Lara joined the JCC in July of 2017 as the Chief Executive Officer. She is originally from New York City and has lived in Colorado for the past eleven years. Lara is committed to the mission and vision of the Jewish Community Center and looks forward to all that is to come at the J.

A strong relationship builder with 25 years of fundraising and stewardship experience with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, UCLA Health, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Aspen Academy, Lara’s career has focused on leadership and philanthropy. She is a motivational leader who is well versed in creating and executing strategic plans as well as building and mentoring strong teams. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Fordham University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from the University of Buffalo.

When not working, Lara enjoys spending time with her husband, Frank, and their three children, Jack, age 18, Sophie, age 16, and Izzy, age 10, and their dog, Katie. She also enjoys exercising, reading, cooking, and traveling.

Working with fantastic volunteers, generous donors, and great teams, Linda has helped nonprofits raise more than $100 million in her 23-year fundraising career. She has a breadth of “in the trenches” development experience that makes her an invaluable resource to nonprofits, having led efforts at small, mid-sized, and large charities, and consulted for many years.

When she’s not working, Linda loves to experience adventure vacations and activities and travel specially to visit her sons, Parker and Chad, and Chad’s wife, Christina (the three baby bears!). A recovering D1 basketball player, Linda loves to watch hoops and other sports, to read, write, cook (and eat!), and to support mental health agencies, a cause that’s dear to her heart.

Samantha Raizen Walsh joined the JCC Development team in January of 2016, and feels at home in the hallways she grew up going to school and doing BBYO programming in. A native to Denver, Sam moved back in 2010 after short stints in Massachusetts, England, and New York. She previously worked at Judaism Your Way and Kavod Senior Life, and is passionate about Jewish community and happy to be involved in the growth and sustainability of such an important community organization.

Before joining the JCC team in 2016, Pam spent a decade in public service, working or volunteering for offices and organizations including Americans for the Arts, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, and the Women’s Foundation of Colorado. She has also worked for the Telluride Film Festival and several D.C. area theatres as a lighting crew member, including the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre. In 2014, she earned a Juris Doctor degree from William & Mary Law School in Virginia, where she concentrated her legal studies on First Amendment, animal, and nonprofit law. The missions of the JCC and MACC are dear to her heart, speaking to her strong love of public service, the arts, and the outdoors, and she enjoys serving such a vibrant and unique community.

Originally from St. Louis, MO, Abby Copilevitz graduated from the University of Denver in June 2017.  She received a BA in Sociology and a minor in International Studies. Abby joined the J in October of 2017 where she worked as the Front Desk Receptionist.  She officially joined the Development Team in February of 2018. Outside of work, Abby enjoys spending time with her friends and family as well as spending lots of time outside running, mountain biking or skiing.

Courtney joins Camp Shai from the JCC in Berkeley, CA where she was the Director of Summer Camp & After School Programs. She is originally from Denver and attended Ranch Camp as both a camper and staff member. She developed a huge passion for camp and the outdoors there and then went on to graduate from Hebrew Union College and the University of Southern California where she achieved a Masters in Jewish Nonprofit management and Social Work.

Noah Gallagher is what we call a “life long camper” beginning his camp career as a camper at Camp Young Judaea Midwest, where he met his wife Lauren, and later became director of this camp for almost a decade.

Noah began his career in Jewish camping as Assistant Director of Camp Tel Yehudah (Barryville, NY) where he served in that role for 3 years, and has spent the last 8 summers as Director of Camp Young Judaea Midwest. Under Noah’s direction, CYJ Midwest earned a reputation for its innovative programming and outreach to underserved populations. Noah has shared his expertise in building relationships with parents in popular sessions at regional conferences of the American Camp Association as well as the most recent National ACA Conference, and will hold a session on this topic at the upcoming Leaders Assembly of the Foundation for Jewish Camp.

Noah is joined by his wife, Lauren, who he met at CYJ Midwest when they were campers, their adorable twins Daphne and Leo, and their beautiful new baby Tess.

Gina McReynolds discovered the Ranch Camp in 2004 and has enjoyed roles in the corral, as summer admin staff and has held seasonal and year-round assistant director positions since 2009.

I like to say that finding Ranch Camp almost by accident on a winter day in 2003, at a summer camp fair at Colorado State University, has more profoundly affected my life then anything else in the world. Ranch Camp has influenced my personal life through friendships and connections.  My professional life has been changed as Ranch Camp showed me the incredible importance of summer camp on youth.  I believe that few things in life have the power to shape the journey of youth, define their character, foster their independent selves, and bring pure, unapologetic joy then summer camp.

