DURANGO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Investment Advisory Committee
- Academic & Student Affairs
- Foundation Board Representative
Christopher Adam Red is from Ignacio, Colorado, and is an enrolled member of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and former Tribal council member. Prior to serving as council member, Adam worked for the Tribe in various capacities with the Southern Ute Permanent Fund and the Southern Ute Growth Fund. While at the Tribe's Permanent Fund, he was employed with the Southern Ute Division of Wildlife, as well as the Southern Ute Tribal Rangers.
Job Titles:
- Director of Strategic Initiatives
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- Financial Economics and Data Analysis
Job Titles:
- Wellness Director, Open Sky Wilderness Therapy
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, Music in the Mountains
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- Director, Marketing & Communications
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- Acquisitions Assistant, Library Technician II
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- Forensic Nurse Coordinator, Mercy Regional Health Center
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- President, ASFLC
- Student Representative
Job Titles:
- Reference / ILL Library Technician III / 970 - 247 - 7266
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Governance Committee
- Vice Chair
President Tom Stritikus is eager to hear your ideas, concerns, and questions. Contact Tom directly at president@fortlewis.edu or contact his staff for an appointment using the information below.
Job Titles:
- President, Faculty Senate
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- Director, Human Resources
Job Titles:
- Member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
Ernest is an enrolled member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and has sat on various local, state, and federal boards and committees regarding Native American issues. He previously held the position of Executive Secretary under Governor Bill Owens and Governor Bill Ritter from 2005-2010. Ernest is a 2012 American Marshall Memorial Fellow and currently serves on Governor Hickenlooper's Education Leadership Council, the Colorado Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Council, and the Colorado Indian Education Foundation. He holds a rich tradition in his position as son of the late Ernest House, Sr., a long time tribal leader for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and great-grandson of Chief Jack House, the last hereditary chief of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
Job Titles:
- Director, Durango Iron Horse Bicycle Classic
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- Vice President, Diversity Affairs
Job Titles:
- Evening Circulation Supervisor, Library Technician II
Job Titles:
- Customer Success, StoneAge
Job Titles:
- Access Services Coordinator
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- Dean, School of Education
Job Titles:
- Dean, Enrollment Management
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of the Governance Committee
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, San Juan Basin Public Health
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- Provost & Vice President, Academic Affairs
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of the Governance Committee
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, Mountain Studies Institute
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- Vice President, Advancement & CEO, Fort Lewis College Foundation
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Secretary
- Treasurer
Meredith Mapel has been president and CEO of Durango Coca-Cola for five years. The third generation, family-owned business has been operated by her family for over 80 years. Meredith returned home to Durango to join the family business in 1999 and started her career building business partnerships with local and regional customers. Over the past 20 years, she has served in various roles for the company and was appointed President in 2016.
Collaboration is an important focus for Meredith in the local business community as well as the Coca-Cola system. She has represented the smaller, independent Coca-Cola ownerships of the United States and currently serves as the Treasurer for the Coca-Cola Bottler's Association representing all 67 ownerships in the U.S.
Meredith has participated on many other local boards including First National Bank, Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, Adaptive Sports, San Juan Symphony, and the Colorado Beverage Association. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Scripps College. Her passions are her family, community, the arts, education, outdoor activities, and travel. She is married to Jimmy Kight and they enjoy spending time together in the outdoors.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, La Plata County Economic Development Alliance
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- Media Relations Strategist, Marketing & Communications
Job Titles:
- Cellular and Molecular Biology
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- Associate Professor of Political Science, Host Policy Leaders for a Speaker Series, Exposing Students to Many Paths and Words of Wisdom
Job Titles:
- Member of the Investment Advisory Committee
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of the Governance Committee
- Member of the Investment Advisory Committee
- Campaign Manager for U.S
Richard Kaufman resides in Centennial, Colorado. In 2020, he established his own law firm Richard C. Kaufman PC, Inc. He earned his bachelor's degree from Indiana State University and a J.D. from Emory University.
Richard's previous experience includes serving as a trial attorney for nine years with the U.S. Attorneys' Office in Denver. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he specialized in employment discrimination claims litigating over one hundred cases and tort claims brought against the United States government, including medical malpractice and catastrophic injury claims.
Before joining the Department of Justice, he served seven years as Deputy Attorney General of the State of Colorado where he held various assignments including Chief of the Enforcement Division responsible for litigating securities, tax, Medicaid and consumer fraud cases on behalf of the State of Colorado. In addition, he was the liaison for the Attorney General to both the Governor and the Colorado General Assembly including legal analysis of all enrolled bills sent to the Governor and presenting the Attorney General legislative agenda to the General Assembly through testimony before legislative committees.
His legislative experience also includes overseeing the legislative and regulatory agenda for Texaco, USA before the state legislatures and regulatory agencies in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.
Richard was previously appointed by Governor Bill Ritter Jr. to serve on the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. The 11-member commission sets policies for all state-supported public institutions of higher education.
Richard was appointed campaign manager for U.S. Representative Hank Brown (R- Colo.) when Brown first ran for Congress in 1980. After Brown's victory, he served as a Legislative Assistant to Congressman Brown in Washington, DC and was responsible for tax, budget, transportation and social security issues including service on a House staff group specifically assigned the task of promoting President Reagan's 1981 tax cut.
Richard is a veteran of the United States Air Force.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Associate Vice President of Finance and Administration
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- Pediatrician, Southern Ute Health Center
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- Dean, School of Arts & Sciences
Stacey DeFore serves in the role of Stakeholder Engagement & Government Relations for Lockheed Martin Space. She aligns customer and stakeholder engagement to strategic planning for growth in existing, and emerging markets within commercial civil space with their NASA, NOAA, DoD, and DoE customers.
Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, Ms. DeFore served as Director Strategy & Business Development for Teledyne Brown Engineering Space Systems Segment. In this role, she was responsible for shaping strategic opportunities for segment growth & sustainment on programs of record with goals & objectives for both human & robotic missions.
Prior, Ms. DeFore held the role of Director Government Relations & Strategic Engagement at Metropolitan State University of Denver. In that role, she had responsibility of the development and execution of university stakeholder mapping, special projects, initiatives and outreach aligning with the university's strategic roadmap. Her focus was on partnership development with an emphasis on industry workforce pipeline curriculum and capital campaigns for the Advanced Manufacturing Sciences
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant III
Job Titles:
- Assistant Budget Director
Job Titles:
- Dean, School of Business Administration
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Finance & Administration
Job Titles:
- Library Director, Technical Services and Open Education Librarian
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the President
- Deputy Secretary to the Board
- Deputy Secretary to the Board of Trustees