Inclusiveness Project Committee Members

      Dr. Maria Guajardo

Maria is currently the Chair for the Inclusiveness Project.  She also serves on the Board of Trustees at The Denver Foundation.

Maria is Executive Director of the Mayor's Office for Education and Children in Denver.  Focusing on the first two decades of life, the charge of her office is to champion educational advancement for children and youth in Denver.  A licensed child psychologist, in 2005 she received a congressional commendation for her contributions to Latino education.  Maria serves as a trustee to two universities, both the University of Denver and Soka University of America.  She also serves as a trustee to The Children's Hospital.  She recently was awarded the "Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award" by Morehouse College for her commitment to excellence in public education, and the 2006 National Woman of Vision Award.  Maria graduated with honors from Harvard University and earned her Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Denver.  Maria is an author, a mother, a community volunteer, and a national speaker.

             Suzanne Benally

Suzanne Benally has extensive experience in higher education policy, assessment and diversity. Formerly she directed an Institute on Ethnic Diversity at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Ms. Benally has worked with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, as an interim executive director and director of education programs to address the concerns and needs of American Indian education K-12 and post-secondary. Her special interests and research have focused on the relationship between land and place as expressed through written and oral literature. In addition to her many activities, Ms. Benally has a consulting practice that has included work with Foundations including the Ford Foundation, Packard Foundation and James Irvine Foundation. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Western States Arts Federation. Ms. Benally is Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa.

         Erin Binford

Erin is the Program Officer at the Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation. The Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation is a professional philanthropic organization supporting the positive development of children through grants and partnerships with other sectors of our community.  The Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation focuses primarily on the state of Colorado and concentrates its grantmaking on programs that benefit children. 

Born in Illinois, with years in Connecticut, New York City, and Boston, Erin came to Colorado in 1991 with a degree in marketing.  Erin worked at Saks Fifth Avenue and Northwest Airlines before jumping out of the corporate world into VISTA (Volunteers In Service to America), where she was placed at Urban Peak in Denver.  After that, she worked as the development director at Harrison Memorial Animal Hospital. Since 2000, Erin has been with the Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation with a focus in rural early childhood education.

Active as a professional in philanthropy, Erin has chaired the Program Committee for the Colorado Association of Funders and played leadership roles in the Colorado Common Grant Application revision effort and National Philanthropy Day in Colorado.  She has also served on the steering committee for Northeast Colorado Rural Philanthropy Days.  Beyond her work in philanthropy, Erin is active as a volunteer and mother to an older, wonderful golden retriever.

      Chrissy Deal

A native of Colorado, Chrissy began her career in nonprofits in 1997 at the Denver Art Museum, working first in the Education department and later in the Spanish Colonial & pre-Columbian art department.  In 2004, her passion for working with college-age students led her to the Daniels Fund where she served as Program Officer for the Scholarship program until 2010.  She is an alumna of the Circle of Latina Leadership and serves on the Denver County Cultural Council which allocates Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) funds to Tier III cultural organizations.  Chrissy has a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Northwestern University and earned her Masters of Nonprofit Management from Regis University.

      Daniel Escalante

Daniel Escalante is an experienced diversity trainer and group facilitator.  His focus is on staff development, strategic planning, community organizing and multicultural leadership development. 

As a member of the Boulder Valley School District Equity Training Team, he has provided equity training for educators from over 25 schools.  In addition, local municipalities, nonprofit organizations, schools and grassroots groups have contracted with him to provide training for staff, board members, faculty, students, and parents.

Daniel has helped coordinate numerous multicultural community events and projects such as El Diez y Seis De Septiembre Celebration/Protest, Multicultural Elders Conference, Cinco de Mayo Festival, Chipeta Park Pow Wow, Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration, Cesar Chavez Celebrations, and the Multicultural Action Coalition.

Daniel has served on numerous boards such as the Center For Diverse Communities, Reading to End Racism, Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition, Dairy Center for the Arts, Sojourner School, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, City of Boulder Police Review Board, Boulder Valley Multi-Ethnic Action Committee, Lafayette Latino Advisory Board, Trabajando Unidos, and the Boulder County Community Action Program.  

Daniel has presented numerous workshops at state and national conferences, focusing on Multicultural Leadership, Conflict Management, Gay Straight Alliances, Oppression, and Community Action.  

      Sandi Garcia

Sandi Garcia is vice president of finance and chief financial officer at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Her office is responsible for budgeting and forecasting, financial reporting, management reporting, treasury functions, risk management, and legal review and compliance.

Garcia joined the Museum in 2006 with more than 15 years of experience in audit, accounting, and management consulting. From 1990 to 2004, she worked for Arthur Andersen LLP, as an auditor, consultant, and manager. She then became manager of accounting at UNAVCO, Inc., in Boulder, a scientific non-profit corporation that supports and promotes earth science. Most recently, she worked as chief financial officer at the Community College of Denver.

Sandi is a certified public accountant licensed to practice in Colorado. She is a member of the Colorado Society of CPAs, and the American Institute of CPAs. She has served on the board of INROADS/Colorado and the National INROADS Alumni Association.  She received her B.B.S. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a dual emphasis in accounting and information systems.
 

