It’s not just about having access to world-class mentors. It’s about the quality of the time you get to spend with them. Chairlift conversations or hikes forge strong relationships far beyond business. No other network can give you that!
If you are interested in becoming a mentor please complete our mentor form and we will reach out to schedule a meeting to review the program with you. In the meantime please review our mentor handbook.
Mentors
Hal Adler
Hal is the Founder and CEO of Leadership Landing, a leadership coaching and consulting firm. Founded in 2009, Leadership Landing coaches from around the country coach senior leaders and executives to be happier and more successful in their roles. Leadership Landing’s clients have included AT&T, GoPro, Stanford University, Genentech, Chesapeake Energy and Electronic Arts.
Before starting Leadership Landing, Hal was President and CEO of Great Place to Work Institute, the global research and consulting firm responsible for the gold-standard of workplace culture recognition; The Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work.
In addition to his work with Leadership Landing, Hal is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Telluride Choral Society. His wife Joanna (a Leadership Landing co-founder and owner) is a full-time psychologist with a private practice and is also a Board member of the Telluride Choral Society. After visiting for the first time in 1988 and countless times since, they’ve been trying to get back to Telluride to call it home. That dream finally came true in 2021.
Tom Basile
Tom Basile is a company builder, investor, and advisor. Tom co-founded and led a company, InkWorks, to a 14x return on investment. As an investor, he has supported companies and deal processes in the private market across across 50+ investment rounds, seed through growth. Through advisory, he has supported management teams in numerous areas of company operations, across several industry sectors.
Most importantly, Tom enjoys spending time with his family.
Colby Barrett
Colby Barrett is the Vice Chairman and former CEO of GeoStabilization International, a geotechnical contracting company that he grew from a local operation based in Grand Junction to an international business with over 650+ employees worldwide. He also owns and operates Honey Rock Landing, an organic farm in Delta on the Gunnison River surrounded by the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area. Colby is passionate about sustainability employing regenerative practices to build soil, sequester carbon and grow the tastiest, healthiest fruit, eggs, and honey.
Colby was born and raised in Grand Junction and now lives in Telluride with his family.
Aaron Bielenberg
Aaron is a Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group. He has 20+ years of global experience advising energy and infrastructure investors, operating companies, developers and governments on business strategy, investments, financings, transformations and restructurings. He is a frequent speaker and author on sustainable infrastructure financing topics.
Aaron is a part-time resident who aspires to live in Telluride full-time but currently settles for 4+ months a year.
Mariza Brimhall
Mariza Brimhall is a Strategic Solutions Consultant aligned to grow the Strategic Customer base at a Series D funded company, Snapdocs. Previously, she spent over 9 years at Medallia starting when it was a Series B company through IPO. She has worked with clients to design software solutions that tie client strategy to key outcomes.
Her experience includes over 20+ years in software solutioning with strategic clients and over 16 years within Customer Advocacy and Customer Experience. Mariza has a BA in Communication and BS in Management from Purdue University and a Masters of Business Administration from University of Michigan.
Todd Brown
Todd Brown is a dynamic executive experienced in all aspects of Operations and Supply Chain with Sara Lee, Anheuser-Busch, and Coors as well as startups BIOTA Brands and UniquePak. He has formulated and executed strategies aligning mission, operations, products and goals for competitive advantage and improved ROI. He’s turned around under-performing operations enhancing shareholder value and motivated and managed staff to reach shared goals.
Todd is very civic-minded and highly involved in the community; he’s served on Town Council, and as a Board Member for Telluride Historical Museum, Telluride Theatre, Telluride Arts, EcoAction Partners, the San Miguel Watershed Coalition, and others.
Christina Casas
Christina Casas is an entrepreneur who started her own luxury vacation rental company in Telluride in 2001, she grew the business from 2 condos to 120 luxury homes in Telluride and beyond. Christina expanded her business internationally to Mexico, Europe and the Caribbean and ultimately sold the majority interest in her company Exceptional Stays Inc. Currently Christina is still involved with Exceptional Stays and is an active board member of the newly formed Nocturne Villas, a vacation rental company with plans to grow the luxury vacation rental market of the brand Exceptional Stays, currently with over 500 properties in the Caribbean.
Christina has a lot of experience with small business’, having had 3 other startups before in the culinary world and retail. Christina has an MBA from I.E.S.E., Spain’s most prestigious business school and is fully bilingual in English/Spanish. Christina grew up between the USA and Spain which offers her a unique ability to move in different cultures as her own. Christina currently resides full time in Telluride and spends the “off season” in Barcelona, she is married to Jeff Katz and has 4 sons, the youngest graduated from THS in 2022. Christina loves to ski, hike, cook and spend time with friends.
Maria Cebrian
Maria is a third-time entrepreneur and a Forbes 1000 honoree with 18 years of experience in the digital and wellness industries. Her second company was acquired by Gaia, the world’s largest conscious media platform. She is passionate about building companies that support both human health and the health of the planet. Her current company, Terraseed, was the first vegan company selected by the prestigious Techstars accelerator and has already received a NEXTY Award from the Natural Products Industry. Maria is a passionate vegan, a human-first leader, and a determined entrepreneur with a strong love for life.
