Our People
Formed over 20 years ago, BASIC is comprised of current and past Borrego Springs residents,
most of whom are retired educators and all of whom are volunteers
committed to the success of students in this community. ​

Angela Cassidy, a lifelong resident of Indiana and a proud alumnae of Indiana University, retired after a 33 year career as Vice President and Trust Officer with JPMorgan Chase Bank. Active in her community and church as a volunteer all of her adult life she has served on several not-for-profit boards, including St. Vincent Mercy Hospital Foundation and United Way of Madison County. Angela and her husband of 40 years, Tom, began visiting Borrego Springs in the early 80’s and now call Borrego their “home away from home” from January to May. In Borrego, Angela volunteers at the elementary school and at the Borrego Art Institute and belongs to St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. Angela and Tom have two sons and two grandchildren.

Barbara Coates: I have a bachelor of science degree in teaching the deaf from Northwestern University, a masters degree in counselling from San Diego State University and an EDD in educational leadership from United States International University. I worked with San Diego Unified School District for 30 years as a teacher, counsellor, principal and trainer in the area of race and human relations. With AVID, I worked evaluating programs throughout the world on preparing low income and first time students going to college. I also was on the board and co-directed a K - 12 online school. I’ve been actively involved with Borrego Springs Unified School District for many years and have been substituting in the classroom K-12 for the past several years. I have been on the BASIC board for 10 years, the last two as president.

Martha Deichler: With 14 years as an administrator in the Borrego Springs Unified School District, Martha Deichler has a passion for the families and children who call our rural desert oasis their home. She currently works as the School Community Liaison to connect our students to the resources that allow them to grow and flourish, most specifically the rich educational opportunities offered by BASIC.

Sharon Goldsmith and her late husband Jerry discovered Borrego Springs while bird watching in 1990. Two days here eventually became four months each year; when not in Borrego, Sharon lives near the Everglades in SW Florida. Sharon holds a PhD in Developmental Psycholinguistics from Graduate Center of the City University of New York where her research focused on the relationship between reading disabilities and language disabilities. Deemed an international expert in Standards, Certification and Accreditation, Sharon currently heads a consulting group that works with schools, colleges, private and governmental organizations worldwide to improve educational systems and achieve compliance with internationally recognized standards of best practice. Trained as a speech language pathologist, Sharon has worked variously as a teacher trainer in NY and MA, and as Director of Special Education for a MA school district; ultimately she became Assistant Commissioner of Education for the Commonwealth where she supervised statewide efforts in development and evaluation of new special education programs before being recruited to work at the (inter)national level as Director of Professional Affairs and Senior Advisor for the American Speech Language Hearing Association in Washington DC.

Joanne S. Ingwall, Ph.D. is currently Emerita Professor of Medicine (Physiology) at Harvard Medical School, having retired from an active research career in cardiac energetics and function in 2012. Since moving back to California in 2006, Joanne has transferred her energy from the academic arena to several volunteer organizations, including the ABDSP Paleontology Society and the ABDSP Botany Society. Joanne’s major volunteer activity in Borrego has been as a member of the board of BASIC. She has served as its CFO/treasurer, a member of the scholarship selection committee and associate director of BASIC’s Cradle to Graduation C2G program. In the summers, she and her husband Dick are active in several citizen scientist projects in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Caroline Manildi received a Master’s Degree in Economics from Stanford University, an undergraduate teaching certificate in Secondary Education; she has had a long career in the healthcare field. She spent a number of years working as a research analyst at Stanford Research Institute, at the American Medical Association and the University of Chicago. After moving to California, she was employed as the Associate Director of the UCSD Medical Center. Caroline then spent almost 25 years in the Santa Cruz area before moving to Borrego Springs. During that time she gained experience in the long-term health care environment by serving as the Associate Director of a Skilled Nursing Facility. Caroline’s volunteer work in Borrego Springs includes the following: Board Member of BVEF, BASIC, BSCCA, Member of the Public Health Subcommittee on Supervisor Desmond’s Revitalization program and Member of the Borrego Springs COVID-19 Task Force

Urmi Ray is an experienced semiconductor professional who works with industry organizations such as iNEMI, IMAPS, SEMI and others on driving advanced packaging and integration strategies. She has worked at JCET Group, Qualcomm and at Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories in various semiconductor research and engineering roles. She has a PhD from Columbia University (New York City). Urmi also spends her time volunteering for many organizations in areas such as education (tutoring, mentoring), food banks/soup kitchens, conservation activities with CA state parks.

Joann Stang is the Founder of BASIC’s Learning Academy and a founding member of BASIC. She chaired the Circle of Art for 9 years, served on the scholarship committee for 18 years and served the organization in a variety of leadership roles. Joann’s passion for support of education comes from her belief that education of all is a foundation of our democratic system. She has had leadership and management responsibility as Corporate Director for Human Resources at Solar Turbines, a Caterpillar Company, with international human resources societies and in volunteer organizations in San Diego and Michigan, her summer home.

Andrea Taylor, originally from the United Kingdom, has lived and worked in Borrego Springs since 2004. She joined the BASIC board in 2018 and is currently the scholarship chair. Andrea devotes her volunteer time to working with Borrego Springs high school students and is the founder of the high school Dream Club that focuses on helping undocumented and DACA individuals with renewals or their work permits and college scholarships.

Mary Watkins: I'm a native San Diegan and have a degree in Computer Science. I lived in the Los Angeles area for about 20 years doing systems development work for many major corporations before returning home. My first job in that area was for the Walt Disney Company. I am a mother of two and a grandmother of two and love my family. My extended family are spread out over the US and in other parts of the world. I learned to fly helicopters and got my private pilot license in 1996 and my commercial pilot license in 1998. I flew traffic helicopters on and off for several years. I now own my own real estate office in Borrego Springs in The Mall and have lived in the Anza Borrego Desert area full-time since the summer of 2004.

Borrego BASIC's Web Manager & IT Specialist remains Anonymous, like all geeky Tech Support types :-) :-)

Board of Directors: 
President: Barbara Coates
Vice-President: Angela Cassidy
Secretary: Urmi Ray
Corresponding Secretary: Joann Stang
Chief Financial Officer: Joanne Ingwall
Associate Chief Financial Officer: Mary Watkins

Chair of the Circle of Art: Angela Cassidy
Interim Chair of the Scholarship Committee: Andrea Taylor
Poster Sales Coordinator: Angela Cassidy and others
Members: Martha Deichler, Sharon Goldsmith, Caroline Manildi 
Emeritus: Anne Bogardt, Curt Yaws

Circle of Art Committee:  Chair, Angela Cassidy
Circle of Art Poster Sales Coordinator:  Angela Cassidy
Scholarship Selection Committee: Andrea Taylor;
Barbara Coates, Sharon Goldsmith, Jan Nicholas
Learning Academy Committee: Director, Joann Stang; Headmaster, Tim White
Fundraising Committee: Co-Chairs, Joanne Ingwall and Joann Stang
Golf Tournament Committee: Caroline Manildi

Local Coordinator for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Program:  Ana Hernandez 
Web Manager/IT & Tech Support: Borrego Basic
Finance Committee:  Chair, Joanne Ingwall; Mary Watkins