DMNS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Marketing & Communications
Amanda Bennett is the vice president of marketing & communications and has served in many leadership roles within the marketing division since 2004. Most recently as Director of Marketing and Communications, she has led and executed strategic marketing and communications plans designed to increase regional awareness and positive recognition of the Museum as a trusted partner for community knowledge and collaboration. Amanda has aided in the development, oversight, and implementation of award-winning marketing efforts of touring exhibitions, documentary films, planetarium shows, strategic projects, as well as building strategies for overall brand development and awareness.
Amanda is tasked with strengthening public support for the Museum and personally championing the Museum's collaborative efforts to help connect people of all ages to the world of nature and science. She actively participates in program selection as chief marketing representative and visitor advocate. Amanda is an experienced strategist and creative brand builder, providing a wealth of knowledge from experiences in the non-profit and corporate sectors.
Before Amanda joined the Museum, she was an account supervisor at a branding and advertising agency, where the Museum was her client for four years. Prior to her agency experience, she led the marketing and branding efforts for a sports management firm. She received her B.S. in Marketing Communications at Colorado State University. She also studied International Marketing Communications in Florence, Italy. Amanda serves as on many advisory committees within the Giant Screen documentary industry, as well as within the local experience economy start-up community such as Farm-to-Spaceship, Oh Heck Yeah, and others.
Amanda is a native from Colorado Springs and enjoys traveling and spending time with her daughter, family, and friends.
Job Titles:
- Anthropology Collections Assistant
- Archaeologist
Amy Gillaspie is an archaeologist with experience in Colorado, North Dakota, Belize, and France. For her Master's Thesis research, she analyzed a collection of Classic Maya figurines and musical instruments that were ritually included as offerings in terminal deposits in households and at the elite center of Baking Pot, Belize. This research prompted an interest in working to better understand human behavior and adaptations during times of social change and political upheaval. Recently, Amy has excavated with the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands in northern France, working to recover a US soldier lost in combat during World War II. Additionally, Amy has assisted in leading excavations at historic Denver sites, including the Wotton Site on Auraria Campus in Downtown Denver, and more recently at the historic Astor House in Golden, Colorado. At Denver Museum of Nature & Science, her work focuses on the Jones-Miller collection, excavated by the Smithsonian in the 1970s.
Job Titles:
- Controller
- Vice President of Finance
- Vice President of Finance & Revenue
Ash Bassim is vice president of finance and revenue. Her primary areas of responsibility include providing leadership and strategy to the finance, retail, and food services teams to ensure the Museum's impeccable financial integrity while targeting revenue growth to support operations and strategic plans. Prior to joining DMNS in 2012, Bassim held financial leadership roles of increasing responsibility in a wide variety of industries including banking, logistics, and entertainment.
In her time at the Museum, Bassim has had the pleasure of leading all of the important financial areas like reporting, budgeting, audit and tax compliance, and cash flow operations - but more than anything she has enjoyed helping her colleagues recognize the finance team as a partner to help them achieve and celebrate all of our shared aspirations.
Bassim is passionate about leveraging her financial skill set to support non-profits that improve and uplift the community. She currently serves as chair on the Arapahoe County Cultural Council, board member for the Two Ponds Preservation Foundation and board treasurer for the WINGS Foundation.
Bassim is proud to be a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants. She holds a B.S. in Accounting from Regis University and earned an M.S. in Accounting from the University of Colorado. She grew up visiting DMNS on field trips as a little girl and currently lives in Aurora. She enjoys spending as much time as possible with her close group of friends and trying her best to train her two adorable and outrageously naughty terrier pups.
Job Titles:
- Head Conservator
- Trustee of the College of the Atlantic
Expertise
Art conservator specializing in objects
Casey Mallinckrodt is an objects conservator with experience working on a wide range of materials from contemporary chocolate sculpture to Ancient Egyptian painted coffins. Her greatest interest though, is with collections of material culture and using community collaboration, technical analysis, and cross disciplinary research to deepen the understanding of these objects and to guide thoughtful stewardship. Casey has been privileged to work on collections of Native American material culture and the arts of Central and West Africa, and South Africa. She is excited to work with DMNS museum colleagues across divisions and with the larger community, and to develop learning opportunities for people entering the discipline.
