Our Volunteers

I have lived in Niwot for 32 years and, before retiring 2 years ago, worked as an aerospace engineer at Lockheed Martin. I raised my daughter here. As a precinct organizer in Niwot since 2012 I have gotten to know people while delivering voter guides, reminding them to vote, and working with them during party caucuses and assemblies. I also spent many years through 2014 as Treasurer of the Dry Creek HOA. I’ve recently worked as an election judge, increasing my knowledge of the countywide election and voting processes. All these interactions have provided a better understanding of what is important to my neighbors and what really matters when maintaining our community. I’m excited to be the Chairperson of the Election Commission to work with Boulder County Elections to get all items associated with incorporation on November’s ballot. The Niwot Incorporation Committee has done a significant amount of work to explore the feasibility of incorporating and I want to apply all that I’ve learned to help follow the ballot processes to allow the people of Niwot a chance to vote on this important issue.

I love Niwot. My husband Roy and I settled in Niwot in 1987 and raised our four children here. I was heavily involved with volunteering at Niwot Elementary School, Sunset Middle School, and Niwot High School. In Niwot, the pace is slow and the community is one that cares for each other. Ours is a culture of nurturing and caring; neighbors who have lived out their lives together, raising their own families; people who recognize the beauty and quietness, not desiring to leave or see it deteriorate. I’m dedicating my time to this home rule incorporation effort because it will protect and keep the community beautiful and vibrant (roads included) and a desirable place to live and raise a family.

I have called Niwot home since 2014, raising my two children here with my wife and building a life rooted in community. I work full-time for a local nonprofit. I have spent eight years on the Niwot Local Improvement District Advisory Committee, including five as Chair, helping to strengthen the local economy and preserve the town’s character. My broader civic experience — from the Consortium of Cities to Boulder County Leadership Fellows — has shown me how communities thrive when residents have a clear voice in shaping their future. I am committed to the home rule incorporation effort because I want Niwot to have the representation, tools, and stability needed to protect what makes the town special and to plan confidently for the years ahead.

I have lived in Niwot since 2012. I am retired from CU Boulder, where I taught writing and semantics. I was on the Countryside Condos HOA board for three years and served as President for one year. I am the President of the Niwot Cemetery Association. I joined the effort to incorporate Niwot as a home rule town because the people of Niwot deserve the right to self-determination, and we don’t enjoy that right now. If we don’t incorporate, all the important decisions about Niwot’s immediate and long-term future will be in the hands of the County Commissioners — a small group whom Niwot, at barely one percent of the county electorate, has effectively no power to choose. If we incorporate, we will have an opportunity to control our own destiny.

When my family moved to Colorado in 2014 to be closer to family, we chose Niwot out of the entire Front Range because of the beautiful location, great high school, and vibrant community. For the first six years, my main role was as the mom of two boys, both varsity wrestlers and Eagle Scouts. I served on the board of the Niwot High School Education Foundation and began its online auction. I also served on the board of our HOA for eight years. I organize a neighborhood book club and mahjong group. I first became involved in the Niwot Incorporation Committee as Treasurer because it is a better way to solve the problem of ever deteriorating roads than a PID controlled by Boulder County. Beyond that immediate problem, over the past 12 years I’ve seen many interesting shops and restaurants downtown close. Niwot needs real tools to reverse this, not just advisory roles. Niwot is full of smart, capable, great people who care about the community and step up to volunteer in a variety of community organizations. This energy and capability will well serve a local town structure.

We moved to Niwot in 2018. My 40+ year career in computerizing healthcare has given me the opportunity to live in over 12 states. This is the first time we chose a place to live because of the community rather than just for a job. In addition to my work, I mentor entrepreneurs in the CU Ascent program. Niwot is such a special place to call home. My family and friends love to visit — so much so that my eldest son and his wife just moved nearby. While we love this town, we are worried about the decaying roads. I am working for this incorporation effort to help preserve the special feel of the community and make the necessary investments in our infrastructure. Now is the time to take action to preserve our town and avoid costly future impacts.

I am a proud resident of Niwot, having lived in this community with my wife since we moved here with our daughters in 2012. Professionally, I served as an executive in a global company for 20 years and have served on Boards of several non-profits in Boulder County. We absolutely LOVE Niwot for many reasons: our amazing neighbors, its small-town charm, the strong business community, the incredible mountain views and the restaurants. I am also a strong advocate in favor of incorporating Niwot to ensure we safeguard what makes this community special for generations to come. Specifically, I believe incorporation will help ensure our self-governance, secure a strong financial foundation for the businesses in town, create the best model for repairing our roads, and preserve the small-town charm. Incorporating as a Town is the best way for Niwot to prepare for what may come in the years ahead while ensuring this community can build on its incredible legacy by charting a new path for the future.

