Julia Vitarello’s life has taken her from the multi-cultural neighborhood of Adam’s Morgan in Washington, DC, where she grew up, to pursuing a liberal arts degree at Amherst College, and then to Italy where she lived for many years working at the Ducati Motorcycle factory and Olympic Committee for the Torino Winter Games. She finally settled down in Boulder where she headed a small Italian sports company and started a family. Travel, language, outdoor sports and playing with her kids were her passions. But two years ago, Julia’s life took a drastic turn when her then six-year-old daughter Mila was diagnosed with a rare and fatal genetic condition - Batten Disease.
Gareth’s upbringing on a farm in rural southern Portugal inspired him to commit to improving the quality of life for his family and community. He started his first business at age 18 and has since started and run multiple businesses, nonprofits, and government initiatives. Passionate about systems change, he is currently “Accelerating the New Reality” by scaling purpose-driven businesses as the COO of his digital marketing agency. Self-mastery is Gareth’s number one priority, and he enjoys setting goals, tracking his habits and living his best life with the support of his accountability team. When he’s not executing on his vision for healing people and the planet, you can find him setting up a tent in the back country on one of his cross-country motorcycle trips, connecting diverse groups of changemakers at his potlucks and dance parties, or just keeping it very, very real with minor home improvement projects.
Joseph N. de Raismes, III, was City Attorney for the City of Boulder from 1979-2003. During this time, he rewrote the entire City code and drafted the Open Space sections of the Boulder City Charter. He handled a vast array of litigation, taking three cases to the Supreme Court. He served as interim City Manager during 1990-1991.
He received his B.A., magna cum laude from Yale College in 1967 and his J.D. from the Harvard Law School in 1970. He received the Order of the Coif (1991) from the University of Colorado law faculty and served as Adjunct Professor of Law at the University, as well as President and Trustee of the International Municipal Lawyers Association, the national organization of city and county attorneys. He currently serves as General Counsel of Mental Health America, a national mental health and substance use disorder advocacy organization based in Alexandria, VA. He is admitted to practice law in Colorado and Virginia.
Read MoreMarlena is a world traveled adventurer who has lived abroad, yet cherishes her home in Boulder, CO.
Marlena's 30+ year full-spectrum career in a sales career, video, telecom, audiobooks, high tech, and real estate has always been fueled by her passion for life and involvement in the arts. She attributes her success to her philosophy of “serving rather than selling.” Marlena’s current career focus is in commercial and residential real estate at Coldwell Banker.
Howard Snooks has been a member of City Club for almost four years. A rare Colorado native who grew up in Durango, he has made Boulder his home since 1978. He is featured in this month's issue of Boulder Lifestyle Magazine, which is published by City Club member Andy Manz. Read this short but great article below to get to know Howard better.
Read MoreBud's interests are broad. Depending on how you look at it, he is either a religious-secular guy or a secular religious guy; either a poet or a scientist. He's been called “an eloquent nerd” and “a positively deviant male.” They were both intended as compliments but that's questionable. Bud grew up the son of a baker in Allentown, PA. His grandparents were immigrants from Poland. One was illiterate, none went past grade school.
Bud holds a doctorate from MIT and served as a young assistant professor there, doing research at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ for 18 years before coming to Colorado to set up a new advanced technology division. He retired from Media One in 2000 where he was an SVP of Strategy and Technology. His career has spanned an astonishing increase in computer processing and memory.
Oxford Taffet, more commonly known as “Ox,” holds his place as gatekeeper, and Chief Hug Officer of the historic Highland City Club. His main and most coveted accomplishment is his lifelong career, with devoted father Steven Taffet, as an equity partner of Taffet Law, PC. He is loved by the clients due to his bear-like appearance, and his incredible ability to comfort them in times of strife and loss. “His serenity can be attributed to being raised by a Lakota Sioux lass,” as put by Mr.Taffet. Now reaching his senior years, his personal interests include snow, drooling, Nathalie Wilson’s office, and food that does not belong to him.
Read MoreOak’s story is not just of an extraordinary life, but also about hope for the future. He has led an inspirational life as an environmental educator, leader and mentor who has touched and continues to reach hundreds of thousands of people.
As former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm says:
“If we could clone Oakleigh Thorne,
we could dramatically increase our impact!”
Last Friday City Club member Sarah Murray and her wife Sig welcomed their daughter into the world. Weighing in at 8 Ibs, with red hair and long lean legs, Tallulah and her parents are holed up at home getting to know each other.
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Originally from New Orleans, for the past 40 years Kai has made Boulder her home. A mother of three and a photographer/artist, Kai specializes in performing arts and photography. With a studio in Boulder, Kai's animal photos have been used by the Leanin’ Tree Card Company, and she has had many shows in Boulder and Denver.
Kai impressed everyone at the latest wine tasting by correctly guessing all three wines in a blind tasting, proving that in addition to being a talented artist, she has quite the palate! She was awarded one of Nathalie’s favorite wines, Bonny Doon’s Le Cigare Volant (the flying cigar), which is a Grenache-Syrah blend. This wine is noted for the UFO on the label, which is a nod towards the French law in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC, prohibiting flying saucers from traveling over the vineyards. Kai’s son-in-law is French, so hopefully she, and you, appreciate the humor!
Milton Jaimes was born in Bogata, Columbia and has been in the US since his days in college at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. He graduated with a degree in economics and business. After obtaining his degree he began his career in mortgage lending in NYC. Throughout his career, Milton has developed strong relationships with real estate brokers, developers, accountants, lawyers, investors, and individuals. He helps clients navigate the mortgage process from origination to closing with knowledge and expertise.