Casey received a master's degree in conservation from the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials, and an MFA is sculpture from the Yale School of Art. Before joining DMNS Casey was the first objects conservator in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art's 180-year history and prior to that was part of a conservation-curatorial team at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts carrying out the technical analysis, study, and conservation of historic arts of Africa.
Casey is a trustee of the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Development
Christina Fritts is the vice president of development at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. She oversees philanthropy, membership, community research, and audience analytics to further the Museum's mission to "Be a catalyst! Ignite our community's passion for nature and science". Christina joined the Museum in 2022 as Director of Membership & Insights, where she led the team in rebuilding our membership after the pandemic to 50,000 member households.
Prior to joining the Museum, Christina was the first Director of Customer Insights at Evolve Vacation Rental in Denver, Colorado, where she established its first insights team overseeing its voice of the customer program and related projects. She has 20 years of experience across finance, consulting, marketing and sales in various industries and around the globe. She is passionate about leading engaged, high-performing teams with a focus on developing future leaders.
Christina enjoyed visits to the Museum growing up and now has the pleasure of continuing to enjoy the Museum's permanent and traveling exhibits, films, and programming with her husband and son.
Christina graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder with a focus on Economics and Political Science. She received her M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Job Titles:
- Acting Curator of Anthropology
- Curator of Anthropology, Discusses the Good, the Bad, and the Weird of Stonehenge
Expertise
Southwestern archaeology, museum archives
Education
PhD, University of Colorado Boulder
Erin Baxter has worked in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Turkey, Bolivia, Ireland, and Tunisia, but has returned (quite happily) to Denver and the American Southwest where guinea pig and cat are not on the menu. She's super interested in using old museum collections (museums have the best stuff) to answer questions about the ancient past. In her other life, she is an instructor of archaeology at CU-Boulder and teaches courses on Southwestern archaeology, method and theory, human prehistory and her personal favorite, the archaeology of death. Currently she's working on projects related to cannibalism, ancient witchcraft, the superlative architecture from Aztec Ruins, the Toriette Lakes Great Kiva, Magic Mountain, and W.S. Ranch.
Dr. Erin Baxter, Curator of Anthropology, discusses the good, the bad, and the weird of Stonehenge.
On this episode of Science Division Live, learn about the mysteries of Stonehenge with Acting Curator of Anthropology, Dr. Erin Baxter, and special guest archaeologist, writer, editor and photographer, Mike Pitts. After centuries of speculation, we are finally forming an understanding of Stonehenge thanks to archaeological excavations and advances in scientific techniques.
Job Titles:
- Associate Curator of Archaeology
Expertise
Andean, Southwest, and public archaeology
Education
PhD, Harvard University
Dr. Michele Koons studies ancient complex societies and is especially interested in ancient political dynamics, social networks, and how people of the past interacted with their environment. In her research, Michele uses different geophysical methods and traditional archaeological techniques, such as excavation and pedestrian survey. She also specializes in ceramic analysis and radiocarbon dating. Michele has conducted archaeological research throughout the United States, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and China. Michele grew up outside of Philadelphia and attended the University of Pittsburgh for her BA. After interning at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, she moved to Colorado and worked at the Museo de las Americas in Denver and in cultural resource management in Wyoming. Michele then attended the University of Denver for her MA degree, where she explored the site of Tiwanaku in Bolivia. Michele went on to Harvard University for her PhD and pursued research on the Moche archaeological culture of Peru. While at Harvard, Michele worked at the Peabody Museum and volunteered at the Boston Museum of Science. After defending, she took a postdoctoral position at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and was hired as curator a year later. Michele currently conducts research in the American Southwest, on Colorado's Front Range, and in Peru. She curates the Museum's archaeological collections from Latin American, North America, and Egypt.
Dr. Michele Koons! Dr. Koons is a Curator of Archaeology, and specializes in Andean, Southwest, and public archaeology. She has conducted archaeological research throughout the United States, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and China. She's also going to France soon for a project! Get to know Dr. Koons by watching this video, and be sure to follow her on Instragram at @dr.michele.koons for more on her latest work.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President of Operations
- Finance
Ed Scholz is executive vice president of operations & finance and is responsible for all traditional administrative functions as well as guest, volunteer, and retail food operations. He previously served for over a decade in various financial roles for the City and County of Denver, including as the budget director, deputy CFO, and CFO. As budget director, he oversaw a $2 billion citywide budget focused on long-term fiscal and capital improvement planning and performance management.
