High Country Regional Council

Dave Palenchar was raised in Southern California and first came to Colorado to attend the United States Air Force Academy. After a career in the Air Force, he returned to Colorado and joined El Pomar’s program staff. In 2007, Dave was recognized as Colorado Springs Business Citizen of the Year by the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC. He has been a Trustee of the Foundation since 1998 and retired as El Pomar’s Chief Operating Officer in 2013.

He has served in a variety of nonprofit leadership roles throughout Colorado Springs. Most recently he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Broadmoor World Arena and Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts Board of Directors and Chair of the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation.

Kathy Boe, Founder of Boecore, is an entrepreneur with more than 30+ years of engineering and leadership experience supporting the Department of Defense. She began her career at Hughes Aircraft as a software programmer for a complex missile system and advanced through a series of technical and managerial roles prior to founding Boecore in the basement of her home in 2000 and growing it to over 300 employees.

In early 2022, Kathy sold Boecore allowing her to spend more time supporting various philanthropic activities while still staying involved in military and veteran initiatives.

While owner & CEO at Boecore, Kathy led the company to receive numerous industry awards including a 2008 Department of Defense Nunn-Perry Award from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the first ever Nunn-Perry Award recognized within the Missile Defense Agency. In 2020 Boecore was named one of the top three defense companies rated by Colorado Springs Business Journal. Alongside several Top Supplier awards from Northrop Grumman, Boecore also won the Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC’s Company of the Year award in 2013.

Kathy was named Business Leader of the Year in 2013 by Southern Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce, a Woman of Influence in 2011 by Colorado Springs Business Journal, and received the Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC’s Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2009. In early 2022, Kathy sold Boecore and focused on supporting various philanthropic activities while staying involved in military and veteran initiatives.

Her community involvement includes serving as an Honorary Commander at the United States Air Force Academy, as well as on the executive committee of the Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC from 2014-2020, including Chair in 2020. She was appointed by the mayor to serve on the Colorado Springs Health Foundation from 2011-2020. She is currently on the Board for the National Cybersecurity Center, Pikes Peak Community Foundation, and is a trustee of Colorado Thirty Group. Kathy holds a B.S. in Management from Pepperdine University.

Hannah Berman is the Sustainability and Philanthropy Senior Manager at Aspen One where she works on environmental programs, community support, and initiatives to promote equity and justice. She is also the Executive Director of the Environment Foundation, which has donated more than $4.5 million to fight climate change, bolster clean energy at scale and policy level, and foster environmental stewardship. She helped pass a mill levy to increase teacher pay in the Roaring Fork Valley School District, a Pitkin County ballot measure to support affordable housing, and legislation to create the first special-district for childcare in the nation. She serves as the Board Vice Chair of Mountain Family Health Centers and was elected to Basalt Town Council in 2024. Hannah graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in economics, environmental studies, and education.

Eudelia Contreras is the CEO of Full Circle of Lake County, an organization committed to empowering its community through youth development, family supports, immigrant services, and resource connection. Most recently, Eudelia was the Lead Community Organizer for Lake County Build a Generation in which she organized residents in Lake County’s manufactured housing communities to build health and health equity. She was also enormously instrumental in helping the members of Cooperativa Nueva Union purchase their mobile home park for $1.6M. This was a monumental undertaking that had to be accomplished on a tight time frame. Eudelia’s ability to bring community members together—even across culture, background, age, gender, and language—was remarkable, and was key to her success at Lake County Build a Generation.

Eudelia has lived in Lake County for nearly 30 years. She attended Lake County schools and has worked at several county agencies, including Lake County Human Services and Lake County School District. She currently serves as the president of the Lake County School District Board of Education. Eudelia feels that her experience working, living and learning in Lake County is a huge asset as she not only works for the needs of Lake County’s diverse community but also lives within the communities she organizes in. Eudelia’s family includes three daughters, Kayleen, Isabelle, and Sophia, and a Bluenose Pitbull (Benji).

Kristi Ferraro is a real estate and business lawyer with her own practice in Avon, Colorado. Kristi was elected to the Avon Town Council in 2004 and 2008, and served as Mayor Pro Tem of Avon from 2010 to 2012. Kristi has served on the board of Vail Mountain School, Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, the Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority and Bravo! Vail. Kristi also served on the Board Excellence Committee of the Vail Valley Foundation, as Chairman of the Board of the Early Childhood Learning Center in Aspen and as President of the Pitkin County Bar Association.

Kristi graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in business and from the University of California Berkeley with a juris doctor.

Millie Hamner worked in public education serving the communities of Eagle and Summit counties as an elementary and middle school teacher and as a school and district leader. Millie served as the superintendent of schools in Summit County from 2004-2010 and then stepped up to fill a vacancy in the Colorado legislature. She served the rural and resort communities of Eagle, Lake, Summit, Pitkin, Gunnison, and Delta from 2011-2018 as a state representative and held leadership positions on the state’s Education and Joint Budget Committees. She worked as a senior policy director for the Keystone Policy Center for several years and currently serves as an affiliate to this organization. Millie continues her commitment to public service and was appointed by Governor Polis in 2022 to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees for Western Colorado Western University. She also serves on the Board for the Colorado Children’s Campaign and is a proud member of El Pomar’s High Country Regional Council.

Millie Hamner lives in Summit County, Colorado and loves the beauty and outdoor experiences that come with life in the mountains.

