Staff & Board

Jacob has been a resident of Fort Collins since 1997, when he moved to Colorado to attend Colorado State University. While at CSU, Jacob received three undergraduate degrees in Agricultural Business, Foreign Language and Literature, and Economics. Following undergraduate studies Jacob began his professional career in economic development, where he served as the Vice President of the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation. After a successful career in the professional world, Jacob went back to school to pursue a double masters in the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise Program and Agricultural & Resource Economics. While in grad school Jacob founded a company called PowerMundo, which was called one of six ideas that will change world, according to CNN/Money. Jacob has also served on many advisory boards throughout northern Colorado. He currently serves as the head honcho at Panda Bicycles, a leading edge bamboo bike building company, headquarted in Fort Collins. In addition to entrepreneurial endeavors, Jacob is also co-authoring a text book on sustainable venturing and teaches a class on Global Sustainability at CSU.

Matt works for Fort Collins Utilities where he is responsible for managing the design and construction of water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure projects. He has been a part of the Fort Collins community since 1993 when he moved to Fort Collins to attend Colorado State University, earning a BS and MS in Civil Engineering.

He is passionate about his work as an engineer because he believes basic water services are essential to a sustainable community. His primary interests are working to find sustainable solutions to the issues of stormwater management and ageing water and wastewater infrastructure. He has been a member of Fort Collins Utilities’ “Core Sustainability Team” since 2008 working to develop a culture of sustainability within the organization. Outside of work, Matt enjoys bicycling, gardening, raising chickens and pressing apple cider with his neighbors.

Adam D’Antonio is the Marketing, Events and Competitions Specialist at Odell Brewing Company, where he has held several positions in his 8 years at the brewery. In his current role, Adam manages logistics for the various festivals, events, and competitions in which the brewery participates. As a lead member on the Odell Sustainability Committee, he helps to oversee and enact their Zero-Landfill program and water-use reduction initiatives. Adam is passionate about his work at Odell Brewing, introducing sustainable practices to all the events he spearheads, and striving to reduce the impact on the earth that comes with large-scale festivals.

Adam relocated to Fort Collins from Pennsylvania in 2004 after completing his BA in History from Pennsylvania State University. Through his roles at Odell Brewing and, previously, at the City of Fort Collins Parks Department, Adam has been an active member of the Fort Collins community. He has volunteered for the United Way of Larimer County, Habitat for Humanity, and the Wildlands Restoration Volunteers. Adam also serves on the Board of Directors for the Fort Collins Downtown Business Association. Outside of his professional career and volunteer work, Adam enjoys spending time with his wife Kate and their young daughter Ellie, appreciating all Colorado has to offer—especially fly-fishing, skiing, camping, hiking, and gardening.

Charisse Bowen is an award winning entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience working in the media and online technology space. In 2006, Charisse moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado, where, upon her arrival, she began GenGreen LLC. GenGreenLife.com was home to the largest green businesses directory in North America with over 100,000 member companies across 24 different industries.  In early 2011 GenGreen LLC was acquired which allowed Charisse to expand her reach into the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Northern Colorado by doing consulting work focusing on fundraising strategy, investor relations and marketing for various start-ups.

In Spring of 2011, she was able to combine two of her passions, entrepreneurship and women in business, by Co-Directing the highly successful ‘Women Entrepreneurs’ Leadership Summit’ hosted and sponsored by the College of Business at Colorado State University.   In May of 2012, Charisse was named the Managing Director of the new Institute for Entrepreneurship within the College of Business at Colorado State University. The Institute for Entrepreneurship fosters the development of extraordinary student entrepreneurs and accelerates growth of impactful new ventures at Colorado State University.  Charisse was named one of the ‘Top 25 Most Influential Young Professionals in Colorado Business’ by ColoradoBiz magazine in September 2011, as well as one of the “Top 40 Business Leaders Under 40′ in 2008 by the NCBR. TreeHugger.com also named her one of the ‘Hottest CEO’s of Cool Green Companies’ in 2009.

Jessie combines her talents and passion for communications, public relations, and sustainability to perform a wide variety of tasks for Brendle Group, a sustainability consulting firm focused on engineering and strategic planning. Jessie leverages her writing skills to contribute to company branding, messaging, and communication efforts. She also collaborates with Brendle Group team members to research and develop materials for clients, from community best practices in sustainability, to engaging web-based and print reports.

Jessie moved to Fort Collins in 2004 to attend Colorado State University. While in school she worked for a cluster of Northern Colorado-based radio stations and attended many Sustainable Living Fairs under that cover. Jessie took a sabbatical from school to complete a few long-distance hikes, and then returned to finish her degree in Journalism and Technical Communication and a minor in Global Environmental Sustainability.

Jamie Grim is a northern Colorado native currently working as a District Representative for Congressman Jared Polis. After graduating from Poudre High School she attended the University of Denver and received a degree in Public Policy. Since graduating, Jamie has worked on several campaigns and at the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce. She is also an active volunteer with Larimer County United Way and serves on the Generation United Steering Committee. As an alumnus of DU she is a diehard Pioneer Hockey fan, but please don’t ask her to explain the rules of hockey, she has no idea what they are. Jamie currently lives in Old Town Fort Collins with a very furry Bernese Mountain dog who thinks he is the size of dachshund.

Jim Kelly is CEO and founder of Syscom Services, headquartered in Silver Spring Maryland. For over 25 years Jim has provided expertise to associations and non-profits in how to use technology, the web, new media and social networking to improve marketing, communications, fund raising and operations. Jim has been a speaker at numerous conferences and expositions around the country, focusing on emerging technologies and trends. For the past 16 years Jim has split his time between Washington, DC and Fort Collins where he and his wife Betsy Markey raised their three children.