Dean M. Schroeder is an award winning author, consultant and scholar. His work focuses on creating high-performing organizations and improving people's work lives through the application of better management.
As a consultant and speaker, Dr. Schroeder has worked with many types of companies and organizations in North America, Europe, and Asia. He has personally led organizational turn around and transformation initiatives, and served on the Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for five years.
Dr. Schroeder's latest book, The Idea-Driven Organization: Unlocking The Power in Bottom-up Ideas, will be available March 31, 2014. His best-selling book, Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations (co-authored with Alan Robinson), has been translated into nine different languages, was voted the Reader's Choice by Fast Company magazine and selected as one of the 30 best business books of the year by Soundview Executive Books. Dean shares the "Author of the Year - 2010" award from the Swedish Standards Institute with co-authors Louise Östberg and Alan Robinson for SMÅ IDÉER - STORA RESULTAT (Small Ideas - Huge Results). Dr. Schroeder has also published over eighty articles, for which he has received a number of awards including two Shingo Prizes.
Dr. Schroeder is the Herbert and Agnes Schulz Professor of Management at Valparaiso University and has taught at the University of Massachusetts, St. Petersburg Technical University in Russia and at ALBA in Greece. He received his Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota, his M.B.A. from the University of Montana, and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Institute of Technology at the University of Minnesota.
John M. Bernard is a widely recognized authority on government performance transformation and Lean management systems and a columnist for GOVERNING. He’s the author of the best-selling book Business at the Speed of Now (Wiley 2012) and the widely read Government That Works, The Results Revolution in the States (Results America 2015). Government That Works features forewords by two governors, Martin O'Malley (D) of Maryland and Rick Snyder (R) of Michigan, and endorsements by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. John is host of the podcast The New Bureaucrat and creator of The Results-Driven Manager, his online MasterClass for State Government.
John has been an advisor to four governors and served as the external advisor on the design and rollout of Governor Jay Inslee’s highly respected Results Washington effort, Governor Doug Ducey’s Arizona Management System, and Governor Rick Snyder’s Good Government program.
John was a member of the team that led the first documented large-scale implementation of Lean in the U.S. at Omark Industries in 1981. John has pioneered the application of Lean to the work of management, driving a relentless focus on results through a management system that achieves high levels of employee engagement.
TBD
Katie is a Continuous Improvement Senior with Denver Peak Academy. Katie enjoys working with groups across the City and County of Denver to build the structure needed to successfully make a change, and “organize the chaos”. Many of her favorite projects have included equity or strategic planning, such as helping the Department of Safety and Civil Service Commission enhance equity in their hiring process and helping the new Office of Storytelling set a mission, vision, and measurable goals to broaden the impact of their office. Most recently, she led one of the largest improvements in Peak history, reducing the contracting times across this city. Katie earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Colorado and her master’s degree in sociology from Brown University. When not at work, Katie enjoys being goofy with her family, exploring new places near and far, and being an active Coloradan.
Megan is the Director of Denver Peak Academy. She was first introduced to Peak Academy in 2014 when she took the Black Belt training as the Community Relations Manager for the Town of Frederick. During her nine years in Frederick, Megan created the town’s community outreach programs and department while also empowering staff internally to improve processes and enjoy coming to work every day. Megan is beyond excited to be working where she lives, helping the people that serve her community reach all their wildly important goals. It is a dream come true for Megan to be leading the PEAK team as they continue to transform government. When not at work, Megan makes up songs with her daughter Leona, attends Rockies games with her husband Zach, and gives belly rubs to her big dog, Blue.
Megan holds bachelor’s degrees in Journalism Studies and English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from the University of Denver.
Drew Brown joined the Peak team in 2016 after working with a local school district as a process improvement analyst. He was given the opportunity to attend Peak’s Black Belt training and loved it so much that he applied for a job opening with the team and has been there ever since. Drew has a knack for getting results on projects related to trust building, change management and strategic planning. He was the lead project manager for DDPHE’s acquisition of epidemiology services from Denver Health, he facilitated successful trust and process improvement work with the Clerk & Recorder’s operations team and HOST’s contracting and street outreach teams, and has done strategic planning work with the Public Defender Office and the Climate Action departments communications team.
