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Samantha joined the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office (OREC) in 2017. Her work as Deputy Director supports the office’s mission of inspiring industries and communities to thrive in Colorado’s great outdoors. This is accomplished by supporting programming that focuses economic development & business support, conservation & stewardship, education & workforce training, and public health & wellness. She loves the outdoors and spends her free time participating in a variety of activities, with some of her favorites including hiking and SUPing.

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Breanna González, based in Denver, Colorado, acknowledges the ancestral lands of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe peoples. With Bachelor's degrees in Transborder/Chicano Development, Health, and Global Studies, as well as a Master's degree in Critical and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, her passion lies in advocating for health, education, and environmental equity. As a Conservation Policy Coordinator at Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO), she works to address injustices she observed as an educator in North Denver and serves as the Recreation Chair for the CWCB Metro Roundtable, advocating for equitable representation in the water sector. Her love for the outdoors began during her time as a public health specialist with the Peace Corps in Peru, and she aims to bridge the gap between Latinx communities and their connection to Mother Earth. Engaging with the Denver Latinx community, she's served on the board of New Treks, is on the Policy team at Next 100 Colorado, and is a Facilitator for Escaladores Unidos. Beyond advocacy, she enjoys climbing, supporting her LA sports teams, and connecting with nature in the desert. Breanna eagerly anticipates her role on the planning committee to advance outdoor equity and ensure greater accessibility to the natural world for all.

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Erika joined GOCO in 2016 as the Youth Initiatives Program Officer and spent 5 years working to implement the Generation Wild and School Yard Initiatives. Currently, as the Equity, Education, and Engagement Officer Erika works to implement and evaluate education and training opportunities for GOCO’s partners, staff, and board. Erika is the central coordinator for implementing our efforts to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Erika received her bachelor’s in Political Science from Marymount Manhattan College, was a 2018 Rising Leaders fellow with Youth Outside, and serves as the President for the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education board. She cares deeply about social justice and environmental justice issues.

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Abe is the Recreation Program Manager for the Colorado State Land Board, an agency responsible for the management of 2.8 million acres of state trust land. He has a long history working in outdoor recreation, including summer positions with the US Forest Service (Caribou National Forest), the National Park Service (Grand Teton NP and Timpanogos Caves NM), and over a decade with the State Land Board. Abe has a B.S. in Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism from the University of Idaho (Moscow) and a Masters in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning from Utah State University (Logan). He was a Co-Chair for the 2013 National Conference of the American Society of Landscape Architects (Denver, CO), and the 2017 National Outdoor Recreation Conference (Rapid City, SD).

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Jordan calls the Pacific Northwest home, but the sunshine and mountains have kept him in Colorado for over ten years now. Jordan currently lives in Fort Collins, CO with his wife and their Australian Cattle Dog. Jordan’s professional background includes stints in college athletics, community recreation, and natural resources. While working for the Poudre Heritage Alliance, his wife had the crazy idea to hike the Colorado Trail from Denver to Durango with their dog. A few years later, and now Jordan works for the Continental Divide Trail Coalition as the Colorado Regional Representative Jordan spends his free time trail running with his dog, trying to become a better skier, and supporting his wife’s love of rock climbing.

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I have been working in outdoor equity for about 6 years! I hope to make the outdoors more accessible to those who have fewer resources through work, volunteering, and listening to communities. I am fortunate to have grown up outside in Sacramento, California, backpacking, skiing, and rafting. I can add mountain biking, climbing, and back country skiing to that list. I am very grateful to be on this committee and to get to work with others in this space.

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Katie has been active in the field of environmental education for over 10 years. She studied Natural Resource Interpretation at Colorado State University and went on to receive a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Environmental Education from Florida Atlantic University. Katie has served as an educator and developed curriculum at organizations ranging from museums to residential outdoor facilities in seven different states. She joined the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education in May of 2008. She loves hiking, camping, and muscials!

