Staff & Board
Jonathan has a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Colorado and graduated from the Executive Leadership program at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Before helping to found and lead Coalitions and Collaboratives over the past decade, Jon served on the Coalition for the Upper South Platte leadership team. Jon also helped to found and is the team leader for the Community Mitigation Assistance Team (CMAT) on National Wildland Fire Assignments. He works closely with communities on forest health initiatives aimed at creating resilient forests and safer communities and works to restore lands impacted by recent wildfires and natural disasters. With over 20 years within emergency services, as a safety officer for a search and rescue team, and as a wildland firefighter, he continues to work at the intersection of emergency response and community preparedness.
Esther received her M.Sc. in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources from Colorado State University and her B.A. from Illinois Wesleyan University. She is passionate about building capacity for collaborative and performance-based conservation. Before joining the COCO. team, Esther was Senior Program Officer at LightHawk, a conservation flying nonprofit, where she oversaw staff, projects, and partnerships throughout North America. Prior to that, she was Director of Special Projects and Programs for the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Department at Colorado State University. Esther has experience directing conservation social science trainings and conferences throughout the United States as well as in Kenya and Italy and managing research networks in China, Central America, and Europe. Esther also has experience in environmental market design research. When Esther is not working to protect and restore incredible natural ecosystems, she is enjoying them with her family. She is also an adventurous traveler, baker, and reader.
Michaele has earned a B.A. in Liberal Studies with a Non-profit Organization Management Certificate from Central Washington University. This education pathway augments her valuable work experience in grant coordination and implementation with two land-grant universities. While serving the State of Tennessee as a Wildfire Mitigation Contractor, Michaele brought a unique passion and inspiration to communities working to reduce wildfire risk. Building capacity through strategic collaboration is one of her greatest assets, and she realizes the value of activated partnerships for effective conservation. Michaele works remotely from the beautiful hills of East Tennessee. Her free time usually involves an outdoor adventure in the mountains with her family.
Maria is a Colorado native and a CSU, Fort Collins graduate. She has earned her B.S. in Forestry, B.S. in Natural Resource Management, graduate certificate in Nonprofit Administration, and certificate in Women’s Leadership from Yale’s School of Executive Management. She’s built her career in education, outreach, and field experience working for The National Park Service, the Cascades Carnivore Project, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and El Paso County Nature Centers. Maria started work with COCO in 2019 and spent her first few years working with the Action, Implementation, and Mitigation (AIM) Program, mostly on capacity-building and grant maintenance. She was promoted to the Outreach & Development Director in 2022. Maria also coordinates the After the Flames webinar series and in 2024, coordinated the second biannual After the Flames Conference & Workshop.
Her passion is rooted in people learning/growing/being outside. She strongly believes it is the small grassroots organizations making the largest impacts in the world. This is why she has loved working for COCO – it has been an honor to support and promote fellow conservation nonprofits generating the change needed for a healthier planet. Maria works remotely in Denver with her dogs, Kavik and Billy-Francis.
Wendie grew up in the sprawling town of Mosca, Colorado, and has degrees in water quality and aviation from Salem University and Pikes Peak State College. She has almost 20 years of experience working in the field of natural resources; with much of her work focused on pre-wildfire mitigation, post-wildfire mitigation, water quality, and hydrology. She stays busy in her downtime juggling all of her many hobbies.
Thérèse (Tess) is dedicated to a restorative justice approach to climate resiliency and is passionate about designing equitable programs, trainings, and tools. Prior to joining COCO, Tess served as Program Director for the Southwest Conservation Corps, Los Valles based in Salida, Colorado where she collaborated with staff to develop the Leaders of Color program, a nationally recognized initiative that prepares BIPOC young adults for careers in natural resources. She was a 2021-22 Keystone Policy Center Systems Impact Institute Fellow where she collaborated with non-profit colleagues to address systemic inequities impacting Colorado’s youth. Previously, Tess worked for PowerCorpsPHL, in her home city of Philadelphia, applying the Conservation Corps model to reduce gun violence and foster resilient communities and healthy urban forests. Tess also worked for Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) as part of an interdisciplinary team to develop long-term, climate-adaptive strategies and short-term emergency response systems for food producers throughout Senegal. Her publications from this work can be found in journals such as Sustainability and Climate Risk Management. She earned her Master’s in Anthropology from the University of Florida, with a focus on social networks and climate adaptation, and she speaks French, Spanish, and Wolof. Tess proudly serves on the Board of Directors for San Luis Valley Great Outdoors (SLVGO!). In her free time, Tess enjoys running all the mountain trails and reading all the fiction.
Jeff Ravage is COCO’s chief science officer. He is a researcher in forest mycology and works closely with the Denver Botanic Gardens Sam Mitchell Herbarium of Fungi. It is his responsibility to keep our work up to date with the latest literature and practice. He also actively promotes novel techniques to achieve the goals of forest health and longevity. He also oversees new technologies for staff and partners. He’s always willing to sit down over a frothy drink and discuss lignicolous saprophytes or aposematic anurans.
Katie was born and raised in Colorado and loves to explore the many different landscapes the state has to offer. She obtained her master’s degree in Conservation Leadership from Colorado State University, and she is passionate about finding solutions to the environmental problems we face in a collaborative and equitable way. She previously worked at the Center for Collaborative Conservation, based out of CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources as the Special Projects Coordinator.
