The People Behind Forever Our Rivers

Jorge is the community partnerships administrator of Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency (CASR). He develops and implements engagement-related policies, projects and strategies to ensure CASR’s programs are well aligned with the priorities and aspirations of Denver’s under-resourced and environmental justice communities.

Jorge is a member of the governor’s and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board and the liaison of the City and County of Denver’s Environmental Justice Standing Committee. 

Prior to joining CASR, Jorge was co-founder and former director of El Laboratorio, a climate and social justice innovation laboratory and accelerator anchored in social capital. He also worked as a senior water policy analyst with Western Resource Advocates for 8 years, and as a research faculty and project associate with CU Law School and the Governors Climate and Forests Task Force. Jorge was a Fulbright Scholar on Climate and Community Forestry Innovation with the India Institute of Science. He graduated from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law's Environmental Law Program and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. 

Jim is a Professor Emeritus of Management at Colorado State University and the National President of Sigma Iota Epsilon, the honor society and professional fraternity of the Academy of Management. He is the founder and former director of the Beverage Business Institute and the Center for Professional Development and Business Research in the College of Business, where he created certificates in Beverage Business Management and non-profit management. As a management consultant to clients in the private and public sectors, he has worked with a wide variety of businesses and organizations and has served on boards of directors and advisory councils for corporations, public institutions, and not-for-profit organizations including NCAA Faculty Athletics, NCAA Council, Board of Directors of the College Football Association, Mountain-Pacific Sports Federation, Mountain West Joint Council, Student-Athlete Academic Committee, the Black Business Scholars organization and the local chapter of Sigma Iota Epsilon. He has also been an owner/operator of two small businesses and has worked for a Fortune 100 firm in organization development. Jim holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Management/Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations, respectively, and a B.A. degree in Economics from Central College of Iowa.

Robyn Paulekas has extensive experience bringing people together to solve complex and often controversial sustainability and conservation problems, including those that relate to river health, restoration, and corporate partnerships. She is a Senior Mediator and Program Manager at Meridian Institute. She has led and supported both domestic and international projects on water, conservation, outdoor recreation, agriculture, and climate change—often working at the nexus of more than one of these issues. One highlight from her recent work has been to refine guidance for how food and agriculture companies can strengthen their sustainability commitments to address water quality impacts of the U.S. row crops they source. The draft recommendations encourage companies to support collective watershed action and other implementation support. Prior to Meridian, Robyn applied geospatial information to find solutions to water-related conflict in the Klamath Basin in Oregon. At the University of Wyoming Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, she supported multi-stakeholder dialogues on energy, climate change, and endangered species. In her free time, Robyn can be found adventuring in the mountains and on rivers with her husband and their two wild and curious sons.

Ann joins Forever Our Rivers after 15 years in land and water conservation. As executive director of the Crested Butte Land Trust (CO), Ann conserved wetlands and other ecologically significant lands, local ranches, and hiking and biking trails. During her tenure, the organization tripled its operating capacity and achieved national accreditation. She completed several award-winning river restoration projects and was instrumental in bringing together diverse viewpoints to resolve a 30-year long conflict over the use and protection of Snodgrass Mountain.

Ann later served as the Russian River program manager for the Sonoma Land Trust (CA). She was responsible for creating a land and water conservation strategy to protect the natural processes of the river while meeting social and economic needs. Climate adaptation and the voices of underserved communities were key aspects of her conservation planning.

Ann is serving her second term as commissioner for the Land Trust Accreditation Commission (NY). Prior to that, she served an appointment by Colorado’s governor to the Conservation Easement Oversight Commission (CO). She holds a bachelor’s in journalism and a master’s in natural resources.

When not working you will find Ann outside with her husband Dave, enjoying the rivers and mountains of Colorado’s western slope.