Colorado Conservation Voters Board of Directors
As of 1/01/12
John Backlund - John is a business financing consultant focusing on smaller growing companies based in the Denver area. He is currently on the Board of the Rockies Venture Club, a local organization devoted to entrepreneurship and financing as well as the Board of the Denver Association of Business Economists, a local affiliate of The National Association for Business Economists. In addition, John is one of the founders of the Colorado Cleantech Initiative, a monthly forum for entrepreneurs, investors, and other business support organizations.
John received an MBA and CPA designation while studying at Northwestern’s Kellogg School. His undergraduate degree is in economics and political science from Southern Methodist University. His hobbies include golf, yoga, and bike riding.
Lynn Chapman Greene - Lynn is the founder of Greenenergy, a consulting firm specializing in renewable energy development. During her 27 years as an attorney, Lynn has focused her results-oriented practice on enhancing land and water management to achieve smart growth. As a law student, she worked on the formation of the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Research Institute, which is now the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. She is on the Board of Directors of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society, and works to support all the efforts around Colorado’s Amendment 37. Lynn holds a J.D. and a B.A. from the University of Colorado.
Michele Christiansen – Michele is the Operations Manager of the Colorado Health Institute, a nonprofit organization that serves as a comprehensive source of health data resources and policy analysis. Prior to joining CHI, Michele was Marketing Coordinator for Rothberg, Tamburini & Windsor, an environmental engineering company that provides services to the water and wastewater industries. Michele holds a B.S. in International Business and Marketing with a minor in Spanish from the University of Minnesota. Her love of the mountains and adventure drove Michele to move to Colorado in 2001. She now enjoys her free time hiking, snowboarding, rafting and camping in the Colorado Rockies.
Beth Conover – Beth Conover has over 20 years’ outstanding experience developing and implementing sustainable environmental and economic programs and policies at the local, national and international level. She helped shape the redevelopment of the 4700-acre Stapleton airport site in Denver (one of the largest urban infill projects in the United States), and was involved in early green infrastructure development for that site and others, including the Sand Creek Regional Greenway.
In 2003 Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper appointed her to serve as Policy Advisor for parks, planning, public works and water, and in 2004 she created Greenprint Denver – the Mayor’s high profile sustainability program. Now the largest single program in the Mayor’s Office, Greenprint Denver catalyzed widespread change in city operations and behaviors, placed Denver squarely within the top ten cities nationally for its environmental leadership practices, documenting hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual savings as a result. Conover also led development, in 2006-2007, of the city’s first greenhouse gas inventory and climate action plan – one of the first such plans in the country to be implemented.
Beth holds a BA from Brown University and an MBA and Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies from Yale University.
Andrew Currie – Mr. Currie founded Email Publishing Inc., his second software startup, and as CEO led the company to become the leading provider of large-scale personalized message delivery and email subscription management in the publishing and software industry with clients including CMP Media, USA Today, Forbes, Netscape, and Intuit. MessageMedia acquired Email Publishing (since acquired by DoubleClick DCLK). In 1999 Andrew and his two co-founders Brad Feld and Brian Makare were named Boulder, Colorado Esprit Entrepreneur of the Year.
Andrew is an active member of E2 Environmental Entrepreneurs, the business voice for the environment. In addition to state and federal advocacy with E2 he is co-founder and leader of the Rocky Mountains chapter of E2. Andrew has invested in 11 start-up companies, most of them in Colorado, and one of which, AtLast, was purchased by Google. He is also an investor in several venture capital funds including aquaculture and natural foods products and investor in several real estate funds including one focused on innovative approaches to preserving large ranches in the American West. Prior to this he served four years on the board of the Boulder software company Gold Systems, Inc. (www.goldsys.com) and trustee of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County. He is the former Chair of CCV. In 2000 he co-founded and served as Chair for Social Venture Partners Boulder County (www.svpbouldercounty.org). Andrew has a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Southern Mississippi and is an alumnus of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization.
When not traveling the world to experience Nature and learn more about wildlife conservation of endangered species, Andrew spends time in Boulder and Denver, Colorado and enjoys hiking, mountain biking, road biking and music. Online at http://www.andrewcurrie.info/.
Roger Freeman – Roger is an attorney at Davis Graham & Stubbs in Denver specializing in environmental law. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Denver School of Law. He has a J.D. from the University of Denver and a B.S. in botany from the University of Michigan.
Barbara Green - Barbara is a partner in the law firm SullivanGreenSeavy L.L.C. where she practices environmental law and land use law. Ms. Green holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and an M.P.A. and J.D. degree from the University of Colorado. As General Counsel to Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, Ms. Green assists headwaters communities to craft water resource and environmental policies. She also assists local governments as special counsel in their efforts to adopt and enforce environmental regulations. Barbara serves on the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority and is a member of the Advisory Board for the University of Denver Water Law Review. She also served on the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board and the Colorado Groundwater Commission.
Dan Grossman – Dan is the Regional Director for Environmental Defense’s Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Boulder, Colorado. He joined the organization in May of 2006, after serving ten years in the Colorado General Assembly. He served six years in the Colorado House of Representatives, including two years as House Minority Leader, the youngest person in Colorado history to serve in that capacity. Dan also served four years in the Colorado Senate, where he was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and vice chairman of the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee. As a legislator, Dan had an average CCV Colorado Legislative Conservation Scorecard score of 98 percent.
