The Cool Works Team

Loving what we do

The Cool Works® home office is located on the Yellowstone River just outside the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park. We are a team of five - Bill and Patty are in the Yellowstone office, Eric is in Helena, MT, Kathi is in Patagonia, AZ, and Kari is in Bellingham, WA.

 

Bill Berg

Founder / President

Bill's first cool work was pumping gas in Yellowstone in 1972. Fresh from a Woebegonian upbringing in Minnesota, he's been oooohing and ahhhhing ever since at all of the scenery and great people he's found here. Other cool work has been as a NOLS instructor, working as a Winterkeeper in Yellowstone and as a backcountry ranger in Alaska and Wyoming. Bill's wife, Colette, is a sub-district ranger in Yellowstone. Colette also got her start in Yellowstone working the gas pumps.

After a 9 year stint recruiting others to work in Yellowstone, Bill took his mid-life crisis in business school in Seattle. Cool Works was conceived in an Information Systems class in January of '95 and born and built that summer. Launched in November of '95 the Works became his MBA substitute.

Bill climbed Denali in the dark ages of 1978, then led a group of friends and family on the West Buttress in 2004.

 

Kathi Noaker

Job Marketing Maven / Copy Editing Aficionado

Kathi started 'Cool Working' when she was 21 at the Bill Cody Ranch just east of Yellowstone Park. She worked seasonally for the next 15 years for various private concessions and the Park Service in and around Yellowstone.

Housekeeper, line cook, server and bartender; she's worked a front desk, racked up sales in a gift shop, managed a gas station, a bar, and developed and directed a cross-country ski program. She worked for the National Park Service in Yellowstone as a gate ranger, a campground attendant, for park maintenance, (That's right, she's served her time on the back of a garbage truck!) and in the Visitor Services and Backcountry offices. But some of her most memorable seasonal experiences were as a volunteer in the Yellowstone wilderness.

During the winters she completed her degree in Health & Human Development and Spanish and spent an inordinate amount of time riding on Mexican buses. In January of 1997, Kathi joined Bill, Cool Works founder, to help grow Cool Works into what it is today.

Kathi wears many Cool Works hats, but her expertise is in helping you market your jobs. With 15 years in the field and 15 years of experience at Cool Works helping employers with their seasonal recruiting, she'll work with you to craft your recruiting message to attract the kind of quality employees that will be the right fit for your organization. She's passionate about what she does because working seasonally opened up a whole new world for her, and she wants to share that with as many people as possible. She believes in the perfect fit, has seen it happen over and over again, and will work hard to make that happen for you!

After calling Bozeman, MT home for many years, Kathi and her husband Michael and the wonder dog Pete moved south, WAY south, 18 miles from the border to the little town of Patagonia, AZ, where all that time studying Spanish has finally paid off.

If you're new to Cool Works and want to know all the options for advertising your jobs, Kathi is your go-to gal.

Patty Ceglio

Director of Operations

Patty has been in the Yellowstone area for over half of her life - that almost makes her a native. Born in Ohio, schooled in Michigan - she naively thought a college summer job as a Maid in Yellowstone would be "her one chance to see the West". Uh, yeah.

The Game of Life offered up a BFA degree and a stunning career in Human Resources for the main concessioner in Yellowstone, until Cool Works swept her away. As one of the original Cool Works' 10 clients then, Patty's since been witness to the growth beyond 3000 clients and a thousand "dream job assignments". She is the Queen of SHRA - coordinating the Seasonal Human Resources Association Annual Conference, currently in its 21st year. Still engaging in summer seasonal work, she can foam you an exquisite Cappuccino.

Patty has chalked up 47 states, 23 national parks and 14 foreign countries., and has traveled overseas for international recruiting and a stunning adventure with the European AIDS Vaccine Ride. Daughters Sarah and Emily were raised in Yellowstone and finally are coming round to appreciate the uniqueness of that. Indigo, the 120-lb lab/newfie cross just cares about abundant treats and jaunts in the pasture.

Patty is the ambassador of creative thinking, HR logistics, color, design and marketing at Cool Works. Call for help with a job posting, to get your Profile kicked in, help to understand or set up an Applicant Tracking System or to scheme and dream. If you're at a loss for wording - she'll whip up a miracle on the spot.

Eric Lund

Tech Dude/Web Wizard

Eric helped give birth to Cool Works back in 1995 when he was a partner in the ISP that originally hosted CoolWorks.com. Since then he married Robyn, brought two boys, Jaydon and Braxton, into the world, worked for the State of Montana and now is working full time at Cool Works to keep us on the cutting edge.

You KNOW he loves this gig by the way he'll look at a map, or cruise by a client in an awesome location and smile and say "We work there!". You HAVE to see this shot he took of the Moose's Tooth on a Denali Overflight. We work there...

 

Kari Quaas

HR/Recruiting Specialist and Cool Works Pied Piper'ess
West Coast Branch

Kari’s first seasonal job was as a day camp counselor at the YMCA in her hometown. Post-college and post-Europe and Australia/New Zealand travels, she took a summer job as a driver/guide working for Gray Line of Seattle. Yes, she drove 40+ foot long motorcoaches around the streets of Seattle and the surrounding areas. Her initial thought was that the job would last for just the summer, but instead, it turned into an 11-year career in the cruise ship industry working half of that time for Holland America, mostly in recruiting, safety and training, and the other half for Princess Cruises, in safety and human resources. Back in 1999, when she was working for the Gray Line of Alaska subsidiary of HAL, she spent hours on the phone with Kathi from Cool Works developing their seasonal recruiting website and so began the CW relationship. Years later, Kari met Bill who was the Princess rep for the Staffing Center, our applicant tracking system, which is a role she now plays at Cool Works. Kari also authors the Seasonal Human Resources Blog . If you’re looking for some insight into human resources with a seasonal focus, check out the blog. Kari also moderates our social network called My CoolWorks so if you want to know what the job seekers are thinking, get in touch with Kari.

Besides helping like-minded folks find seasonal jobs, Kari is actively pursuing her photography habit and if you are interested in having a portrait of your family, child(ren) and/or pet(s), please check out the Kari Quaas Photography website. She is also on the Board of Directors for Washington Business Week, a teen business camp / education program, and volunteers (as in hands out cookies) for the Puget Sound Blood Center.