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Board and StaffSTAFF
Wendy Hawthorne became the Executive Director of Groundwork Denver in November 2006. She started her career as a mechanical engineer, focusing on energy efficient and sustainable building design and consulting. After ten years in that field, Wendy realized that she could have a greater impact on the community and the environment by applying her skills and passion in the non-profit sector. In 2000, she joined the staff at Northeast Denver Housing Center (NDHC) with the goal of making low-income housing more energy efficient, sustainable, and healthy. At NDHC, she and staff started the Healthy Homes Initiative through which hundreds of Denver homes in low-income communities received health and safety improvements, thousands of families were educated about the dangers of lead poisoning, and several community members were provided with training and job opportunities. In that role, she saw the broader need for environmental improvements in Denver’s low-income community, as well as the opportunity to engage the community around these issues. Through Groundwork Denver, she can focus on working with the community to directly improve the environment. Wendy has a Bachelors degree from Princeton University and a Masters Degree from the University of Colorado and is a registered professional engineer.
A personal passion for community-based action, as well as a wide-range of skills and ideas, is what Julie Connor brings to the multi-faceted Denver Climate Challenge project. Julie was born and raised in the sun and sprawl of southern California. She obtained a degree in Journalism from CU, and later headed to Paraguay as a health promoter with the Peace Corps. She taught English briefly in Chile while she became reacquainted with electricity, running water and paved roads. When she returned to the U.S., she did freelance graphics, taught software classes and worked on a small flower farm in the Washington, D.C. area, but felt drawn back to the West. Since returning to Colorado 12 years ago, she has worked on graphics and communications for numerous entities in Denver, in particular the City and County of Denver, and ran for Denver City Council in 2007. Currently she serves on Denver’s Parks and Rec Advisory Board and is involved with the Sierra Club’s Clean Energy Committee. She has championed energy conservation and transportation alternatives, both as policies and as ballot measures, for years.
Ray Ribota Business Pollution Prevention Outreach Intern ray.ribota@groundworkdenver.org
Ray has a Bachelors degree from Metropolitan State College of Denver in Biology, Chemistry, and Philosophy. He is attending University of Colorado Denver for the degree of Masters of Science in Environmental Science, with emphasis in Environmental Health. Ray volunteered with CoPIRG as an undergraduate, through which he was a state board member and project coordinator for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge project. Ray joined Groundwork Denver to work on pollution prevention in businesses, but has a wide variety of interests in the environmental field that include climate change, environmental justice, environmental health, and water policy/law.
Dyrell Willis Program Assistant dyrell.willis@groundworkdenver.org
Dyrell Willis has been involved in community and environmental organizing and action since he was a high school student. He participated with his community in getting the VB/I-70 Superfund designation for several northeast Denver neighborhoods and was a youth mentor for the Community Court in the Cole neighborhood. Dyrell served as a youth leader for Groundwork Denver’s Green Team in 2007. In that position he led the youth in community outreach on lead poisoning and water quality issues and oversaw their work on community gardens and park improvements. Since then, Dyrell has worked with Groundwork Denver on lead poisoning outreach, Photovoice, and other community projects. Dyrell is a student at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
Morgan is a graduate student in Urban and Regional Planning and Urban Design at the University of Colorado at Denver. She earned her Bachelor of Environmental Design degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her previous work experience includes working for a real estate development firm and interning with Jefferson County Planning and Zoning. Morgan is currently the Chair of the American Planning Association Student Representative Council. A conservation and restoration ecologist with 30 years experience around the world, Charlie Chase has a Masters in Biology from the University of Colorado and did doctoral work at Florida State University in Evolutionary Ecology. Charlie started his science career as a curator at the Denver Museum of Natural History and a non-game biologist for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. For the last 15 years, he has worked as an environmental ecologist, conducting studies on pesticides, groundwater registration studies, hazardous waste assessment and cleanup, and environmental remediation and restoration. He has worked extensively with counties and small cities on a variety of environmental programs, grants and public education initiatives. Education and community outreach have been key elements of his work throughout. Since 2004, Charlie has been a program manager with Groundwork Denver, coordinating Healthy Air for North Denver, a large stakeholder group working to improve North Denver’s air quality. Charlie also works on Groundwork Denver’s “Photovoice” projects to help residents express their views and communicate their needs in the context of community development, and supports teachers in student community projects with environmental science and GIS in partnership with FrontRange Earth Force.
