Our Team and Supporters

Director

Julie Dubin is a nonprofit professional with more than 20 years of leadership experience. A graduate of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment with a Masters in Environmental Management, Julie has dedicated the majority of her career to creating meaningful opportunities for US youth to connect with environmental and cultural initiatives in many diverse and threatened ecosystems around the world. As a Colorado native and long-term Fort Collins resident, she is currently dedicated to shifting her focus to supporting our own threatened ecosystems right here at home. She is passionate about building connections and harnessing our collective efforts to make a crucial difference to our watershed health at this critical time.

Program Manager

Sandi Good is a Colorado State University graduate with a degree in Natural Resources Management and Conservation Biology. She has worked as a researcher for the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, C.S.U. College of Natural Resources, the Center for Collaborative Conservation and the Colorado Natural Heritage Program.  She has lived in Fort Collins for more than 30 years. A long-time environmental advocate, Sandi founded the first student section of the Sierra Club in Colorado in 1995. When not working to protect wild places, she volunteers for Golden Retriever Freedom Rescue. Sandi most enjoys spending time in the great outdoors camping, hiking and boating with her family, traveling and playing with her dogs.

Board of Directors

Rob Addington is the Forest Program Director for the Colorado field office of The Nature Conservancy. He specializes in fire-adapted natural systems and the application of science to ecosystem management and restoration. Rob has nearly 15 years of professional experience working in frequent-fire ecological systems, from longleaf pine ecosystems of the southeastern U.S. to ponderosa pine systems of the West. As a Peaks to People Water Fund Board member, Rob helps set strategic priorities for on-the-ground work and provides technical capacity for project development.

Lydia Lazar

Lydia Lazar is the Managing Director of LHL Consulting, where she helps institutions, organizations and companies solve operational issues and jumpstart solutions to business development challenges. Educated as a geographer and an attorney, Lydia recently stepped down from a full time Managing Director role at AcresUSA, a 50+ year old multimedia publishing company focused on production-scale organic and regenerative farming. Working with LHL, Lydia has provided international recruitment and organizational strategy consulting, among other assignments. Previous full time engagements include as an associate dean at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, and before that, as the dean of international law and policy at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Ms. Lazar holds an AB degree in government/international relations from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree in geography from Columbia University with a focus on urban hydrology, and a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Ms. Lazar is active/admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois and has completed Northwestern University’s mediation training program.

Sandy HicksSandra Hicks is a seasoned Environmental Engineer and EHS Manager with over 30 years of experience at Fortune 500 companies, including Intel, Trane, Kodak and Anheuser-Busch.  She has extensive knowledge of global environmental, health and safety regulations and requirements, EHS Management Systems and ISO 14001.  A 30+ year resident of Fort Collins, CO, Sandy is originally from Wisconsin. She is married to Charlie, a plant pathologist, and has two boys, one graduated from Colorado Mesa and is working in Eagle, CO, the other graduated from Colorado State and is in graduate school at University of Wyoming. She likes to bike, ski, swim, read and knit.

Mike Lester is the former Director of the Colorado State Forest Service and has more than 30 years of professional experience in state and private forestry. Prior to his retirement in 2021, Mike was the  Colorado state forester for 8 years. Before coming to Colorado, Mike served as assistant state forester for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry. He has also worked with Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company and served as past president of the Society of American Foresters. Mike has the knowledge and experience needed to address the complex challenges facing our forested watersheds and the communities that depend on them.

Dr. Blake Naughton is recognized for his expertise in education and administrative leadership, partnership development and performance management in higher education. Throughout his professional career, he has focused on demonstrating that higher education can transform lives by showing in measurable, relevant, and actionable ways how universities can best serve citizens and communities. Formally with CSU engagement and extension, Dr. Naughton oversaw several units including: the Colorado Water Center, CSU Extension, and CSU Extended Campus which all provide science-based community outreach programming that extends the services of the University across Colorado and beyond and seeks to help fulfill Colorado State University’s land-grant mission.

Dr. Mark Eiswerth is an environmental and resource economist who has served in academia, consulting, and nonprofit research. He works as full-time Visiting Professor at Colorado College and, since 2009, Professor of Economics and instructor in Environmental and Sustainability Studies at the University of Northern Colorado. Previously, he enjoyed working at university locations ranging from those with comparatively little water (e.g., Nevada) to those with more (e.g., Wisconsin). His research has included topics of water quality and resources, invasive species, payments for ecosystem services, outdoor recreation, and biodiversity. Mark is a Colorado native with a passion for protecting nature and the people who depend on it.

 

Working Group

Upon completion of our Feasibility Analysis in early 2014, Peaks to People established a Working Group to help progress the outcomes identified in the study. This group consisted of a variety of Northern Colorado businesses, organizations, landowners, and interested parties committed to protecting our forests and watersheds. Our Working Group met several times a year between 2014 and 2017 to help guide the development of Peaks to People. The group was comprised of four teams:

  • The Fundraising and Outreach Team: Focused on identifying potential investors and grant opportunities to fund the future work of Peaks to People.
  • The Landowner Advisory Group: Represented landowners’ viewpoints on program design elements, contracts and payment systems to ensure Peaks to People is a viable option for area land stewards.
  • The Operations Team: Responsible for researching, designing, and creating the operational procedures that mandate Peaks to People.
  • The Science and Monitoring Team: Ensured current and future demonstration sites are completed using a science-based methodology and that all data collected is used to aid in the ongoing development of the Watershed Investment Tool and inform future projects.

Working Group Members

Peaks to People continues to work with several members from our working group as well as some new participants through the Big Thompson Watershed Health Partnership and the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative.

 

Founding Supporters

The Peaks to People Water Fund’s proof of concept phase, was jointly sponsored by the Center for Collaborative Conservation at Colorado State University and The Nature Conservancy. This phase was supported by an important group of funders who believe in the viability and potential of our cause. Upon completion of this period, Peaks to People has since become self-sustaining through investments in the fund. Proof of Concept Phase funders included:

  • The US Endowment for Forestry and Communities/EPA Healthy Watershed Consortium
    (The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities is a not-for-profit corporation that works collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities.)
  • A Private Foundation
  • New Belgium Brewing
  • Odell Brewing
  • The Community Foundation of Northern Colorado
  • The Nature Conservancy
  • The Center for Collaborative Conservation at Colorado State University
  • Ed Warner