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Trustee's Name
Colorado Mesa University
Office of the President
1100 North Avenue
Grand Junction, CO 81501
Email all trustees: [email protected]
Alison R. Griffin, Chair
Amy Lentz, Vice Chair
Lori Buck, Treasurer
Kasia Iwaniczko MacLeod, Secretary
Lori Buck and her family have resided in the Grand Valley spanning four generations. After graduating from Fruita Monument High School, she went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Forest Management from Colorado State University. For 11 years, Buck lived in eastern Colorado receiving an education and working in her chosen profession of forestry.
In 2001 she moved back to Fruita where she is administrative manager at Bighorn Consulting Engineers – a local mechanical and electrical engineering firm. Buck has served the public for most of her career and took an interest in government while working for the City of Fruita Planning Department. During this time, she learned about growth management, policy and planning.
She has served on the Fruita City Council since 2006, and was mayor from 2012 to 2018. Due to term limits she now serves as mayor pro tem and is back on City Council. Buck has also served on the Police Commission, Senior Task Force, Planning Commission, Parks and Recreation Board, Tourism Board, the Arts & Culture Board and the Grand Junction Economic Partnership Board. She currently serves on the Southwest BLM Resource Advisory Council, The Grand Valley Regional Transit Committee and the El Pomar Northwest Council.
Buck is an avid promotor of tourism and outdoor recreation. She believes her local community knowledge and service as an elected leader can provide a strong, local perspective to the CMU Board of Trustees.
Ron Davis had a successful business career and for the past 16 years has focused his time in the not for profit area with an emphasis on serving first generation youth, health care and mental health initiatives in the Vail Valley.
Davis earned both his associate and bachelor’s degrees in four years while working full time. He then earned his MBA from the University of South California at night through a tuition reimbursement program while employed at General Foods. He worked in marketing at General Foods from 1969-1979 and helped create and launch Country Time Lemonade.
In 1979, Davis founded and helped build the largest bottled water company in America — the Perrier Group of America, which included the brands: Perrier, Arrowhead, Poland Springs, Zephyr Hills, Deer Park, Ozarka, San Pellegrino and Great Bear. Eventually the Perrier Group of America sold to Nestle in 1994.
After 15 years of building the Perrier Group of America, Davis moved to private equity. In this business adventure he worked with Davis Capital, Celestial Seasonings, Continental Container Corp., Franchise Acceptance Corporations, Staff Leasing and Greenwich Technology.
Davis also served as the Vail Valley Medical Center chairman from 2004-2014.
As a first-generation college student who had lived on his own since his senior year of high school, Davis founded Guardian Scholars at California State University Fullerton (CSUF) in 1998 to serve foster youth. The Guardian Scholars program is a comprehensive student empowerment model, which identifies ambitious, capable high school students who are challenged to afford a college education. Guardian Scholars offers significant financial leverage to enable students to earn an undergraduate college degree. Having graduated more than 300 students at CSUF, the Guardian Scholars program expanded to more than 70 colleges and universities including Colorado Mesa University. Since 2005, more than 80 Vail Valley students have graduated or are enrolled at CMU with full ride scholarships and no student loans.
In addition to serving as a trustee, Ron Davis contributed one of the largest single donor investments in CMU history founding the Davis School of Business. In addition to scholarships, the contribution integrates My Future Pathways -a program created and funded by Davis to provide access to education for youth and first-generation college students.
Charles Dukes serves as an educational strategist for Wend Collective. As a member of the Wend team, Dukes coordinates youth development opportunities to enhance and improve the educational ecosystem.
Before joining Wend Collective, Dukes dedicated a significant amount of his career as an education policy director and central office school district administrator. As an education policy director, Dukes served as a liaison between the City of Denver and Denver Public Schools (DPS) to support the alignment between educational institutions, companies and governance structures. As the director for college and career success at Aurora Public Schools, Dukes was a catalyst for changing systems at both the school and district levels to ensure all students have access to postsecondary education and workforce credentials. As the director of college access initiatives at Denver Public Schools, Dukes actively worked with the Denver community, parents and schools to ensure all DPS students were prepared academically and socially to enter postsecondary opportunities.
Dukes holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Colorado Mesa University, a master’s degree in education foundations practice and policy from The University of Colorado Boulder, and a second master’s degree in leadership from Grand Canyon University.
David Foster believes his service to the public is strengthened through his family, and thinks with a strong family he can be an even stronger servant to Colorado and CMU.
Foster resides in Denver, Colorado, with his wife and three children. He is a partner in the law firm Foster Graham Milstein and Calisher, LLP. When originally founded in 1999 the firm was recognized as one of Denver’s premier up and coming firms. Since that time, the team has grown into a firm that hosts more than 30 lawyers.