Leah Chmielewski
Leah Chmielewski provides business development and strategic growth consulting through Lydi LLC, helping startups and small businesses navigate commercialization, partnerships, and government funding opportunities. She leverages her background in research and development, technology strategy, and federal operations to help organizations commercialize technologies, identify growth opportunities, and scale effectively.
Leah previously served as a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, a senior operations officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and a capture and technical program manager at aerospace and technology companies working with customers including Special Operations Forces, DARPA, and NASA.
Drawing on more than a decade of federal government experience, Leah has helped win more than $40 million in government contracts. Her expertise includes business development, market positioning, strategic growth planning, competitive analysis, and proposal development, with experience supporting commercialization efforts, strategic partnerships, SBIR/STTR funding pursuits, and dual-use technology opportunities. She has also advised startups through Colorado’s Small Business Development Center Tech Source accelerator programs.
Leah lives in Southwest Colorado near Telluride, is a volunteer firefighter, Michigan Ross School of Business Alumni Club of Denver board member, fluent German speaker, and enjoys connecting people, ideas, companies, and opportunities.
Dana Conneally
Dana Conneally is an attorney, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Evidox, a Boston based technology enabled legal services provider. Prior to its acquisition in 2018, Dana served Evidox as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer where he was responsible for identifying developing technologies that could be utilized to mitigate risk, increase productivity, and reduce costs related to professional services and SaaS based revenue streams. Dana’s strengths include strategic planning, talent management, building strong customer relationships, and helping small businesses move beyond the founding team.
Dana, and his family, found Telluride in 2019. While they still spend summers on Squam Lake in New Hampshire, they made the box canyon their home in the Fall of 2022.
Tom Cooper
Tom is a retired executive with over 35 years of experience in the technology industry. Tom held senior worldwide roles at SAP, Oracle, i2 Technologies, and Data General. Tom held leadership roles with Proofpoint, JBoss, EXE Technologies, Talari Networks, Docker, and Hortonworks which led to successful public offerings and company sales.
Tom started New Horizons of North Texas which provides after-school education for at-risk children in the Dallas Ft. Worth area. Tom has been a Big Brother for over the last 20 years and participated in various board roles with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Tom is currently part of the CASA program for foster children. Tom has served on various non-profit boards including Rebuild Together, Camp El Har, and Little Big Shot.
Tom holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a Minor in Marketing from Southwest Missouri State University.
Brian Dally
Brian is a co-founder and director of Groundfloor and serves as the CEO. He is responsible for setting long term direction and goals for the company, executive management, financing, and strategic partnerships.
Brian’s 20-year career building disruptive technology startups spans stints in Silicon Valley, Boston, London and the North Carolina Triangle region prior to moving Groundfloor to Atlanta in 2014. Previously, he led the launch of Republic Wireless to take on the big four cellphone carriers to international acclaim. As a result, millions more Americans can now afford a smartphone.
Brian has a JD from Harvard Law School, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia.
Peter Dodge
Peter Dodge is the founder and Chief Performance Officer of Hanover Research. Hanover is a global information services firm providing knowledge support to more than 1,100 for-profit and non-profit organizations. Through our unique, fixed-cost model, we provide customized, timely, and authoritative research and advice that enables our clients to make informed decisions, identify and seize opportunities, and heighten their effectiveness.
Matt Ellis
Matt Ellis is the Founder and CEO of Measurabl, the world’s most widely adopted ESG software for commercial real estate. Over 11 billion square feet valued in excess of USD $2 trillion across more than 80 countries measures, manages and discloses ESG performance using Measurabl, resulting in superior returns for investors and a more sustainable built word for all. Before Measurabl, Matt spent 5 years with CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services company, where he led its Sustainability Practice Group, implemented the company’s industry-first global carbon neutrality program, and served as the first Director of Sustainability Solutions and youngest member of its Global Sustainability Advisory Committee.
Matt has expertise in ESG, Institutional, and corporate real estate, green building, and proptech. He is an Aspen Institute Fellow, New Leaders Council Fellow was named a “Top 50” real estate executive by the Real Estate Forum in 2017 and a “40 under 40” alumni by UC San Diego in 2020.
Tom Fatur
Tom Fatur was the co-founder and president of Martel Electronics Corporation. Martel was founded in 1987 and over the years grew to become one of the world’s leading providers of portable calibration instrumentation for industrial applications. Martel was recognized as one of the largest private companies in NH with sales and service in over 60 countries. In late 2011 Martel acquired by Fluke (A Danaher Company) and for the next several years Tom remained as president completing the integration of the Martel into Danaher. After a successful exit from Martel Tom became active in both angel and private equity investments.
Tom is an active LP in two private equity firms and also serves as a board member to several companies in the technology space. As an early-stage investor he has helped to fund a number of start-up companies. Tom is part of the Telluride Venture Network where he acts as a mentor to local startup companies. He is open to all investment types but has a particular interest in working with instrumentation, biotech and electronics focused businesses.
Tom holds a BSEE from the University of Pittsburgh and in his spare time enjoys skiing, and for many years raced sports cars, both at the amateur and professional levels. His primary residence is in NH with his wife, Joanne and daughter Ashely, but also spends a good deal of time at their home in Telluride, CO.