Read MoreCity Club member Frank Guerra was born in 1945 in Manhattan to poor Jewish immigrant parents from Poland and Spain. Early on Frank knew his only ticket out was through education and hard work, so he excelled in many sports, memorized Shakespeare, taught himself music and arts, studied at Johns Hopkins to become a psychiatrist, and an anesthesiologist. In short, Frank was The Man.
Frank was smart, funny and hard working. He woke up at 4 am every day to be at the operating table by 7 am, and saw over 20 patients a day for many years. Throughout his career, Frank literally saved thousands of lives. He loved beautiful women, married four times, had two sons and drove fast cars. By all standards, Frank was an American success story.
Bill and Pam Stewart joined City Club in April 2006, nearly a year after we opened, when we were more of a club in concept than in reality. While Pam was more outgoing, energetic and excited about the club, it was Bill who I bonded with and brainstormed about our vision for an ideal community.
One day I told Bill about an item on my bucket list which was to visit the Bohemian Club’s summer camp in the redwood forest north of San Francisco, which many believe it is harder to get into than Fort Knox. After listening intently, Bill casually stated “I am a member and will be glad to get you an invite for next summer.” While being a part of this all-American experiment was a lifetime achievement, the real highlight was spending ten days with Bill and the chance to get to know him, his lightness of spirit and his joy for life.
Leonard is the Founder, President, and CEO of Figure Engineering, located on the flight line at Ft. Belvoir in Fairfax, Virginia. Figure was born in 2005 in a one-bedroom apartment as a manufacturer of aftermarket car parts. Today, Figure develops technology for the Department of Defense. Figure's Industry 4.0 technologies are used by the US Air Force to sustain weapon system readiness for aircraft including the F-16, A-10, C-130, and ground equipment including missile transporters, bomb lifts, and high-output generators at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex.
Figure's beginning in automotive parts soon expanded into a job shop for specialty metal finishing applications, branded Figure Finishing™, which offered unparalleled quality in powder, ceramic, and liquid coatings, precision grinding, etc. Figure Finishing™ quickly became known within motorsports enthusiast communities as one of the premier metal finishers in the US. Figure Finishing™ and has won multiple awards.
Born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan and educated in Paris at the American University, Paul is happy to have called Boulder home for the last 15 years. Paul and his wife Anne with their daughters Georgia and Lauren own and operate Cure Organic Farm. Paul owns Mea Culpa Productions (www.weneedtotlk.com), is on the Design Board of the Conference on World Affairs as well as the board of Historic Boulder. When not at board meetings he can be found swimming or playing tennis. “I am thrilled to join a dynamic and passionate team at City Club and to help it with its continuing success."
Read MoreIn the Introduction, we mentioned the physics of the Flywheel, but did not expand on the concept. To begin with, it takes a lot of energy to get the flywheel going, after which it seemingly runs by itself effortlessly.
This week we celebrated the 15th anniversary of Glenn Schroeder’s employment at Highland City Club. Glenn acts as our “Controller,” but in fact he manages everything that has to do with money, insurance, property taxes; and maintains the half dozen licenses we need to operate. Glenn issues every monthly invoice you get and his accuracy score is a tad above 99%.
Marty Kaegel is a social activist, cinephile, a tireless optimist and a big fan of the City Club and Boedecker Theatre.
Marty spent her career living in St. Louis and working as a Nurse Practitioner in women's health and biofeedback therapist.
While taking care of patients, Marty also lectured, taught and trained nationally on women's health and sexuality. Her many accomplishments included an appointment by the Governor of Missouri to the State Board of Health as the only woman at the time on the board. Marty still works tirelessly on issues related to reproductive and sexual freedom and freedom of the press.
Barry was born and lived in Brooklyn for the first 11 years of his life. He considers that place and those years to be particularly formative.
His family then moved to Oceanside, Calif. where he lived through high school. After Stanford and during Harvard Law he married Tina Collen. They moved to LA where he practiced in Beverly Hills. They had two sons, Andy and Mark, with whom Barry remains quite close.
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Boulder-raised Jeptha Sheene has also lived in San Francisco, Vail, Grand Junction, and New York City. In New York and San Francisco, she worked in fashion for over a decade. In Vail, she discovered and reopened a shuttered dude ranch. It remains a successful operation today. Still, the Vail achievement of which she is most proud was giving birth to her daughter, Calloway. Calloway earned her M.D. in April, and is now a emergency medical resident at Rush Medical College in Chicago.
Looking for a new adventure led Jeptha to a career in real estate. Now a licensed broker with RE/MAX of Boulder, she has been selling Colorado real estate for the past 15 years. Her "think out-of-the box" life has been key to an ever expanding and varied career in real estate including experience with residential, new construction and development, relocation, land, commercial, ranches and wineries.
Solomon Halpern began meditating at age 12 with his first meditation teacher, Pema Chödrön. The original pioneer of Mindful Finance, and co-host of The Mindful Finance Podcast, Sol bridges his personal meditation practice with his professional life as a financial advisor.
Mindful Finance aims to reunite humanity with finance, by recoupling our physical and emotional experiences with our financial lives. Sol teaches that the equanimity and clarity roused through mindfulness are the perfect support for financial empowerment, and Mindful Finance is inspired by the belief that we can reclaim finance as a positive influence in the world.