Snowmass Capitol Creek Caucus Officers

Frieda Wallison  - President

John Clark  - Vice President

Seth Sachson  - Secretary

Roger Nicholson  - Treasurer

Board Member Biographies

Chelsea Congdon Brundige

Chelsea Congdon Brundige is writer and producer with First Light Films, an independent film and television company based in Snowmass, Colorado. She also works part-time as a water policy consultant and director of Friends of Rivers and Renewables with the Public Counsel of the Rockies in Aspen, Colorado.

From 1987 to 2000 Chelsea worked as a professional in the field of environmental conservation, with the Natural Heritage Institute in Sausalito, California, and more recently as a water resource specialist with the Environmental Defense Fund in California and Colorado. Her work focused primarily on finding cost-effective, equitable and environmentally sound ways to improve the management of western water resources in the Colorado, Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins and the San Francisco Bay/delta, and the Colorado River delta in Mexico.

Chelsea graduated from Yale University in 1982, magna cum laude. She earned a M.A. from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California in Berkeley in 1989. Chelsea served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Future of Irrigation from 1994 to 1996. She also served on the Advisory Board for the Rocky Mountain Office of the Environmental Defense Fund, the Board of the Aspen Valley Land Trust, the Advisory Board of the Trust for Public Land, and as President of COMPASS, an organization supporting progressive education in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley. She is chair of the water committee of the Snowmass Capitol Creek Caucus.

Chelsea was born and raised in Denver, Colorado and now lives in Old Snowmass, Colorado with her husband James, and two children, Tashi and Miles.

 

Steve Child

Steve has lived and worked on his family's ranch on upper Capitol Creek Road nearly all of the 45 years they have owned it. He currently is the manager of the cattle ranch, as well as serving as a substitute teacher and bus driver for RE-1 Schools. He has served as a member of the current caucus board since 1995, but helped out on special projects such as land use applications, and the Master Plan committee for several previous years. He served on the Snowmass/Capitol Creeks Caucus Board during the 1970's and 80's, and was the Caucus secretary for a few years at that time. He also serves on two other boards - the Wilderness Workshop Board, and the Pitkin County Weed Advisory Board. He also is a volunteer usher at the Wheeler Opera House, and sings baritone with the Aspen Choral Society and the Waldorf Revelers. Steve is a 1966 graduate of Basalt High School, and a 1970 graduate of Stanford University. He has been married to Molly for 29 years, and has 3 children, Nathan, Devon, and Robin.

John Clark

By profession I am a lawyer and have practiced law since graduation from Stanford Law School in 1961. I started practice in New York many years ago and presently am Of-Counsel to a law firm with offices on both coasts. Although the last time I saw it was in April, I do have an office in Los Angeles and continue to practice on a reduced basis. I have always been a trial lawyer and for most of my career have specialized in disputes arising in the construction industry. Along the way I have represented such organizations as the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council in efforts to prevent cutting of virgin redwood forests, prevent diversion of water from the Sacramento River by means of the Peripheral Canal, require release of water to allow water flows in the San Joaquin River, and to enjoin the California Department of Fish & Game from hunting mountain lions for the fun of it. I am very interested in preserving Snowmass Valley very much as it is today and in preventing it from becoming another Red Mountain, tasks which are almost certain to become much more difficult as the value of property here continues to climb.

 Richard Heede

I have lived in Snowmass since 1984, and built a passive solar home in Gateway in 1993. I am 56 years old, an émigré from Norway in 1967, love living and playing in Snowmass, and have an amazing 18 year old daughter in college in Boulder. I work as a consultant in climate change for municipalities, educational institutions, environmental groups, international NGOs, corporations, and foundations. (see www.climatemitigation.com for details.) My candidacy represents promoting the ideas embodied in the Snowmass Capitol Creek Master Plan with particular attention to preserving the rural character of our beautiful valleys and responsible residential development. The Master Plan is clear with respect to a reducing the “visual impacts, energy [and] materials consumption, light pollution, and traffic” from larger homes and encourages the construction of homes under the current 5,750 square foot limitation. In practical terms, I will endeavor to help curb energy use in all future homes brought before the Caucus by holding each proposal to build, expand, or renovate a home to a high standard of non-reliance on fossil fuels in both its construction and operation. I am not a single-issue candidate. Responsible water use, impact of proposed homes on neighbors’ view-planes, exterior lighting, and other elements of home design that exert high costs on the local and broader community will also be strongly encouraged. We are fortunate to live in our twin valleys. I aim to preserve our legacy by fostering responsible development.