Andrew Feldstein
Andrew Feldstein is an accomplished investment executive and financial strategist with decades of experience in asset management, banking, and corporate leadership. He is the cofounder, former CEO, and CIO of BlueMountain Capital Management, where he led the firm from 2003 to 2020. Prior to that, Andrew spent over a decade at JPMorgan Chase & Co. as a Managing Director focused on derivatives and credit. He also worked as an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and began his career as a consultant at Bain & Company. Today, he serves on the boards of PNC Financial Services and Northwestern Mutual. Andrew holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA in Economics from Georgetown University.
Nicole Fortner
Nicole Fortner is a seasoned executive marketing strategist and founder of C-Suite Effect, a consultancy focused on executive engagement strategy and high-impact leadership events. With over 25 years of experience — including leadership roles at Adobe — she specializes in helping enterprise leaders build meaningful C-suite relationships, strategic marketing initiatives, and executive-level brand presence. Nicole brings deep expertise in communication, leadership, and strategic planning, with a strong focus on relationship-driven business growth.
Jere Friedman
Jere Friedman, J.D., M.A., CMMI, is an Employee of the Universe – with full benefits! As an attorney with Weiss Brown, PLLC based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Jere’s practice focuses on business transactions, with particular expertise in private placement equity financings, mergers and acquisitions, start-ups and venture capital transactions, equity-based compensation, and the myriad of other legal and business challenges and opportunities that large, medium, and small businesses encounter on a regular basis.
Jere also holds a Masters’ degree in Spiritual Psychology and uses those skills as a Soul Centered Coach. In addition, Jere is a master player of the gongs and a Certified Meditation and Mindfulness Instructor. At this stage in his journey, Jere’s life work is to contribute to the evolution of consciousness on Planet Earth by supporting others in finding their own way to joy, fulfillment, and inner peace. Jere and his wife live in Grand Junction, Colorado, where they enjoy time with their children and grandchildren, hiking, and exploring the wonders of Western Colorado.
Michael Gibson
Michael Gibson is co-founder of the 1517 Fund, a venture capital fund investing in teams led by dropouts, the uncredentialed, and renegade scientists. Previously he was vice president for grants at the Thiel Foundation and a principal at Thiel Capital, where he helped launch and run the Thiel Fellowship. He has written on innovation and technology for MIT’s Technology Review, the Atlantic, National Review, and City Journal. His book, Paper Belt on Fire, will be published in October 2022.
Stephanie Hatcher
Stephanie has worked with emerging growth and technology companies for over 15 years. During the first internet boom, she worked as a lawyer in Silicon Valley with start-ups and their investors for Cooley LLP. At Cooley, she helped her clients develop and structure their business strategy, customer and partner relationships, technology rights and enhancements, venture capital, and angel investments, growing sales, and employee bases, as well as acquisitions and IPOs. In 2000, she joined the executive management team of Raindance Communications, Inc., a $100M online meeting company in Boulder, CO, and competitor of WebEx where she was SVP for six years.
After Raindance was successfully acquired, she and her family moved to Telluride 2009. In Telluride, she co-founded the THS Entrepreneurship Program and has partnered with JFF and TVN for funding and mentors to support student startup businesses.
Trey Hatcher
Trey is a growth-oriented equity investor focused on the energy, infrastructure, and environmental sectors, having served in a variety of roles in private equity, investment banking, and private equity-backed start-ups. Trey is currently Vice President at Tailwater Capital, a Dallas-based private equity firm with $3.7 billion in committed capital, where he is responsible for evaluating, executing, and monitoring the firm’s investments. Prior to joining Tailwater, Trey was a Vice President at LM Energy Partners, a private equity-backed start-up company, and an Associate at NGP Energy Capital Management, an energy private equity firm with over $20 billion in committed capital. Trey began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst at J.P. Morgan and graduated from Washington and Lee University with a B.S. in Accounting and Business Administration. Trey enjoys exploring Telluride with his wife and dogs, playing tennis, and spending as little time as possible in Texas during the summer.
Bob Hennessy
Creative, fun, light hearted. Strong interpersonal skills. One on one motivator. Let’s talk ‘big picture’. The glass is half full. Serial Entrepreneur. Founded, built, managed, sold, three profitable businesses in various industries (Internet/Reclaimed Lumber/International Shipping). Bob is a twenty-year resident of Telluride and in search of his next, great adventure.
Simon Jeacock
Simon Jeacock is a seasoned tech executive with extensive international experience. Simon began his career in the UK in software sales and quickly distinguished himself as the go-to person to drive business development. In 1995, he joined supply chain software startup, i2, as the first UK sales employee and built out the sales organization in the UK and Europe. In six years, revenue grew from $9M to $1B. Relocating to the US, Simon worked for SAP before joining a second startup, PeopleAnswers in 2009. The intelligent software solution that helps companies maximize employee performance while minimizing employee turnover was acquired by Info in 2014. Simon now works for Oracle and spends his free time with family and friends, hiking, biking and watching live music in Telluride.
