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Markus Wullimann
Operations Director

Markus is our Operations Director and then some.  In his own words: I see my job as the glue and the oil that holds CooperRiis together and gets it going on a daily basis.  His officer training in the Swiss Army has really paid off, especially when he juggles individual resident schedules to fit in appointments with their therapists, nutritional or addiction counselors, groups, work, and on and on!

On a day-to-day basis, Markus manages the organizational structure of CooperRiis, and effectively recruits, hires, trains, supervises and evaluates the performances of all Work Training and Community Life Managers.  He oversees that each resident is provided with a challenging and rewarding life skills opportunity in one of five areas: farms & gardens, kitchen & bakery, housekeeping, creative arts and woodworking.

He sees the most important aspects of his job as setting the right tone for staff so they will honor and uphold the CooperRiis mission: relationship and holistic centered care for our residents.

Markus recently completed his course work as a Registered Horticultural Therapist.  His certificate is issued by the AHTA (American Horticultural Therapist Association), which enables us to offer Horticultural Therapy and internships for horticultural students at CooperRiis.  He is also a board member of AHTA. www.AHTA.org

Born on a farm in Switzerland, Markus has an engineering degree in horticulture and managed his family farm in Switzerland until 1994 when he and Ines with four children in tow, moved to Atlanta, GA.  In Atlanta he managed the Oglevee, GA Division and their product network in Europe and Africa.  As Markus says: “I am here at CooperRiis because I was looking for meaningful work and wanted to combine and share my horticulture knowledge with the healing we do here."