Jan Martin

Jan Martin was raised in a suburb of St. Louis. Following graduation from college she moved to Chicago where she spent the majority of her life. Upon completion of her MBA at the University of Chicago, she went into commercial banking with Continental National Bank. After leaving banking she founded a real estate development and management firm where she worked until her retirement four years ago. While in Chicago she served on numerous non-profit boards. As a caucus board member, she is an advocate for transparency in how the business of the caucus is conducted. She has a commitment to citizen involvement, consensus building, and collaborative problem solving. She is pledged to manage growth, protect and enhance our quality of life, and defense of our water resources.

Tim McFlynn

Tim McFlynn has been on the Board for four years, co-chaired the Caucus Master Plan Committee, and coordinates the Smart Water Campaign to protect minimum instream flows in Snowmass Creek. He is a professional mediator with Aspen Dispute Resolution and executive director of Public Counsel of the Rockies. Tim serves as a Trustee of the Pitkin County Open Space and Trails Program, President of the Board of Wilderness Workshop, and on the board of the Manaus Fund, the Western Conservation Foundation, and Tomorrow's Voices.

 

 

Roger Nicholson

I was born in England and was fortunate to be able to come to the U.S. as a tenyear old.  We settled in Southern California and I spent most of the ensuing 60 plus years there.  For the last 39 years I have run three companies that supply services and products to the Film Studios, Broadcast Companies and the Post Production Industry.   We are still actively involved in running two of them.  We have four children and eight grandchildren scattered around the Western U.S.  We owned a citrus grove in Southern California for 23 years as a hobby and became very interested in agriculture and water distribution and management.

About 12 years ago, my wife Bobbie and I decided to build a second home in Colorado for eventual relocation.  After a long and in depth search we chose this valley as our Paradise.  At the end of 2010 we moved permanently to Snowmass Creek and are rapidly assimilating into the healthiest lifestyle we know.  One of the aims of our new lifestyle is to ‘give back’ and, as a result, I volunteered for the SnoCapCaucus Board.  I am interested in maintaining the environmental integrity of the local area.  The rural character is of utmost importance to me and I hope to help guide prudent water use and intelligent development.

Dave Nixa

Dave has been a part-time resident, living in Basalt since 2005.  He and his wife Jill moved permanently to Old Snowmass in January 2011 and reside on Shield O Terrace.  Dave worked in the Property/Casualty and Life & Health Insurance Industries for over 40 years, including co-founding a Group Disability Third Party Administration and Risk Management firm in Connecticut in the mid-90’s.  Since 2005 he has been a Health and Wellness and Strategic Planning Consultant to insurance carriers, service companies and start-up organizations with an emphasis on improving the overall health and wellbeing of individuals through innovative products and services using technology.  Dave has been involved in business and community improvement efforts since the early 80’s, including local Chambers of Commerce in CT and non-partisan community improvement efforts (economic development, education, shared community services) and political action initiatives.  He was instrumental in building  public/private initiatives and legislation to overcome ground water contamination in CT and regionally that focused on small neighborhoods and at  state and regional levels.  This included building coalitions of individual homeowner associations, state agencies, and non-profits, along with businesses to overcome existing contamination and use chemicals, as well as prevention and cooperative remediation efforts.  Dave has served on various boards, commissions and Blue Ribbon panels in CT and is on the board of Directors of eMindful Inc. and RMC, Inc. in Aspen.  He is interested in Water Use and Protection efforts and is on the Snowcap Water committee.

