STAFF
STAFF
Gretchen van de carr
Chief Executive Officer
She/Her/Hers
gretchen@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 107
Gretchen Van De Carr has served as Chief Executive Officer since founding the organization in 1993. Gretchen has a MS in Environmental Engineering from the University of New Hampshire. She was a founding member of Routt County Youth Services Coalition (YSC), Partners in Routt County, the Community Evaluation Team, and Grand Futures Prevention Coalition. Gretchen currently serves as a board member of the Governor’s Marijuana Education Oversight Commission, Routt County Human Resource Coalition, and the Yampa River Legacy Project. Gretchen is a 2005 graduate of El Pomar’s “Non-Profit Executive Leadership Program” and a 1995 graduate of the Community Resource Center’s “Grassroots Leadership Program”. Gretchen was recognized by the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation as a 2009 Livingston Fellow. As CEO of RMYC, Gretchen has supervised the management of millions of dollars of federal, state, local, and private funding for RMYC. In her spare time, Gretchen enjoys skiing, river trips, camping, playing drums, and traveling with her husband, Pete and two teenage boys, Otis and Oliver.
Mark joined RMYC in 2005 and leads the organization's partnership development and operations. He serves on the South Routt School District Board of Education and the South Routt Recreation Association Board. After moving to Colorado for college in 1994, Mark found himself at home in paradise! Following years of field-based work in Colorado and Alaska in conservation corps, wilderness guiding, and field-based graduate school, he is honored to work with the amazing staff at RMYC and partner organizations to cultivate positive change in the lives of thousands of young people. Mark is often outdoors with his wife, Kim, son, Henry, daughter, Alice, and dog, Sunday. He enjoys rafting, paddle boarding, hiking, biking, skiing, snowboarding, hunting, and fishing.
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Contact for partnership development
mark wertheimer
Chief Operating Officer
He/Him/His
mark@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext, 108
Chrissy eagerly started working with Rocky Mountain Youth Corps in 2014. Having raised two children in Steamboat who benefited greatly from RMYC programs, Chrissy jumped at the chance to join an organization with a mission to engage young people in the outdoors. With a broad experience in all aspects of financial management, accounting and administration, Chrissy has been fortunate to work in progressive industries such as health care, construction, airline transportation, and real estate. Chrissy started her business career with Arthur Andersen & Co while earning her C.P.A. and then completing her Masters in Business Administration. Previous to her business career, Chrissy spent 7 years competing internationally on the U.S Women's Cross Country Ski Team and was inducted into the Colorado Sports Women Hall of Fame. Chrissy and her family enjoy skiing, hiking, biking, fishing, and exploring the Colorado mountains and wilderness.
chrissy lynch
Chief Financial Officer
She/Her/Hers
chrissy@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext, 106
Ryan Banks
Chief Program Officer
He/Him/His
ryan@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 105
Ryan first came to RMYC in 2012 as an Assistant Crew Leader. While here, his life changed forever. He met his best friend and now wife, Caroline and he discovered a passion for conservation and environmental stewardship. He returned in 2013 as a Crew Leader for the Veteran Fire Corps and after stints with the US Forest Service in Idaho and as a Program Manager for an "at-risk" youth program in Portage, WI, he found his way back to RMYC in 2017. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Ryan has a background in Education, Environmental Studies and cheese consumption. The Green Bay Packers and his daughter Beatrice hold special places in his heart. Ryan has found a home here at RMYC. A place to express and be directly involved with service work and a place that shares his steadfast trust in community involvement and the powerful role that youth can have within our communities. He is looking forward to sharing the life changing experience that is the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps with young people of all ages.
SARAH BROCK
Operations Manager She/Her/Her
sarah@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 111
Sarah first joined RMYC in 2019 on a whim. Since that transformative first summer, she has completed three more seasons with the Adult Conservation Crews as an Assistant Crew Leader and Crew Leader. Sarah grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and fell in love with outdoor recreation during her summers in the Adirondack mountains in New York. She has a B.A. in English from St. Lawrence University and a background in automotive repair. She developed a passion for youth development during her time as a Resident Assistant (RA) in college. She enjoys playing pond hockey, woodcarving, and hanging out with her many RMYC friends in her free time. Sarah is excited to set crews up for success!