At Ranch Camp, I have had the amazing opportunity to watch my campers grow up into creative, passionate adults, many of whom return for years as Ranch Camp staff members. I am grateful everyday for the opportunity to spend my summers out of doors, sharing my favorite place with campers, staff, families and alumni each summer!

Emily MacIntyre holds a BA degree in theatre from California Lutheran University. She spent her childhood and young adult years acting in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.  While working on her degree she spent three years as a union stage-manager with Kingsmen Shakespeare Company in Thousand Oaks, CA.  During her five years in Southern California, she directed/designed children’s pageants for local churches, worked crew for youth theatre, taught Shakespeare camps, and acted in childrens’ theatre. Emily moved to Denver in June of ’03, where she has been privileged to work with the children and staff of the Wolf Theatre Academy, stage-managing/producing over 60 mainstage productions and 13 Denver Children’s Theatre productions.  Emily is also a Guest Artist for the Technical theatre department at DSA, teaching and mentoring stage management students.

After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara Jodi Asarch lived in Washington DC and worked at the Smithsonian Institution for three years. She then received an MS degree from the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and moved back to Denver and worked at the Colorado Governor’s Office of Energy Conservation. After managing the Professional Services Department for eCollege.com for four years, Jodi went on to write grants for health and Jewish organizations until 2012. Jodi has been a spin instructor at JCC Denver since 2004 and is currently the Delegation Head for the JCC Maccabi Games. She also coaches varsity soccer at the Denver Jewish Day School. In her free time, she enjoys playing and coaching soccer, skiing, hiking, biking, boxing, and most of all spending time with her three kids.

Rachel Cram graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a BA in sociology with an emphasis in Family Studies. A few years after college, Rachel worked in an Early Head start infant room for Americorps and fell in love with early childhood education. She started at the JCC working with the infants through 3 year olds in 2008. She later took college courses, workshops and completed her fellowship called JECELI (Jewish Early Childhood Education Leadership Institute) in 2015 to become ECE qualified and then later director qualified. Rachel has been a part of the Early Childhood Engagement administration team since 2013, and during that time her passion for Jewish Early Childhood Education has blossomed. When not working, she loves to spend time with her husband and two daughters exploring all that Colorado has to offer.

Rachel Baum joined the JCC team in early 2015. Being a new parent herself, Rachel is passionate about helping young families connect and create their community. Rachel grew up mainly in Colorado. After attending the University of Denver for both her undergraduate and master’s degree in business, she moved to Los Angeles where she met her husband, Andy, and easily persuaded him to move to Denver. She loves every aspect of her job and particularly enjoys building relationships with the families who engage in her classes. Have a program idea? Rachel would love to hear about it and help make it a reality!

My names is Sarah Roberts and I am the pedagogista here at the JCC. A pedagogista is someone that works with teachers to reflect on their theory and practice in the classroom.  I bring with me a background in Studio Art, I received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts, in Fiber Arts and Communications Media.  After graduating with my BFA I moved to Colorado and have lived in Denver for the last 12 years. After my daughter was born in 2010, I decided to go back to school and learn more about Early Childhood Education. I started with an associate degree and director certification and fell in love with the teaching and connections that I found in the field of ECE. After two years of working with the I Have a Dream Foundation in Boulder, Colorado, I joined the teaching team at Boulder Journey School and began my Master’s program at University of Colorado, Denver. Working at BJS gave me the opportunity to learning about constructivist teaching and Reggio Emilia-inspired curriculum. While working with children is an amazing experience, my heart and passion has been working with the teachers and supporting them in their classroom curriculum. This passion has now lead me to begin the journey towards my Doctorate of Education. I am currently in my 2nd year at the University of Colorado, where I am focusing on the importance of adult learning as it relates to Early Childhood Education.

When I am not thinking about and working with adults and children, I am spending time with my family. I have one daughter, Ellymae. I also have three cats and a dog. On the weekend, you can usually find us at a swimming pool or the dog park. As a family we are always looking for fairies, building them new homes, or leaving gifts for them.