      Carly Hare

Carly Hare is the Director of Development for the Native American Rights Fund. Carly serves a board member of Native Americans in Philanthropy, Chinook Fund, and on the Advisory Committee for the Denver Foundation's Inclusiveness Project. She served as Director of Programs for The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County for five years. In 2006, Carly was a 2006 Emerging Leader in International Philanthropy Fellow through the Center of Philanthropy and Civil Society. She also received the Boulder County's Multicultural Award for Community Service in 2008.  In 2010, Carly was named one of Boulder County Business Report's Forty Under 40.

Carly's Pawnee name is <i kita u hoo <i  ]a  hiks which translates into she is the leader/leader of men. Carly is the daughter of a Tribal leader and granddaughter of a community matriarch. Carly is a member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and a descendant of the Yankton Tribe.

      Michael Johnson

Mike is Executive Director for Project PAVE.  The mission of Project PAVE is to empower youth to end the cycle of violence.

Mike grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota where he went to school and college. His first job out of school was at Northwestern Bell. His job took him to New Jersey in 1982 working for AT&T and then in 1984 he and his family moved to Omaha, Nebraska to work for the newly formed US West. In 1990 Mike and his family moved to Denver where he worked for US West, AT&T and Fujitsu Consulting. During that time Mike became very interested in the work of nonprofits and served on the Board for Colorado Aids Project. He spent some time working with the staff at Project PAVE on a pro-Bono basis doing strategic planning work. He joined the Board of Project PAVE in 2005 and became the Executive Director June, 2006.

      Barclay Jones

Barclay is Vice President of Assets for Family Success at Mile High United Way, an organization that supports health and human-care agencies providing services throughout the six-county Metro Denver area.  He has held a variety of positions within the nonprofit/philanthropic sector.  Before joining Mile High United Way, he served as Vice President of Colorado Grants for The Daniels Fund.  Prior to that he served as a Program Officer at The Denver Foundation and The Hunt Alternatives Fund.  In addition, he has worked as Director of Community Initiatives at the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver and as a Program Manager at the National Civic League.  He began his career in the nonprofit sector as a participant in the El Pomar Foundation's Fellowship in Community Service program.  Barclay is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

      Kenzo Kawanabe

Kenzo is a commercial litigator who represents clients in a variety of matters relating to contract disputes, business torts, products liability, eminent domain, and intellectual property concerns.

His pro bono work includes successfully representing African refugees in their asylum claims and advocating for increased resources for public education in Colorado. Kenzo is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Denver Foundation and Board Chair of the Colorado Lawyers Committee, a consortium of 50 law firms dedicated to assisting children, the poor, and other disadvantaged groups. He also is involved with Rose Community Foundation Education Committee, Colorado Legal Aid Foundation Law Firm Committee, and Colorado Non-Profit Development Center Board.

      Carlo Kriekels

Carlo Kriekels is the Co-Founder & Executive Director of the YESS Institute, a Denver nonprofit focusing on providing adolescents the tools to be successful in school and in life through the YESS emotional intelligence leadership - EmoSmarts^TM - curriculum within a peer mentoring model. YESS empowers minority students to be leaders within their own community.  The YESS Institute is the fulfillment of the vision he got while riding through the Andes.

Carlo, a Belgian native who emigrated to Denver in 1999, followed an unusual path. He graduated law school at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium and continued to study international corporate law in Heidelberg, Germany where he received his Magister Legum.  After studying Spanish in Madrid, Spain he left with a friend on a motorbike trip from California to Chile.  This 18-month journey changed dramatically his outlook on life and ignited his passion to care for the well-being of children.  Upon returning home, he educated himself in emotional intelligence and leadership on his quest to providing youth the tools to be successful in their life. In 1998 he graduated and taught at The People Development Centre, a leadership and personal development centre for EU and American business leaders in the heart of the international community of Brussels.

By living abroad in Holland, Germany, Madrid, Barcelona, England and Denver, Carlo experienced first-hand the difficulties to immerse in different cultures.  As a result he learned six languages and acquired a deeper understanding of cultural similarities.

Carlo came to America after he fell in love with an American girl to whom he is now married with two fabulous sons.

      Sandra Shreve

Sandra Shreve worked for several years as a teacher and later a counselor in the Detroit Public Schools, and then moved to Denver. She culminated her thirty-three-year career in education at age fifty-five after having worked in the roles of school counselor, assistant principal, principal, personnel director, and assistant superintendent of human resources. Twenty-one years of her career in education were spent in the Aurora Public Schools.

Sandra's  parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were all Canadian born and trace their ancestry to both free Blacks and slaves who left the United States for Canada in the 1850s with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act.  Her great-great-great grandfather was a free Black abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Sandra believes that helping others is a worthwhile endeavor and has always believed in public service. In retirement she has remained active in her profession and in the community. She strives to be a life-long learner and seeks those experiences that enhance her personal growth and also afford her the opportunity to positively impact others.

      Carlos Valverde, Jr.

Carlos is Co-Executive Director for the Colorado Progressive Coalition (CPC).  He joined CPC in 2008 and will work with the Campaign for Economic Justice, Southern Colorado, and the Racial Justice & Civil Rights programs.  Prior to CPC, Carlos served as the Senior Education Policy Specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures where he focused on public policy to address education disparities and increase college access for low-income and students of color.  He has also served as a Regional Program Manager for the Daniels Fund where he helped to design and implement the Daniels Scholarship, which provides comprehensive financial assistance to hundreds of low-income students every year.  Carlos is a Denver native, and received a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College and a Master of Nonprofit Management from Regis University.