Scholz's studies of music and finance led him to master's in nonprofit management from Binghamton University in New York and a career that began in development for public broadcasting. He has taught local and national courses on performance management and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School's Senior Executives in State and Local Government program. He is currently on the board of the Public Education & Business Coalition and is a member of the Audit Committee for the City and County of Denver. Scholz has also served on the board of the Center on Colfax and several task forces in the metro-area, including the City of Denver Structural Financial Task Force, the Arvada Center Governance Task Force, and the National Western Center Task Force.
Job Titles:
- Collections Assistant - WS Ranch Archaeological Project
Expertise
Collections care, archaeology, 3D scanning in museums
Education
MS, University of Colorado, Boulder
Elizabeth joined the Museum in her current role as collections assistant for the WS Ranch Archaeological Project in July of 2022. She has worked in a wide variety of museum collections and archives for 4 years, including as the Robert L. Akerley Anthropology intern at DMNS in the summer of 2021. Elizabeth manages the WS Ranch Archaeological Project, ensuring the WS Ranch collection is housed and cataloged properly.
Elizabeth earned Bachelor's degrees in Anthropology and Classical Studies from Purdue University, and found her passion for archaeology and museum collections during her studies. She then earned her Master's degree in Museum Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder. In addition to the care of physical objects in museum collections, Elizabeth's research interests lie in the creation of 3D scans of museum objects and maintaining those digital assets into the future.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Collections Manager of Anthropology
Erika is a recent transplant from the Sonoran Desert to the Denver Region. She has worked in the museum field since 2009, with her first position of 8.5 years working at the Arizona State Museum in the archaeological repository. She has participated in field work as an archaeologist in Arizona and New Mexico, but was able to dabble and volunteer for the Magic Mountain and Torriette Great Kiva projects DMNS conducted in 2018. She specializes in a very niche corner of anthropology and studies prehistoric shell trade and manufacture in the southwest. She is currently exploring ways to incorporate Indigenous perspectives into collections care within the Anthropology department.
George Sparks has been the president & CEO of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science since November 2004. He spent 24 years in the electronics measurement business at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. His career included marketing, sales, and general management of global businesses in software, systems, and services.
Prior to joining Hewlett-Packard, Sparks spent nine years in the Air Force as a pilot and as an assistant professor of aeronautics at the United States Air Force Academy (1976-1978). He is a distinguished graduate of the USAF Academy with a bachelor's in aeronautical engineering, and holds a master's in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sparks' passion is public policy, particularly around science and education. He is a member of the Colorado Forum, Colorado Concern, and is on the boards of Colorado Education Initiative, Colorado Music Hall of Fame, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, and the Denver School of Science & Technology.
George is the founder of the Institute for Science & Policy, a program of the Museum.
He loves his wife and all of his children.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President
- Senior Vice President of Science & Chief Curator
John R. Demboski is senior vice president of science & chief curator at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. John is an accomplished zoologist and Museum leader who brings more 30 years of museum experience to the position. He is responsible for providing vision and leadership to ensure quality scientific research, appropriate collections stewardship, engaging educational programming and exhibition content, as well as managing a productive team of scientists and collections staff. He will play a critical role in shaping the Museum's strategic vision for science. During his tenure at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, he has expanded accessibility to collections and increased their overall use. He has served in many different roles that have included multiple initiatives and other large pan-Museum projects related to infrastructure, education, exhibits, and scientific research and collections. In addition, he has served in external leadership roles and on boards in the broader museum collections community.
Educated at Purdue University, his passion for museums was sparked during a volunteer opportunity at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, which resulted in a long-term fieldwork experience in the Philippines. This led him to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for his PhD and where he had the opportunity to gain extensive experience in the university's research collections. After postdoctoral positions at the University of Idaho and Louisiana State University, John joined California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, in 2002, as an assistant professor of biology. In 2006, he landed at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science where he served as curator of mammals and director of zoology & health sciences.