Kelley began her work with children who have developmental delays after graduating with her Master in Early Childhood Special Education in 2002. She provided services to young children, who have autism, global developmental delays, and significant behavioral needs, and their families as a Part C provider using the LEAP Parent Skills Training Model from 2002 – 2007. She also worked with preschoolers with ASD, in an Inclusive Classroom, from 2002 – 2004. Kelley worked at The University of Colorado Denver, under Dr. Phil Strain, for 9 years beginning in 2007. With the inception of the Colorado Autism Waiver Kelley’s first role at the University was to develop a service model to provide home-based services to families of children with autism. Kelley was able to grow the clinical services to include private insurers and Children on the CES waiver. This growth allowed for services to be provided to children with varying needs and diagnosis. During Kelley’s time at the University, she went on to do research on the development of behavior models for children with significant challenging behaviors, project implementation on these models and training on these models. Kelley continues privately to provide clinical services to children and their families in their homes and in the community. In addition to Kelley’s experience, she has a solid educational foundation and a passion for the educational improvement of all children. She is extremely passionate and committed to early childhood intervention under a model that recognizes and supports a practice that enhances a child’s skills by empowering the family.

Dedicating the last decade of my life to serving the community at Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona, I have served a role as an adjunct professor and a campus fitness center supervisor for the Department of Exercise Science. In both roles, my experience has put me in the position to develop fitness and wellness programming for students, faculty, staff, and the external community at large, as well as becoming an educator and mentor in the areas of health and fitness. As I have developed professionally over the years my initial interests have changed from helping individuals to a broader continuum of people, guided by the principle of Tikkun Olam, with the understanding that providing quality services to the most people in need will put me in the position to have a greater impact in helping build a stronger society.

Being someone that is very curious about the world around me, in my time I have also earned a graduate degree that focused on both the Holocaust and Jewish Identities from Spinoza to the present. The knowledge and experiences I gained through that time period of my life played an invaluable role in shaping who I am today. Finding myself starting a new career at a JCC that allows me to operate in a capacity that utilizes all of my education and experience in a way that can help integrate every piece of a community is a dream come true. I hope my own passion for life, health, people, and the sustainment of Jewish culture will allow me to not only fit in well as an employee, but eventually be welcomed as a member of the community.

Hobbies: When I am not working my biggest interests are hiking, landscape photography, and seeking out the finest baked goods. It has not escaped my attention that Colorado offers plenty of opportunities for exploration. I am an avid reader as well, and can be typically found reading one or two books at a time. My newest hobby at the J will be begging for a loaf of Challah bread the children’s center bakes on Thursdays.

Education: Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology, Arizona State University, Master of Liberal Studies in Gender, Religion, and Culture (Jewish studies, as stated above), Arizona State University, Post grad courses in a Master of Public Health, New Mexico State University

Jared has been featured on CardioSmart.org and was recognized by the “I am CardioSmart” Contest.

Judy has had the opportunity to work in the fitness industry for almost 30 years, the last 14 at the JCC Fitness & Wellness Center as a Group Fitness Instructor, Office Manager, Accounting Specialist and now in Membership. Her favorite part of her job is her ability to engage with the members and help them integrate into our community and reach their fitness goals. Outside of work Judy enjoy spending time with her husband, kids, and grandkids. She also enjoys running (especially marathons), and her yearly trip to the beach.

Certification & Degrees

• Bachelor of Science in Exercise and Health, Butler University
• ACE Certified Personal Trainer
• PHI Pilates Reformer
• Registered Yoga Teacher 200 hour

Training Specialties

• Strength/Resistance training
• Improving core, posture, and mobility
• Balance and stability
• General aerobic fitness
• Sport&recreation development

Training Philosophy

Throughout my time as a trainer in the fitness industry, I have come to understand the importance of having a holistic approach when it comes to improving one’s fitness and wellness.  Adequate sleep, nutrition, hydration, and proper body mechanics and training approaches are necessary to achieve overall fitness and wellness.  I strive to provide all clients with the knowledge, resources, and tactics to best position themselves to reach optimal wellness.  I bring a unique approach to my training style as I am able to utilize skills and exercises from my Pilates, Yoga, and Exercise background. My specializations include working with the senior population along with the general population.

Shanell brings 18 years of swim lesson instructor experience to the JCC Denver. She started off swimming competitively when she was five years old and instantly gravitated towards Gold medalist swimmer Amy Van Dyken. When Shanell is not working she enjoys spending time with her husband and 3 year-old son.

Jim comes to the JCC after having served the Steamboat Springs tennis community for twenty five years as the co-director, along with his wife Stacy, of the Tennis Center at Steamboat. The Tennis Center at Steamboat is an award winning facility having been honored as the Colorado, Intermountain, and National USTA Facility of the Year in 2011. The business was honored twice by the Colorado Tennis Association as the “Organization of the Year.” Jim has been recognized at the USPTA Professional of the Year by both the Texas and Intermountain Divisions, was ranked #1 in Men’s 45, 50, 55 and 60 singles and doubles in the USTA Intermountain Division over 15 times. He has been recognized as the USPTA Manager of the Year as well as Senior Player of the Year.

