Our Leadership

Ryan McCoy, M.A.

Executive Director

Ryan holds both a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Northern Colorado. In addition to serving as the Executive Director for the FRCC Foundation, Ryan is an Adjunct Professor of Communication. Ryan has proudly served FRCC over the past 8 years and has worked in the Foundation for over 4 years. In addition to his work at Front Range Community College, Ryan is an elected official who serves on the Adams50 School Board of Education. He is a 5th generation Coloradan and is dedicated to education. Ryan resides in Westminster with his wife Anna and his two children Ida and Jameson.

Ryan.Mccoy@frontrange.edu | (303) 404-5238

Gwen Garrison, M.S.

Coordinator

Gwen has worked from Front Range Community College for over 10 years, including her time representing the FRCC Foundation. Gwen manages the scholarship program, business operations, and event management for the Foundation. She has a M.S. in Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University and was a member of the Spring 2019 cohort of the Impact Denver program through the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation. Gwen has also received national recognition by the Association for Women in Community Colleges as a recipient of their first year’s top 40 under 40, recognizing women making contributions at their colleges through their leadership and involvement.

The.Foundation@frontrange.edu | 303-404-5463

Javaher Nooryani

Donor Data Manager

Javaher has worked for non-profits and public sectors for several years, and joined FRCC Foundation in August 2019. She holds a B.A. in American Literature & Culture from UCLA and a M.A. in English Literature from NYU. Originally from Iran, she grew up in Los Angeles and now lives in Denver.

The.Foundation@frontrange.edu | (303) 404-5174

Ryan Tharp, Chair

Since 2019

Ryan is a corporate and regulatory attorney with the Denver law firm, Fairfield and Woods, P.C., where he focuses his practice on business, communications, and technology. Prior to joining Fairfield and Woods, P.C., Ryan was a legal intern at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., serving in Chairman Genachowski’s office and in the Office of the Bureau Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a juris doctorate, both from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He also took an online class from FRCC. Prior to going to law school, Ryan taught English to college students in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Kristen Bernhardt, Past Chair

Since 2012

Kristen is a Senior Vice President at FirstBank where she has worked since 2006. Her responsibilities include business development, commercial real estate lending and branch management. She earned her BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and minored in Economics at Colorado State University. Additionally, she received her Graduate of Banking degree from Pacific Coast Banking School at University of Washington. Kristen has been a member of the Loveland and Foothill Rotary clubs. She was one of Bizwest’s 40 under 40 awardees and is currently participating in the Northern Colorado Leadership program.

Rick Samson, Treasurer

Rick, founder of Samson Law Firm in Longmont, donates time and expertise to a broad spectrum of non-profit, educational, and community organizations. He was a member of the St. Vrain Valley school board for eight years. Rick earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bethany College, where he later served on the board of directors, and a law degree from Washburn University Law School. He has received the Ron Porter Community Service Award from the Boulder County Bar Association, the Lee Shepard Memorial Volunteer of the Year awarded from Partners of Boulder County Inc., and the Larry Nelson Community Service Award from the Longmont Twin Peaks Rotary Club.

Kate Kimball, Secretary

Kate is a Senior Attorney for Ball Corporation, headquartered in Broomfield, CO. She provides legal assistance for various business groups through the company specializing in transactional matters, corporate compliance, real estate, environmental and benefits work. Prior to joining Ball, Kate worked for seven years in the Boston office of an international law firm. She completed her undergraduate studies at Colorado College and earned her law degree from Boston College School of Law. Kate is an active volunteer for her high school, Phillips Academy, Andover. Kate lives in Boulder with her husband and two young children.

Micheline Burger

Born in St. Andreasberg, Germany, Micheline practiced family law in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas until her retirement in 2015. She is a frequent lecturer and presenter of seminars on the topics of divorce, division of property, child custody, child support and maintenance, representing the interests of children, and various political and social issues, especially human rights, and the separation of church and state. She is also a frequent guest writer and radio commentator on political and social issues and involved in numerous community projects. She has traveled extensively in North and South America, Europe and Asia. She teaches English as a second language through Intercambio in Boulder.

