Kim grew up in Lakewood and is an Outdoor Lab alumna, attending Mt. Evans as a 6th grader at Devinny Elementary and as a camp counselor at Mt. Evans when she attended Green Mountain High School. After attending The University of Denver and earning a Business degree, she went on to start her career in Marketing and Sales. After discovering that her true passion lies in helping women and couples pursue their financial goals, Kim switched careers and earned her licenses & registrations as well as her Certified Financial Planner® Designation. She is a founding partner at Valorem Financial in Olde Town Arvada, and lives in Southwest Littleton with her husband, Greg and their two children, both of whom attend Jeffco Schools. The family loves to ski, camp, boat, hike, bike, travel and root for the Broncos, Nuggets & Avs. Kim is also a Girl Scout leader and enjoys supporting causes she is passionate about including the outdoors, financial literacy and family. She joined the OLF Board to help ensure the program continues for years to come so that every child can have the opportunity to participate in an outdoor experience despite cost, family commitment or lack of options to do so.

Kristen Meier is a Jeffco native and Golden HS alum.  Aside from a 5-year stint in the Pacific Northwest, she has lived her entire life in the Golden area. She was lucky enough to attend both Outdoor Lab sites, Windy Peak with her 6th-grade class and Mount Evans with a summer enrichment program. As an adult, Kristen stays connected to the schools in a different way. Her late mother was the nurse at Mount Evans for many years and Kristen is involved in an endowment to the schools in her mother’s honor; that legacy is providing every 6th grade Jeffco student, regardless of ability, the opportunity to go to Outdoor Lab. Kristen is thrilled to join the OLF Board and putting her energy toward ensuring the financial health and continuation of the program for generations to come.

Kristen is married to a Columbine alumni and has two children at Jeffco schools who will attend Outdoor Lab in the next few years. Her family enjoys outdoor activities and the arts. Family favorites include hiking, mountain biking, skiing, fly fishing, live music and theater. On the professional side, she enjoys helping organizations create and sustain best in class cultures and business results as an HR Executive. Kristen has spent most of her career in the hospitality and education sectors, with her current position being the Head of Human Resources for a sports and entertainment company.

Jens Jensen is a litigation attorney with Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley, P.C. Prior to coming to Colorado for law school, Jens worked at the Embassy of Denmark in London. He also holds a B.A. in Economics and Politics and an M.A. in Political Theory from the University of Manchester in England. Jens chose to move from London to Colorado because of the outdoor opportunities available here. He is excited that he now gets to share all that Colorado has to offer with both his wife and his two young boys, the oldest of which is about to start in the Jeffco school system. Showing his children the value of giving back to the community is one of the many reasons why Jens wants to contribute to the continued success of the foundation and the Outdoor Lab program.

John tells many of my friends from outside of the state that the OLES helps to “teach Colorado kids to be Coloradan”. By that he means that our state and county have many amazing opportunities for outdoor experiences and the OLES allows kids to be exposed to them in a safe way that can allow them to develop a lifelong love of nature and the outdoors. Being able to support this mission and further its reach is what is drawing me to the opportunity to serve on the OLF board.

John is an infrastructure leader who delivers innovative, efficient technology for private equity portfolio companies. He guides FCM clients in customer experience improvement, data center virtualization, end user computing, voice and data networks, cloud services, right-shoring and global system integration. Before joining FCM, John was the Chief Information Officer at Teletech, where he enhanced processes, technology and supplier leverage to generate $45M+ in savings. Previously, he was Teletech’s Vice President of Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure and led the integration of six acquisitions to drive $200M in external growth. John also held multiple Senior Vice President roles at Citi, including Chief of Staff to Collections and Global Engineering Leader for Voice. In these roles, he grew IT service adoption and improved the customer experience, including leading a team to redesign the company’s global voice infrastructure. Before joining Citi, John was Telecommunications Leader at GE, where he developed the companywide voice vendor strategy and negotiated $100M+ contracts.

Kathy Weiss, along with Karen Cravens started the Outdoor Lab Foundation as a 501 C3 in 2003. Last fiscal year she stepped off the board due to term limits. She is thrilled to be rejoining the board beginning in the 2018-19 fiscal year.

Kathy's love for Outdoor Lab began in 1979 when she brought her first group of 6th graders to Windy Peak. In the 1980's she became a cadre member helping to train teachers and high school leaders. As a staff developer in the District, she often substituted for the site principals, even serving as principal for Windy Peak for GT week for 3 years. In 1995, after the death of one of her mentors, Jim Jackson, she became principal at the Mt. Evans site, where she remained for 10 years. She is proud to have acquired a $300,000 grant from the Colorado Historic Society providing resources to restore all of the site historic buildings on the site. In 1997 she also started the intern program for high school and college students which is still thriving.
She is so proud of all that the Outdoor Lab Foundation has accomplished and looks forward to a bright future.

