Board Members

ranilionis@coloradomesa.edu

Ray Anilionis has been the president and owner of Landmark Realty Advisors, a real estate consulting and asset management firm in Centennial for the past 23 years. He has held executive positions in mortgage banking and real estate development.

Anilionis has served on the Colorado Mesa University Real Estate Foundation Board of Directors for more than 10 years, which has given him knowledge and insight into the workings of CMU.

“At this stage of my life, I've tried to give back as much as possible and I feel there is no better way than to support higher education, especially at the college level,” he said.

His real estate experience has included the acquisition, development, construction, and management of commercial and residential properties in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas. He has taught courses in real estate finance and appraisal at the college level, as well as continuing education for real estate professionals. He has arbitrated and served as an expert witness in various real estate disputes and legal proceedings.

In addition to serving as board member of the CMU Real Estate Foundation, Anilionis serves on the boards of the Wisconsin (Whitewater) Foundation and the Warhawk Real Estate Foundation. He is a licensed Real Estate Broker and formerly was a Certified General Appraiser. He was a member and former chairman of the Cherry Hills Village Planning and Zoning Commission; a past board member for three commercial banks, various municipal and special districts; and a past member of the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Home Builders Association, and the American Arbitration Association.

He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and a Master of Science degree in urban land economics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

A resident of Colorado since 1971, he divides his time between his family ranch in Grand County and his business in Centennial, where his wife, Deb, is an elementary school teacher.

bbechtel@coloradomesa.edu

Betty is the current chairman of the Board of Trustees at Colorado Mesa University.

Betty Bechtel graduated with honors from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a BS in business in 1967. While her husband, Joel, attended medical school, she worked as a statistician for the telephone company, then attended Lewis and Clark College, Northwestern School of Law, attaining her JD cum laude in 1978. From 1979-1980, she worked in the employment law section of Dykema Gossett law firm in Detroit, Mich.

Returning home to Colorado in 1980, she practiced primarily employment law with Dufford, Waldeck, Milburn & Krohn, in Grand Junction, for 25 years. In 2005, she and Michael Santo began the firm of Bechtel & Santo, LLP, emphasizing employment law for businesses. She has served as President of the Mesa County Bar Association, and received its Professionalism Award in 2010. Betty retired from active practice as of Jan. 1, 2011, but continues with the firm in an "Of Counsel" status.

Betty has chaired the boards of several non-profit organizations in the community, including the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, Mesa County Economic Development Council (now known as Grand Junction Economic Partners), the Business Incubator Center, Hilltop Rehabilitation Hospital and Hospice of the Grand Valley. Additionally, she has served as a board member of the Mesa County Pro Bono Association, Cinema at the Avalon, the Art Center, Glade Park Community School and Mesa Developmental Services Foundation.

tbishop@coloradomesa.edu

Tilman "Tillie" Bishop is a Colorado native, a longtime educator, a dedicated public servant and an influential former state lawmaker who lives in Grand Junction.

He has supported education in Colorado for decades, having been an administrator and taught in Colorado public schools for seven years and serving as an administrator at Colorado Mesa University for 31 years.

In 1970, Bishop was elected to the Colorado General Assembly and served two terms/four years in the Colorado House of Representatives and six terms for a total of 24 years in the Colorado Senate, the last six years as president pro tem. His tenure as a state lawmaker ended in 1998 due to term limits.

Bishop's 28 years of service in the General Assembly rank him fourth in Colorado history for continuous service, and he was the longest-serving state senator from western Colorado. During his tenure as a state lawmaker, Bishop focused on education, water, energy, natural resource development, highways and transportation, legislative reform, youth corrections and the state personnel system.

In 2002, Bishop was elected to a four-year term as Mesa County Commissioner. In 2006, he was elected to a six-year term to the University of Colorado Board of Regents.

On the national level, Bishop served as Colorado's representative on the executive committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures. He also sat on the executive committee of the Energy Council, made up of 10 major oil-and-gas producing states and Canada and Venezuela.

Born in Colorado Springs, Colo., Bishop earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in education at the University of Northern Colorado as an El Pomar Foundation and wrestling scholarship recipient. In 1999, his alma mater conferred upon him an honorary doctorate degree.

Bishop and his wife, Pat, a retired public high school teacher, have been married for 61 years. Their son, Barry, passed away in December 2008.

kbrough@coloradomesa.edu

Kelly Brough is the President and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than 3,000 businesses with 300,000 employees.  
Before joining the Chamber, she served as chief of staff for the City of Denver and Mayor John Hickenlooper, overseeing a general fund of $857 million. She also served as deputy chief of staff and director of the Denver office of accountability and reform for the city.