The Green Team
From left to right: Ian, Rhay, Francis, Robert, Abdul, Dyrell, Alonzo, and Jarrod
BOARD MEMBERSLisa Bardwell Lisa is the founding executive director of FrontRange Earth Force. Prior to joining Earth Force, she was a professor/lecturer and research scientist in the sphere of higher education and published works relating to the theoretical and practical applications of environmental education. She has built an expertise in environmental education, community development, service-learning, environmental problem-solving, and how our environment influences people’s well-being and ability to function. She is deeply committed to the neighborhood in which she lives and to being instrumental in ensuring that youth are seen as effective leaders and change agents in their communities. Lisa is a founding board member of Groundwork Denver. Emily Hager Emily Hager is the Marketing Manager for the Natural Resources Department for Denver-based law firm Holland & Hart LLP. Emily serves as a project manager and implementer of marketing projects, working with practice groups, industry groups, regional offices, and ad hoc groups of lawyers to provide a suite of marketing services and to assist with business development endeavors. She was integrally involved in the creation of Holland & Hart’s Global Climate Change Practice Group, which was announced in February of 2007. Before joining Holland & Hart in November of 2006, Emily worked for the Office of Legislative Legal Services of the Colorado General Assembly . Emily received a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, School of Public Affairs. Jill Litt, PhD Dr. Jill Litt is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics and the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her primary research interest is in the area of urban environmental health studies, with a particular interest in the role of the chemical and built environment in shaping community health status. Dr. Litt graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in 1993 and received her PhD in Environmental Health Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 2000. Following the completion of her doctoral studies, Dr. Litt joined the Department of Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health for post-doctoral training from December 2000 through August 2001. Dr. Litt and her family moved to Colorado in 2001. For more information about Dr. Litt’s work, please visit pmb.uchsc.edu Michael Mares Michael A Mares is a partner with the insurance firm of Walker-Dilworth. Michael started with Walker-Dilworth in 1999 managing the life and health departments and became a partner in 2005. Michael is a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and currently serves on its membership committee. Michael is also active with the Fields Wolfe Memorial Fund and The Eloy Mares Save the Youth Foundation. A native of Las Vegas Nevada, Michael graduated from Colorado State University in 1995, where he also played on the varsity football team. Christine Wanifuchi Chris' experience and knowledge is broad-based, spanning many facets of operations including business administration, marketing, project management, fiscal management, human resource management, fund development and relationship cultivation. Her special focus has been in applying her experience and skills to intertwine both for-profit and non-profit arenas. Chris recently became Chief Executive Officer for the Asian Pacific Development Center, which is an organization serving the needs of the growing population of Asian American and Pacific Islander residents throughout Colorado. Prior to that, Chris was the Chief Operating Officer of YouthBiz, a Denver non-profit serving at-risk inner city youth. From 2002 to 2004, Chris was a Colorado Trust Fellow, part of a collaborative effort of the Trust and Regis University to prepare future managers and leaders to guide and advance Colorado's non-profit organizations. William Williams III William (Randy) Williams is currently the director of staffing at The Children’s Hospital where he is responsible for the direct hire of over 600 employees per year. Prior to taking this position in 2006, Randy was the Human Resources and Diversity manager at StorageTek. In each of these positions, Randy has focused on improving recruiting processing, increasing employee satisfaction and retention, and building a diverse and successful staff profile, all while increasing efficiencies and reducing costs. Randy has served on the board of the Odyssey School in Denver and has volunteered for Junior Achievement, United Way, and Habitat for Humanity. Randy holds an MBA from the University of Denver.
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERSJoy Lujan Karen Reed Susan Baird James Busby
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Wendy Hawthorne
Julie Connor 
Morgan Landers
Charlie Chase