Staff, Board & Advisers

Curtis Wackerle

Curtis Wackerle is the editor and executive director of Aspen Journalism and the editor and reporter on the Connie Harvey Environment Desk. Curtis has also served as editor, managing editor, and reporter at the Aspen Daily News, where he covered Aspen’s city hall. He has a journalism degree from the University of Montana. More by Curtis Wackerle

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Heather Sackett

Heather Sackett is the managing editor at Aspen Journalism and the editor and reporter on the Water Desk. She has also reported for The Denver Post and the Telluride Daily Planet. Heather has a master’s degree from CU’s Center for Environmental Journalism and her reporting has been recognized by the Colorado Press Association. More by Heather Sackett

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Laurine Lassalle

Laurine Lassalle is Aspen Journalism’s data desk editor, where she works to catalogue and analyze local public data. She also heads our our “Tracking the Curve” project, documenting COVID-19 in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties. She has a master’s degree in data and investigative journalism from UC Berkeley with an emphasis on environmental reporting. More by Laurine Lassalle

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Rick Carroll

Rick Carroll has worked as an investigative journalist covering business and courts in Aspen for over 25 years. He is the managing editor of the Aspen Daily News and joined Aspen Journalism in a part-time capacity in spring 2023. He graduated from Centenary College in Louisiana. More by Rick Carroll

Elizabeth Stewart-Severy

Elizabeth Stewart-Severy is a freelance journalist based in Snowmass Village. She grew up in Aspen and has worked as an editor at Aspen Journalism, reporter at Aspen Public Radio and an English and journalism teacher at Aspen High School. More by Elizabeth Stewart-Severy

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Andrew Travers

Andrew Travers is an Aspen-based freelance journalist. A former newspaper reporter and editor, his work has recently appeared in The Atlantic and the Colorado Sun. More by Andrew Travers

Amy Hadden Marsh

Amy Hadden Marsh is a freelance journalist and longtime resident of the Roaring Fork Valley. More by Amy Hadden Marsh

Sarah Tory

Sarah Tory is a freelance journalist based in Carbondale, CO, whose work focuses on the environment, migration, and rural communities. Her writing has been published by The Atlantic, Guernica, Hakai, High Country News, Mother Jones, 5280, and others. More by Sarah Tory

Allen Best

Allen Best wrote his first story about water in Colorado in 1977 when living in Kremmling. After that, he edited newspapers in Winter Park and in the Vail/Eagle Valley before relocating to metropolitan Denver in the late 1990s. Since 2003, he has written about climate change and the energy transition while deepening his work in water, both within Colorado and the Colorado basin. More by Allen Best

Catherine Lutz

Catherine Lutz is an Aspen-based freelance writer, reporter and editor. She contributes to a wide range of publications, including Aspen Sojourner and Aspen Magazine, and works for a number of clients, including the Aspen Institute. Catherine is also the former managing editor of the Aspen Daily News. More by Catherine Lutz

Mark Harvey

Mark Harvey, president, is a local rancher, writer, filmmaker and photographer. He is also on the board of EcoFlight, and has been on the boards of High Country News and Aspen Center for Environmental Studies. Mark is Connie Harvey’s son, the namesake of the Connie Harvey Environment Desk.

Tim McFlynn

Tim McFlynn, vice president, is executive director of Public Counsel of the Rockies and a mediator with Aspen Dispute Resolution. He was co-founder of Pitkin County Open Space and the Manaus Fund. He has served as board president of Aspen Center for Environmental Studies and Wilderness Workshop.

Cristal Logan

Cristal Logan is VP of Aspen Community Programs and Engagement at the Aspen Institute and oversees local public programs. A fourth generation resident of the Roaring Fork Valley, she has served on the boards of the Aspen Hall of Fame and the Aspen Chamber Resort Association.

Pete McBride

Pete McBride is a Colorado native who has spent two decades studying the world with a camera. A self-taught photographer, filmmaker, writer, and public speaker, he is a Sony Artisan of Imagery and has traveled on assignment to over 75 countries for the National Geographic Society, Smithsonian, and Google.

Michael McVoy

Michael McVoy is an investment adviser at Raymond James Financial Services and the former co-publisher of The Aspen Times. He serves on the Pitkin County Retirement Board, the Roaring Fork Transit Authority Board and leads the Roaring Fork Community Development Corporation.

Laurie Michaels

Laurie Michaels, Ph.D. is an individual philanthropist based in Aspen, CO. Until 2012, she maintained a private practice in clinical psychology. In 2012, she founded Open Road Alliance to address the lack of fast, flexible, emergency funds available to non-profits and social entrepreneurs. In 2020, she started The 2030 Fund to address climate issues and promote renewables in Louisiana, with a particular focus on Cancer Alley. Dr. Michaels was a board member of the Aspen Community Foundation for 12 years, serving as board chair for four years ending in 2013. She is currently vice-chair of the international peace-building organization, Search for Common Ground, and board chair of Access AfterSchool, which provides after school and summer programs for students from Aspen to Parachute.

Jane Pargiter

Jane Pargiter is the Executive Director at EcoFlight. Jane has also served on the board of the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork, and volunteers for English in Action and the Buddy Program. A native of South Africa, she once lectured in the Linguistics Department of the University of Witwatersrand.

Carolyne Heldman Rovira

Carolyne Heldman Rovira has been in the media for 35 years, most recently as podcast host and producer for The Lens, a non-profit news organization in New Orleans. Prior to that she served as Executive Director at Aspen Public Radio. While there she launched four weekly news, public affairs, and cultural affairs programs, and live Town Hall broadcasts. Rovira lives in Old Snowmass with her husband Doug.