In addition to serving CMU, Foster is committed to a number of philanthropic causes. This commitment is a result of his family, faith and encouragement from Tikkun Olam (Hebrew for "world repair". His service extends to Shwayder Camp of Congregation Emanuel, George Washington High school IB Foundation, Cherry Creek Area Business Alliance, Presidents Leadership Class, Board of Advisors CU Boulder and a list of other organizations.
The publication 5280 named Foster Top Lawyer for the last five years. He also was recognized by Denver Jewish Day School with the Neshamah Yeteirah Award. Other commendations include the Denver Business Journal's Forty Under Forty, ADL’s Torch of Liberty Award, Jewish Colorado's Young Leadership Award, Colorado Statesman's 50 for the Future and several others.
Tim Fry is the co-founder and CEO of Mountain Racing Products (MRP), an international manufacturing company that designs and produces products within the bicycle industry. Prior to starting MRP, Fry was a litigation attorney in the Midwest specializing in corporate and complex litigation.
In 2000, Fry and his wife Christy moved to Grand Junction to start MRP and have raised their family in the Grand Valley.
Fry received a BBA in Business Management from Adrian College and a Juris Doctor Degree from Capital University. As a first-generation college student, Fry understands the impact that higher education can have and has volunteered his time in the areas of education and workforce development.
Fry is the chair of the Colorado Scholarship Initiative (COSI) and was past chair of the Colorado Workforce Development Council. Locally, Fry serves on the Grand Junction Economic Partnership board, the Mesa County Workforce Development board, and is president of a charter school board.
In the 22 years that Fry has lived in the Grand Valley, he has seen the growth of CMU and the impacts that CMU has on western slope residents and businesses. He is honored to bring his business experience, legal background, community involvement, and passion for education to the CMU Board of Trustees.
Alison R. Griffin has nearly twenty years of experience working at the intersection of education and employment, policy, and practice.
Griffin’s experience on the implementation side of higher education and workforce development, and as a grant-maker, is reflected in her practical understanding of how policy shapes outcomes. Her career in postsecondary education policy includes two terms as a policy advisor to the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, as well as a policy advisor role with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), where she guided state policy development. Griffin managed her own higher education government relations and policy practice in Denver, Colorado for four years before joining Strada Education Network. During her tenure with Strada, Griffin was a member of the senior leadership team, leading external affairs, government relations, and national engagement activities.
Bringing a deep sense of mission to her work on behalf of Whiteboard Advisors, Griffin believes the solutions to our most pressing education challenges, from affordability to access, require thoughtful collaboration among a growing community of policymakers, impact investors, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and philanthropists.
Griffin serves as the Vice Chair of the Colorado League of Charter Schools Board of Directors and an active member of the Government Relations Advisory Committee for the National Panhellenic Conference. She is a regular contributor to Forbes and EdSurge and her opinion pieces have appeared in Bloomberg and The Washington Post. Griffin holds a MEd in College Student Affairs Administration from the University of Georgia, and a BBA in Organizational Behavior and Business Policy and BA in Psychology from Southern Methodist University. She resides in Lafayette, Colorado with her young family.Kasia Iwaniczko MacLeod is the vice president of community & government engagement for Cigna Mountain States, which includes Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Her responsibilities are to expand Cigna's community engagement activities, deepen the company’s community and civic relationships, and develop a philanthropic strategy that deploys local community investments where the need is greatest. In addition to leading the civic relationships, community engagement strategy and deployment, her focus is on evolving employee engagement and volunteerism activities, as well as influencing the business development initiatives.
Iwaniczko MacLeod is known as a visionary community thought leader, successfully cultivating relationships across private, public and non-profit sectors. Iwaniczko MacLeod brings an authentic, unique and sought-after leadership expertise in developing and executing strategies that align revenue to thoughtful corporate citizenship. Her commitment to the integration of all products and services across a broad market presence, and her focus on expanding the brand, strategic community partnerships, expanded employee engagement and the delivery of business development strategies, helped drive an international financial institution from number 24 to number one in their marketplace.
Iwaniczko MacLeod has been acknowledged for her leadership by being tapped to advise numerous non-profits, young professional organizations and mentor young women across industries. She was also awarded the Denver Business Journal “Denver’s Forty Under 40” Award and was nominated for various other awards, including the Colorado Women’s Chamber Athena Award. In late 2019, Iwaniczko MacLeod co-chaired the Urban Nights event with over 1,400 attendees, benefiting Urban Peak, a youth homeless and mental illness facility. The event cultivated one of the highest revenue evenings, in its’ history. In 2020, she co- chair, World Denver’s International - Women’s Day Luncheon, hosting over 700 international women and featuring athletes, leaders and public officials from around the world.
