Board Members

Penny Brondum, President

Penny Brondum came to Astronomy in a round about way. As a teen she snuck in to her brother’s room to read his collection of science fiction books. She thought he was reading racy novels, but found herself captured by far-off places and ideas. This led to her lifelong fascination of space, other worlds, and cultures. In 1980, after receiving an MBA from Pepperdine, Penny switched from retailing to aerospace, working in Resource Management at Rocketdyne in Southern Calif. In her spare time Penny wrote the material for, and taught, a Certified Professional Manger Training course. Her future husband Thomas (a ‘space’ engineer) was one of her students. In 1999, they left aerospace and retired to Bend, Oregon where Thomas began volunteering at the Oregon Observatory in Sunriver. To share time with Thomas and his hobby, Penny also began volunteering and soon was jokingly known as the “also came”. As Life Long learners they spent many years taking classes in astronomy related topics to learn more about their hobby which led to running an observing post during the August 2017 Solar Eclipse for the Oregon Observatory. In 2017, when looking for warmer climes that offered observing, Penny discovered Sierra Vista while viewing the dark sky map. After several visits, and with the help of HAC members, they found a place here to call home. They became HAC members before they even arrived and spent their first night in Sierra Vista at a HAC meeting in Aug 2018. Since then, Penny and Thomas have both become active volunteers in both member and community outreach. Her enthusiasm led Penny be elected to the HAC board in 2021.

Ted Forte, Treasurer

Ted Forte joined HAC in April of 2012 and currently serves as Treasurer, ALCOR, outreach coordinator, and as list owner of both the Haclist and Hacbod Yahoo groups. A sitting member of the University South Foundation board of directors, Ted coordinates the volunteer operations at the Patterson Observatory and as a NASA volunteer serves as a Solar System Ambassador, a coordinator for the Night Sky Network, observatory manager for the NASA Museum and Informal Educator’s Alliance and coordinator for the NASA Space Place partnerships for both the club and the observatory. Ted is the chair of the Astronomical League’s Planetary Nebula Observing Program and is an A.L. Master Observer and a Herschel Society ‘Gold’ member. He serves as a docent for the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson. Ted is a contributing editor of Sky & Telescope magazine and authors the monthly “Backyard Astronomer” column for the Sierra Vista Herald and the bi-monthly “Astronomer’s Corner” column for Currents magazine. He is a former president and lifetime member of the Back Bay Amateur Astronomers from Hampton Roads Virginia and is a devoted deep sky observer. He observes from his backyard observatory with 30-inch, 18-inch, and 10-inch Dobsonian telescopes.

Mike Morrison

Mike Morrison was hooked on astronomy when he bought a 3" K-Mart Newtonian and found Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky of suburban Salt Lake City. After graduating from mechanical drafting trade school in 1975, I purchased an 8" Celestron SCT, orange tube, and learned how to use setting circles to find objects. After graduating from Mechanical Engineering school, I upgraded to a 10" SCT and joined the Salt Lake Astronomical Society, SLAC. I participated in public events, school star parties, The Bryce Canyon Star Festival, and the Great Basin National Park Star Party. I purchased a PST and participated in the SLAC solar viewing parties. Upgraded my solar scopes to Lunt which I enjoy using now. I changed from the SCT scope to refractors, I currently have 101mm, 140mm, and 180mm refractors.

I worked at TerraTek, for 20 years where I built test equipment to test the properties of rock cores at insitu conditions, pressure, and temperature. I then went to work for Sarcos for 20 years where I built robots for entertainment and military. Raytheon purchased Sarcos, and then shut it down after two years. I went back to TerraTek, now owned by Schlumberger. Schlumberger closed the Salt Lake City operation, and I was transferred to Houston, where I worked to 9 years until I retired. While in Houston I stared using the Dark Sky map to look for places to live after retiring, where I found Sierra Vista. Reached out to HAC to get a feel for the sky conditions and club activities. I found a property in Hereford where I could build a roll off roof observatory.

I retired in March of 2023 and moved to Hereford in April, and joined the club. The observatory in my yard is now 90% complete and is operational. The 180mm refractor is mounted in the observatory. I am interested in trying astrophotography in the future. I enjoy the Club public outreach events and school star parties.

2024 HAC Board of Directors

Penny Brondum, President

Jim Reese, Vice President

Katherine Zellerbach, Secretary

Ted Forte, Treasurer

David Roemer, Past President

Members at Large

Richard Lighthill

Mike Morrison

Vince Sempronio

Gary Grue

Board Members from Previous Years