Omar Sarabia

Omar Sarabia was raised in Chihuahua, Mexico and attended the Autonomous University of Chihuahua where he studied territorial development engineering. He went to work for the National Institute of Geography and Information (INEGI) as a cartographer and eventually became the chief director of illegal water well closures for the state of Chihuahua. He moved to the Roaring Fork Valley 2015, working at Sustainable Settings in Carbondale where he learned biodynamics. He joined Wilderness Workshop in November 2021 as the director of Defiende Nuestra Tierra Director where he works to build trust among our Latinx community to promote enjoyment, access and advocacy for our public lands.

Harry Teague

Harry Teague is the founder of Harry Teague Architects. His work includes the Benedict Music Tent, the Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall, and the Bucksbaum Campus of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Anderson Ranch Art Center. He is also on the board of the Aspen Science Center.

Brent Gardner-Smith

Brent Gardner-Smith, the founder of Aspen Journalism, and who served as AJ’s executive director until August 2021 and as editor from 2011-2020, is the news director at Aspen Public Radio. He’s also been a reporter at The Aspen Times, Aspen Daily News and KSNO, and the executive director at Aspen Public Radio. Brent also worked in communications at ProPublica in 2010 while earning his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.

Dave Danforth

Dave Danforth is the founder and former owner of the Aspen Daily News. The paper, with the slogan, “If you don’t want it printed, don’t let it happen,” was founded in 1978. Danforth sold it to local buyers in 2017. He also co-founded The Conway Daily Sun, the (Palo Alto) Daily News, and the Berkeley Daily Planet.

Charlie Firestone

Charlie Firestone is the former Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and a Vice President of the Aspen Institute. Firestone was also Director of the Communications Law Program at UCLA and an adjunct professor at the UCLA Law School, from 1977-90.

Laura Frank

Laura Frank is the executive director at the Colorado News Collaborative. She pioneered collaborative journalism in Colorado as the founder of I-News, the nonprofit investigative news organization that merged with Rocky Mountain Public Media in 2013, the first such merger in the nation.

Carl Hulse

Carl Hulse is the chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times and a veteran of more than three decades of reporting in the capital. He previously served as the Washington editor of the Times and is the author of “Confirmation Bias,” an inside look at the Supreme Court.

David Krause

David Krause was named editor of The Aspen Times in January 2017. Before coming to The Times, David worked for nearly 17 years at The Denver Post, first in sports and then as a news editor. He also worked at the Loveland Reporter-Herald in the 1990s. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma.

Catherine Lutz

Catherine Lutz is an Aspen-based freelance writer, reporter and editor. She contributes to a wide range of publications, including Aspen Sojourner and Aspen Magazine, and works for a number of clients, including the Aspen Institute. Catherine is also the former managing editor of the Aspen Daily News.

John Masters

John Masters is the executive director at GrassRoots Community Network, a position he’s held since 2001. He’s also worked as program director at Aspen Television Channel 8, as owner of Masters Studio, a video and television production firm in Aspen.

Curtis Robinson

Curtis Robinson is senior counsel for media strategy at CRAFT Media Digital. He is the co-founder of Roaring Fork Sunday and a former editor of the Aspen Daily News. He has also helped develop books with Hunter S. Thompson and Douglas Brinkley, which probably involved a bit too much time at Owl Farm.

Carolyn Sackariason

Carolyn Sackariason is a reporter at The Aspen Times, where she covers city hall. She has previously worked as news director at Aspen Public Radio, editor at the Aspen Daily News and publisher of the Snowmass Sun. Carolyn is also a co-owner of the Santa Monica Daily Press in Santa Monica, CA.

Steve Skinner

Steve Skinner is the general manager of KFFR, a public radio station in Winter Park. He’s also served as general manager at KDNK in Carbondale, program director at Aspen Public Radio, and a DJ at KSPN and KSNO. Steve is also a weekly columnist for the Aspen Daily News and the Winter Park Times.

Andy Stone

Andy Stone is the co-author, along with his wife Linda Lafferty, of “Light in the Shadows.” Stone is also the author of “Aspen Drift,” a novel about journalism in Aspen, and “Song of the Kingdom.” Andy’s also worked as a reporter, editor, columnist and publisher at The Aspen Times.

Nancy Watzman

Nancy Watzman is the former director of the Colorado Media Project and an award-winning investigative journalist, researcher, and strategist. She’s also worked with the Internet Archive, the Sunlight Foundation, the Center for Public Integrity, and the Center for Responsive Politics.

Mike Webb

Mike Webb is senior vice president for communications at the News Literacy Project. Before joining NLP in July 2019, Mike served as a vice president at BerlinRosen, a Washington public affairs firm. He was also director and vice president of communications at ProPublica and also worked in communications at Honolulu Civil Beat.

Mike Marolt

Mike Marolt is a CPA in his native Aspen, a KPMG Peat Marwick alumnus, and a member of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. His accomplishments include the first skiing descents of numerous mountain peaks in the Himalayas and shooting and producing the movie “Skiing Everest.”

Ken Ransford

Ken Ransford is a Basalt-based attorney, investment adviser and CPA specializing in income-tax and estate-tax law for small businesses, individuals and nonprofit organizations. Ken serves as the secretary of the Colorado Basin Roundtable, and he holds a voting seat representing recreational interests.