Brin hails from Georgia, where she grew up running through the rich pine forest and selling lemonade from the neighborhood corner on a thick summer day. With freckles and long brown hair, she knew more about the grooves of the creek running behind her house than the world behind her Southern borders. One day, shortly after missing the mark of achieving her high school goal of making the Variety Basketball team, she realized the world was in fact, much larger. On the news she watched a segment about the Cambodian dictator from the 1970's, Pol Pot. The news anchor charging the audience with the mandate to take charge and make a difference. She told her parents, at 16, she was going to build a school in Cambodia.They smiled and continued dinner.
Read MoreWith a background in finance, sustainability, consumer products and marketing, Danai Reynolds brings a Swiss Army knife mentality and skill set to her work. As Chief of Staff at TEEM (an advertising agency based in Denver), solving problems that arise on a daily basis is her specialty. She applies ideas and technologies to increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve a company's flexibility to meet rapidly changing markets and customer needs. Making a business run is what makes her tick.
Originally hailing from Canada, Danai’s impactful career has brought her to live in many different continents and cultures including Kenya, the Netherlands and now the USA ,which she calls home.
Zachary Cohen is a brand advisor, poet, dog-lover and Trotskyite. A native New Yorker, in 2014 Zac sought asylum in Colorado in order to pursue a professional career in the legal cannabis movement. Since that time he has advised over 20 brands across Colorado, California, Oregon and Nevada. He is set to launch his own cannabis company later this year.
Read MoreChantel Ellerington is the Creative Director of Boulder Lifestyle Magazine and Cherry Creek Lifestyle Magazine. With a longtime passion and admiration in the process of creating a brand from ideation, ethos, to telling a story, Chantel began her career with Nike on a unique two-year project with University Colorado Boulder. Chantel oversaw their visual merchandising of all product presentation while she lead and executed Key Product Story updates that were presented to Nike Headquarters.
Chantel's portfolio includes implementing and executing a complete re-brand for a luxury real estate firm from Vail. She oversaw and managed individual marketing initiatives for eight real estate brokers, along with the overall brand and advertising strategy. Most recently, she held the position of Director of Marketing for Zeppelin Development where she assisted with a re-brand, launched and executed Taxi Film Design Series.
Mike Weeks is a human performance coach, speaker, author and co-CEO of Frontline Mind, which trains US Marine Corps, UK Special Forces, elite sports teams and large government organizations in the UK, US and Australia.
A long time ago, in the pre-Instagram era, Mike was a professional rock climber who climbed, skied, free-dived and kayaked in 46 different countries, ran the Marathon Des Sables (151 miles across the Sahara Desert), and made adventure TV shows that aired in 152 countries.
Pete is a family law attorney in Boulder, and offices at Highland. He graduated from the University of Colorado School of Law and has been in private practice ever since. Pete's primary focus as a family lawyer is the well being of the children caught in the acrimony and conflict between the parents. Pete's compassionate counsel, experience and wisdom has helped many clients at a difficult time in life.
Read MoreSarah has been an active and integral part of the City Club community since June 2018. She is a global authority on sport and gender, and has been wearing the Women Win jersey since 2009. In her current role, she leads all work related to Women Win's development in the U.S., as well as thought leadership related to girls’ sport and empowerment. She has played sports with girls and women in over 65 countries.
Read MoreJulia 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.