Carol Keogh
Carol Keough was President & CEO of ESI Ergonomic Solutions for 18 years before a strategic sale at the end of 2017. She and her husband, John Keogh, led their company to high growth as ESI became a leader in ergonomic work tools, enhancing productivity and wellness.
During her time with their company, Carol built and managed a sales channel of 125 representatives that produced record revenues calling on 1,600 dealers in North America. Sales, marketing, and product development were her passionate focus. Carol was previously a Board of Director of the Business Institution Furniture Manufacturer Association (BIFMA) for eight years and served her time with the top leaders in the office furniture industry. She has also devoted time in several other industry related groups and charitable organizations.
Currently, she is on the board of The Telluride Science Research Center (TSRC), while staying involved with her past industry associates through corporate consulting. She is a proud mother of two daughters and splits her time between Telluride and Paradise Valley, AZ.
Tom Kingzett
Tom Kingzett’’s education and post-graduate experience were in biochemistry and biotechnology. He worked in semiconductor electronics, managing research and development, along with facility operations and manufacturing. He has managed international business and supply chain partnerships with firms throughout Asia. He has managed startup companies and has Board of Director experience in the semiconductor sector. He is currently a Partner in a tree farm and rural real estate venture in the Pacific Northwest. Tom and his wife Gloria have been visiting Telluride since 1972 and are part-time residents there.
Marija Kramer
Marija Kramer is Head of ISS Corporate Solutions Inc. (ICS), a separately managed subsidiary of ISS that helps companies design and manage their corporate governance, executive compensation, and sustainability programs to align with company goals, reduce risk, and manage the needs of a diverse shareholder base by delivering best-in-class data, tools, and advisory services. In this role, Marija is responsible for setting the strategic direction of ICS’ product portfolio, new development roadmap, client advisory and support activities, and ICS client coverage teams.
Marija previously served as Head of ISS’ ESG business unit, overseeing the unit’s core Data & Analytics, Climate, Research, and Index offerings and leading a team of nearly 500 professionals assisting institutions with developing and integrating responsible investing policies and practices. She was instrumental in identifying and securing external growth opportunities, globally, for the ISS ESG business and has been a frequent speaker at industry events covering topics ranging from ESG integration to climate impacts across industries and sectors.
Rob Kraus
Rob Kraus has followed in the footsteps of his entrepreneurial father and mentor, George Kraus, when he founded Nurses RX in 1990 after he graduated from Tulane University with a BS. Rob acquired a significant ownership interest in Global Financing (now Omni Medical) which incubated PayTomorrow. He continues to advance this business as well as other brands and companies. Having met Carter Via in 1998 on a mission trip to Nicaragua with his father, Rob has been a supporter of Crossing Thresholds from its inception and has gone on several trips to Kibera. He joined the Board of Directors in 2022. Rob resides in Charlotte, NC and Telluride, CO and has three sons and a daughter. He is a licensed ski instructor and is passionate about golf, tennis, mountain biking and charitable giving.
Bill Ledingham
Bill Ledingham is a seasoned technology executive, investor, and advisor with more than 40 years of experience building and scaling innovative software, cloud, cybersecurity, and AI companies. He currently serves as Chairman of Fairwinds and advises Bain & Company while supporting early-stage AI startups through Converge Venture Partners and Rebellion Ventures. Throughout his career, Bill has held leadership roles at companies including Synopsys, Black Duck Software, Digital Guardian, and SpeechWorks, where he helped grow the company from startup to IPO. He also co-founded Avalere and has been an active early-stage investor and mentor to emerging technology companies. Bill holds engineering degrees from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mike LLodra
Over a 35-year career, Mike Llodra has focused on asset-based investment opportunities and financing solutions at leading financial institutions, including JPMorgan, Harvard Management, Citi and Bank of America. Mike has been responsible for investment sourcing, structuring lending facilities for clients including asset managers, real estate operators and fintech platforms, and team leadership. He recently served as the co-head of mortgage finance for Wells Fargo, designing and executing expansion of the lending and capital markets business and participating in enterprise pursuits in emerging housing and mortgage areas. Mike holds an MBA from New York University, a BA from Drew University, and a Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He and his wife Heidi currently live in Placerville and New York with plans to relocate full-time to the beautiful San Juans soon.
Lucy Maher
Lucy Maher has two decades of journalism experience working for publications including Forbers, Ladies’ Home Journal, and People. Lucy has held director roles where she was responsible for directing editorial content, ensuring product strategies alleged with brand objectives and managing teams of editors and freelancers. She also developed social media strategies across multiple platforms. Today, Lucy is self-employed as a branded content and social media strategist. She and her husband Tom split time between New York and Telluride.
Greg Mazu
Greg Mazu is an outdoor recreation entrepreneur and trail development leader with over 20 years of experience building innovative companies in the trail construction and outdoor infrastructure industry. As founder and CEO of Singletrack Trails, he has led large-scale trail development and recreation projects across multiple states, working closely with government agencies, nonprofits, and private partners to create lasting community impact. Greg also founded Tools for Trails and Backslope Tools, helping transform the outdoor recreation industry through specialized equipment, operational innovation, and mission-driven leadership. With a background in Exercise Science from Indiana University Bloomington, Greg combines technical expertise, business leadership, and a passion for sustainable outdoor recreation development.
