FORWARD STEPS - Key Persons
Ashley Flynn is a Scholar Mentor with Forward Steps and Career Coach and Program Lead for Realizing Aptitudes. Forward Steps is a non-profit that provides career guidance to adolescents and young adults. Through one-on-one coaching and workshop facilitation, Ashley empowers students to uncover their strengths, interests, and values.
Job Titles:
- President, and CEO of Delta Developmental
Stuart Lord, the President, and CEO of Delta Developmental, organizational solutions for leadership development. He is well versed in higher education administration and leadership, organization development, institutional diversity and inclusion, and business operations. He brings over 25 years of senior executive leadership in strategic planning, leadership development, and executive coaching.
Having grown up in the Boulder County Foster Care Program, Eric has a unique understanding of foster care. He understands the needs and challenges children face when raised in the Social Services system. It has been an honor to be part of an organization looking to change the lives of children.
Eric lives in Erie, Colorado. He married his high school sweetheart in 1999, and they have three beautiful children, Madyson, Mariah, and Mason. When away from his Wealth Management Firm, Eric enjoys travel and exercise. Above all else, Eric enjoys spending time with his friends and family.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Vice President of the Liberty Foundation of America
Janel is currently Vice President of the Liberty Foundation of America and is a respected national political and policy-oriented fundraiser. Additionally, She has led finance efforts for more than a half-dozen United States Senate campaigns. Janel has worked on education and policy-oriented fundraising projects in Colorado and around the country. Some of her clients have included U.S. Senators John Thune, George Allen, Wayne Allard and Congressman Bob Schaffer. Janel, additionally, has past clients that include the Denver Public Schools Foundation, and the Liberty Foundation. Before transitioning to the private sector, Janel worked as an aide to U.S. Senator Don Nickles in Washington, D.C.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Secretary
- Member of the Forward Steps Advisory Board
Jeff Mendel has been a member of the Forward Steps Advisory Board since its inception in 2008. Jeff's experiences in many aspects of small business, entrepreneurship, non-profit and social services suit him well for the Board. Jeff is a veteran of 30 years in the craft brewing industry. 20 years were spent as a partner and director at Left Hand Brewing Co. He previously participated as co-founder of Tabernash Brewing Co., Indian Peaks Distributing Co. and the Colorado Brewers Guild. In addition, Jeff worked six years at the non-profit Association of Brewers. He served three years on the non-profit Boulder County Head Start Pre-School Policy Council. Most importantly, he took two years to be a stay-at-home foster father.
Currently, Jeff lives in Boulder with his wife, Daphne, and their two dogs (rescues, of course). He serves as a consultant in the craft beer industry.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, Corporate Citizenship & Social Responsibility - Executive Director, Internal Communications / Disney
David received a juris doctorate from the UCLA School of Law. He also has a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, VA.
Job Titles:
- Program Manager
- Servant Leader
Lauren Sosa, MNM, is the Guardian Scholars Program Manager at Forward Steps. In this role Lauren serves as the Program Manager responsible for coordinating scholarship funds, administration needs, recruitment, operations, and network community building. Equally important, Lauren serves as a professional mentor to our Guardian Scholars, helping scholars with resource navigation and wrap-around support as scholars enroll, pursue, and complete their post-secondary educations.
Lauren is a nonprofit Servant Leader, she is the product of a values-driven, Jesuit education formed in Denver, Colorado. Lauren holds a Master's degree in Nonprofit Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications, from Regis University. Lauren has a strong commitment to direct service work and has dedicated her career to the nonprofit sector in Colorado. Prior to her role at Forward Steps, Lauren dedicated her passions and professional skill-set towards college access equity work for first-generation students, as a former Senior College Admissions Counselor and Assistant Director of College Counseling & Alumni Support. Most recently Lauren worked in nonprofit administration for a Denver-based social enterprise mission initiative focused on young-adult workforce development. As a Colorado Native, Lauren enjoys camping in the mountains, traveling, reading, and cooking new recipes with her family during her off-time.
Paula joined Forward Steps in December as a Career Pathways Coach for the Realizing Aptitudes program. With a background in Secondary Education, Paula's passion for supporting youth and people with barriers led her to expanding her skill set to work in human services.
She is coming to Forward Steps from an overnight Denver shelter for women and transgendered people, where she worked as a Lead Shelter Assistant providing support and resources to guests with a trauma-informed approach. Prior to her career shift, Paula was a Literature and Language Arts teacher for middle and high school in Denver, Taiwan, and Sierra Leone. When not working, Paula spends her time reading, traveling with friends and family, and practicing roller skating.
Job Titles:
- Forward Steps' Founding Board Member
Forward Steps' founding board member, R. Milton Huffaker passed away in June 2019. This profound loss leaves us heartbroken but, also, more committed than ever to ensuring that his legacy lives on through the many seeds he planted throughout his life. Milton was a remarkable person who led a life devoted to adding value to the people, industries and communities that he touched.
Born in Southeast Kentucky, the 8th of 12 children, Milton was an avid reader in a family that valued education. He was an early coherent laser pioneer and following his post-graduate education began a 15-year career where he initiated and directed a number of important developments related to laser radar that eventually led to the sale of his company, Coherent Technologies, in 2005. His passion for people and interest in helping those in need led to the formation of Forward Steps in 2006 with the vision of providing access to education in order to enable independence for former foster youth
He was dedicated to, and masterful at, identifying potential in others and investing all that he could to ensure that this potential was realized. That philosophy embodies the spirit of Forward Steps which seeks to identify, inspire and nurture the potential that all youth coming out of foster care have and, without Milton's generosity and vision would be lost. His spirit will be there with each Forward Steps scholar who registers for classes, completes a semester and earns a degree.
Rob has spent the majority of his career influencing communities by serving in senior executive roles. These roles have helped build bridges between companies and their markets. Rob focuses on strategic positioning, effective communication and leadership through transition. This has resulted in a number of successful mergers and acquisitions and enriched opportunities for those involved.
Shantel possesses a broad finance and accounting background within a variety of industries. Her specific experience involves mergers, acquisitions, and financial planning and analysis. She earned her bachelor's degree in Accounting and Finance from Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Shantel received her CPA license from the State of Illinois. Before moving to Colorado, Shantel spent several years in Chicago, IL. She was involved in mentoring at-risk youth in Chicago's south side neighborhood and volunteering with programs that support low-income families.
Shantel now lives in Boulder, CO with her dog, Lenny and enjoys camping, hiking and being outdoors.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Treasurer
A recent transplant from New Jersey, Stefan and his wife, Ellen Morris, now reside in Boulder. Prior to their relocation Stefan served as Managing Director/Regional Head of Market Risk at Rabobank in New York. He has spent 27 years working at various financial institutions. The varying roles include diverse aspects of quantitative modeling, risk management, regulatory compliance, and structured products. Stefan's previous roles include positions at Deutsche Bank, ABN-AmRo, Cantor Fitzgerald, HSBC, and Republic National Bank of New York. Prior to moving into the financial sector, he worked as a geophysicist in energy/mineral exploration and development. This work included five years in Germany, Iceland, and the United States.