Jason started his career in education working with adolescent boys in Residential Therapeutic Wilderness Schools almost 30 years ago. It was his first formal exposure to experiential education and where he initiated his passion for the work. As staff for Outdoor Lab, Jason knows what happens at Outdoor Lab is a worthy example of everything we do right in education. Moreover, he knows that the Outdoor Lab experience is as impactful for the high school leader as it is for the 6th grader. It embodies essentially every quality that we want our kids and our students to have, from Civic & Global Engagement to Critical & Creative Thinking to Self-Direction & Personal Responsibility and beyond.

Jason brings expertise both in outdoor education and a knowledge of whole child development and work with students in Elementary, Middle and High Schools, so that we can maintain perspective in how we maintain excellence in our services. In his mind, education is not a “one size fits all” and he believes it is important to promote programs and activities that support both academic growth and social/emotional skills and personal responsibility. He has seen firsthand how Outdoor Lab provides this opportunity and creates those avenues to transfer skills from the classroom into the real world.

As a member of the Board of Directors, Jason hopes to continue to look at ways that we can support whole child development and promote experiential education. Furthermore, he hopes to be a voice for Outdoor Lab in promoting the learning activities for 6th grade students and high school leaders/interns to all stakeholders so that there continues to be sufficient financial resources and an increase in support and potential opportunities to expand learning and growth for the Jeffco community.

While not born in Colorado, Doug has lived most of his life here.  He grew up and currently lives in Evergreen, where he attended Marshdale Elementary, West Jefferson Middle School, and Evergreen High School.  Doug attended the Windy Peak school as a 6th grader, and then again as a high school counselor.  In addition, three out of four of Doug’s siblings also attended Outdoor Lab as 6th graders and/or counselors.  His mother is a retired Jeffco Public Schools educator, she too attended Outdoor Lab while a teacher.  Last, Doug’s oldest daughter was able to attend in 2020, and youngest daughter will attend in the 2022-2023 school year.

Doug received a B.S.B.A from Northern Arizona University, and began his banking career in 2003.  He has held many roles, working for a handful of banks, but today is focused on expanding existing relationships and developing new client opportunities.  Doug and his wife Cori met while in college and have two beautiful daughters, Avery and Bergen.  As a family they enjoy camping, kayaking, mountain biking, skiing, fishing…pretty much anything outdoors.  Doug joined the Outdoor Lab Foundation because he wanted to be involved in advancing the mission of the Foundation and to ensure the continuity of the program for future generations of sixth graders.

Grateful to be born and raised in beautiful colorful Colorado, Emily Cranford, is honored to be a part of the Outdoor Lab Foundation Board.  A parent of two Jeffco students, Emily was so moved by the experience of her daughter and niece's 6th grade adventure at Outdoor Lab that she wanted to learn how she could get involved with this amazing asset.

Emily has an extensive background in sales and client management for both large Fortune 500 Companies and small organizations.  Emily’s experience includes complex national customer relationship and contract management, marketing, planning, and collaborative team leadership.  Emily is excited to leverage her professional life skills to help further the Outdoor Lab mission to ensure all children in Jeffco get to experience the “magic” of this wonderful state we call home.

In her personal time, Emily and her family love the outdoors, camping, hiking, and skiing of course!

Brandon Guernsey has lived in Jefferson County for the majority of his life and grew up in Arvada. He is an Outdoor Lab alum, having attended the Windy Peak site when he was in sixth-grade at Fremont Elementary School. Outdoor Lab sparked a meaningful connection with Brandon that set off a love for the outdoors- it is this spark and connection to Outdoor Lab that drew him to the Foundation, and Brandon hopes to be able to pass this along the children of Jefferson County moving forward.

Brandon graduated from Metro State University with a B.S.B.A. in 2015 and has held a career in the banking industry since graduating. He specializes in residential and commercial construction, with a large focus on customer development and retention. Outside of work, Brandon also has a son with whom he spends the majority of his free time with as they explore the outdoors. Baseball, hockey, hiking, fishing, and traveling all throughout the state are all part of their favorite activities.

Ben Dorland was born and raised in Beautiful Jefferson County, Colorado.  He was lucky enough to attend Windy Peak as a sixth-grader many years ago.  The experience of attending outdoor lab left a large impression on him.  More recently, Ben's two children were able to experience Outdoor Lab as well as attend summer camps at the campuses.  The outdoor lab experience is very unique to Jefferson County School students and Ben hopes to help with the continuation of the program for many more generations of Jeffco students.  

Ben is an outdoor enthusiast and you can find him enjoying all that the Colorado outdoors has to offer in his free time.  He has a beautiful wife of over twenty years and two teenage children.  Ben is a full-time Realtor serving Jeffco and the surrounding areas.  For over a decade he has been recognized as a top 5% Realtor on the front range and is proud to serve his clients with dedication and an excellent customer experience.  Ben is the founder of the Black Diamond Team at Compass Real Estate.  He also owns a property management group located in Jeffco.  He hopes to bring his commitment to the community, passion for the outdoor lab program, and small business experience to further the Outdoor Lab Foundation.