Tim Mauck has been serving as the Deputy Director for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources since 2019. Previously, Tim served two terms as Clear Creek County Commissioner from 2010 – 2019. As commissioner, he focused on health care, enhancing Clear Creek’s recreation and tourism, and working to bring about sensible transportation improvements along the Interstate 70 Mountain Corridor.

A Denver native, Tim received a bachelor’s in political science from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and has worked in various capacities of federal, state and local governments. A resident of Idaho Springs, Tim is passionate about the outdoors and spends his free time hunting and angling, and generally roaming the backcountry of Clear Creek County with his wife, Laura, and labrador, Moxie.

Christine Scanlan is President and CEO of the Keystone Policy Center, a nonprofit organization which over the past 40 years, has built a portfolio of substantive work in energy, environment, education, health, and agriculture. Keystone has accomplished this work with a series of complementary approaches that reflect the diverse strategies utilized in leadership and successful issue resolution.

Christine joined the Keystone Policy Center from her role as Director of Legislative Affairs and Strategic Initiatives and Senior Education Policy Advisor to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. Prior to her senior staff role in the Governor’s Office, Christine was a Colorado State Representative for House District 56 and served in leadership as Majority Whip.

In earlier years, Christine had previously been at Keystone as Senior Vice President and COO. Christine has extensive public policy experience as a seasoned facilitator, negotiator and policy expert and is a respected leader in finding policy solutions through collaborative dialogue to complicated issues of urgency and import. Christine received both her MA Nonprofit Management and BA History from Regis University, Denver, Colorado.

As Executive Director, Jon Stavney leads the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments. Since 2016, NWCCOG has modernized internal systems, increased visibility, refined programs, doubled the employee base to expand and improve service levels across Western Colorado. Proudly, five program directors were recognized for excellence by peers at state and national levels during his tenure. Published monthly, Jon has written over 200 newsletter stories on current events. He facilitates for members, has authored 10 reports, co-developed Project THOR, and re-envisioned or created 5 regional programs. NWCCOG manages $14 million in fee-for-service work as well as federal or state grant funding, supporting senior services, business loans, economic development, and water policy among other programs at www.nwccog.org . Jon significantly increased positive impact to NWCCOG’s 31-member local governments. Prior to NWCCOG, Jon’s 20 years of public service included roles as Town Manager, Home Rule Committee, Town Trustee, Mayor, and County Commissioner. Ushering smart growth development for years, Jon is grateful to have led public projects like the Colorado River Open Space & River Access, Castle Peak Senior Center and Eagle Valley Land Exchange. Jon lives in Eagle, in a home he designed and built. He maintains a blog and is a voracious reader.

Shelby Pauka joined El Pomar Foundation as permanent staff in May 2022 as the Program Manager of the Regional Partnerships program. In this role, she supports the strategic planning of the Regional Partnerships program as well as oversees the day-to-day operations of annual projects that impact all regions. Shelby first joined the Foundation as an intern in 2017 and 2018, and then again in 2019 as a member of the Fellowship. Prior to joining the Foundation in her current role, Shelby worked as program coordinator for a military serving organization supporting military families in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and Idaho. She graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in strategic communication with an emphasis in media design, a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing, and a certificate in operations and information management.

Riley Cronin joined El Pomar Foundation as a member of the 2023 Fellowship class. As a 2nd Year Fellow, Riley serves as a Senior Program Associate for American Council for Young Political Leaders, Awards for Excellence, Communications, Fellowship Recruiting, Fellowship Strategic Planning, and New Fellow Orientation. She also supports the High Country Region.

Riley is from Zionsville, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. She graduated from University of Dayton’s School of Business Administration with a Bachelor of Science in International Business Management with a minor in Spanish. During her time at University of Dayton, Riley participated in many extracurricular activities, volunteer programs, and internship experiences. Of note was her work for Flyer Consulting, a student run, pro-bono, non-profit consulting firm. Working her way up from Intern to Project Lead, Riley managed both marketing and business development projects involving social media marketing solutions, integrated donor management systems, feasibility studies, and capital campaigns. She also served on the Christmas on Campus committee, organizing this beloved Flyer tradition and one of the nation’s largest single-day, on-campus, service events. Riley received the Spirit of Community Award for her contributions to the 59 annual Christmas on Campus. Riley also studied abroad in Madrid, Spain for a semester and volunteered for WWOOF Portugal post-graduation. In her free time, Riley enjoys spending time outside, running, going to her favorite coffee shops, and planning new adventures.

Pablo Forsyth Simon joined El Pomar Foundation as a member of the Fellowship Class of 2024. As a 1st Year Fellow, Pablo serves as a Program Associate for Alumni Relations, the Internship, and Pikes Peak Heritage Series. He also supports the High Country and Metro Regional Councils.

Pablo grew up in Golden, Colorado and graduated from the University of Puget Sound (UPS) in 2022 with a degree in Business Leadership and minors in Asian Studies and Politics and Government. During his time at UPS, Pablo participated in many organizations both on and off campus. On campus, Pablo was a tour guide, barista, and academic advisor for first-year students. Off campus, he completed AmeriCorps service at a local food bank and a consulting project for a local nonprofit, Young Business Men of Washington, and interned at the Center for Dialogue and Resolution,. Upon graduating, Pablo worked in Seattle for a year at the College Success Foundation where he coached 200 predominately first-generation and low-income students through financial, academic, and social situations at the University of Washington.

Pablo has traveled around Europe and Asia and is always willing to share a fun travel experience. In his free time, Pablo enjoys snowboarding, backpacking, fly fishing, live music events, and watching baseball or basketball.