She is married to Phil Burger, founder and former owner of Burger and Brown Engineering Inc, in Grandview, MO. She has five children and six grandchildren.

Tom Cassady

Tom retired from Broomfield-based Ball Corporation in 2014 after 27 years with the company. He held various finance and accounting positions before being named the director of accounting systems. Before joining Ball, Tom was the finance director for the Toledo Zoological Society. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance from St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana, and earned a master's degree in accounting from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He is a Certified Management Accountant.

Terry Dye

Terry founded Dyecrest Dairy in 1970 in upstate New York, it has been located in Colorado since 1985. There are presently two dairies totaling about 5,000 head of cattle making it one of the largest registered Holstein herds in the country plus it has 2,000 acres of farm ground.Terry became intrigued with FRCC after his step daughter-in-law enrolled and earned a scholarship from the FRCC Foundation. In 2013 Terry established the Dyecrest Dairy Scholarship, giving preference to non-traditional students plus children and grandchildren of Dyecrest employees. The scholarship also funds non-traditional students who are single mothers and students that are pursuing careers in technical fields at the Larimer Campus.

William Hillen, III

Will is the 3^rd generation President at Hillen Corporation in Commerce City, which was established in 1956, by William D Sr and Frances L. Hillen. Hillen Corp is a leading demolition company with more than 60 years of experience managing commercial and residential demolition projects. Will received his Bachelor of Science in Civil/Structural Engineering at Colorado School of Mines.

Marty Marsh

Marty is a retired secondary English teacher with a 35 year career teaching in Alabama, Texas and Colorado. She spent her last 23 years in Fort Collins at Lesher Middle School. She has a BA from Principia College, a small liberal arts school in Southern Illinois, and a Master's in Counseling from the University of Houston. Marty has a passion for education. She and her husband Scott sponsor scholarships for two FRCC students each year, and she is an active volunteer in the community. Marty serves on the Fort Collins Reads Committee, the Fort Collins Symphony Education Committee, Front Range Forum Reads Committee at the senior center, and volunteers weekly at Lesher Middle School.

Marilee Menard

Since 2014

Menard retired as executive director of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums, after 21 years. She started her career on Capitol Hill, joined a number of trade associations, and also worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Quality Service where she was the Director of Information and Legislative Affairs. Menard is a founder of Women in Government Relations and serves on the National Marine Mammal Foundation board.

Suzanne Miller

Suzanne Miller has been involved in a wide variety of local nonprofit organizations. She worked as a stay-at-home mom for years while raising four children, which led to opportunities to volunteer. She has been building deep and personal connections to help people in the community ever since. Suzanne is heavily involved with Women Give, which provides child care scholarships to single moms who are pursuing higher education. She has been a part of many area organizations that have benefited from the work of the Bohemian Foundation. She also served on the advisory board for GiveNext, a project that teaches middle and high school students about philanthropy. And for years, Miller served on the board of directors for Foothills Rotary Club making Mind+Body magazine after creating a local movement to promote acts of kindness and support for others. She began working on this initiative in 2008 after her daughter Liz passed away unexpectedly at age 24 as a result of epilepsy. #DoALizThing encourages people to focus on helping others—the way Miller’s daughter always did.

Suzanne attended Ball State University. Shortly after college and getting married, she moved to Colorado, where she and her husband Jim (now of 39 years) had their four kids—Liz, Alex, Sarah, and Ben. Miller now serves as community ambassador for Ginger and Baker in Fort Collins.

Heidi Williams

Heidi Williams is a Colorado Native and grew up in Brighton, Colorado. Heidi and her husband Toby married in 2001 and have three children, Michael, Chloe and Noah. Heidi was elected to Mayor in 2011 and served on multiple regional boards.  She was recently term limited and is now the Director of Opioid Response for the Colorado Attorney General’s office.  Heidi’s passion’s include child advocacy, substance abuse response, housing and hunger.  She is co-founder of Food for Hope, which feeds hungry kids and families on the weekend in Adams County.  She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Front Range Community College Foundation and as Board President for Ralston House Child Advocacy Center.