Lindsay Riggs (Diné/Navajo) is a citizen of the Navajo Nation from the beautiful canyon lands of northeastern Arizona. She is committed to serving tribal and historically underserved communities with her extensive professional outreach and engagement background. Her experience ranges from supporting tribes to strengthening their governance, engaging communities around solar power, providing administrative support to Indian Health Services (IHS), and serving as a tribal liaison for the U.S. Forest Service.
Lindsay’s passion is to collaborate and provide resources, support, and education to communities with the highest needs. It is her goal to assist communities in managing their assets and resources respectfully and collaboratively. She hopes when it comes to managing resources and partnerships, it is done so with meaningful participation of local communities; incorporating values of reciprocity, sustainability, and respect.
Lindsay’s educational background is in the humanities, and she obtained her B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Arizona; she believes learning and education are lifelong processes. In her free time, she likes hiking, running, swimming in lakes and rivers, traveling, and spending time with family.
Cassidy received her M.S. in Forest Resources and her B.S. in Environmental Health Science from the University of Georgia. Her studies focused on collaborative partnership building and conserving and restoring forests for adequate supplies of clean drinking water. She grew up on the banks of the North Fork of the Gunnison River near Paonia, Colorado. She has guided multi-day river expeditions on some of America’s biggest whitewater, worked on fishing boats in Hawaii, and explored Southeast Alaska as a fly-in lodge’s adventure guide. Her wanderlust has taken her to the jungles of Borneo and the canals of Venice. These experiences have given her an invaluable perspective on human interactions with landscapes and the anthropogenic stressors our societies create.
Today, Cassidy works to deepen our understanding of and relationships with native ecosystems and improve cooperative efforts to better protect them for generations to come. She envisions a future where natural and built environments interact in a way that is protective of human health and ecosystem function. Cassidy has extensive experience bringing together diverse stakeholders to address complex natural resource concerns. Prior to joining COCO, she developed and implemented the Oconee River Watershed Partnership in Northeast Georgia and coordinated the Appalachian Trail Landscape Partnership on behalf of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and National Park Service. Her motto is “Education through recreation.”
Jedidiah was born in Philly and went on to study Biology at Susquehanna University in central PA. After graduating with a B.S. in biology he entered the conservation field in the fall of 2020 with AmeriCorps NCCC Southern region as a member of the forestry/fire module for a year of service. In the summer of 2021, he moved to Colorado to join SCC Los Valles as an inaugural member of the Leaders of Color (LOC). He continued to work in the conservation field using his experience to serve as a resource for technical skill training for his community. With this in mind, he continues his career as a community navigator fellow to develop the skills to develop resources and programs for underserved communities.
Mikayla is a Gullah native of Charleston, SC. She was the last graduate to receive a Bachelor of Science in Professional and Technical Communications from Dakota State University. She previously worked for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta on their communications team and the Forbes-listed public relations agency Berlin Rosen, helping other nonprofits with their communication strategies. Her work in stewardship led to environmentalism when she became the first Resource Assistant of the Resource Assistants Program staff for the US Forest Service. She has a senior Beagle mix named Raleigh, loves rock hunting, and practices the circus art of aerial hoop in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Katherine earned her Masters in Nonprofit Management from Regis University. She started working in the nonprofit sector in 2016, primarily supporting organizations that utilize nature and serve people. When she worked with Eagle River Coalition, she turned a new leaf with a desire to impact environmental resiliency.
Katherine has created curriculums in organizational sustainability with a lens that maintains the organization’s uniqueness. She has experience in strength-based coaching, strategic partnerships, program development, internal practices, grant writing, and more. Katherine is Colorado-born and raised. She works remotely in the mountains with her dog, Gordie Howe Cow #9 Mr. Hockey.
Hannah Thompson-Welch completed her Associate of Applied Science in Forest (Management) Technology degree at Hazard Community College (KY 2000). She earned a Bachelor of Applied Science from BYU-Idaho (ID 2020). She started her career working assisting with forest research at the University of Kentucky’s Robinson Forest, working with kids at Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife’s Camp Earl Wallace and dispatching for the the Kentucky Division of Forestry’s Kentucky River District during the Fall Fire Season of 2001. She was hired as County Ranger in both Crittenden & Livingston Counties (KY 2002-03). She worked as a Ranger in Surry, Forsyth, and Wayne Counties (NC 2003-13).
She attended the Community Mitigation Academy in Richfield (UT 2018) and Community Mitigation Assistance Team training in Boise (ID 2019). She is a Community Wildfire Mitigation Best Practices Instructor and serves as a member of the National CMAT. Hannah is co-coordinator of the newly formed Croatan Area Fireshed Partnership. Since 2016, Hannah has served as the Wildfire Mitigation Specialist for the North Carolina Forest Service, covering 50 counties in eastern NC. During her 23 years of experience in forestry/wildfire, Hannah served over a decade as an initial attack wildland firefighter/forestry technician in multiple counties and as the statewide Outreach Coordinator.
Board of Directors
Chair | Forest Program Manager, Colorado Springs Utilites
Vice Chair | Watershed Scientist, Denver Water
Director | Director & Founder, Acclimate
Secretary | Director & President emeritus, Center for Colorado Water Conservation District
Director | Senior Environmental Education & Outreach Specialist, City of Aurora
Treasurer | Assistant Director, Programs at Salazar Center for North American Conservation
Member | Senior Program Manager, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute
Member | Indigenous Lands Program director, Trees, Water & People