Raised in Los Fresnos, TX, Jeremy received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from UT San Antonio. While pursuing his degree, Jeremy found passion in inspiring youth, community advocacy, and connecting with the outdoors. After school, his work ranged from volunteer coordination, organizing grassroots campaigns to strengthening access to parks with the National Park Service. He then moved to Denver and served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in 2020. Throughout that time, he discovered the beauty of Colorado and its relationship to a happier/healthier life. Currently, he serves as an Education Coordinator for Environmental Learning for Kids providing youth with access to outdoor spaces and resources for pursuing careers in the outdoors industry. He is most excited to create youth engagement opportunities to the Partners in the Outdoors Conference! During his free time, Jeremy likes to play basketball, cook meals, run trails, sing karaoke, play board games, watch anime, and attend concerts!

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Gabi Morey grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Her early outdoor experiences took her to the creek down the street where she enjoyed quietly sitting and watching garter snakes pop out of the stream bank, as well as visits to natural areas all along the east coast. She received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the College of Wooster in Ohio, and a master’s in Wildlife Biology from Michigan State University where she completed a biodiversity study in northern Minnesota. Since then, she has worked in the field of conservation education for more than 20 years, working within both non-profits and government organizations all over the country. In Colorado she worked for San Juan Mountains Association for 15 years before exploring the landscapes of Montana, working there as the Director of the Montana Audubon Center in Billings. While Montana was beautiful, she and her family missed the spectacular deserts, mountains and people of southwest Colorado, which brought them back to Montezuma County in March, 2022. When she’s not working as the Director of the Montezuma Inspire Coalition, she enjoys hiking, skiing, rafting, mountain biking, and being outside as much as possible with her family.

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Dani Robben works for San Luis Valley Great Outdoors, a collective impact nonprofit in the San Luis Valley. As Community Connections Coordinator, Dani provides leadership, support, facilitation, and project management to several community collaboratives, including the SLV GO! Coalition, a Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnership. Dani is also spearheading dark sky preservation efforts in Southern Colorado and working to establish the Sangre de Cristo International Dark Sky Reserve, and serves as a board member of DarkSky Colorado. Prior to joining SLV GO! in 2021, Dani worked on trail crews with the Southwest Conservation Corps and Rocky Mountain Field Institute. Finding her passion for outdoor stewardship, she attended graduate school at Colorado State University and got her Master’s in Conservation Leadership. She is thrilled to be living full-time in the Alamosa and enjoys spending her time running, hiking, camping, and fly-fishing!

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A wildlife conservation biologist with roots in Michoacan, Mexico and Guatemala, Rosie's work centers equity, inclusion, and empowering her community through representation in wildlife conservation and outdoor recreation. My personal and professional life has been dedicated to wildlife conservation and coexistence, environmental activism, and community engagement. Rosie is actively engaged with her community as a member of the Next 100 Colorado, a volunteer leader with Latino Outdoors Colorado, and Operations Manager for All In Ice Fest.

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Foremost, I consider myself a passionate and collaborative environmentalist that looks to creativity and inclusive ideas when problem-solving. Professionally, I serve as the Director of Enterprise Programs at CSU where I work in the nexus of conservation, leadership education, and capacity building. Originally from rural southeastern Oklahoma, I was raised in a farming family that provided my first insights to what it meant to be a steward of the land. Moving to Northern Colorado five years ago, this community has quickly become home to me, and I’ve been able to invest in it through additional roles that include chairing the Natural Resources Advisory Board for the City of Fort Collins and serving as the president of the Board of Directors for Friends of Lory State Park. In my spare time, you can either find me trail running around the foothills, playing a game of adult kickball, or hanging out with my dog and partner at one of the local breweries.