Drew and his wife Megan have a daughter named Riley, and they all like to spend time in the mountains on weekends with their dog Remus the husky. Drew is an enthusiastic fan of live music, particularly funk, bluegrass and dubstep. He was an NCAA Division 1 Athletic and Academic All-American, and he competed in the sport of Diving at the 2008 Olympic trials.
Ajanae has been working for local government since graduating from college in 2015. Coming from such a strong customer focused background, she is passionate about eliminating the frustrations and barriers community members experience when navigating local government. Additionally, she strives to help fellow employees feel excited about their work through process improvement. Some of her projects include strategic planning for the Office of Community Violence Solutions & Denver Youth Programs during their merger, streamlining Vital Records order intake, and enhancing both equity and efficiency in the Civic Service Commission and Department of Safety HR recruiting, hiring, and onboarding processes. Ajanae was born in Denver and grew up in Aurora, CO. She now resides back in Denver where she hopes to see continuous growth through the city’s innovation efforts.
When not at work, Ajanae finds joy in good food, traveling, fun activities, and spending time with family & friends. Ajanae holds a bachelor’s degree From Colorado State University-Pueblo in Business Administration with a major in Management.
Benjamin joined Peak after working at Denver’s 311. His time with 311 enabled him to experience and work with a broad range of agencies and projects, as well as foster an interest in local government. Since joining the Peak team Benjamin has created tools, training, and marketing content. Projects Benjamin has been a part of include assisting Denver Animal Protection and the Dept of Public Health Inspections in working together to combine their processes to reduce animal bite case times, facilitating an action plan for Denver Parks & Recreation and the Office of Human Resources to hire more lifeguards during the busy summer season, and in a partnership with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure’s Fleet Maintenance he has helped to identify and implement time-saving processes to better serve the citizens of Denver’s growing needs.
Benjamin was born and raised in Queens, New York, and received his Bachelor of Arts from SUNY Albany. When not working, Benjamin enjoys spending time with his dog and backyard chickens and playing board games.
Beth Justice joined SIPA in June 2015 as the Sales and Marketing Director that directs and develops SIPA's marketing and sales activities and objectives tied to culture, values, business initiatives and revenue generation. Beth oversees market research and designs marketing plans for products, services. Her goal is to provide SIPA customers user-friendly and cost-effective technology products and services to enhance communication between local and state communities. With a background in marketing, communications, business development and global sales, Beth was vital in creating rapid growth and awareness for the Bard Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Denver. She also played an integral role in launching a Bard Center student startup, Nokero, whose mission is to help provide light to the 1.4 billion people around the world with no access to electricity. Beth has a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University in business administration.
Contact beth@cosipa.gov, 720-409-5636
Alexa joined the Tyler Colorado family as a Content Management Specialist in 2014 and is now Director of Project Management. Over the years, Alexa has overseen and delivered a variety of online projects to State and Local Government entities across Colorado. She has a particular passion for making Government-related services more accessible to citizens by bringing them online.
A native to Colorado, Alexa received her B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Northern Colorado and enjoys all the outdoors that CO has to offer! Contact: alexa.davis@tylertech.com, 303-534-3468 Extension 134
Brian is a Project Manager with Tyler Technologies, where he’s worked with Colorado state partners since 2021. Brian originally worked as a Content Management Specialist onboarding partners to the CMS website platform provided by the Statewide Internet Portal Authority. Since then, he primarily works with AccessGov, a form-builder product available for Colorado state partners.
Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Brian received his B.S. in Computer Science and Psychology from the University of Missouri. Brian now resides in Superior, taking in all of Colorado’s beauty!
Contact brian.cox@tylertech.com, 303-534-3468 Extension 151
Michelle Malloy has worn many hats at the Colorado Department of Transportation during her 14 years of service. Michelle is currently the Program Manager for CDOT’s Concept to Project (C2P) Office. The C2P works to integrate business improvement project management with change management and ensure that all of CDOT’s business improvement projects realize their intended benefits.
Michelle dedicates herself to being the best servant leader possible, ensuring that everyone and everything left in her care are nurtured and developed to provide the best value and service to the citizens of the state of Colorado today and into the future. Michelle’s expertise lies in strategy, program management, project management, change management, Lean process improvement, facilitation and working with people. Michelle believes that people are the government’s #1 asset and any improvements to the products and services we aim to provide would not happen without them.