Kristin Marcus
Kristin is the former Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director at Highfields Capital Management LP, a Boston-based value-oriented investment management firm that managed over $12 billion in assets for endowments, foundations, pension funds, and other institutional and private investors. She was employed by the firm when it was founded in 1998 and was in the role of CFO from 2007 until 2018.
Prior to joining Highfields Capital, Ms. Marcus was employed at Evare L.L.C. as a project manager and at Harvard Management Company where she worked as a senior trading analyst and as a foreign
operations supervisor.
She currently serves as a member of the Finance Committee at Compass Working Capital, a Boston nonprofit organization, and previously served as a member of its Board of Directors. She also is currently a member of the Portfolio Advisory Committee at The GreenLight Fund, Boston; and she is a member of the Finance Committee for CityYear Greater Boston.
Ms. Marcus received a B.B.A. from George Washington University in 1990 and an M.B.A. from Suffolk University.
Andrew Milder
Andrew Milder is Global Portfolio Director at 3M Company where he has nearly 20 years of business experience in sales, marketing, international business development, and global business management. His expertise is in product commercialization, as he has participated in the concept, development, and launch of more than 30 new products over the course of his career.
While at 3M, Andrew has forged effective partnerships with companies that enhance brand exposure and has achieved measurable business results. He has an International Business degree from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO and experience working and living in multiple countries.
Andrew is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese. He is an active community member in Telluride, CO where he resides with his wife, 2 kids, and English Setter, Barley.
Sarah Milder
Sarah Milder is a Principal of Arundel Metrics, a small women-owned business that focuses on creating insights through analysis, interpretation and visualization of complex health, economic and social data to end inequities and improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities. Arundel Metrics authors three nationally distributed health indices, America’s Health Rankings® and America’s Health Rankings Senior Report, and America’s Health Rankings Health of Women and Children Report.
Sarah provides strategic vision for her company, manages staff, as well as clients and projects. She also consults on public health development projects and provides data analysis, interpretation, and management.
Prior to Arundel, Sarah worked as an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health, and had a previous career in criminal justice. Sarah holds an MPH in Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota and a BS in Psychology and Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
When not working, you can find Sarah enjoying live music, reading a book, or outside walking her dog, Barley. She resides in Telluride, CO with her husband and two children.
Scott Miller
Scott Miller is an executive CFO and former CEO with 20+ years of experience overseeing multi-entity organizations, operating companies, and complex financial structures. He specializes in cash flow strategy, entity structuring, acquisition analysis, and financial oversight across operating businesses and personal asset portfolios. He brings clarity, discipline, and foresight to ownership groups through financial modeling, banking relationships, and advisory coordination. His strength is acting as the financial quarterback across operations, investments, estate coordination, banking relationships, and capital strategy.
Scott lives in Telluride and loves to spend time outdoors, is an avid skier, and enjoys his role as husband and father of 5 adult children.
Brian Minnehan
Brian Minnehan has over 25 years of experience in finance, including over 17 years investing in the natural resources sector, most recently as a Partner with NGP Energy Capital Management, a private equity fund with $20+ billion of cumulative equity commitments. His breadth of expertise spans investment/capital allocation, board leadership, executive compensation, growth initiatives, and raising capital/capital markets. During his 13-year tenure with NGP, Brian was a member of the investment committee that allocated $11+ billion across 90 portfolio companies and was appointed the lead director for 12 of them, including three public companies. Earlier in his career, Brian worked in debt capital markets at Prudential Capital Group, investment banking at Rothschild in NYC, and corporate restructuring services at Arthur Andersen in Dallas, Bangkok, and Seoul. Brian holds a BBA and an MPA in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin where he was a Sommerfeld Scholar, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He and his wife and their three children live full-time in Telluride where they enjoy spending time in the mountains and surfing when they get the chance.
Scott Pearson
Scott Pearson has a long career in both business and public service. Mr. Pearson is the former Vice President for Corporate Development at AOL, where he was responsible for acquisitions and strategic planning, and a former management consultant at Bain and Company, where he provided strategic and operating consulting services to clients in education, healthcare, media, and aviation.
Mr. Pearson has served in three presidential administrations. For President Clinton and the first President Bush he was a trade negotiator, with a focus on Europe and the Middle East. For President Obama he served in the Department of Education, managing federal charter school programs. He recently led the DC Public Charter School Board, where he oversaw 120 public schools serving 44,000 students.
Mr. Pearson currently serves on several financial, healthcare and non-profit boards.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wesleyan University, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
Mitchell Portnoy
Mitchell Portnoy has nearly 40 years of experience in a myriad of business ventures and can borrow concepts and theories from diverse disciplines and apply them to new opportunities.
He was most recently a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and advisor/mentor to several Silicon Valley startups in stealth mode. He has consulted with leading data mining and knowledge creation companies and has served as a patent expert during his time in Northern California.
Mitchell was Co-Founder and President of Symmetry Health Data Systems which created the Episode Treatment Group (ETG) family of healthcare data integration and measurement tools (of which Portnoy was the co-inventor). Symmetry was acquired by United Healthcare. Additionally, Mr. Portnoy was co-founder of the pharmaceutical intelligence company Pharmetrics that created the largest non-payer owned integrated claims database of commercial insurers in the world. Pharmetrics was acquired by IMS Health in 2005.
