OFFICERS & COMMITTEES

2026 LACBA 0FFICERS & COMMITTEES

Committee Chair Persons
Education & Outreach: Mary Landau and Steve Savage
Speakers Committee: Barbara Knighton
LA County Fair Bee Booth: Cynthia Caldera
LA Zoo Bee Booth: Jay Weiss
Membership: Cheryl Thiele
Website: Jeff Laun
Bee Tea: Anne O'Malley
Slack: Michael Pusateri
Facebook: Holly Hawk

President: Charlene Potter
Bees have always fascinated Charlene and urban beekeeping is a great way to make a positive impact on the environment. If we all pitch in by planting more flowers and trees, we all benefit. Charlene enjoys connecting with people who have questions and are concerned about the welfare of the bees and the planet. She believes in the importance of pollinators for real food sustainability, and honeybees are a big part of that.

Charlene served as LACBA’s vice president and co-chair of the speakers committee for four years before becoming president. She mentors new beekeepers with LACBA’s Beekeeping 101 classes at the Valley Hive and also volunteers at the LA County Fair Bee Booth. She is a California Master Beekeeper thanks to UC Davis.

You can get her books at Bee-n-Bee Vacation and Lili l'Abeille (French) and Liliana la abeja (Spanish). If you need raw honey, healing balms, or if you need bees removed, you can email her at beekeeperchar@yahoo.com and follow her on Instagram #everybodylovesbees.

Vice President:  Sheryl Heyser

Sheryl Heyser is a California native and passionate beekeeper whose journey began in childhood, inspired by her mother’s curiosity and love of hands-on hobbies. Among those pursuits was beekeeping, and it was while working alongside her mother that Sheryl developed a deep respect and fascination with honeybees. What began as a simple learning experience soon grew into a lifelong dream of creating her own apiary.

That dream is now a reality. Sheryl currently maintains two thriving apiaries, where she oversees multiple high-producing colonies. Her early goal of helping protect honeybees has evolved into a successful small-scale honey production operation, California Girl Honey (CaliforniaGirlHoney.com), which also plays a vital role in supporting local pollination and ecosystem health. The business offers a range of products, including bottled raw honey, honeycomb, and a variety of honeybee–related goods, all of which are handmade. A portion of the proceeds from California Girl Honey is donated to Hives for Heroes, a national nonprofit organization that supports veterans through beekeeping, with a focus on honeybee conservation, suicide prevention, and healthy transitions from military service.

Sheryl also offers beekeeping and honeybee awareness classes, helping others understand the importance of pollinators and inspiring future environmental stewards. Through her work, she not only nurtures her hives and her business but also helps strengthen her community and honor those who have served.

Corresponding Secretary: Jared Stone 
Jared Stone is a beekeeper, author, and television professional. In addition to his duties as Corresponding Secretary, he helps teach the club's Beekeeping 101 course for new beekeepers.
He attended the University of Kansas, graduating with dual B.A.s in Cultural Anthropology and Film, with a concentration in Visual Anthropology. He began his career with National Geographic in Washington, DC, starting as an intern and rising through the ranks to become a producer. At that point, he moved to Los Angeles and entered the agency world, producing television for a multitude of clients including ABC, NBC, FOX, the CW, FX, Bravo, USA, Lifetime, Sony, and Warner Bros., where he won Emmy Awards in 2013 and 2016 for his work on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
In addition to his television work, Stone is also the author of several screenplays and the book, Year of the Cow (Flatiron, 2015), which details his quest to make the absolute best use of an entire cow that he possibly can.
Stone lives in the valley with his wife, Summer, their two children, a large dog and many, many bees.

Recording Secretary: Cassidy Bennett

Cassidy (she/her) began beekeeping in 2025 while taking Beekeeping 101 and attending monthly LACBA meetings, thanks to support from fellow LACBA members - especially Jay, Matthew, and Kevin! Thanks also to her beekeeper inspiration, her dear friend Madi and her Uncle Mark. Cassidy also loves learning more about bees through interacting with her bees and reading as much as possible (about bees, but also generally), and sharing all the amazing bee facts and information she learns with anyone who will listen. She is also a lawyer, loves to bake, and lives in the valley with her wonderful husband and sweet dog.

Treasurer: Jon Reese
Jon was born in Culver City and grew up in Canoga Park. He graduated from Chatsworth High School in 1969, then attended SFVSC where he received a BA in Ceramics.  Jon traveled throughout United States and Europe during school summers.  He established pottery in 1976, built kilns, and produced hand-thrown utilitarian ware. In 1981, Jon apprenticed into the tile industry and in 1994 opened his own tile contracting company, Stoneware Tile, that has operated for the past 22 years. From 1998 to the present, Jon has been a signatory to Local Union18.  From 2000 to the present, he has been the management officer of the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee.  How Jon ‘got into bees’: “In 2011 bees moved into the eaves of our house," he says. Jon contacted Walter McBride, a seasoned beekeeper and member of the Los Angeles Beekeepers Association. Walt helped him move the bees out of the eaves and into a hive box. That was the beginning of Jon’s beekeeping career. Since 2011, Jon has been a hobbyist beekeeper. He presently has 19 hives. In 2016, Jon was awarded the *LACBA Golden Hive Tool Award. Jon is dedicated to service, especially helping beekeepers with their bees. He volunteered countless hours at the Bee Booth at the LA County Fair, educating the public on bees and beekeeping. Jon served as President, Vice President and Assistant Treasurer with the LACBA. stonewaretile@sbcglobal.net.

Representative at Large: Kevin Heydman
Kevin has been taking care of bees for over twenty years. He's a commercial beekeeper who each year takes his honey bees to pollinate almonds, avocados and oranges in Southern California. Kevin is also a live beehive removal specialist. He's been a member of the LACBA for eight years and dedicates his services to club activities. During the month of September, Kevin spends a week in charge of the Bee Booth at the LA County Fair where he supervises volunteers and educates the general public about honey bees. Kevin served as the 2018 and 2019 Vice President of the LACBA. You can find Kevin's Bare Bees honey, pollen and beeswax at the Gardena, Monrovia and San Dimas Farmers Markets. kevin.heydman@gmail.com.

Representative at Large:  El Rey Ensch
ElRey has been a beekeeper for over 30 years. He is both an urban and commercial beekeeper. ElRey is one of the most experienced beekeepers in our club. At every LACBA meeting, we can count on ElRey to present an informative and entertaining show and tell about bees: choices in bee hives, how to add pollen traps, preventative measures for mites, and how to deter bears from getting into your hives.