Gary Vansuch describes himself this way: I am the most fortunate person on the planet: I have a wonderful wife, and we are in our 44rd year of marriage; and two terrific grown children who are making important contributions to society in education and science. I am honored to lead the Very Best Team on the Planet; and I have the Very Best Job on Earth as the Director of Process Improvement at the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Samantha is an intern for the Colorado Department of Transportation's Office of Process Improvement.
She attended the University of Colorado Boulder and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics containing an emphasis in Statistics, and a double minor in Economics and Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences.
She aspires to eventually return to the University of Colorado Boulder to obtain her Master’s degree and her teaching licensure in the future.
In her free time, Samantha enjoys working out, trying new foods, and spending time with others. She finds great satisfaction in helping people grow, and strives to leave a legacy composed of the impact that she desires to have on others through teaching.
Rylie is an intern for the Colorado Department of Transportation's Office of Process Improvement.
She attended Boise State University and graduated this past May with a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies, a French minor and an Elementary Mandarin Chinese Certificate. This fall she will attend the University of Missouri to pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science, where she hopes to focus her research on Chinese policy as it relates to China’s agenda for territory expansion and regional conflict.
In her free time, Rylie enjoys reading, playing video games, and crocheting.
Matthew is an intern for the Colorado Department of Transportation's Office of Process Improvement.
Matthew Knodell went to a small liberal arts school in San Antonio and graduated with a BA in Math and a BS in Physics. He decided to further pursue mathematics and went to UT Dallas where he obtained a masters in Mathematics. He is currently enrolled at UC Denver where he is working on a PhD in Applied Mathematics. He is particularly interested in data science and predictive math. Outside of math, his hobbies include Star Wars, Star Wars, and Star Wars.
Daniel is an intern for the Colorado Department of Transportation's Office of Process Improvement.
He is a junior studying international studies and business analytics at the University of Denver. In addition to his two fields of study, Daniel also has a minor in Leadership Studies.
After graduation, Daniel hopes to continue his work in public service by obtaining his master's degree in Global Economic Affairs, where he hopes to enter the field of international policy analysis.
In his free time, Daniel enjoys photography, skiing, appreciating nature, working out, and watching movies.
Rose is a systems engineer originally from Washington state and an intern for the Colorado Department of Transportation's Office of Process Improvement. She attended the University of Arizona after a successful and inspiring career in the FIRST Robotics program which inspired them to study engineering and project management.
Graduated summer 2022, Rose embarked to Colorado to escape the heat and explore a career in engineering with a focus in sustainability. She is excited about working in the process improvement department, where she can learn more about Colorado, its transportation system, and the people who use it. They hope to have a hand in improving the systems within CDOT but also the systems that make up our transit system during the internship.
Rose spends her free time hiking the Rockies, running, creating art, playing games, and tabletop RPG's. They grew up admiring the natural beauty of the Olympic mountains and Cascades of Washington, and have thoroughly enjoyed Arizona and all it has to offer as well.
Bridget is a problem solver. She is an innovative leader as an attorney and the Director of Project Management for the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS). Challenged over three years ago to create the Project Management Division, Bridget took a non-existent division and built it into an accomplished, driven unit of nearly 20 Strategic Project Managers who guide CDHS to better serve Coloradans.
Bridget is a skilled problem solver and visionary who excels at getting things done while creating positive change for CDHS. Her skills and talent result in helping her staff and their clients thrive. As a results-driven teambuilder, Bridget focuses on building a positive culture where everyone is valued and their opinions matter. She leads her team in focusing on efficiency, process improvement, and effectively managing cross-functional business operations. Bridget and her team are currently deploying a department-wide results-driven management system with John M Bernard.
Bridget has a diverse educational background and is a Certified Change Practitioner, Six Sigma Black Belt, and a Colorado Licensed attorney. She enjoys living in the Colorado mountains with her husband and dogs, Violet and Agnes.