Stacy comes to the JCC after having served the Steamboat Springs tennis community for twenty five years as Vice President and Operations Manager of the award winning Tennis Center at Steamboat.  The Tennis Center at Steamboat was honored as the Colorado, Intermountain, and National USTA Facility of the Year in 2011, twice honored by the Colorado Tennis Association as the “Organization of the Year.”  Stacy is the current USTA National Indoor Champion in both Women’s 40 and over and Women’s 50 and Over Doubles.  She and husband, Jim, won Silver Balls (2^nd place) in the recent USTA National Grass Court Husband-Wife Doubles held in Palm Springs.  The Swiggart’s have also been honored as the Colorado Tennis Association’s Family of the Year.  Stacy played on the four time Big 8 Champion Oklahoma State University tennis team, has been ranked #1 in Women’s Open in Nebraska and Texas.  She served the Steamboat center as director of operations, leagues, and merchandising for twenty five years.  Stacy and Jim have two children, Kylee, a Colorado State Doubles Tennis Champion, who works in Denver for E & J Gallo Company.  Their son just completed his collegiate tennis career playing for Pac 12 University of Utah.

Marshall Carpenter, a 22 year Elite USPTA professional, brings a well rounded tennis background to the JCC Tennis community demonstrating a career long passion for youth and adult tennis development, a life-long passion for tennis competition and a dedication to tennis administration. As a coach for both Team Colorado and varsity girl’s tennis at D’Evelyn High School, Marshall was named Jefferson County’s “Coach on the Year” in 2016. As Director of Tennis at Bow Mar Tennis, Marshall boosted both junior and adult tennis programming through a variety of leagues, lessons, tournaments, drills, and mixers, always assessing to meet the dynamic needs of every tennis player. Marshall and wife Lindsey also keep busy raising two beautiful toddlers.

Deb’s involvement in tennis is following a career in higher education which includes Masters degrees in both Communication and Higher Education. Deb’s educational background included a thesis on the importance of sports involvement for women.  This background coupled with her passion for tennis and the JCC community makes her a powerful asset for the reinvigoration of the JCC tennis community. Deb is a Professional Tennis Registry certified professional. She frequently competes in 4.5 tennis leagues and tournaments – which is where she and Jim Swiggart became acquainted. While not playing tennis, coaching, or administrating at the front desk, you will find Deb sprinting for frisbees and soccer balls, jumping for volleyballs, mountain biking, traveling for family and exploration, or just enjoying mountain time.

Jen joined the JCC team in 2017 as the Controller. Jen is a Colorado native and graduated from Colorado State University with a BA in Accounting and is a licensed CPA. Prior to joining the JCC, Jen spent over a decade in public accounting performing not-for-profit financial statement audits. in Outside of work, Jen enjoys spending time with family, including playing golf with her husband and watching her son play soccer.

Adam joined the J back in 2015, in charge of heading up the Marketing Department. Prior to the J, Adam owned his own digital marketing agency working with small business around the country. Adam spent the first decade of his career working for advertising agencies around the Denver/Boulder area, working on clients such as Audi, Oakley and Revo sunglasses. We are excited to have Adam help take the J into this next chapter!

Jackee has been at the J since 2011 and joined the Marketing Team in 2012. She enjoys marketing because it challenges her every day to stay innovative and adaptive. Jackee loves working alongside her team members to bring fun, new, and captivating material to the J community. In her spare time, she enjoys hanging out with her friends, spending time at the lake, and volunteering part-time as an EMT in Golden, Colorado.

Steve Wilson (Executive Artistic Director, MACC) holds an MFA degree from the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver and a BFA degree from the University of Southern California.  He has been administrating, directing, teaching and performing in Denver for the last 30 years. For the last 23 years he has worked for the MACC (Executive Artistic Director 13 yrs; Artistic Director, Theatre Dept. 10 yrs) where he founded the Wolf Theatre Academy and Denver Children’s Theatre.  An experienced theatre director, he has won numerous awards including four Henry Awards (Colorado’s Tony Award) for “Best Direction of a Musical” as well as the 2014 True West award for “Theatre Person of the Year”.  In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Colorado Theatre Guild (since 1997; former 6 term President), the Scientific and Cultural Collaborative (a collective of all SCFD Tier I and Tier II organizations; current 6th term co-chair) and Citizens for Arts to Zoo (CATZ).  He is married to Denver Center Theatre Company actress Leslie O’Carroll and is a proud dad of their talented daughter Olivia – a student at the Denver School of the Arts.