Iwaniczko MacLeod was recently named by the Girls Scouts of Colorado to the 2021 Women of Distinction honorees. In 2020, Iwaniczko MacLeod was named Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She was recently featured on the cover and interview in Colorado Expression Magazine’s annual 2020 women’s edition feature. In 2019, she was also appointment by the Governor Jared Polis to the Colorado Mesa University Board of Trustees, where she is an alumna and was the first female student body president in the history of the institution.
Prior to joining Cigna, she was the senior vice president of community engagement and enterprise business for Bank of America, where she developed and executed a community and employee engagement strategic alignment that successfully moved the Denver market to number one status for the company and increased local employee engagement to the 94th percentile.
With an extensive and deep-rooted community platform, she has held chief of staff and various senior leadership positions in multi-industry companies and other fast-paced, high-pressured organizations in the public and private sectors focused on developing and executing vision and strategies; creating meaningful and lasting private-public partnerships; managing board and leadership team relationships and processes; recruiting, developing and leading teams.
Born in communist Poland, Iwaniczko MacLeod and her family immigrated to Colorado when she was a child and has developed strong ties to the community through her extensive network and philanthropy. She began her public service career as the first-elected female student body president in the history of one of the oldest education institutions in Colorado at Mesa State College (now Colorado Mesa University). This role encompassed lobbying on behalf of the state colleges of Colorado. During the same tenure, she was the youngest person appointed to the United States Commission on Civil Rights: Colorado Advisory Committee.
Iwaniczko MacLeod has dedicated her time to numerous past associations including the Metro Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. Board of Governors, Colorado Succeeds Advisory Board, Judi’s House, Excelsior Youth Center, The Denver Health Foundation “Level One Society”, Chair of the Denver Art Museum CultureHaus, NewGenesis Transitional Homeless Community, University of Colorado Cancer Center Fund (formerly AMC Cancer Center), Denver Scholarship Foundation “Friends of Ed” & Special Events Committees, Serve Colorado - Governor’s Commission on Community Service Grant Application Review Committee and as well as leading numerous political fundraising and inauguration committees.
Iwaniczko MacLeod currently serves on the board of directors of Metro Denver Economic Development Corp Executive Committee, the Denver Art Museum – Marketing & Strategic Alliance Committee and was recently appointed by Colorado Governor Jared Polis and approved by the Colorado State Senate to serve as a Board Trustee for Colorado Mesa University. She was also recently tapped by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce to facilitate and lead the development of a new 501(c)3 foundation – the Colorado Women’s Chamber Foundation Board. Upon its’ creation, she has been identified to chair this newly formed board to continue to advance, elevate and support broadening the bench for women. In early 2019, Iwaniczko MacLeod joined nine fellow female community leaders and founded the Community Chest, a donor-advised fund at The Women’s Foundation of Colorado. The Community Chest was started to bring together resilient, compassionate women who have survived the challenges of breast cancer diagnoses and treatment in order to share their strength, thankfulness, and desire to build a more connected and empowered Denver community for women and girls.
Iwaniczko MacLeod ’s dedication to advancing women around her led her to become one of the founding members of The Vx (Virtual Exchange). The Vx is a Technology Platform that turns conversations into results. The Vx is an organization of women currently made up of 80 industry leaders, including senior business executives, national and local women's organizations, corporate governance experts, chancellors of Higher Ed and CEO’s of large non-profits. The goals of the Vx are to increase women on for-profit boards, sponsorship of women in business leadership and align the future workforce around industry and education. Recently, Iwaniczko MacLeod has been tapped by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce to spearhead the development and launch of the Chamber’s newly formed, Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce Foundation. She serves as the inaugural chair of the board of this new 501c3 non-profit focused on advancing women in the workplace.
Iwaniczko MacLeod earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Mesa State College (now Colorado Mesa University) in Grand Junction, Colorado. She lives in Denver with her husband, David, and their French bulldog, Buddy.
Amy Lentz is a business leader and entrepreneur who owns and operates Fixture Studio, a design consulting firm based out of western Colorado. Fixture Studio executes interior and architectural designs, manages short-term rental properties across Colorado, and manufactures modern furniture. The company's work has been featured in REI retail locations across the country, at West Elm in Denver, and in publications such as Red Tricycle and local magazine Spoke + Blossom.
Lentz is an NCIDQ-Certified Interior Designer and earned a BS in Interior Design from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO in 2003. After graduation, she worked in San Diego before returning to her hometown of Grand Junction where she helped launch the interior design department for local architecture firm Chamberlin Architects. As part of her work with Chamberlin, Lentz designed several spaces on the Colorado Mesa University campus.
"CMU is truly remarkable in terms of the campus' facilities and learning spaces," said Lentz. "I am excited to lend my skills in the design industry and bring my experience in the construction industry to assist in creating an elegant campus environment that is highly conducive to learning."