As the first female director of human resources for the City of Denver, she successfully moved the human resource department from an authoritarian culture to one based on service delivery and focused on outcomes. During her two years in this role, she led significant reforms including moving the city to a full pay-for-performance system and established the city’s first bonus plan program. 

She directed an internationally recognized leadership program at the University of Colorado at Denver—the Rocky Mountain Program and has served as a consultant to many local governments facilitating decisions, managing large public processes and comprehensive planning efforts, mediating disputes and providing strategies to build stronger public/private partnerships.

She currently serves on the board of directors of the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation, the Denver Zoological Foundation; the Denver Scholarship Foundation and VisitDenver; the Graduate School - Bioscience Advisory Board for University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, the Corporate Board of Delta Dental as well as the Colorado Mesa University Board of Trustees. She is also a member of the Women’s Forum and The Chamber 100 with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Brough earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Colorado at Denver in 1989 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology, Criminal Justice from Montana State University in 1986.

Brough was named as one of Colorado’s 10 most influential women by The Denver Post and one of Denver’s most influential people by 5280 Magazine. In 2012, Brough received the University of Colorado Denver Campus Alumni Recognition Award. She has attended a number of leadership programs including the JFK School of Government’s program at Harvard for state and local public officials. She was also named an American Marshall Memorial Fellow in 2001.

keck@coloradomesa.edu

Kathleen is a fifth-generation Coloradan who grew up in Denver and Vail. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado and received her law degree from the University of Denver College of Law.

Eck spent most of her legal career with Martin Marietta Corporation, now Lockheed Martin, where she held positions of increasing responsibility within several operating companies of the corporation and at the corporate level, including Corporate Secretary and Associate General Counsel. She is a trained mediator and has participated in the Negotiation Workshop at Harvard Law School. She continues to practice law and is a real estate broker with Slifer Smith & Frampton in the Vail Valley.

She serves on the board of directors of Millennium Bancorp and Millennium Bank and is President of the Lake Creek Metro District. Eck has also served on the board of trustees and as chair of Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Adams State College and the Women's Foundation of Colorado.

Eck lives in the Lake Creek Valley near Vail with her husband, Jack, a physician.

lmarquez@coloradomesa.edu

Jose D.L. Marquez majored in philosophy at St. John's University, in Collegeville, MN, in 1964. He earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1970 and his LLM from the University of Virginia Law School in 2001.

Marquez served as Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, USAF, from February 1971 to June 1972, before working as an attorney for Colorado Rural Legal Services from June 1972-August 1975. He served as Regional Assistant Attorney General, Colorado Attorney General, Grand Junction, from September 1975-December 1977 before going into private practice with Prakken and Marquez (and then Prakken, Marquez & Coebergh) P.C., in Grand Junction, from January 1978 to January 1984.

Marquez served as a District Court Judge, 21st Judicial District, Grand Junction, from February 1, 1984 to July 15, 1988, when he was appointed to the Court of Appeals. He retired from the Colorado Court of Appeals in 2008 and currently serves as a senior judge.

Marquez was appointed to the Colorado Mesa University Board of Trustees by Governor Bill Ritter on May 13, 2010.

smotter@coloradomesa.edu

Stephanie Motter serves as the chief executive officer of Monument Health, LLC, a clinically integrated healthcare network in Grand Junction.

She previously served the kidney care organization DaVita as vice president for quality and clinical strategy, where she led national teams focused on topics such as quality measurement, pay for performance, value-based care and clinical program design and implementation.

“As a business leader and healthcare executive, I am interested in serving to help ensure the most robust academic programs and other preparatory opportunities for students,” she said.

Motter serves on the boards of Back the Badge and the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra. She has served as a mentor for the Young Entrepreneurs Academy and a youth basketball coach for Grand Junction Parks and Recreation. She is a member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the American Nurses Association.

Motter earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Smith College and a master’s degree from Yale University. She worked as a nurse practitioner at Partners in Women’s Health in Denver, PMG Physician Associates, in Plymouth, Mass., and at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless in Boston.

She and her family live in the Grand Valley. She enjoys the mountains, skiing and RV camping.

dquimby@coloradomesa.edu

Doug Quimby is a native of Grand Junction currently residing in Colorado Springs, Colo., He is a seasoned real estate executive and proven leader with deep ties to community service and economic development organizations.

