Colorado Open Lands’ staff is comprised of dedicated professionals who operate under four guiding principles:
Integrity – we earn the trust of our landowners, partners, donors and community by fulfilling our commitments and holding ourselves to the highest ethical standards in all we do.
Creativity – we are focused on creating, championing, and celebrating conservation-minded solutions that turn land use challenges into opportunities.
Inspiration – we are driven by a love of Colorado’s magnificent lands and a respect for the landowners that steward them and the citizens that cherish them.
Collaborative Leadership – our leadership will seek and foster internal and external collaborative relationships to meet the challenge of conservation in perpetuity.
Alyssa Acosta
Alyssa Acosta is the Director of Philanthropy at Colorado Open Lands with more than 10 years of fundraising experience.
Kyle Balint
Kyle joined the conservation team after completing his MS in Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wyoming.
Tony Caligiuri
Tony recently concluded his six years of service with the National Wildlife Federation, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Conservation and Education.
Cheryl Cufre
Cheryl Cufre leads COL’s conservation easement stewardship and landowner assistance programs.
Heather Doyle-Maier
Heather Doyle-Maier brings two decades of non-profit bookkeeping experience to Colorado Open Lands and believes that reliable and accurate financial work are a foundation for effective community action.
Carmen Farmer
Carmen Farmer is the Project Manager for the Northern Front Range and Lower South Platte Basin.
Charlie Goodson
Charlie joined COL after working as an attorney focused on real estate and water matters.
Cheyenne Johnson
Cheyenne Johnson has over 15 years of experience in philanthropy.
Kelsey King
Kelsey joined COL after many years working in environmental education.
Ben Lenth
Ben Lenth joined Colorado Open Lands following eight years as Executive Director at San Isabel Land Protection Trust in Westcliffe, CO
Dennis Lyamkin
Dennis joined the COL Stewardship Team in April 2021 as a Fellow.
Joel Nystrom
Joel is a Conservation Project Manager focusing on the acequia communities in the San Luis Valley.
Sarah Parmar
Sarah has spent over a decade at Colorado Open Lands and leads COL’s private land conservation work.
John Peters
John has over 12 years of experience working in the land conservation field.
Lori Pufahl
Lori came to Colorado Open Lands in September 2019, with over 30 years of finance and accounting experience.
Katherine Raffio
Katherine joins Colorado Open Lands after two and a half years as the Program Coordinator at Continental Divide Land Trust.
Dirk Rasmussen
Dirk holds an M.S. in geology from Western Washington University and a B.A. in geology from Colorado College.
Pam Sjoerdsma
Pam arrived at Colorado Open Lands in April 2018 with a passion for the outdoors and more than 25 years of management and operations experience
Leslie Volkar
Leslie is a communications and marketing professional with over fourteen years of experience.