Sara stumbled into RMYC in 2018 seeking a change of scenery and the mountains. That year she served as an Assistant crew lead for the youth corps. That challenging and incredible experience changed her career and life goals forever. Since then she has worked to blend conservation and youth development with every season. She has been an intern for Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, a Backcountry monitoring technician for Colorado Mountain Club, a mentor for Partners in Routt County, and the program coordinator for the Boys and girls club. In 2021 her travel bug kicked in again and she headed to Alaska to work as a wilderness ranger in the Tongass National Forest on Admiralty Island. Sara is happy to be back in the valley and a part of the RMYC community again. She is so excited to be the Youth Programs Manager and hopes to continue to inspire new generations to take active roles in the stewardship of their public lands. When not at work you can find her volunteering for RCSAR, walking uphill in her skis, mountain biking, climbing, or fueling her newfound love of the river as a mini enthusiast.
Sara Duft
Youth Programs Manager
She/Her/Hers
sduft@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 102
alex Guerra
Natural Resource Internship Manager
He/Him/His
aguerra@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 103
Alex joined RMYC as a crew leader in 2019 after having been a member in other corps in the southwest. He's led 4 crews since then and worked as a field coordinator for the conservation corps and intern program. He grew up in Puerto Rico, and at the age of 20, left the island with a desire to see natural places all over the world. After vagabonding for years he found a place he'd like to call home for a while, the Yampa valley. He's part reptile and enjoys basking in the sun, but manages to make it through the winters thanks to his snowboard. In the summers he enjoys the mountain bike trails, fishing, backpacking, and skating.
Liz hartstein
Data Systems Manager/Salesforce Admin
She/Her/Hers
lizd@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 103
Liz came to us in 2016 after 10 years of working in the outdoor education and guiding world. During her time with us she has held a variety of roles, including Field Coordinator, Natural Resource Internship Program Manager, and she now continues to support the organization as a Data Systems Manager. She got her B.S. from the University of Maryland before making Colorado her home base in 2007. She has since spent her summers working all over the US and Canada running rivers, leading wilderness trips, and teaching science school. Her winters have been spent teaching skiing, coaching swim teams, dog sledding, and ski patrolling. When she’s not in the office she is most often on her bike but could also be found ski patrolling, rafting, skiing uphill, or otherwise enjoying the outdoors with her husband and their two young children.
lauren hewitt
Accounting Director
She/Her/Hers
lhewitt@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 112
Lauren made her way to Colorado from Rochester, New York almost ten years ago, driven by her love for the mountains. Lauren discovered the paradise that is Steamboat Springs when she took a seasonal summer gig with The Home Ranch back in 2008, where she realized her passion for the outdoors and the part of the country she would eventually call home. In 2010 Lauren graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia with a B.A. in Communications Studies and English Literature and promptly made her way back west to begin a new chapter in Steamboat. Since that time Lauren has worked for such local organizations as Yampa Valley Bank, where she performed the roles of Teller, Loan Administrator and Credit Analyst, and Yampa Valley Medical Center as an Accountant. In addition, she has provided bookkeeping services to several small businesses in town. Lauren enjoys running, hiking, cross country skiing, gardening and spending time with her husband, Cole, and their 5 fur babies. Lauren couldn’t be happier to have joined the team at RMYC as it continues to cultivate a deep appreciation for the outdoors in our youth.
lisa nutkin
Human Resources Director
She/Her/Hers
lnutkin@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 116
After 20 years since working as an accountant for RMYC, Lisa has rejoined the team in March 2022 as our Human Resources Director. Lisa originally came to Steamboat in 1988 to work at Bear Pole Ranch in Strawberry Park, which was then a wilderness summer camp. With a business degree from The Ohio State University, and a passion for the outdoors and providing experiential education and outdoor leadership opportunities for youth, Steamboat became her new home. For almost 10 years Lisa took on the job as full-time Camp Director and was proud to see the programs and the participants prosper year after year. After a brief 6yr relocation to the Chicago area, the curse of the Yampa Valley took hold, she returned to Steamboat and provided professional accounting services to a variety of local businesses. Lisa is excited to merge her business knowledge, love for the outdoors, and passion to help young people achieve their full potential, to provide the highest level of support and resources to our whole RMYC team. When not working Lisa enjoys hiking with her dogs, golfing, cooking, camping, yard work/gardening, cross country skiing, and bringing smiles to all while visiting the hospital & community events with her therapy pug, Rocko.