She and her husband Steve enjoy raising their family in western Colorado, and her hobbies include skiing, swimming, and reading.
Daniel Ramos is the executive director of a Colorado-based nonprofit focused on protecting democracy, improving equity and expanding the civic engagement ecosystem in Colorado. Before taking on this role last summer, he served as the executive director for One Colorado - the state’s leading advocacy organization for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families.
Ramos got his start in Colorado politics as a student at CU Boulder, where he was active in student government and served as a tri-executive.
Ramos is an active member of the Colorado community and has served on the Board of Directors for New Era Colorado and Community Shares, and currently serves as a commissioner on the Supreme Court Nominating Commission, as a trustee for Colorado Mesa University, and as a member of the LGBTQ Victory Fund Campaign Board.
Ramos is also an adjunct professor at the University of Denver, teaching a course on Public Policy & Advocacy. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder and his Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado School of Public Affairs.
Gary Reiff is Senior Advisor of UCHealth, a nationally recognized, nonprofit network of 12 acute care hospitals (with the University of Colorado Hospital as its academic anchor), more than 150 clinics throughout Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska, and more than 26,000 employees. Reiff previously served as Chief Legal Officer of UCHealth. Reiff also is an adjunct professor at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.
Prior to joining UCHealth, Reiff was managing director, chief administrative and legal officer of Black Creek Group, a Denver-based real estate private equity firm. Prior to joining Black Creek Group, Reiff was a shareholder at the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck, and was a member of the firm’s executive committee and co-chair of its corporate and securities department. He previously worked on Governor Roy Romer’s senior staff, and has been an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Law School.
Reiff currently serves on the Denver Board of Water Commissioners, serving as its President. Reiff previously has served as chair of the Colorado Transportation Commission, chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Northern Colorado, and chair of the Board of Trustees of the State Colleges of Colorado.
He graduated with honors from Stanford University with a BA in economics, and a MA from the Food Research Institute (economics of development), and he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.
Alex Sánchez is a founder and executive director of Voces Unidas de las Montañas, the first Latino-created, Latino-led and Latino-serving advocacy organization in the Roaring Fork, Colorado River and Eagle River valleys.
Sánchez has extensive experience working on social justice issues and leading advocacy, leadership and civic engagement programs.
In Denver, Sánchez served as Denver director for the national non-profit, Stand for Children, executing city-wide organizing initiatives, electing education champions to the school board and holding policy-makers accountable for better outcomes for children of color. Sánchez also spent eight years as a senior administrator in large, urban school districts in Colorado, Texas and Florida, leading large departments and teams.
Sánchez began his professional career with Pfizer in New York, building strategic partnerships for the pharmaceutical-giant and working on issues of access and health disparities. He has also managed his own public affairs and political consulting firm, working domestically and internationally on social justice issues.
Before joining Voces Unidas, Sánchez led an early childhood education non-profit in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Sánchez is a proud son of Mexican immigrants who grew up in El Jebel and attended Basalt schools. Sánchez is the first in his family to graduate from high school and receive college degrees from both Colorado Mountain College and Colorado State University.
Sánchez serves on the boards of COLOR, Conservation Colorado, and on statewide task forces including the Governor’s Health Equity Response Team, the Governor’s New American Office’s Subcommittee on refugees and immigrants and the Center for Health Progress’ Coalition for Immigrant Health.
Tim Casey, PhD, received his Bachelor of Science in History from Northern Arizona University and went on to earn his Master of Arts in Religious Studies from the University of San Francisco and his PhD in Political Theory from Arizona State University. A professor of political science, Casey teaches Political Theory, Environmental Politics and Religion and Politics among other courses.
Casey has also developed several Maverick Milestone courses as well as a broader social science course for general education, focusing on the interaction between technology and social systems. This course, like so many other teaching and research interests, highlights his deep commitment to interdisciplinary studies and the pursuit of understanding wherever that path might lead. His research interests include Canadian studies, natural resource policy and environmental thought.
As Director of the Natural Resource Center at CMU, he is actively involved in a variety of research projects focused on the recreational use of public lands and the connection between communities and the landscape that surrounds them. Much of this research entails cooperative agreements with the Bureau of Land Management.
Casey has been on the CMU faculty since 1996.
Evan G. Piper is in his senior year studying Economics here at Mesa. He has previously worked in various student organizations such as the National Technical Honor Society, FBLA-PBL, ASG, CAB, and MAVrides. He is currently employed by one of CMU's local sponsors, Timberline Bank. Being a Grand Junction native, he is deeply invested in the continued growth of the school and its impact on the community. As an advocate for student voices on campus, Piper believes that every Maverick has the potential to positively impact not only their peers, but also the school as a whole. He is committed to Colorado Mesa's pursuit of becoming an institution that equips its students to become successful leaders in their communities and future careers.