Mitchell Portnoy earned his Master’s degree in Epidemiology and Health Services Administration from Yale University and his Bachelor degree from the University of Michigan. He is a published author and speaker.
Liliana Racine
Liliana Racine is a thoughtful leader with 20+ years of experience in customer success, management consulting, learning & development, and talent acquisition. She currently leads a team of 50+ Customer Success Managers at LinkedIn that focus on Talent Solutions for Public Sector, Healthcare, Nonprofits and Academic customers. Previously, she worked at American Express for 7 years and McKinsey for 5 years. She understands the B2B space well, how to scale SaaS solutions, and how to motivate employees to achieve ambitious goals.
Liliana is originally from Mexico City and is passionate about helping LatinX entrepreneurs succeed in the United States. She lives in Telluride with her husband and son. Liliana loves to ski in the winter, explore different hiking trails in the summer, and enjoy all the Telluride festivals.
Steven Raymund
Steven A. (Steve) Raymund founded and spent his entire career at Tech Data, a Fortune 100 distributor of high-tech products from leading suppliers such as HP, Cisco, and Apple, with operations worldwide.
Steve retired as Chairman of the Board in June 2017, after serving the company for 36 years in multiple roles – 26 of those years as Chairman and 20 as CEO. During Steve’s tenure, Tech Data’s revenues grew from $2 million in 1981 to some $21 billion in 2006. Steve is currently a director of Jabil, Inc. (since 1996 and serves as lead independent director) and WESCO International, Inc. (since 2006 and serves as audit committee chair). Additionally, Steve is a member of the board of trustees of The Dali Museum in St Petersburg, Florida and serves as board chair of Gulf Coast Cares, Inc., a 501(c)(3) supporting organization of Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services in Clearwater, Florida. Steve earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Oregon and a master’s degree from the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He currently divides his time between St Pete Beach, Florida and Telluride, Colorado.
Helen Conaghan Renninger
Helen Conaghan Renninger is a company builder, investor, and advisor. Helen was an early employee at Uber — the fastest-growing consumer company of the last decade — working across multiple functions and geographies. She launched markets, led growth initiatives, strategic operations across dozens of markets & teams, policy efforts, and managed company-wide programs, such as rider & driver safety. She then co-founded a marketplace app, raising $2M in VC. After that, she spent some time at YouTube/Google to help them with their global policy partnerships strategy.
Now she consults & invests in other entrepreneurs with big ideas for causes she believes will make the world better. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two sons.
Julian Scurci
Julian Scurci is an investment professional with broad experience in investment analysis, acquisition analysis, trading, deal sourcing, asset management, credit analysis, structuring deals, negotiation, business development, and capital raising. He is an experienced leader that has successfully built organizations from the ground up, exceeded objectives and managed growth. He is currently a managing partner and COO of Corona Associates Capital Management in San Francisco. Additionally, he owns and manages a short term vacation rental portfolio in the Caribbean.
Fred Sherman
Fred Sherman brings more than 20 years of senior management experience in nonprofit management and more than 36 years of business experience. He is the Chief Operating Officer of CLASP, and serves on the board of directors for Advocates for Youth. Previously he served on the boards of Capital City Public Charter School, Mount Pleasant Main Street, and the American Council on Exercise (ACE). He has held senior leadership positions for several other nonprofit organizations including BoardSource and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute. Prior to working in the nonprofit sector, Fred spent more than 15 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he last served as director of global tax technology. Fred holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from The University of Texas at Austin and is a CPA/CGMA.
Michelle Sherry
Michelle Sherry owned and operated Telluride Land Works and Telluride Snow Removal with her husband Paul for 28 years before selling the businesses in 2019. Telluride Land Works is a full-service landscaping business providing design, construction, and maintenance services in Telluride and the surrounding area. A labor-intensive business, Michelle organized and managed their H2B visa program for 30-50 employees both for the summer and winter which led to her becoming quite informed about immigration and work programs. In addition to her business role, Michelle was an active civil servant. She was elected to Mountain Village Town Council and also served on the Mountain Village Design Review Board. She participated on the Telluride High School Accountability Committee, serving a two-year term as President. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Michelle participated in the Peace Corps in Cameroon and worked ski patrol in Vail, Colorado, Telluride, Colorado, and Tignes, France. Michelle spends her free time with family and skis and surfs as much as possible.
Morgan Smith
Morgan Smith is an attorney and president of a legal services company he founded in 2011, Cogent Legal, which specializes in creating trial graphics and conducting mock trials for litigation teams handling high-value cases nationwide. Morgan launched this startup to combine his legal expertise with his interests in visual communication, graphic design, art, and technology. More recently, he started a separate business called California Hearing Officers that provides attorneys to act as hearing officers at administrative hearings. The combined companies have grown to 30 employees with annual gross revenues near $4 million. Previously Morgan worked for 17 years as a trial attorney and co-founded a successful litigation firm in San Francisco that tried and settled numerous multimillion-dollar cases.