After winning the prestigious Denver Post Golden Helmet Award in 1970, Quimby went on to play varsity football and rugby at Harvard College where he earned an AB in history magna cum laude. After earning his JD from Stanford Law School, Quimby returned to Colorado to practice law specializing in real estate transactions, development and management.

He is currently President, Chief Executive Officer and principal owner of La Plata Communities, Inc. He and his wife, Courtney, have two adult children.

jdareed@coloradomesa.edu

David Reed graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and from South Texas College of Law at Houston, attaining his Juris Doctor magna cum laude.

For more than 25 years, the law firm of J. David Reed, P.C. has provided general and specialized legal counsel to clients throughout western Colorado with offices in Montrose, Telluride and Ridgway.

Reed has participated in community development, charities, local volunteer organizations and projects throughout the region. He has formerly served as Montrose, Colorado, City Council Member and as Mayor, President of the Montrose Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Montrose County School Board.  He currently serves as President of the Board of the San Juan Healthcare Foundation and as Treasurer of the Board of the Montrose Community Foundation.

jringel@coloradomesa.edu

Joan D. Ringel has been involved in public policy since 1979. She served as Assistant to the Executive Director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education from 2002 to 2004, where her responsibilities included research, writing, media relations, management and strategy. She was a partner in Ringel, Boyle & Weist Policy Strategists, Inc., a consulting, research, lobbying and public relations firm for 13 years. Mrs. Ringel has an MPA in public policy from the University of Colorado, Denver and an AB in English literature from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is currently working on a short story collection.

Ringel currently serves on the Colorado Judicial Performance Commission and volunteers at Project Angel Heart. She has frequently been a literacy tutor, most recently a mentor and tutor for a high school student. She previously served on the Regional Air Quality Commission, the Winter Park Recreation Association, the Colorado Judicial Institute Board of Directors, the CANPO-ASI Board of Directors and the Denver Sunrise-Sunset Committee. Her publications include "Not So Cut and Dried," The Human Touch; "Academic Libraries and Regional Economic Development," Libraries and the Search for Academic Excellence; "Sophie's Victory," Women's Words, and "Regulatory Reform in Colorado," Colorado Lawyer.

Ringel has lived in Denver for 36 years. She is married with two adult sons, who also live in Denver. She enjoys reading, gourmet cooking, traveling and has recently resumed playing the flute.

bwilson@coloradomesa.edu

Bob Wilson is a retired accounting professional who brings a wealth of community service and leadership experience to the Colorado Mesa University Board of Trustees.

Upon completing his Associate of Arts degree at then Mesa College in 1961, Wilson completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. After spending 14 years as an accountant and eventually partner at Dalby Wendland & CO in Grand Junction, Wilson worked as Business Manager at the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel and then as a private business consultant through the 1980s. From 1987 until 2005, he worked in varying capacities at Rocky Mountain Health Plans including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President.

While Bob retired in 2005, he is very involved with numerous community organizations including Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado, the Walker Foundation, the Mesa County Victims Compensation Board and Industrial Development, Inc.

Chad Middleton, PhD, received his Bachelor of Science in physics with a minor in mathematics from Eastern Illinois University and went on to earn his PhD in physics from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. A professor of physics at Colorado Mesa University, Middleton teaches Fundamental Mechanics, Electromagnetism and Optics, Intermediate Dynamics, General Relativity and Senior Research, among other courses.

He is actively involved in theoretical research in the area of Einstein's theory of general relativity, particularly in cosmology in higher-dimensional spacetimes.

In addition, he has worked on a variety of research projects involving CMU undergraduate students on topics including the physics of kayaking, the dynamics of a bubble rising through a fluid, the high road/low road demonstration, on circular orbits of a marble on a warped spandex fabric, and on elliptical-like orbits on a warped spandex fabric.

Amara Hobbs is a junior majoring in Social Work at Colorado Mesa University. She is from Strasburg, Colorado and chose to attend CMU for its small class sizes, professional development, and the academic merit opportunities.

Amara has experience on campus as the former Student Event Coordinator for the University Center where she made many connections with community members. She is currently an Administrative Assistant in Career Services and a Peer Academic Coach within the Office of Student Success. Amara served as the Social & Behavioral Science Senator in the Associated Student Government, and is an active member of the CMU Student Center for the Public Trust where she develops her knowledge of ethics within institutions and at the work place.

She enjoys being active in her community through volunteer work; and is always looking for ways to improve the well-being of others. She ran for Student Trustee for the opportunity to see the growth and potential this university has from the inside and to advocate for the students. She strives to bring kindness and institutional knowledge to those around her and is excited and thankful for this experience.