Meet the Staff

Barbara, hard at work at the Sunflour Cookie Company, ca. 1980

Barbara L. Mitchell, MSW, has worked for Interim for more than 30 years, serving as Executive Director for the last 25 years. Under her leadership, Interim has grown from an annual budget of $300,000 in 1984 to a budget of more than $8.5 million.

Barbara started with Interim as the vocational program director and created the agency’s first vocational training program for adults with mental illness, the Sunflour Cookie Company.

Early on, Barbara and her staff realized that affordable housing was a significant barrier for those living with mental illness, so significant that the lack of affordable supportive housing often forced those with mental illness into homelessness. That realization spurred Interim to develop 19 projects that offer varying levels of support for 240 clients with mental illness throughout Monterey, Marina, and Salinas.

In 2000, California’s Director of Mental Health appointed Barbara to the State’s Mental Health Planning Council. This committee oversees California’s public mental health system. Barbara is past Chair of this group and is currently the Vice-Chair of the Policy and Systems Development Committee.

She is also Vice President of Monterey County’s Coalition of Homeless Services Providers.

Kate Spacher started at Interim in 1990 as Deputy Director. She provides clinical Supervision for program directors and clinical consultation for staff groups. She also assists in program planning, implementation and evaluation and provides initial orientation and on-going in-service training for all staff. Kate received her master’s degree from Michigan State University and her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University.

Alan Bilinsky is Interim’s Housing Development and Property Director. As Director, he is responsible for our Housing, Landscaping and Maintenance Staffs. Alan joined Interim in 2005 and is a certified housing Management Occupancy Specialist. Alan received his Bachelor’s in Computer Sciences from the University of Michigan.

Pali Weerasekera, CPA, has been with Interim since December 2006; he is currently the Director of Finance and Administration overseeing all accounting functions for the organization. He received his B.S. from the University of Phoenix in Accounting and California College of Commerce.

Chris Kinard spent 35 years in the “for profit” world before joining Interim in late 2001 as the Director of Human Resources and IT. After a BA in Civil Engineering and an MA in International Relations, Chris spent most of his career in increasingly responsible international Human Resources positions for Fortune 500 companies Standard Oil, Levi Strauss & Diamond Shamrock, followed by several years of management consulting. In the 15 years before joining Interim, Chris held executive positions for two venerable Hawaiian companies in the property development/agricultural and retail fields.

Susan Alnes was named Interim’s Director of Development and Communications in September 2009. Prior to joining Interim, Susan worked as a technical writer and editor specializing in government grants and as a marketing communications consultant. She has a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Minnesota.