Amanda Breeden, CRA, oversees clinical research in the healthcare setting in the Denver, Colorado metro area. She utilizes a lean management system in the oversight and compliance of a $180M portfolio of grants and contracts. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Lean Network. As a professional research administrator for over 15 years, she is an active member of many research administration networks, societies, and associations where she presents on the intersection of Lean and Research Administration in clinical research and clinical trial management. She is a Certified Research Administrator (RACC). Amanda received dual M.A. degrees from the University of Northern Iowa in Human Service Administration and Women’s/Gender studies. When she's not proselytizing the benefits of lean in the research administration sector, she can be found humming, “What do you do with a B.A. in English?” or stepping on the wayward Lego.
Neal Kittelson is the Pesticide Certification and Training Program Manager/WPS Coordinator for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. He was previously a Private Applicator inspector for CDA working in the Denver Metro area and northeast Colorado. Prior to working for CDA, he worked on noxious weeds in Arizona, and in Forest Health and Urban Forestry in Idaho and Washington. He has his PhD in Entomology from Washington State University and a BA in Biology from the University of MN, Morris.
Contact neal.kittelson@state.co.us, 303-869-9000
Debbie is Vice President of Advisory Services for Prosci, where she drives the practice strategy and oversees a strong team of Change Advisors working on client engagements. As a seasoned change practitioner and Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Debbie is adept at aligning change management with business improvement objectives for even the most complex initiatives. And as a trusted coach to executive leaders and teams, she equips clients for success with their individual change journeys while building the lasting change capabilities that enable successful transformations for the organization.
Debbie has facilitated training programs and initiatives throughout Africa, Europe, Australia and the U.S. In addition to English, she speaks Afrikaans and a bit of Zulu.
Sadie is the Colorado State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management's (DHSEM) Access and Functional Needs Coordinator. She supports state agencies and local jurisdictions in the development of inclusive, whole community emergency operations plans that adequately account for people with Access and Functional Needs. She provides emergency preparedness workshops and serves as the Access and Functional Needs subject matter expert during state-level planning initiatives.
Sadie provides training across Colorado and the nation in her role for Colorado’s Office of Emergency Management using a solution focused "how to" approach in Whole Community Inclusion Planning and Emergency Preparedness for those who are most affected as a result of disasters. She collaborates at the state level with other agencies across Colorado. Across the state and the nation, she leads monthly statewide Access and Functional Needs Meetings and training, as well as State level Access and Functional Needs collaboration meetings nationally. This helps Colorado and others learn to "seek to understand" and "what we don't know, because we don't know" using a "plan with" approach towards whole community inclusion. Sadie also serves as the Access and Whole Community Inclusion Caucus Chair for the International Association for Emergency Management.
Sadie uses the CMIST resource framework which provides a whole community inclusion approach to identify the actual resource needs of the community in Communication, Maintaining Health/Medical, Independence, Support Services and Safety, and Transportation resources, rather than a specific “special need” or vulnerability. This helps Colorado emergency managers and others better understand what capabilities to acquire before, during, and after a disaster by approaching Access & Functional Needs from a resource perspective. This helps create a shared language that reaches across language, disability, under-resourced, and under-served barriers. (©June Isaacson Kailes Disability Policy Consultant June Kailes CMIST).
A passion for making order out of chaos led Katie into an engaging career in project and program management. A seasoned project manager who started her career more than 15 years ago with the US State Department, managing programs that impacted diplomatic relationships with the Middle East, Katie has also spent time overseeing projects and programs for the department of Defense and in healthcare before discovering the fascinating world of Transportation. Having spent the last 5.5 years at CDOT, Katie leads project management support and oversight of project and program performance as the Region 1 (Denver Metro) Program Management Oversight manager. Katie actively seeks out new opportunities to learn, new challenges to tackle, and a chance to make her team better every single day.
Ted Trujillo is currently the Director of the Department of Motor Vehicle with the Treasury Division within the City and County of Denver. Prior work experience includes, Colorado Department of Human Services Division Director for Child Welfare Services as well as the Associate Director for the Division of Youth Services, delivering statewide services to juvenile offenders to include detention, commitment, and evidence based approaches to impact recidivism.
Subsequent to Mr. Trujillo’s state position he was employed by the City and County of Denver as a Budget Analyst over-seeing the Department of Human Services, Health and Hospitals, and the Mayor’s office of Workforce Development budgets. For 16 years Mr. Trujillo worked in the private non-profit sector for, Denver Area Youth Services as a Program Director providing education, alternative to sentencing, employment and training, monitoring, support services, drug and alcohol services, and transportation to children youth and families in the Denver Metro area and the Chief Operating Officer for The Mile High Council and Comitis Family Services providing mental health, substance abuse and education services, homeless shelter for families and adolescents, community health services for the metro area communities.