John's scientific research has focused on western North American mammals, where he studies the processes that contribute to the diversity of species. His work combines fieldwork and molecular methodology to address fundamental questions about the evolution and distribution of species. He has conducted fieldwork across the western United States, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Mongolia, Paraguay, Philippines, and Russia.
John has lived all over the United States and is now proud to have established long-term roots in Colorado after calling so many places home. Live music, fly fishing, wildlife, road trips, the mountains, and time with family are his passions.
Job Titles:
- Anthropology Collections Assistant
Expertise
Indigenous collections care, Southwest/California/Great Basin basketry
Education
BFA Museum Studies, Institute of American Indian Arts
Johnny Gordon is originally from the California Mojave Desert and a proud member of the Chemehuevi Band of Southern Paiute (Nuwu/Nuwuvi). He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Museum Studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe in 2022 and was hired on to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to reorganize and rehouse the Dent and Folsom archeological collections.
His experience in the collections at Lake Havasu Museum of History and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture has allowed him to refine his expertise in indigenous collections care management. Johnny aspires to foster co-stewardship collaborations through inclusion with tribal nations represented in DMNS' Anthropology Collections, museum professionals, and the greater public. In particular he strives to evince knowledge pertaining to basketry originating from California, Southwest, and Great Basin tribes.
Katy Kaspari joined the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in 2023 as a conservator on the IMLS grant funded project, Northwest Coast Collection: Building Bridges and Detailed Conservation Survey. Prior to joining DMNS, Katy worked at the Field Museum, the Natural History Museum in London, the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London, and most recently, in a private practice conservation studio serving Chicago and the greater Midwest. She received her MA and MSc in objects conservation from University College London, undertaking research into decolonization of museums and the use of emerging technologies to digitally restore damaged taxidermy specimens of extinct and endangered species for each of her degrees.
Katy is interested in the conservation of organic materials, and in particular natural history collections. Her primary research interests lie in participatory engagement, collaboration with indigenous people to conserve cultural heritage in culturally appropriate ways, people-centered approaches to conservation, environmental sustainability, and the adoption of emerging technologies in conservation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Avenir Conservation Center
- Project Director for an IMLS
Megan is a member of the Avenir Conservation Center team working on a variety of projects. Megan is the Project Director for an IMLS grant-funded project entitled Northwest Coast Collection: Building Bridges and Detailed Conservation Survey. This project involves collaborating with originating and descendant Pacific Northwest communities to complete a condition survey. Megan also participates in conservation activities required for temporary and permanent exhibitions at the Museum. Some of Megan's research interests include analytical imaging techniques and implementing feedback from Indigenous communities in conservation practice.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President of Experiences & Partnerships
Nancy Walsh is the executive vice president of experiences & partnerships at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. She works with a talented team and our community to create the vision, creative direction, and operation of a diverse array of innovative and engaging exhibitions and programs for all ages-onsite, offsite, and virtually. Walsh also works to nurture local and national partnerships that advance the Museum's strategic plan.
Walsh joined the Museum in 2006 as lead educator on the development team for the "Expedition Health" exhibition. She was a driving force behind the successful opening and reprogramming of the Museum's most recent expansion, the Morgridge Family Exploration Center. Walsh is the vice president lead for the Museum's No Walls Initiative, which has increased both the number and the diversity of people who connect with the Museum around nature and science in ways that are meaningful to them and in places that matter to them. Before her appointment as vice president in 2016, Walsh served as director of museum partnerships and programs.
Walsh is passionate about the vibrancy of local communities and inclusive access to science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. She has been the principal investigator on multiple grants that support innovative programming in this area. She was a mayoral appointee on the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs and as co-chair worked on the city's cultural plan, Imagine 2020. She currently serves on the boards of the Denver Public Schools Scholarship Foundation, the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, the Art Students League of Denver, and CherryArts. Walsh is an alumnus of Leadership Denver. She holds a master's degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Chicago and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Earlham College, where she received a bachelor's in biology.