I love Niwot and want to preserve it. Boulder County’s agenda now favors high density development over open space, not what most Niwot residents want. Furthermore, incorporation is a far less expensive option than a Public Improvement District for road repair. Let’s elect trusted citizens to make decisions for Niwot.

I grew up in Steamboat Springs and have lived in Boulder County since 2005. My wife Sarie is from Boulder County, and both of our families have roots here going back to our great-grandfathers. We moved to Niwot Estates in 2024 with our two boys. I studied aerospace engineering and have spent my career building and running companies; today I run Noblestar Technologies, a software company with an office in downtown Niwot.

Not long after we moved out of the city of Boulder, I started going to Niwot Business Association meetings. I planned to keep my head down and work on my company. But the first meeting I walked into was about fighting Boulder County’s minimum wage ordinance, and it put a question in front of me: my town has a problem — do I let it sit, or do I lend a hand? I started volunteering. Jim Schaefer had already begun pulling people together, and I was asked to help lead the effort. It grew into the Boulder County Farms and Jobs Alliance, a coalition of farmers, business owners, and residents that took the issue to the county. We won a pause, not a repeal. That was a partial success, and it showed exactly how little leverage Niwot has when the decision is made somewhere else. That effort turned into this one, and that is how I ended up as President: I volunteered.

I am doing this because I believe it is the right thing to do. I set out the longer version of why in Recognizable to Itself. We cannot control every future decision. We can decide where those decisions are made. I would rather they were made here, by the people who live with them. Every community inherits patterns it did not create and leaves patterns it does not fully foresee. Our responsibility is to leave Niwot recognizable to itself.

I’m a proud descendant of one of the First Families of Colorado, growing up in Boulder. After completing a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Pennsylvania I worked with and advised a variety of local and state governments in the United States and abroad, often on how to decentralize programs and authority to the local level. I believe these efforts are also needed in Niwot, particularly after my experience with Boulder County permitting for an internal house renovation. I became a resident of Niwot and a member of the NCA in 2006. Throughout the years, I have been posted overseas as a US Diplomat until my retirement last year.

I care about Niwot businesses. I owned the Niwot Tavern from 2005 to 2010. I was President of the Niwot Business Association from 2007 to 2020, was a member of the Niwot Local Improvement District from 2007 to 2017 and am currently on the Niwot Future League and Niwot Hall Board of Directors. I co-founded the Boulder Symphony (originally the Niwot Timberline Symphony) in 2009 and still serve on the board. The health and even survival of Niwot’s business district depends on Niwot Incorporation. Boulder County Commissioners have shown that their priorities are elsewhere, as demonstrated by the 2025 minimum wage and 2018 moratorium on all new downtown construction projects, imposed without advance notice. Sales of local Niwot businesses have decreased from $29.5M in 2022 to $25M in 2025. Flagship restaurant business closures (such as Colterra, Treppeda’s Ristorante, and 1914 House) are examples of Niwot becoming an endangered species. Protecting local businesses will only come with incorporation.

I’ve lived in Niwot for 51 years, on Dry Creek Road in Johnson Farm with a law office in Niwot since 1975. I co-founded the Left Hand Valley Courier in 1997 and serve as the Managing Editor. I have served on the boards of most of the organizations in Niwot, including the Niwot Business Association (President), Niwot Youth Sports (President), the Niwot Community Association (Secretary), the Niwot High School Education Foundation (President), and the Niwot Elementary School PTAC (President).

I served on the Boulder County Planning Commission for 7 years and on the Niwot Local Improvement District (Chair) for 14 years. For years I worked with Boulder County on many projects, including surrounding Niwot with open space to prevent annexation by Boulder or Longmont, and building 10 ballfields for youth sports. I have been President of the Niwot Cultural Arts Association since 2009 and chaired the effort to build Niwot Children’s Park. I serve on the Tree Carving Committee and have been a co-manager of Rock & Rails for 12 years. I have coordinated the Niwot Community Semi-Marching Free Grange Band since 2005.

I helped with the effort to organize a Public Improvement District in 2025 to ensure better maintenance of all the roads in the Niwot community. I worked on the Minimum Wage Task Force to make sure Niwot’s businesses are not at a competitive disadvantage. Now, I’m working on the incorporation effort as a better and more cost-effective way to improve our roads and have local authority over such things as minimum wage.

I want to keep Niwot the way it is. I have come to the realization that incorporation is the only way to protect Niwot — from unwanted development, from minimum wage policies that put Niwot businesses at a competitive disadvantage, from unfair building restrictions on Niwot homeowners, and from being ignored when it comes to major transportation projects such as the bikeway median. I believe Niwot residents should determine what is best for the community that we all love.