ashley Roscoe
Conservation Corps Manager
She/Her/Hers
aroscoe@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 113
Ashley got her start in the corps world in 2017 after a post-college job didn’t pan out. With a degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Missouri- Kansas City, she was looking for more tangible impacts in environmental work and stumbled upon conservation corps. After holding positions with RMYC as a Trail Crew Leader and Field Coordinator, she is back full-time as the Conservation Corps Program Manager. Ashley is excited to get others engaged with their public lands through meaningful work and empowering people to become stewards of their environment! In her spare time she can be found entertaining her dog Benson, camping, climbing, biking, or playing in the snow, depending on the season.
CJ LeCluyse
Conservation Corps Assistant Manager
She/Her/Hers
clecluyse@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 101
CJ first joined RMYC as a crew member in 2017, escaping the Colorado front range to live in the mountains full time. She found the personal and professional growth to be so profound that she returned for two more seasons, working on the 14ers crew and then as a crew leader. She attended Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs, earning a BA Sustainability Studies, an AA in Outdoor Education, and a GIS Certificate. During this time she completed a a two-year Rocky Mountain Land Management Internship (RMLMI) in partnership with CMC and the US Forest Service. She has kayaked and climbed around Chile and Mexico, further stoking her love for outdoor adventure, rivers, and mountains. This past year the Yampa valley curse sucked her back in for an amazing winter season and she decided to stick around full time. She loves exploring our national forests, rock climbing, canyoneering, desert dwelling, kayaking, stomping around in any river she can find, snowboarding, and all things dog. Through her experiences she realized a passion for not only pushing her own comfort zones, but also in facilitating this for others to help the experience personal growth. She believe this is an integral part of empowering future generations in the conservation sphere and beyond. She is excited to cultivate connection to place through outdoor immersion and education while providing a safe space for differing skill levels.
lauren vandenhurk
Assistant Program Director
She/Her/Hers
lvandenhurk@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 110
Lauren grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania where she developed a love for the outdoors and earned her B.A. in Secondary Earth Science Education from the University of Delaware. She spent much of her early twenties facilitating environmental education and outdoor leadership programming for young people in Delaware, New York, Alaska and Tennessee before calling Colorado home. An AmeriCorps term of service with Partners for Youth brought Lauren to Steamboat Springs in 2013 and the Yampa Valley curse clamped on tight. She worked for Rocky Mountain Youth Corps as a Youth Programs Leader and YVSS Instructor before joining the team full time as the Regional Youth Program Manager in 2015. Lauren is a Certified Prevention Specialist in the State of Colorado, a Positive Youth Development facilitator, Wilderness First Aid Instructor for Desert Mountain Medicine, a First Aid/CPR/AED Instructor through the American Heart Association, and serves as the Treasurer for the Routt County Youth Services Coalition. In her free time, she can be found exploring with her adventure buddies, Jimmy & Eisley.
pam PERETZ
Administrative Assistant
She/Her/Hers
pperetz@rockymountainyouthcorps.com
970.879.2135 ext. 104
Pam came to RMYC in the summer of 2023. She was born in Los Angeles, California where she attended the University of California, Los Angeles. She spent 25 years with Mattel Toys, Inc. working on major core brands as Barbie, Hot Wheels and Nickelodeon. . Finding her job becoming more stressful and demanding, she opted for a voluntary lay-off and moved the family to Steamboat Springs in 2005 seeking life-balance. She has worked in retail, construction, law enforcement, hospitality and production/manufacturing. She owned and operated three day spas in Steamboat Springs, winning Best Day Spa and Best Massage Therapist from 2012-2018. She is excited to be a part of the RMYC staff and is looking forward to learning more about the organization and growing with it. When she’s not working, she enjoys accompanying her husband on his 14er adventures with their dog, Kahlua, dancing hula with
her troupe and exploring the world.