Skip to main content
Note: Our website reflects availability at our warehouse; please call us for Billings in-store availability!
Close this alert

Board of Directors

Members of our Board serve three-year terms beginning the year indicated in parenthesis beside each member's name.

David Dietrich, President (2018, 2021)

David J. Dietrich graduated with honors from Whitman College with a B.A. degree in 1979. He served in the Peace Corps in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He attended the University of Montana (UM) College of Law and graduated with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 1984.

Photograph of David Dietrich, Board President for This House of Books, a community-owned, independent bookstore and tea shop in downtown Billings, Montana

David is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate (RPTE) Law Section of the American Bar Association. Hs is a past Co-Chair of the ABA's Property Preservation Task Force, which later resulted in the Uniform Law Commission's adoption of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. David is currently on the UM's Tax Institute Advisory Board and serves on the Board of Trustees of Rocky Mountain College (RMC) in Billings, Montana. He served for six years on the Board of Directors of the Montana Land Reliance, a private land trust in Montana that oversees in excess of a million acres of protected land.

David’s publications include the 2011 ABA Book Conservation Easements: Tax and Real Estate Planning for Landowners and Advisors; “Selected Post-Mortem Estate Tax Elections for the Small Business Owner”, “Pleasing Mother Earth and the IRS: Using Conservation Easements to Save Open Space, Income and Estate Taxes” for the Heckerling Institute for Estate Planning for the University of Miami in January 2003 and other tax and real estate related topics for the State Bar of Montana.

David is a fourth-generation Montanan with diverse ranching, real estate, and estate planning background. His firm, Dietrich & Associates, P.C. has provided real estate tax and estate planning services to the region for over 24 years. 

David and his family enjoy living in the Big Sky Country; he is an avid outdoor digital camera user, loves reading, and likes outdoor activities in any season.

For more information, see David's staff picks.

 

Julie Schultz, Treasurer (2018, 2021)

Photograph of Julie Schultz, Board Treasurer for This House of Books, an independent, community-owned bookstore and tea shop in downtown Billings, Montana

Julie Schultz believes that artificial intelligence is going to drastically reshape society, so she quit a job managing institutional portfolios in NYC to spend more time thinking about the consequences, something she explores in depth on her blog: The Disgruntled Rationalist. She grew up in Montana but left for college and graduate school (Boston University, Princeton University) and stayed away for 20 years, living variously in Atlanta, Boston, New York, London, and Bermuda. After a dozen years working in finance, though, watching human irrationality in action on a daily basis, it was time for new intellectual challenges.

The pull of family—and the lower cost of living—drew her home to Montana, and she was delighted to find an independent bookstore had just opened in downtown Billings. This House of Books has become a favorite hangout, one that handily combines her dual passions for books and tea while fostering a strong local community.

For more information, see Julie's book recommendations.

 

 

 

Precious McKenzie, Vice President (2016, 2019, 2022)

Photograph of Precious McKenzie, Board Member-at-Large for This House of Books, a community-owned bookstore and tea shop in downtown Billings, Montana

 

Precious has a Ph.D. in English from the University of South Florida. Her area of specialization is nineteenth-century British literature so, naturally, she loves those big, fat Victorian novels. She's taught at the University of South

 Florida, New College of Florida, and Montana State University's City College. She is currently an assistant professor of English at Rocky Mountain College.

She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators and the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association. Her poetry has appeared in ellipsis, Gemini, and as part of Tupelo Press's 30/30 Project. She is also the author of over forty books for children including Buff Ducks, Isle of Enchantment, One Thousand Miles, Now or Later Alligator, and Disaster Day.

Precious served as the first Vice President to the board from 2016–2018. She was re-elected to the board at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the shareholders.

For more information, see Precious' book recommendations and her author page.

 

 

  Tom Howard, Secretary (2019, 2022)

 

Tom Howard’s love for reading took root while he was growing up in rural Colorado in the 1960s. Each Sunday, the Howard brothers would pile into dad’s old Mercury to make the two-mile trip to buy the Sunday Denver Post.  Although the brothers sometimes argued over who got the first crack at reading Dick Tracy, Prince Valiant and Beetle Bailey, the weekly routine sparked a thirst for reading and helped launch Tom into a 40-year career in journalism. His 33-year tenure at The Billings Gazette ended in 2017. Tom lives in Billings with his wife, Clair, also a former Gazette reporter.

 

Elected to the Board at the 2021 Annual Meeting in April of the shareholders of Billings Bookstore Cooperative are:

  • Corby Skinner
  • Tawnya Schoolitz

Elected to the Board at the 2023 Annual Meeting in April of the shareholders of Billings Bookstore Cooperative are:

  • Daniel Charlton
  • Virginia Duke

Please check back for more information about new board members as it becomes available.

Here is information about those who served on the Board previously.