Job Titles:
- Anthropology Collections Assistant
- Museum As a Collections Assistant
Expertise
Collections care, archaeology, zooarchaeology
Education
M.S., University of Colorado, Boulder
Natalie joined the Museum as a collections assistant for the Jones-Miller archaeological project in July 2022. She has been working with museum collections since 2018 and has worked primarily with Southwest and zooarchaeological collections and archives in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. Natalie jointly manages the Jones-Miller archaeology project with Amy Gillaspie, ensuring this important Colorado collection is housed and cataloged properly.
Natalie received her Bachelor's degree in Anthropology and a minor in Museum Studies from Northern Arizona University and her Master's degree in Museum Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Human Resources
Nicole Lucero-Holub is vice president of human resources and is responsible for leading the HR functions related to strategic planning, talent acquisition, total rewards and HR service delivery. She has over 25 years of experience in public, private and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining the Museum, Lucero-Holub has served as HR Manager for the Office of Human Resources at the City and County of Denver. She spent nearly 16 years in a variety of roles including leadership positions in talent acquisition, workforce planning, and employee engagement and HR data analytics.
Lucero-Holub joined the Museum in 2014 and has driven HR best practices to enhance our workplace culture and to advance the Museum's diversity, equity, access and inclusion work within our policies and practices. She is a co-lead sponsor for the Museum's Employee Engagement Committee and Conversations about Community Committee, and a champion for the museum's Equity initiative team. She also serves as a staff member for the Museum's Compensation Committee to support the Board of Trustees.
Lucero-Holub holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Leeds School of Business and a member of the Forever Buffs Latinx Alumni Association. She is a member of SHRM and World at Work. She is also an active member of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce HR Committee, Colorado Inclusive Economy as an HR Champion and a member Impact Leadership Solution - HR Executive Roundtable. She served as a past member of the Bonfils Stanton - Arts & Culture Equity Leadership Council.
Lucero-Holub is a Denver native. She enjoys music, travel, theatre and spending time with her husband and three sons, along with her extended family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Archaeologist, Columnist
- Senior Curator of Archaeology and Director of Anthropology
Expertise
Southwestern archaeology, tree-ring dating, gem-carving sculptures
Education
PhD, University of Arizona
Dr. Steve Nash is an archaeologist, columnist, historian of science, and stand-up comedian. He is currently studying the Mogollon archaeology of southwestern New Mexico, Indian peace medals in the Museum's Crane Collection, and the enchanting Russian gem carving sculptures of Vasily Konovalenko. He has written and edited seven books and dozens of peer-reviewed articles on subjects ranging from Neanderthal stone tools to tree-ring dates, the history of museums to Southwestern archaeology. He has published nearly 40 Curiosities columns for the SAPIENS online magazine, on topics ranging from ancient Roman hygiene to Leonardo da Vinci, and from the Huey helicopter to the use of GPS systems. He has been at the Museum for 13 years; prior to this he served as head of collections in the Department of Anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago. Eons ago, he served as a tour guide and lecturer at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Learning and Community Experiences
Tina Martinez is the vice president of learning and community experiences at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. She is responsible for the Museums' school and teacher programs, experience development, community engagement and adult and family experiences. She works with teams across the Museum and community members, partners, and educators to co-vision and create meaningful experiences that connect people throughout Colorado with nature and science-at the Museum, virtually, and in their communities. Since joining the Museum in 2016 as Director of Experiences & Partnerships at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS), Tina has led several strategic initiatives designed to reach people in the places where they live, learn and play, including new offsite school programming, the Museum on Wheels: Curiosity Cruiser, Mars Outpost play area at Colorado Mills and DMNS on Demand virtual programming.
For more than twenty years, Tina Martinez has worked and volunteered with organizations that aim to build stronger communities by enabling children and families to thrive. Prior to joining DMNS, Tina was the chief program officer for Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, where she was responsible for operations and programming for more than 10,000 students across seventeen sites and five cities, as well as the development and implementation of strategic growth and impact initiatives. Tina is the chairperson of the board for Scholar's Unlimited and vice-chairperson of the board of Clayton Early Learning. She has also served on the Denver Afterschool Alliance and Smart Girl, Inc. boards and on the National Diversity Committee for Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Tina graduated from the University of Colorado at Denver with a B.A. in communications.
Tina and her husband Jason have two daughters, Santiana and J Senia.