Shayne has been a part of the continuous improvement team with NDOT for a little over four years. While at NDOT, Shayne has worked on multi-million dollar projects down to postage cost projects. He has found that team and culture building continue to be some of the most important aspects of success for him. Prior to NDOT, he served four years as operations manager and outside sales for an electrical contractor in Lincoln. The bulk of his career life was as a pastor, 18 years.
Shayne loves to challenge himself, try new things, and relax with friends. He is a big fan of 80's hair bands, craft beer, and sci-fi movies. A guilty pleasure of his are the Sharknado movies. He grew up in Colorado, and has lived in Michigan, California, Oregon, and now Lincoln. He has two kids and one wife.
Emily is an experienced government official who has served in leadership roles at both the federal and state level. Her professional focus is within the healthcare space; she has expertise in private market health care reform and regulation, Medicaid policy and operations, and public finance.
Emily served as Chief of Staff for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing from 2019-2022. Before this, she held the position of Deputy Secretary for Administration and Finance at Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services from 2017-2019. Previously, Emily held the position of Senior Policy Analyst and Program Advisor, while working at The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). While at OMB, Emily focused on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and served as Senate Liaison from 2011-2013. She was certified for the federal Senior Executive Service in 2016.
In 2022, Emily launched Juniper Peak Consulting, LLC, strengthen and support government leaders and their teams and provide insights to organizations seeking to better navigate the government sphere. In addition to her professional pursuits, Emily is an indulgent aunt to Imogen and Oscar, and mom to Sadie the rescue beagle. She enjoys hiking and singing, and recently became an avid gardener and mediocre painter.
Melissa (she/her/hers) supports state and local maternal and child health professionals move towards equity through individual and systems change in her role as a Change Specialist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) based in Denver. Melissa also founded CDPHE’s Behavioral Insights Team - an internal community of practice working to integrate behavioral science (the study of how people think and make choices in reality) into public health practice. Melissa has 10 years of community non-profit and public health experience. She is driven by the belief that everyone deserves fulfillment (whatever that means for them) and the human-made barriers and distractions to that should be eliminated.
Mariah La Rue, MS is the Media and Communications Specialist with the Medical Marijuana Registry at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. After earning her masters in health communication from Northwestern University, she joined the Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry in 2017- just as they were moving from a paper mailed application to an online registration system. Since then, she’s led the Registry’s communication efforts through system and form updates, process improvement, and many legislative changes. She also facilitates a multi-state group of staff from state medical marijuana programs across the country that aims to share insights and best practices around customer service, operations, and administration of medical marijuana programs. In addition to her time at the Registry, Mariah played an integral role in communication and public information efforts during the early days of Colorado’s COVID-19 response. She currently serves as the Chair of the Colorado Behavioral Insights Community of Practice, which supports State of Colorado employees as they incorporate Behavioral Insights into their work.
Heather Weir, MPH, RD, is the Director of the Strategy, Performance and Administration Office at the Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology, a role she started in April 2021. Prior to that, she was with the Office of Strategy and Performance at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), where she began work in February 2015 and previously worked with Denver Public Health as the Performance Improvement Manager. She has twenty years of experience working in healthcare, public health and local and state government, and has been working with multidisciplinary teams in organizational improvement efforts since 2008. Prior to moving to Colorado, Weir worked with Providence Health & Services in Portland, Oregon as a registered dietitian (RD) and diabetes educator and later worked in Eugene, Oregon with Lane County Public Health and was the Quality Improvement Coordinator for the Community Health Centers of Lane County. She received her bachelor’s degree in health and human development from Montana State University; her dietetic internship from Oregon Health & Science University; and master’s degree in public health from Portland State University.
