daily work is the creation of beautiful and tranquil spaces so that guests from all over the world can share this paradise with us. Since we opened we have been overjoyed to share Sámara and Villas Espavel with six present and past SAAS faculty members. Peter Clark, Heidi Neff, Melinda Mueller, Gayle Pearl, April Ferry & Nick Lew have come to relish the beauty of Samara. I hope your own crooked trail will lead you here, staring mouth agape at the howler monkeys dangling by their tails as I stand alongside hair brush in hand, school braid forgotten, in the rapture of the monkey’s howl. Learn more about Mercy & Canuche’s new life and adventures through their website and blog at www.villasespavel.com Photo, previous page: Mercy Rome, class of ’95, and Canuche Terranella, faculty alum 2000-2007, with their family.
BRIAN OSERAN ’96 Brian Oseran graduated from SAAS in 1996 and went on to attend Occidental College, where he majored in Economics. After college, he completed his Certificate in Commercial Real Estate from the University of Washington and worked as a Property Manager and Financial Analyst at Martin Smith Inc. He went on to work in Northern Mexico developing a high-rise resort development and then subsequently worked at Investco Financial Corporation developing multi-family projects in the Seattle area. Brian is currently Principal of Meriwether Partners LLC, where he is responsible for managing acquisitions, dispositions and asset management, as well as providing day-to- day oversight of multi-family development activities, with an emphasis on the Seattle metropolitan area. Meriwether Partners invests in office and industrial properties, as well as the ground up development of multi-family and mixed-use projects. This summer, his team will break ground on a mixed-use project on the Seattle waterfront. “I enjoy the multi- disciplinary and problem solving nature of development, and really appreciate that I get to be involved in the creation of something that will be there for decades to come,” says Brian of his work. This past year, Brian has lent his real estate expertise to his alma mater by chairing the Facilities Committee at SAAS, and in the 2016-17 year, joining the Board of
Trustees. Brian’s father, Bill Oseran, is a former SAAS Trustee and current Honorary Trustee and Brian’s brother is also a SAAS alumnus who graduated in 1994. “SAAS is a pretty unique school, one that I benefited from greatly as a student. I feel that it is important for me to give back to this place that has given me so much, and this was the right time in my life to do it. I have a background in real estate development and, given all that is going on with the campus transformation, I feel like I can contribute in a productive and lasting manner.” When Brian looks back on his experiences at SAAS, he says that the Outdoor and Travel program and the SAAS faculty have remained his most powerful memories. Brian recounts “sleeping on the deck of a ferry for several days waiting to see a whale (we did), sitting for hours in a tent hoping the rain would stop (it did), or watching the sun set over the canyons are all vivid memories I have from (the Alaska and Canyonlands Trips).” Apart from trips, Brian says it was the SAAS faculty that made the school so memorable, “Even back then, in the early days of the school, when it was still finding its way, it was so clear that the staff and faculty were so dedicated to making the school a world class institution. That dedication and willingness to ‘make it work’ even with a campus that was really cobbled together, translated into a wonderful and unique experience.”
Brian Oseran ’96 83