Erica Oakley-Courage serves as Associate Vice President of Grants at El Pomar Foundation, managing the operations of the grants department. She also directs the Pikes Peak Heritage Series, an El Pomar program that celebrates and raises awareness of the natural assets of the Pikes Peak region.

Prior to El Pomar, Erica worked for six years as a development officer with Palmer Land Conservancy and the Colorado Springs office of American Heart Association. The Seattle-area native earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Washington University in Journalism/Public Relations and a Master’s of Public Administration and Certificate in Nonprofit Management at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She spent six years doing media relations in professional sports before transitioning to the non-profit sector.

Erica was a member of the Institute for Leaders in Development’s Class of 2017 and participated in the Community Leadership Program in June 2021. She has served on multiple boards and volunteered for several organizations in the Pikes Peak Region including Peak Vista Community Health Centers, Girl Scouts of Colorado and the Colorado Springs Osteopathic Foundation. In 2016, she was recognized as the Association of Fundraising Professionals Southern Colorado Outstanding Emerging Fundraiser and in 2018 she was named a Rising Star by the Colorado Springs Business Journal. Erica was selected to be a part of the Colorado Springs Mayor’s Fellowship in 2023.