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As the Mountain Parks Coordinator for DPR: Outdoor Recreation, Josh utilizes his B.A.s in Integrative Physiology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from CU Boulder as well as a M.Sc Managing in the Energy Industries from the University of Dundee in Scotland, to develop plans that foster a deep sense of appreciation and love for the outdoors in the Denver community by creating fun and exciting opportunities to adventure out into the mountains, lakes, and deserts, and forests of Colorado. Prior to this new position, Josh had been the Grant Funded Programs Coordinator for the past 4 years and continues to serve on DPR's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion team.

I relocated from Chicagoland to Boulder in 1978. I was drawn here by the outdoors and to complete a MS in Human Resources. In retirement, as a member of CFO and BCNA conservation committees, I focus on outdoor education, awareness and conservation advocacy for natural habitats and all species that dwell there.
I am excited to be on the planning committee working with others and combining our approaches and efforts for all who love Colorado outdoors.

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Krista Muddle has been the Intermountain (IMR) Regional Partnership Coordinator since July of 2008 providing technical assistance on NPS policies, regulations, laws and procedures to Friends Group and Cooperating Association leaders. Prior to joining the NPS, Krista worked for the Association of Partners for Public Lands (now Public Lands Alliance or PLA) as the Education and Administrative Services Coordinator for five years. Her focus at PLA was to establish engaging and inspiring educational opportunities for public land managers and their partners so they could accomplish innovative projects on public lands. Prior to her work at PLA, Krista worked as the Administrator of the Climate Policy Center, a small advocacy group in Washington DC. She has received bachelor's degrees in Russian and Political Science and a master's degree in Intercultural Nonprofit Management. She served in the Peace Corps from 1999 - 2001 consulting five nonprofit organizations based in Sibiu, Romania. Drawing from her degree in Intercultural Nonprofit Management and her experiences working abroad, she advises nonprofit groups of all sorts upon request. Most requests are for board development, strategic planning, financial management and fundraising. Martial arts, hiking, camping and discovering new foods and beverages are both a hobby and a joy. She is excited to learn from top-notch committee members who are experts in setting up world renowned outdoor recreation experiences.

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Catie is the Assistant Director of Engagement at the Salazar Center for North American Conservation, where she runs capacity-building programs to support and advance grassroots conservation efforts across the continent and oversees a variety of partnership opportunities. Prior to joining the Center, Catie oversaw the Colorado Water Center’s grantmaking and outreach programs and previously spent nearly a decade in fundraising roles that directly supported conservation research, education, and practice. Catie moved to Fort Collins from Chicago in 2017 to be closer to the mountains and pursue a Master’s degree in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources at Colorado State University, and in her free time, she can often be found running, camping, and hunting on Colorado’s public lands.

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Brooke’s love of nature stems from growing up on a small farm playing in the woods and gardening with her mom and grandma. Her favorite activities include rafting, camping, trail running and working with plant medicine. Throughout her life, Brooke’s relationship to outdoors spaces has remained at the core of what inspires her. The joy, empowerment, skills development and relationship building that occur naturally through outdoor recreation and environmental education is something all kids and their families should feel safe, comfortable and invited to experience.

Working at youth development nonprofits like Solar Youth, Inc., Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver and cityWILD prepared Brooke for her current role supporting the My Outdoor Colorado Coalition in their collaborative efforts to reduce barriers and create meaningful outdoor experiences for Denver residents.

Suzanne O'Neill serves as Executive Director of Colorado Wildlife Federation (CWF). Earlier she was a practicing lawyer in the US Department of Justice and in private practice. CWF works effectively to safeguard important wildlife habitats on public lands through advocacy and education, offers the popular Becoming an Outdoors Woman program and actively participates in two of the regional partnerships. Suzanne developed a panel discussion at the 2019 Partners in the Outdoors conference entitled "Balancing Outdoor Recreation and Conservation on Public Lands: A Timely Conversation," a dialogue that remains key as we all shape Colorado's outdoors future.