Shaneis is a proud Colorado Native and oldest of five. She received her undergrad in Allied Health and went on to Loma Linda University, receiving a Masters of Science in Prosthetics & Orthotics in 2016. After completing her clinical residency through affiliations with Children's Hospital Colorado, Craig Hospital, UC Health and Centra Health facilities, Shaneis received her ABC certification and became the Pediatric lower extremity specialist with Hanger Clinic in Colorado Springs. Through her time with Hanger, Shaneis was offered leadership positions, running mobility clinics, post operative programs and growing the Crainail program. Shaneis quickly learned her passion for leadership and transitioned to Healthcare Administration Leadership through an opportunity overseeing Vail Health's outpatient programs in 2018.
Through the pandemic, Shaneis held a critical role on the COVID Incident Command Team. She oversaw testing operations, implemented critical initiatives to ensure access and equity was achieved on both the testing and vaccination efforts through enhancing registration systems, partnering with CDPHE and setting operations up inside at-risk communities on mobile clinic units. All initiatives were data driven and Shaneis' first exposure to the criticality of real time, dynamic dashboarding. These efforts resulted in Eagle County being first in Colorado to establish a drive-through testing facility, maintaining as low fatality rate as possible (0.34%), ensuring the sole intensive care unit never reached maximum capacity and achieving at least 1 vaccine dose to 100% of the population early in the vaccination phase. As of early 2022, 83% were considered up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations. These statistics were recently published in the scholarly article All Public Health is Local: Lessons From Eagle County During the First 2 Years of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic, co-written by Shaneis and her peers due to the high level of success of their operations. Shaneis and her team continued to build off the momentum of their COVID-19 access and equity efforts, later adding PCP providers on the mobile clinic units. This initiative grew to provide free preventative health visits to thousands of uninsured residents and is still operational today.
In 2021, Shaneis transitioned to a role overseeing the Performance Improvement Branch of DCPHR in CDPHE. Since, she's grown DCPHR's first team of Project Managers and has created one of Colorado's first Division wide Public Health dashboards. The dashboard is a cumulative of over 120 metrics to represent the critical health access and equity work DCPHR's 78 teams operate. Shaneis has also been a key facilitator of process improving DCPHR's new budget reconciliation process, ensuring both Fiscal teams and Programmatic teams have the critical information necessary to serve the residents of Colorado across all service lines.
Outside of working for CDPHE, Shaneis still clinically practices as an volunteer Provider through the non-profit Range of Motion Project. She provides pro-bono care to locals here in CO as well as internationally, through clinical outreach trips in Guatemala and Ecuador. She has also been appointed as lead advocate for current House Bill 23-1136 'So Kids Can Move', overseeing the data collection and Fiscal/Social impact of the bill. Shaneis also loves to stay active through mountain biking and gravel racing as a member of the local all Women's race team 'Ride or Die Collective' in Boulder.
Matthew is a 2005 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Engineering. Following his graduation Matthew was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He spent 6 years in the Army where he held multiple positions including Platoon Leader, Intelligence Officer, and Regimental Engineer for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Matthew left the Army in 2011 after achieving the rank of Captain.
After leaving the Army Matthew continued his commitment to public service while working as an Energy Engineer for the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and a Program Engineer for the Colorado Energy Office Energy Performance Contracting Program. He currently works as the Energy Manager for the Colorado Department of Human Services where he is responsible for nearly four million square feet of buildings and manages a $10M annual utility budget. Matthew is a Certified Energy Manager accredited by the Association of Energy Engineers and Chairs the Colorado Greening Government Leadership Council.
David is the President of KP Cares Foundation.
His creative intelligence workshops have been adopted by top organizations in North America. He has also provided comprehensive training programs to business leaders & investors in highly regarded corporations encompassing industries such as sports, technology, finance, and education.
Amy Ralston is the Director of Strategy within Innovation, Strategy and Delivery at the Department of Revenue. She has 18 years of Project, Program and Portfolio Management experience and nine years in Product Management and Marketing Communications. Amy’s industry experience includes advertising, childcare, manufacturing, aerospace and now government. She is a Colorado native, mom of teenagers and Fantasy Football team manager - thankfully she has more success in building and supporting teams off the football field.
Mark is Atlassian’s resident Modern Work Expert. Focused on practice over theory, Mark spends his days coaching both Atlassian and customer teams on new ways of working, then sharing what he’s learned at events around the world.
Estela started her career in state government in 2012 and has since held positions as an internal auditor, budget manager, and manager of accounting. She enjoys learning from others as much as she enjoys sharing her knowledge.
