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.
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.
Chelsea Collins
Chelsea comes to Colorado Open Lands’ Stewardship team after working with the Boulder County Parks & Open Space’s Conservation Easement Program.
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.
Karen Foley
Karen has variety of field experience and skills important to conservation easement monitoring, land care and sustainable water programs.
Christopher Hart
Growing up on a small cattle and horse ranch in southern California, Chris developed a deep appreciation for our open lands
Jon Lantz
Jon has over 20 years of experience working in finance and accounting.
Cheyenne Johnson
Cheyenne Johnson has over 15 years of experience in philanthropy.
Griselda Landa-Posas
Griselda earned her B.S. degree in Wildlife & Conservation Biology along with a minor Ethnic Studies. She has worked for the National Park Service in Alaska and Florida.
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.
Jenn Murdock
Jenn obtained her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Economics as well as a master’s degree in Geographic Information Science from the University of Denver.
Ian Nawalinski
Ian comes to COL with an extensive background in nonprofit advocacy.
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 joined Colorado Open Lands in 2014 and is the Conservation Project Manager for the Gunnison Basin and northwest Colorado.
Dirk Rasmussen
Dirk holds an M.S. in geology from Western Washington University and a B.A. in geology from Colorado College.
Yvonne Schramm
Yvonne holds a B.S. in Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology and a M.S. in Conservation Leadership from Colorado State University.
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.