Morgan has been coming to Telluride since the mid-1980s when he first started dating his wife because her family roots run deep here. Morgan and his family moved to Telluride in 2016, and he began working remotely full-time in 2019. He, therefore, has firsthand knowledge of the challenges and rewards of running a business from home. Morgan is active in Telluride Rotary and leads the Rotary Club’s foundation. He also spends time skiing, hiking, caring for and riding his two horses, and raising chickens.
Kathleen Stetson
Kathleen Stetson, Personal and Executive Coach, helps leaders make better decisions for themselves, their teams, and their businesses. Her clients include CEOs and CTOs leading the way in tough tech and AI, leaders at Fortune 500 companies, media entrepreneurs, Hollywood creatives, executive directors, and founders across biotech, fintech, AI, agtech, healthcare, and climate tech.
Her approach draws on experience in startups, engineering, and creative fields – she was formerly an opera singer, acoustical engineer, and startup founder – and 14 years of research into wellness, Zen meditation, and mindfulness. She has a BA from Harvard, an MM from New England Conservatory, an MS from RPI, and an MBA from MIT Sloan. She is a lives in Ridgway with her son, spouse, and dogs.
Todd Stockard
Todd Stockard is a healthcare industry executive with over 35 years of experience. Todd was the co-founder, President and COO of Valence Health. Valence was a tech enabled services company supporting provider based risk organizations across the country. The company grew organically from 1996 to 2012, when they raised $30m in private equity. Another $30m was raised in 2014. Valence was ultimately sold to Evolent Health (EVH) in 2016. Todd oversaw the growth of the company from 150 employees to over 1,500 during this time period. He is currently working on another healthcare tech startup with a number of physician colleagues. Todd and his wife split time between Chicago and Telluride.
Eric Soderlund
Eric Soderlund is a Managing Partner and co-founder of Corre Partners, an alternative asset manager focused on deep-value investments across the capital structure in middle market companies facing temporal challenges. Founded in 2009, Corre manages over $1 billion in evergreen and drawdown vehicles, targeting under-followed companies in turnaround, restructuring, and special situations.
Eric brings over 30 years of financial industry experience spanning investment management, risk oversight, trading, and credit underwriting. Prior to founding Corre, he was a Partner at Trafelet Delta Funds, where he served as Head of Risk Management and Senior Trader, leading portfolio reviews and macro strategy implementation. He also played a key role in building the firm’s operational infrastructure and proprietary risk systems.
Earlier in his career, Eric worked in equity derivative sales at Deutsche Bank and UBS, and began as a credit analyst at National Westminster Bank, where he managed a $200M portfolio of cable and media loans. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BA from Colgate University.
Jon Tukman
Jon Tukman is the Snow Safety Manager for the Telluride Ski Area where he runs the Avalanche Forecasting and Mitigation program. In his spare time he serves as the finance officer for Synergis, LLC, a real estate and manufacturing holding company based in McAllen, Texas. In his previous life he was a Vice President of Equity Research at Goldman Sachs covering the securities and asset management industries.
Robert Usdan
Rob Usdan is an investor and advisor with 30+ years of experience in the financial
services industry. He co-founded Endicott Group in 1996, an investment firm
based in New York that invested in the financial services sector and currently
specializes in the data and information services sector. For over 25 years at
Endicott, he was instrumental in leading the firms’ hedge and private equity
investment funds. Rob has extensive experience working with management teams
and Boards of Directors in executing operating strategies, implementing capital
market and strategic transactions, and maximizing shareholder value. Prior to
Endicott, Rob served as an Associate Director at Sandler O’Neill & Partners, a
New York-based investment bank. He has served on numerous public and private
company Boards in the financial, data and information services, and software
industries and is the current Chairman of American Business Bank in Los Angeles,
California. Rob is also on the Board of Pyroclastic Records, a non-profit
independent record label supporting jazz artists, and is a member of the New York
Regional Board of the University of Virginia College Foundation where he
graduated in 1988.
Jordan Verroi
Jordan Verroi left the corporate world in 2013 after becoming the #2 salesperson at a Fortune 500 company, realizing early on that he was helping build someone else’s vision when he had the ability to create his own while helping elevate and grow others along the way.
Today, he’s a founder, advisor, investor, and growth strategist with 16+ years of experience helping companies build stronger brands, scale revenue, and modernize how they grow. He is the Founder of CapGenius and Principal at Audacity Culture, where he works hands-on with companies implementing marketing systems, automation infrastructure, AI-enabled workflows, and scalable growth strategies.
Jordan helps companies turn brand, marketing, AI, and operations into scalable growth infrastructure. His work spans national brands, startups, growth-stage companies, and regional businesses across hospitality, consumer products, retail, media, entertainment, technology, events and service-based industries. His work as an operator, advisor, investor, and growth partner has supported brands and companies including Sir Kensington’s, Betches Media, LIV Golf, BEHAVE Candy, Certifyde, Pangea, New Balance, Spanx, and Netflix, along with local businesses such as Mountain Trip, Crossbow, and The Coffee Cowboy.
Jordan’s expertise sits at the intersection of brand strategy, customer acquisition, search visibility, demand generation, lifecycle marketing, automation, and AI-driven workflow implementation. He helps companies move beyond fragmented marketing tactics into integrated growth engines that align positioning, technology, conversion, operations, and long-term revenue growth.