Elise Jones – Elise is currently the Executive Director of Colorado Environmental Coalition. Prior to that she was the Regional Director of the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund Rocky Mountain Office, Senior Environmental Aide to Rep. Elizabeth Furse (D-OR) and a lobbyist for the National Wildlife Federation. Elise holds a Masters in Natural Resources Policy from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Natural Resources from Cornell University.
Peter Kirsch – Peter is a founding partner with the law firm of Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell, with offices in Denver, Washington, DC and New York. His practice emphasizes environmental and land use law, and public-sector negotiations. He most often represents local governments in environmental and land use negotiations and litigation concerning major infrastructure and transportation projects. He has authored numerous articles and spoken at dozens of professional conferences on topics related to airport development, land use planning, growth management, environmental law, and the negotiation of intergovernmental agreements.
Mr. Kirsch has served on the Board of Directors of Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, and the Board of Trustees for Oberlin College and the Museum of Contemporary Art – Denver as well as other environmental and educational organizations. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Chicago Law School. He is married with three sons.
Aimee Leatherman – Aimee is a Project Developer for E.ON Climate & Renewables, one of the world’s leading wind energy companies. She is a second generation Colorado native, and has spent the past seven years working in ‘greenfield’ development of large wind farms across the Western United States. Prior to working for EC&R, Aimee was a Renewable Project Manager for Invenergy LLC, another incumbent independent power producer in North America. Through her grass root approach towards renewable energy development and environmental stewardship, Ms. Leatherman has established close working relationships and credibility not only with local, state, and federal officials, but also with rural communities and landowners throughout the west.
Aimee’s expertise in successfully sitting and permitting large renewable energy projects has led her to take an active role working with organizations such as Interwest Energy Alliance, and the Colorado Renewables & Conservation Collaborative, an informal group of top wind industry experts, and the conservation community. The CRCC created a voluntary best management practice (BMP) framework to avoid, minimize and mitigate the effects of wind energy development on eastern Colorado’s native plants and wildlife. She’s also an active board member of the Colorado Independent Energy Association, and serves on their Legislative Affairs Committee team. The CIEA is a large trade association of independent power producers which utilize renewable and other proven technologies to create cleaner, more efficient energy plants that are able to competitively provide more power to Colorado consumers at a lower cost. When Aimee isn’t chasing wind around the Western U.S., she enjoys mountain biking, skiing, and golfing in the Colorado Rockies.
John Loewy – John is an attorney living in Denver and Breckenridge, Colorado. He is a graduate of Miami University and of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
He has served in a number of government positions including as a special assistant in the White House Office of Energy Policy and Planning, as counsel to the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology, counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and as assistant to the director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. He also served as chief of staff in the Oregon State Senate and as a government affairs advisor in private practice in Portland, Oregon. He was a founding investor and consultant to Digimarc, a successful high-tech startup and now pursues investment opportunities in early-stage business ventures.
Current civic involvement includes serving on the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission and on the Board of Trustees of the National Repertory Orchestra. He is a member of the advisory committee for the Colorado College “State of the Rockies” project. He has served on other boards and advisory committees including the Board of Visitors for the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin.
Karl Nyquist – Karl is co-founder of C&A Companies, a housing developer on the Front Range that specializes in green building. C&A has preserved over 2,000 acres through conservation easements. Karl is an avid sportsman and breeds champion birddogs.
John Powers – Formerly a cattle and horse rancher, John has been a real estate broker and investor. He is President of the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado and board member of the Colorado Environmental Coalition, the Educational Foundation of America and Prentice Foundation. He has an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado and a B.A. in History/Psychology from Oberlin College.
Auden Schendler – Auden is Vice President of Sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company, which has led the ski industry in green buildings, onsite renewable energy, ISO 14001 certification, environmental philanthropy and political activisim. Auden worked previously in corporate sustainability at Rocky Mountain Institute and has also been a trailer insulator, burger flipper, ambulance medic, Outward Bound instructor, high school math and English teacher, freelance writer, and Forest Service goose nest island builder. His writing has been published in Harvard Business Review, the Los Angeles Times, Rock and Ice, and Salon.com, among other places, and his sustainable business work has been covered in Businessweek, Outside, Fast Company, Travel and Leisure and other media. In 2006, Auden was named a global warming innovator by Time magazine. His book Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution will be published in February 2009 by Public Affairs. He lives in Basalt, Colorado with his wife, Ellen, and their children, Willa and Elias.
Jenn Vervier – Jenn Vervier started on the bottling line at New Belgium Brewing Company over 18 years ago and became NBB’s first Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. As the Director of Sustainability and Strategic Development her responsibilities include the sustainability management system, corporate responsibility reporting, greenhouse gas accounting, natural resource management, legislative advocacy, philanthropy, public/private renewable energy partnerships, strategic planning, and property development. Jenn creates opportunities to expand New Belgium’s business role model practices both within and without the brewery. Jenn received a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities from Washington College in Maryland. She also holds an MBA in Finance from Regis University and completed the course work for a Masters in Applied Ethics from Colorado State University.
Gary Wockner – Gary is a writer, conservationist, and ecologist in Fort Collins . Gary writes on a variety of conservation topics — in 2005, he received the Colorado Book Award for Comeback Wolves. He most recently edited and contributed to Pulse of the River: Colorado Writers Speak for the Endangered Cache la Poudre. Gary is very active in local conservation issues in Larimer County — he is a founding member of the Save The Poudre Coalition. He also served on the state-appointed Colorado Wolf Working Group in 2005 that wrote a management plan for wolves migrating into Colorado. Gary has an M.A in education and a PhD in environmental geography. Online at www.garywockner.com.