired husband, Kristin has plenty of time for cooking, reading, traveling, exercising and spending time with friends.

In September 2007, the Stevensville Community Foundation determined that significant community benefit would come from participation by Stevensville High School students in Foundation activities. Exposing individual high school students to the importance of “community” and community involvement was a primary objective. Additionally, the board felt it important to cultivate an avenue by which to raise awareness among all Stevensville High school students of the Foundation’s existence. With that decision, a string of Stevensville High School’s finest students have served as non-voting members on the Foundation board bringing new energy and perspective to the Foundation. One representative from each sophomore, junior and senior class sit on the Foundation’s board of directors and attend the monthly meetings.

A goal of our student board members is to create a program by which to better inform Stevensville High School students of the existence of the Stevensville Community Foundation and to support the students of Stevensville High School through the Foundation’s activities.