Liia Koiv-Haus is a Landscape Specialist in the Environmental Programs Branch at the Colorado Department of Transportation. She previously worked as an Urban Planner and GIS Specialist for local government after obtaining a dual masters in Landscape Architecture and Planning from the University of Colorado - Denver. Liia currently serves as an Alternate Member on the Denver Board of Adjustment for Zoning and as an Officer for the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Landscape and Land Use Planning Professional Practice Network, where she writes blog posts related to balancing technological developments with conservation and innovation in planning. In her free time Liia enjoys rock climbing, Nordic skiing, cooking and gardening with native plants.
Chuck Kline has been with the State of Colorado for 26 years. He was in Maintenance for the majority of his service, and then in the last six years took on the position of the Regional Safety Officer at CDOT. This position ensures the safety of not only the traveling public, but also the employees of CDOT. Chuck takes pride in through his role as a Safety Officer in ensuring that they go back home safe to their families. He also helps in identifying safety issues concerned with the workplace to prevent recurrence of injuries and accidents. The Plow Blade Cart is an example of this. It has won First Place at CDOT’s 2022 Innovations Challenge and in the nationwide AASHTO Challenge, as well.
Scott has worked for 6 ½ years with CDOT. He enjoys using his creativity and common sense to create easier and safer methods to perform their daily job tasks.
Chris Sorensen is a former county emergency manager and public information officer. He joined the Colorado Department of Public Safety in February 2012 to support community outreach programs before moving to the operations section in the State Emergency Operations Center. Since January 2015, he has served as the State Emergency Operations Center Manager, overseeing support and response coordination for state and federally declared disaster emergencies.
Bob is a Colorado native who received his PhD in Electrical Engineering—with an emphasis on semiconductor materials, physics, and spectroscopy—from Colorado State University in 1986. After joining Hewlett Packard, Bob shifted his emphasis to digital image capture and processing and worked in that field as a research scientist and product developer for nearly 30 years. In recent years, Bob worked in the intellectual property field assisting companies with the development, marketing, and defense of patents. In addition, Bob is both an inventor, with 17 imaging-related U.S. patents to his name, and a published author.
Bob’s firefighting career started in 1986 when he joined the Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department (RCVFD). Bob became Chief of RCVFD in 1992 and continued in that position (with one short break) until he retired from RCVFD in October 2015 to join the Center of Excellence. During his career as Chief, Bob was involved in a number of large fires, most notably the High Park Fire in 2012. RCVFD is featured, post–High Park, in the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) video, “Before the Smoke.” In 2013, Bob was awarded the NFPA Wildland Safety Exemplary Service Award.
Joining the Center of Excellence allowed Bob to realize a long-held desire to combine his engineering and firefighting careers. He and his wife Charlene (Charlie) are excited by the move to the Rifle area and by the opportunities to make contributions to Colorado’s wildland fire service.
Kimberly Kronwall is the Exhibits and Loan Registrar at History Colorado. Previously, she was at the Smithsonian Institution's newest museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where she worked as a Collections Specialist and helped put over 3,000 objects on display across the 14 inaugural exhibitions. She has also worked for the Denver Art Museum, the University of Denver Art Collections, the National Archives, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery, and the Fort Collins Museum of Art. She holds a B.A. in Art History from Colorado State University and an M.A. in Museum Studies from The George Washington University.
Dr. Rich Guggenheim earned his Bachelors of Science in horticulture from BYU Idaho. Following that, he worked as a horticulturalist for Walt Disney World where he helped design and plant topiaries and flower beds at EPCOT. Following a year in Florida, Rich returned home to earn his Masters Degree from CSU where he became a 4-H and horticulture extension agent upon graduation. Finally, Rich moved to back to Idaho where he worked on his Ph.D in molecular plant pathology while working for the University of Idaho as the Idaho Master Gardener program director. Rich has authored numerous extension factsheets, book chapters, and journal articles. Rich hosted his own radio shows called "Talk Dirt to Me." and "The Avant Gardener." Rich's programs have won international awards and he has been featured on ABC, NBC, Fox News, and NPR. Of all his accomplishments, Rich is most proud of being a Colorado native and being able to give back to the community.