Emily MacIntyre holds a BA degree in theatre from California Lutheran University. She spent her childhood and young adult years acting in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.  While working on her degree she spent three years as a union stage-manager with Kingsmen Shakespeare Company in Thousand Oaks, CA.  During her five years in Southern California, she directed/designed children’s pageants for local churches, worked crew for youth theatre, taught Shakespeare camps, and acted in childrens’ theatre. Emily moved to Denver in June of ’03, where she has been privileged to work with the children and staff of the Wolf Theatre Academy, stage-managing/producing over 60 mainstage productions and 13 Denver Children’s Theatre productions.  Emily is also a Guest Artist for the Technical theatre department at DSA, teaching and mentoring stage management students.

Amy is a recent East Coast transplant, originally from South Florida, who made her way to Denver via New York City. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from NYU’s College of Arts and Science in 2014 with a degree in Dramatic Literature and Cinema. She has since worked and reviewed content for various independent film festivals including Rooftop Films in Brooklyn, the Hamptons International Film Festival, Barnard College’s Athena Film Festival, and SeriesFest here in Denver. She serves on the Denver Board for JWI’s Young Women’s Leadership Network.

Kellie grew up in Colorado Springs and has her BA in Theatre from the University of Northern Colorado.  She has lived in Maine, working at Maine State Music Theatre and Kentucky, working at Lexington Children’s Theatre.  Kellie also has a passion for visual arts and is currently pursuing her Masters in Illustration.  She has worked at the MACC for the last four years.   

With more than thirty years of progressive experience in the theatre education field, David’s professional history includes twenty-five years as a theatre teacher at The Logan School for Creative Learning as well as over thirty-three years as a freelance director, producer, writer and actor throughout the greater Denver area.

During his years as a theatre instructor, designing and building sets, props, sound design, stage makeup, and costume design, David has also been active in the local theatre community. As a director, actor, and playwright he has been seen onstage and directed numerous productions at The Arvada Center, including A Year With Frog and Toad, Junie B Jones, How I Became A Pirate, To Kill A Mockingbird, Arsenic and Old Lace, and On Golden Pond, the Aurora Fox, Littleton Town Hall, the Denver Civic Theatre, and many other theatres. He has directed several regional premieres including God’s Country, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Private Eyes, Bunnicula, and Dracula. For twenty years David and his wife, Julie, were the owners and operators of The Original Dickens Carolers, Denver’s premier Victorian caroling company. They have also managed and performed in the Victorian Horrors for the Molly Brown House for the last 25 years.

Dan is originally from Southern California where he started his career as Stage Manager and Company Manager for Los Angeles Ballet. He moved with his wife to Denver in 2013 and served as Producer and Company Manager for Vintage Theatre (Aurora) for two years before joining the MACC team. Dan freelance stage manages on occasion in the Denver Metro area in addition to all the programs and festivals produced here at the MACC.

Miriam Brizendine has worked at the JCC since 2005 in a variety of positions. Since 2015 her work has focused on the IT and database side of things. Her favorite part of the job is the ability to support the variety of amazing departments and programs offered at the JCC. When she is not at work, you can usually find her enjoying the great outdoors of Colorado.

Debbie was born and raised in Denver and at the Denver JCC, and recently returned home after living in the Midwest for many years. Debbie is thrilled to be back in Denver and at the JCC. She has served in a variety of positions in the field of Jewish education for close to forty years. Debbie did her undergraduate degree at UC Boulder that included a year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She holds Masters degrees from the Harvard Divinity School and Spertus College of Judaica. 

Debbie has a Master’s in Counseling Psychology and a JD, and a decade of experience at Denver nonprofits working with older adults and intergenerational programs. Most recently, she managed intergenerational enrichment programs in Denver Public Schools and collaborated with the Denver Office on Aging to develop the strategic plan for improved older adult services for the next decade.  Her passion is serving older adults and connecting generations to promote better understanding and respect. She joined the JCC to develop an intergenerational program and outreach older adults.

Scott has been in the security industry for the past 12 years beginning with Colorado Department of Corrections supervising felony-convicted inmates, as well as armored security and undercover loss prevention. He has certifications and training for pistol, rifle & shotgun, Incident Response/Prevention of Terrorist-Suicide Bombings, Red Cross Disaster Preparedness, the C.E.L.L.’s Community Awareness Program, FEMA’s Active Shooter, Dr. Nicoletti’s Workplace Violence, Personal Protection Specialist and has provided protection for two Denver Broncos: Shane Ray and John Elway. Scott is also a member of the City of Aurora Community Emergency Response Team.