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Dr. Tara Jae (they/them) is the founder and Executive Director of Youth Seen, an organization that concentrates on QTBIPOC mental health and wellness in Colorado. In this role, they serve as an advocate to decolonize mental health and wellness by providing greater access to resources for our community. In 2021, Dr. jae founded Black Pride Colorado. Beyond their role as executive director, advocate and co-creator, Dr. jae also consults with a wide range of nonprofits and organizations on the work of acknowledging, deconstructing and rebuilding systems from an equitable perspective. To add to the list of all the creative activities, Dr. jae also serves as an executive coach, curator, an DEI curriculum developer and as a consultant for media to provide accurate representation and perspective of our LGBTQ + BIPoC community in storytelling.

Mr. Schneckenburger currently serves as the Regional Trails and Dispersed Recreation Program Manager for the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States Forest Service in Lakewood, Colorado. Prior to working with the US Forest Service, Chad served as the National Conservation Lands Program Manager for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Colorado State Office. Chad has expertise in natural resource recreation planning and policy, trail planning and design, partnership development, community engagement, and sustainable tourism. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals (SORP) as Vice President and Treasurer. Mr. Schneckenburger holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Political Science from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina and a Master’s of Science degree in Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.

I have worked at CPW off and on for over 20 years. I have worked in the registration department for almost 10 years and I have been in my current position as Program Assistant for a year now and I have to say I love my job. Right now my greatest passion is spending time with my almost 9 month old granddaughter, Matilda. In my free time I love to crotchet and just do anything with my adult children. I was born in Korea and was adopted when I was 6. I grew up in Oregon and have now lived in Colorado for over 32 years.

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Kristin is a Deputy Regional Manager for the Northeast Region of CPW. She has been a wildlife officer with the agency for 15 years, having started as a District Wildlife Manager in the Boulder. In the outdoors she likes to hunt, fish, camp, hike, and just be outdoors.

A couple of my biggest passions in life are learning and anything to do with the outdoors. Having the opportunity to combine those two is even better. Learning from others experiences and sharing my knowledge is what "engaging partners in the outdoors" is all about. I was lucky enough to have been born and raised in Colorado and had parents and family that taught me about camping, rafting, gardening, hiking, hunting fly fishing, sunsets and so much more. I just happen to work for CPW and get to partner with like minded people and share my passions with the public.

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I'm born and raised in Denver, CO. Growing up I always loved going to the mountains but I didn't get to go too often. I mostly relied on friends or school trips. When I went to Metro State University I realized that I wanted to help increase access to the outdoors for people who looked like me. So I got a degree in Parks and Rec management and started plugging myself in the outdoor world. I had the chance to go to the PITO conference in 2018 with a group of rec students from Metro as volunteers. That's where I got my internship with Environmental Learning for Kids and the rest is history. I'm excited to be a part of the planning committee and hope to bring more students of different backgrounds to the conference.

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Hello! I am currently the Partners Program Assistant at CPW, and most recently worked as an Education and Community Outreach Assistant at Eldorado Canyon State Park. I am a former accountant of 10 years, and turned my love for the outdoors into a career focus on natural resources in 2022. The outdoors is for everyone, so I am passionate about getting more folks outside in a way that is comfortable, inclusive, and empowering. My favorite ways to get outside are hiking, rock climbing, and snow boarding!

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Greetings! My name is Shalana and I have lived on the Front Range of Colorado for a long time, but I grew up on the prairies of Pueblo, CO. I have been with Colorado Parks and Wildlife for about six years in a variety of roles including environmental education, volunteer program assistance, workforce development, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) coordination, and partnerships. I also worked at other organizations as a wildlife technician and a bat research technician for several years. I'm passionate about wildlife & habitat conservation and equitable access to the outdoors, and strongly believe that one cannot exist without the other. In my free time you'll find me ultra running, birding, native plant gardening, night hiking, setting up my wildlife camera for fun, and spending time with my husband and rescue dog.