Alvina Vasquez

Alvina Vasquez, an alumna of FRCC, founder and president of PowerMap Ltd. which helps organizations with integrated, successful approaches to marketing, business strategy and public policy, and government relations, crisis management, and brand positioning. In 2018 Alvina led the political department for the Jared Polis for Colorado campaign. Alvina is a Denver Business Journal 40 Under 40 award winner. The award recognizes “40 outstanding local professionals under age 40 for their business success and community contributions.” Alvina also is a fellow in the Latino Leadership Institute Executive Program at the University of Denver. She began her career in Spanish language radio for Denver’s Radio Romantica and Radio Tri-Color.

Teri DePuy, Director Emeritus

Since 2005

Teri is an accomplished Senior Executive and Board Member, with more than 30 years of success across the technology, higher education, public safety, healthcare, and telecommunications industries. Throughout her executive career, Teri has held leadership positions with InsideOut Advising LLC, Knowledge Factor Inc., and Intrado Inc. In her current role as Principal of InsideOut Advising LLC, she has been responsible for achieving significant results with clients due to her executive coaching and facilitated workshops, creating long-lasting relationships with clients, and assisting in the entrepreneurial transition process. Teri holds Management Basics and Business Specialization Certificates from Front Range Community College. She also holds a Certificate in General Management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She has held board positions with Front Range Community College, and advisory board positions with WILD Summit, and Intrado Inc. She is also the Director of College Relations for the Boulder Area Human Resources board, a local SHRM chapter.

Nancy Hamilton, Director Emeritus

Since 2011

Nancy has more than 30 years of experience in finance and operations and is currently the CFO for Ubiterra Corporation. She has held CFO and COO positions for numerous technology companies in the Boulder/Denver area, including Fracture ID, Inc., Boulder Ionics, Local Matters, SpectraLink and Intrado. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Regis University in Denver.

Harold Henke, Director Emeritus

Since 2011

Harold worked in the Information Technology industry for more than 30 years specializing in information design and learning. He is the owner of Flatirons Technical Communications, which specializes in helping customers create structured, reusable information for technical documentation and training. Previously, he had worked for Brocade, IBM, Lexis Nexis and Oracle. Harold earned a Doctorate in Computing Technology Education from Nova Southeastern University, and his dissertation focused on the design of electronic books. Harold supports FRCC students through the Harold Henke Scholarship. His connection to community college began when he graduated from Scottsdale Community College, home of the Fighting Artichokes. He believes that the community college system is vital to the development of a competitive workforce.

Harold is a participant in the Program for Avocational Archaeological Certification sponsored by the Colorado Archaeology Society and the Office of the State Archaeologist of Colorado. He has also completed more than 100 hours in training to use metal detecting for historical archaeology surveys.

Jeffrey Knight, Director Emeritus

Since 2008

Jeff, a territory manager for Oracle, has more than 30 years experience in sales, marketing, and management in computing, storage, and e-commerce industries. His work has taken him to Europe, South America, Australia, and Asia. While with Sun Microsystems, Jeff developed key relationships with Brigham Young University, the University of Colorado, the University of Utah, the Center for High Performance Computing, and the Scientific and Computer Imaging Institute. He has a Bachelor of Science in marketing and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Colorado.

Martin Ruffalo, Director Emeritus

Since 2005

Marty retired from Ball Corporation in 2008 following 18 years of progressive senior management positions in both Sales & Marketing and Operations Management.  Since early 2000, he was the Senior VP of Sales and Marketing for the Ball Beverage Can and Plastic Bottle divisions.  His previous work included finance and operations management at Schlitz Brewing Company in Milwaukee, and Stroh Brewery Co. in Detroit, following his initial position with Touche Ross & Co. (now Deloitte) in Milwaukee. Marty is a member of the United Way Tocqueville Society for philanthropic leaders and on the Board of Directors of EPIC of Colorado (Executives Partnering to Invest in Children).  A Certified Public Accountant, Marty has a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He is married with three children and five grandchildren. He enjoys traveling, skiing, golf, and following professional sports.