Staff and Volunteers

Summer Wyatt Bacharach, Executive Director

Summer Wyatt Bacharach, a lifelong horse owner and animal advocate, has always felt a deep need to help animals and people. From her work presenting her own humane education program, Making the Connection: Animal Cruelty and Family Violence, in West Virginia public schools to passing legislation focusing on puppy mill regulation and exotic animal ownership during her time working with the Humane Society of the United States, she has used her skills and determination to create a change for both humans and animals throughout her life.

Summer aims to continue this work, saying “Because of the Parelli Foundation, many lives are changed. I am honored to be a part of the driving force in continuing the Parelli Foundation’s programs; ensuring that horses and people alike benefit from training and funding put into the right places.”.

Summer was introduced to Parelli Natural Horsemanship in 2012 and attributes her then trainer’s approach of using PNH to being able to learn a new way of approaching training and life together with her beloved RBE American Saddlebred mare, Lexi AKA “Something Perfect”.

Summer and her husband, Rob, live in North Carolina with their lazy Jack Russel, Bebe, and expressive Plot Hound mix, Lady.

Anthony Linquata, Executive Director

Anthony Linquata is a seasoned Senior Executive with over 30 years of experience in helping nonprofit and private companies reach their full potential by managing change through business development, implementation and development of scalable operational systems, and leadership advisement.

Anthony’s work in nonprofits began with his work with abused and neglected children in residential settings. For over 26 years he served the County of Los Angeles and over 29,000 children in the Child Protective Services system. Many of those 29,000 children would go on to be reunited with family, attend college and complete degrees from such schools as UCLA, USC, California State University Northridge, UCSB, and UCSD. Anthony served as Executive Director at Children Are Our Future and has consulted with numerous nonprofits in California and New Mexico. He worked closely with California Alliance of Child & Family Services to develop and establish peer to peer evaluation standards for residential treatment facilities across California. His continued work with nonprofits extended to his volunteer efforts with Big City Mountaineers, PUSH (People who Understand the Severely Handicapped), Tree People, and Success is Our Future (a college scholarship program for youth in the Los Angeles Probation System).

Anthony followed-up his career in nonprofits with positions in executive management with MASH Studios, an office interiors design firm. Their clients include tech companies that we rely on and carry in our pockets every day. His next project was Modloft. Modloft is the first high-end furniture company to sell exclusively online. Modloft began their online presence selling exclusively through their website, then becoming one of the very first furniture companies to partner with online giant Wayfair.

His passions have now led him back to the nonprofit world…

“My passion is working with people to solve complex organizational and leadership challenges. Whether those problems are large-scale social issues, organizational dysfunction, or leadership effectiveness, I thrive on understanding the whole system and finding creative and engaging solutions using relationship oriented and strength-based approaches to create inclusive, mission-driven positive environments for all.”

Anthony Linquata

Seth Burgess, Director of Operations

Seth got his start with horses in his twenties as owner/operator of a full service Arabian Horse Breeding farm. From there he started an employment service for horse people nationwide which he ran for 25 years, officially retiring in 2011. He is a level 2-3 student. He and his wife Judy live in New Mexico where Judy is an Episcopal priest. They have three dogs and three horses. Seth is also active in men’s spiritual journey work through the Illuman organization. He has been a volunteer and contractor for the Foundation since 2012. For the Foundation, he does web site development, video editing, and is part of the core team.

Mary Mielczarek - Volunteer Coordinator

10 years ago, my husband Terry and I rescued two polo ponies that had been abandoned at a boarding facility. We knew nothing about horses, but found Parelli Natural Horsemanship and started on our journey getting to know them and learning so much about ourselves in the process. Compared to many in the horse world, we are just beginning our life with horses. By volunteering with the Foundation we support others’ dreams of building their life with horses.

Diane Pursch - Photographer

This is a picture of my Level 3 horse, Sapphire, and me. I also have Antonio, L 4/5, and Candy, the babysitter. I currently have 1 dog, Murphy, and 2 barn cats, Mr Mister and Ms Mollie. I passed all of Level 3 in 2012 and will be filming my L4 recently. I have a BS in Education and graduate work in Psychology from Texas A&M. I have owned and operated my own photography company since 1995. I live in a small town in Texas, Cedar Park, close to Austin.

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