Board Officers & Directors
admin@gallatincommunitygunclub.org
The President serves as Board Chair, leading the Board, presiding over meetings, ensuring mission alignment, and overseeing compliance, safety standards, and programs. Acting as Secretary, the President maintains official records and represents the Corporation in legal, banking, and IRS matters. The Vice President supports the President and assumes presidential duties as needed and, as Treasurer, provides financial oversight, budgeting support, and ensures required financial filings are completed under board-approved controls. Directors participate in governance and fiduciary oversight, review organizational performance, vote on major decisions, and ensure the Corporation acts in furtherance of its charitable mission.
GARRETT, President & Secretary, Co-Founder
TARA, Vice President & Treasurer, Co-Founder
McKenzie, Director
PATRICK, Director
Leadership Team
The Leadership Team supports the mission, values, and strategic direction of the organization by helping guide programs, operations, and community engagement. Leadership Team members work collaboratively with the Board of Directors and officers to ensure the organization remains mission-focused, ethical, inclusive, and sustainable.
Leadership Team members are not responsible for fiduciary oversight unless they also serve as board members. Instead, they provide operational leadership, subject-matter expertise, and community insight to help advance the organization’s goals.
Instructors
Gallatin Community Gun Club instructors are welcoming, compassionate, and entirely volunteer-based. They’re people who generously share their time and expertise because they care deeply about community education. They create a supportive environment where questions are encouraged, mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities, and everyone is free to grow at their own pace. Their goal is to help you build confidence, develop practical skills, and leave feeling empowered.
Garrett shot rifles and pistols extensively growing up. After taking a break, he took up shooting again in 2024. Seeing a need in the community for a more balanced view of firearms ownership and use, he founded the Gallatin Community Gun Club. Garrett focuses primarily on teaching basic firearm skills/safety and Stop the Bleed.
Tara believes safety is the foundation of every skill, whether in firearms or medical response. She approaches teaching with a lifelong learning mindset and focuses on helping students build confidence, competence, and responsible decision-making. Tara primarily teaches basic firearm safety and Stop the Bleed.
Adam has been a part-time EMT for 13 years, working ski patrol and various events and teaching classes. He likes dry humor and reading long documents, occasionally venturing into nonfiction if the moon is full. Adam primarily teaches medical classes.
Dan loves baking, learning history, theater, and preparing for the inevitable collapse of society! He’s a survivalist with both urban and wilderness expertise.
Joe – Bio coming soon!
A lifelong outdoors enthusiast and Bozeman native, McKenzie is a former wilderness EMT/SAR and CDT thru-hiker turned survivalist and prepper. He is also an open water and altitude certified diver. When not out on the range or in the backcountry, he can be found in the garden trying to be a better beekeeper, or riding ADV motorcycles somewhere ridiculous and unnecessary.
Sam began in sporting clays and FITASC before moving to rifles and pistols in 2008. He became an instructor in 2009, entered law enforcement in 2010, and later worked in private security before coming to Montana. His instruction starts with handgun fundamentals and progresses through defensive pistol, long guns, and small-unit tactics.
Ashley is an NRA-certified Basic Pistol Instructor and Chief Range Safety Officer, authorized to certify Range Safety Officers. She is also a USCCA-certified instructor and approved through Gallatin County to issue CWP class certificates. A Gallatin County native, she has been shooting since childhood and began focusing on handgun training in 2016. Ashley is passionate about empowering others through firearm safety education and responsible training.
John – Bio Coming Soon!
Joe M. served six years in the Illinois Army National Guard as a Forward Observer (13F), deploying to Afghanistan in 2019. After his deployment, he trained his team in precision targeting, radio communications, and land navigation. He is currently a field geologist pursuing a master’s degree in geology, with a focus on field mapping and mountain-building processes.
Dante – Bio Coming Soon!
Charissa is a Butte native who has lived in the Gallatin Valley for 18 years and trained in martial arts throughout that time. She holds a 3rd-degree black belt in Karate and a 2nd-degree black belt in traditional weapons, along with certifications in Empowerment Self-Defense and trauma-informed education. Her most recent training is with Soul Punch Self-Defense, a women-led approach to personal safety that integrates smart pepper spray technology.
Bio Coming Soon!
Patrick is passionate about sharing his firearm knowledge gained from nearly a decade spent working in firearms sales. His time in sales has allowed him hands on experience with thousands of makes and models of firearms. With that experience he is always happy to help answer questions and help people get started on the right foot when getting in to shooting.
Bio coming soon!