Seth Sachson

I grew up in Dallas, Texas and spent the majority of my vacations skiing with my family in the Aspen area. Upon graduating from the University of Arizona in 1992, I moved to Aspen and became the Director of the Aspen/Pitkin County Animal Shelter. In May of 2009 my dream of living in Snowmass became a reality, and I purchased a home on Snowmass Creek Road. I am living happily with my dogs, horses, chickens and goats. I'm excited to be a member of the Snowmass Capitol Creek Caucus in order to protect our natural environment and foster a strong sense of community in our beautiful neighborhood.

Emily Smith

Emily's first contact with the Aspen/Snowmass area was almost 40 years ago when she and husband, Hawley, accompanied an Aspen native on a ski vacation. The Smith family enjoys the summers on their small horse ranch in Shield O Mesa, just above Snowmass Creek Road. Three years ago, she became acquainted with the caucus through the annual picnic held at Holly McClain's ranch and credits that event with the many new friendships the family enjoys. "My immediate interest lies in improving contact, communication and, thus representation of the caucus members. Increased involvement by members should translate into a greater sense of community which is a goal of the comprehensive plan. Land-use issues are also of interest to me. I am grateful for the efforts of Sue Helm and the caucus for their protection of the Snowmass Creek." "Our entire family values greatly the beauty and serenity of this area. Recognizing that change is going to happen, I want to represent caucus residents’ positions on issues. I believe the Caucus Board should strive to balance the property rights of owners with the intent of the comprehensive plan. Recommendations to the county should be made only after input from members is solicited and considered in conjunction with Pitkin County rules and laws. I think it important to justify any decision of the Board with research, study and professional advice where warranted. The voice of the caucus could also present concerns of the constituents to the county that are outside of the land-use and creek missions of the caucus, e.g. guard rails on Watson Divide." Emily received her BBA Degree from Emory University '69 and began a career in banking. She partnered with her husband in their residential real estate development firm in 1976, and maintains a real estate sales license. She declares her real career to be as a "professional volunteer" and has served on numerous boards and chaired fund raising campaigns for education and children's issues. Emily is involved with efforts to reach Roaring Fork Valley students academically through the Trashmasters Golf Tournament scholarships and spiritually through the Young Life organization, a non-denominational group providing year round mentoring and camperships. Her family attends Crossroads Community Church in Aspen. When not residing in Old Snowmass, Emily and her family live in Jacksonville, FL. All three children are involved in the family business and the family foundation. Her major commitments in Jacksonville include District Board Membership for Florida Community College at Jacksonville since 2000, which serves 80,000 students annually. On the financial committee, she supports Young Life of Jacksonville which endeavors to introduce youth to the "liberty of a spiritual life". She is a founder and Board Member of Seamark Ranch, a home for abused and neglected children.

 
Ken Smith

Originally from Wilmette Illinois, I spent four years in northern Vermont and graduated from Goddard College. My wife Gwen and I moved to Snowmass in 1976 and lived for several years up on Gateway Mesa before building our current house on East Sopris Creek Road. Gwen and I raised two daughters here, Emily and Kristin, who currently live in Illinois and New York. I've previously served on a variety of committees with the Roaring Fork School District at both the district and school level. My first job here was in building. It seems to have stuck since I have now been building homes in the area for thirty plus years and have owned a construction company since 1992. Over the years, I've seen the caucus accomplish some great work preserving the environment here in the Snowmass and Capital Creek Valleys and I'm interested in contributing to the effort.

 

Sherri Spykerman

Sherri feels fortunate to arrive in Aspen in 1983 having been hired as a technical skiwear designer for Obermeyer. She was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area where she was schooled in clothing design and worked for Esprit before leaving for Aspen. Sherri learned to ski and love the mountains at a young age so it was a dream come true being able to pursue a career in skiwear design. Sherri remained in the skiwear industry for twenty years which included designing for Kaelin and Fera/Meister while traveling extensively internationally. After 15 years living in Aspen, she and husband Andre were attracted to the beauty of Old Snowmass and moved to Little Elk Creek Village in 1998. Shortly thereafter Sherri made a transition into Interior Design, starting her current business, Studio 3 Ten Interiors. Sherri is thankful for the efforts of the caucus specific to land use issues and feels it is important to have representation from each of the subdivisions. During the thirteen years Sherri has lived and hiked in the valley, she has noticed changes in our lands caused by numerous invasive noxious weeds. We are so close to “the backyard” that it is our responsibility to be sure these aggressive nonnative plants will not continue to infest and degrade the lands that we value so highly.