Based in Telluride, Colorado, Jordan enjoys skiing, hiking, fly-fishing, and supporting entrepreneurship throughout the region.
John Walden
John served on the leadership team at MSB since 2018 before taking over as CEO in January of 2022. His background includes 25 years in digital marketing, advertising agencies, and tech and robotics startups. John’s roles have ranged from training and customer service to online marketing, organizational communications, and business leadership and administration. John currently lives with his wife and two boys in Western Colorado where he likes to hike and run in the desert and incrementally remodel his house.
Kelly Watters
Kelly Watters is the Co-Founder of UNCVRD (uncvrd.com), a full-service, asset-light product creation platform for premium apparel brands, based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She is the managing partner at Oas Media, Founder of Telluride Guide, and co-founder of Western Rise (sold in 2026). A fourth-generation entrepreneur, Kelly is one of Outside Magazine’s 10 Women to Know in the Outdoor Industry, a Wright Awards Finalist, and an advisor to the top new Kickstarter brands. An operator at heart, she has over 15 years of operating experience in operations, global supply chain, finance, marketing, ai, and general global business management.
Will Watters
Will Watters is the Co-Founder and Creative Director at Western Rise, a men’s performance apparel company based in Telluride, Colorado. Western Rise is on a mission to provide freedom for men who want to own less and experience more. They make the world’s most versatile clothing no matter how you live, work or play.
Dustin Wells
Dustin is a professional jazz musician turned serial tech entrepreneur. His first company, Headspring, grew from his kitchen counter into a multinational company that was acquired by Accenture. Headspring was recognized as a Forbes Small Giant, Inc 500, and a Best Place to Work in Texas for 9 years in a row. This journey inspired Dustin to co-found Workify, a startup that helps companies harness engagement analytics to engage employees in smarter ways. Dustin’s leadership awards and recognitions include Austin’s Rockstar Entrepreneur of the Year Award and KPMG Executive Leadership Award.
Dustin is actively involved in the community and is passionate about sustainable social impact in the communities where he lives. Dustin wants to use his experiences to help other aspiring entrepreneurs. When Dustin is not riding his mountain bike or his snowboard, he’s spending time with his wife Megan, and his 3 kids. Dustin splits his time between Austin, TX and Telluride, CO.
Danny Winokur
Danny Winokur is an independent advisor to the CEOs and senior executives of top venture-backed and public software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, including Adobe, Alef Edge, Algolia, and Procore, and is a board director of Instabug.
Until August 2020, Danny served as the GM of AppDynamics, a leading application performance management vendor acquired on the eve of its IPO in January 2017 by Cisco for $3.7B. Danny served as AppD’s Chief Customer Officer and Chief Product Officer before becoming GM reporting directly to Cisco’s CEO with full responsibility for a P&L exceeding $500M.
Prior to AppDynamics, Danny was an executive at Adobe, where he played an instrumental role in transforming the company’s traditional Creative Suite into today’s flagship Creative Cloud business. He held P&L responsibility for the enterprise segment and led customer experience for all segments with functional responsibility for product management, design, web strategy (including Adobe.com), engineering, and global customer care.
Previously, Danny held senior positions at private and public growth companies, including Simplicita Software, Inc., Openwave Systems, Inc., Software.com, and USA.NET, Inc.
Danny and his wife have two grown kids and live full-time in Telluride.
Brian Wolahan
Brian has nearly four decades of experience in the investment and finance industry. Before his retirement in 2020, he spent over 30 years at Acadian Asset Management in Boston, now a leading global quantitative equity manager. During his tenure there he served as Director of Portfolio Management, Director of Alternative Strategies and Co-Director of Research. Prior to Acadian, Brian worked at Bank of New England, M&M/Mars and Citibank. He brings extensive experience in investing, marketing and team management.
Brian has been a part-time resident of Telluride since 2001 and a full-time member of the community since 2017. He holds a BS in Accounting from Lehigh University and an MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School. When not hiking with his dog or skiing with his wife, Brian can be found performing with his band, the Telluride Gold Kings.
Grayson Zulauf
Grayson Zulauf is a climate tech entrepreneur and engineer focused on electrifying infrastructure and advancing clean energy systems. He is currently Director of Solutions at Heron Power, where he works on next-generation power electronics for the electric grid. Previously, he co-founded and led Resonant Link, worked in power electronics at Tesla, and helped launch electric trucks and buses at Motiv Power Systems. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, NASA iTech, and other major organizations for his work in climate innovation.
Jeff Resnick
Trond Skramstad
Board Members
Jeff Katz
Jeff has served as CEO of small and large companies. He’s currently CEO and Founder of Journera, a software infrastructure company serving the travel industry, funded by Andreessen Horowitz and BCapital. He has served as CEO of Orbitz, Swissair, NexTag, Leapfrog Enterprises, and worked as an executive in numerous roles at American Airlines for nearly 20 years.
Jeff has also served on the board of directors of numerous public and private companies including CA, RR Donnelley, Orbitz, and the very first social networking company, Friendster. He holds degrees from MIT, Stanford and the University of California.