 

Barbara Sullan

Barb graduated from the University of Colorado with a Bachelors degree In Dental Hygiene in 1976 and a Masters of Science in Health Education from the University of Southern Illinois in 1979. Following her time in Illinois, she was anxious to get back to Colorado and the state she loved. Barb and her husband Scott established life in Denver both working in their careers. They had three children all of whom became competitive skiers. Jack, their youngest, was intrigued with the Aspen Valley Ski Club and the Aspen High School. With his two sisters off to college, it took only a small amount of arm twisting to get us to move our family to Old Snowmass in 2005. Jack was a member of the graduating class of 2009 and is off to college next year. He has also had, and continues to have a terrific career as a competitive skier with the AVSC.
While raising her family, Barb was a practicing Dental Hygienist for 33 years in Denver. She also worked as clinical and didactic faculty at the University Of Colorado School of Dentistry and the Community College of Denver teaching Periodontics and working with students and their patients. Dentistry continues to be a passion for her. In Aspen, she has become part of a dental coalition trying to find a solution for the indigent population in the Roaring Fork Valley. That has proven to be both a challenge and inspiration to her as she discovers the dental health care problems that face so many people in our valley. The coalition is in the process of finding a permanent location for a safety net dental clinic to serve those in need from Aspen to Parachute. Being a native of Colorado, Barb and her family are all avid skiers. She also loves to hike and bike. She has loved Old Snowmass since she first saw it and is proud to call it home.

Lesa Thomas

Lesa has called Snowmass home for the past two and half years.  Her husband, George, brought her to Snowmass Valley for the first time in 1988 when she fell in love with the area.  She was born and raised in rural Texas.  She is a graduate of Corpus Christi State University, Seattle Pacific University and is completing her doctoral degree at Lamar University in Deaf Studies.  She has worked with people who are deaf or hard of hearing for the past 25 years in a variety of positions including teaching every grade from preschool through junior college, with the exception of 4th grade.  While in Texas, she served on Texas School for the Deaf Governing Board, worked as a court appointed special advocate for abused and neglected kids (CASA) and actively participated in numerous non-profit boards.  Currently she is the executive director of the Aspen Camp of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.  She and her husband George are avid outdoors people with hiking, skiing and camping as favorites.  They have two 25-year-old daughters—one deaf and one hearing. Coming from a rural upbringing, she values the protection of nature and the our precious environment.

Frieda K. Wallison

My husband and I have lived in our home on the Lazy O Ranch in Old Snowmass for 17 years.  I serve as Chair of the Pitkin County Republicans and as Vice President of the Snowmass/Capitol Creek Caucus.  I am a lawyer by training, and was a partner in major international law firms in New York City and Washington, D.C. until my retirement in 1998. I am a graduate of Smith College and Harvard Law School. My husband Peter and I have three grown children and five grandchildren. Since moving to the valley permanently, I have been the managing member of Caddis Fly Partners, LLC, the developer of Riverwalk at the Fryingpan in Basalt, and am also working on a residential development project in Carbondale. I believe strongly in maintaining the rural character of Old Snowmass, that County land use planning should promote and encourage that character, and that office and other commercial development should be pursued in existing urban areas.  I value the sense of community that has flourished in Old Snowmass.  I also believe that the work of the caucus board in seeking to maintain the health of Snowmass and Capitol Creeks is of extreme importance.

 

John Zabriskie

I was trained as a chemist and spent 30 years working in the pharmaceutical industry in positions within research, sales and marketing and manufacturing. For the past 10 years I have been working with a small group starting up a number of healthcare companies. After visiting for 30 years, my wife, Adelaide, and I retired to the valley in 2002 and became full time residents once we discovered summer in the Rockies. We moved to the Snowmass Creek Valley with our horses in 2007. As a member of the Caucus I am going to work to preserve as much as possible our valley as it is today and to maintain the health of Snowmass Creek.