Jenn Payne, Chair
Jenn Payne is President of Loan Operations for FirstBank, a regional bank with over $18 Billion in assets based in Lakewood, Colorado. Since joining the bank in 2001, she has held a variety of leadership positions within the organization, previously serving as President of Compliance before embarking on her new role as President of Loan Operations in April of 2019. Jenn, along with her team, oversees internal loan origination and loan servicing functions, supporting an average of $3.9 Billion in loan originations each year. Jenn also supports various charitable organization and is currently serving as a Board Member of the Hyland Hills Foundation.
Cheryle Powell, Vice Chair
Cheryle Powell is the President of a locally owned commercial real estate firm, Rocky Mountain Commercial Associates. She is a Managing Broker and joined the Sperry CGA platform in 2018 to offer clients national and international opportunities. Cheryle has a strong commitment to her community and is headquartered in Jefferson County Colorado. Her clients are commercial real estate investors and developers, and she specializes in investment sales, buying and 1031 exchange services. Prior to commercial real estate, Cheryle was a sales and market vice president in medical equipment and services. She helped launch PorchLight, FJC as a member of Governance and Facilities as well as finding the location to serve the community. She now serves as the co-chair of the Governance Committee.
Vista Exline, Secretary
Vista is the previous Executive Director of Victim Outreach, Incorporated (VOI). This organization partners with law enforcement to provide comprehensive services to victims of crime in Jefferson County, Colorado. For 33 years Vista has advocated for services that foster recovery and healing for victims of crime and trauma. She has trained community, police, prosecutors and human services organizations. Her expertise informs multi-disciplinary policy and protocols that impact victims’ needs and rights. VOI has been recognized locally and nationally for accomplishments on behalf of victims of crime.
Lisa Isom, Treasurer
Lisa Isom is the founder and CEO of The Minerva Group, a remote accounting firm with national clients and employees in six states. The Minerva Group specializes in non-profit and construction accounting with a goal to assist our communities in impactful ways through the clients we serve and how we show up as an employer, employees, and as individuals. Our non-profit clients are involved with fiscal sponsorship, mental health, racial justice, education, and the arts. Lisa has been the interim executive director for two Denver nonprofits during times of transition with a strong track record of getting fiscal, board, and staffing issues turned around in preparation for a new executive team. Lisa has served the local community on prior boards with a focus on animal welfare, mental health, and children. “People are my passion, and while numbers tell the story of a company’s financial health, it is really the people behind the business that inspire the growth.”
Kiara Kuenzler
Kiara is President and CEO of Jefferson Center for Mental Health, a non-profit, community focused provider of mental health and substance use disorder services in Jefferson, Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties. Jefferson Center serves more than 30,000 children, individuals and families each year through prevention, early intervention, treatment and recovery services. In addition to her more than 10 years of experience in health care administration, quality, and program evaluation, Kiara spent years providing direct clinical services and teaching in the Psychology Department at the University of Colorado, Denver. In her current role, she brings a fierce passion and vision for a healthy community, where mental health and substance use matters and care is accessible to all.
Alexis King
Alexis King was born and raised on the west side of Colorado Springs. Alexis earned her B.A. at Hollins University in Virginia and returned home to Colorado to work on behalf of survivors of intimate partner violence at a community non-profit. Her experience drove her to attend law school and in 2006, she graduated from the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver, and then clerked for the Honorable William Robbins in Denver District Court. In 2007 she joined this office as a Deputy District Attorney where she served for ten years, spending the half of her career focused on how we serve children in the community, whether they be survivors of violence or charged with offenses. Ultimately, she led this Office's Human Trafficking Unit and was appointed by Governor John Hickenlooper to Colorado’s Human Trafficking Council, shaping policy for the community and Colorado.
Katie Groke
Katie Groke, CPRP, MPA is currently the Director of Community Services at the Apex Park and Recreation District. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at SE2 and Director of Communications and Marketing for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado. She is the former National Program Manager at The White House Project and has a background in recruiting and training women to run for office, managing comprehensive communications campaigns and organizing the community to take action. A graduate of the University of Wyoming where she played on a soccer scholarship, Katie has worked with the NCAA, Choice USA, Springboard Enterprises and Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Katie has a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Denver and recently completed NRPA Directors School and is a Certified Park and Recreation Professional. Katie sits on the Board of Directors for the Arvada Vitality Alliance, Arvada Chamber of Commerce and Porchlight, a Family Justice Center.
Dontae Latson
Dontae Latson is the Chief Executive Officer of Family Tree, a partner organization, dedicated to addressing the inter-related issues of child neglect and abuse, domestic violence and homelessness. Dontae was most recently President & CEO of Rocky Mountain Communities, an organization providing affordable housing and resident-focused services in the Rocky Mountain region. In addition to Dontae’s extensive nonprofit leadership experience, he is also a licensed social worker and experienced practitioner.
Janeece Hoppe
Janeece Hoppe is serving her second term as City Councilwoman, District One in the City of Wheat Ridge. Janeece is a Director of the Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation and Porchlight Family Justice Center. Janeece has served on a variety of community boards and committees over the last 20 years including, Wheat Ridge Business District, Localworks, The Family Tree, Jefferson County Coalition for Suicide Prevention and Awareness, and Jefferson County Communities that Care Key Leaders. Janeece and her husband own and operate 2 small businesses in the trade industry for the last 18 years, prior to that she was an Outreach Case Manager for At-Risk Youth.
Addi Cantor, LSW
Addi Cantor is the Coordinator of Child Welfare Programming for Jeffco Public Schools. Originally from Michigan, Addi graduated from the University of Delaware with a BA in Sociology and spent the next several years traveling the country as a backpacking guide. Eventually landing in Colorado full time, she attended Colorado State University for a Masters in Social Work. Now in her 9th school year with Jeffco Public Schools, Addi serves as the Child Welfare Education Liaison, as well as the Coordinator of Fostering Opportunities, an innovative student engagement program for middle and high school students experiencing foster care. Addi is passionate about creating intentional system changes to close the achievement and opportunity gaps for all vulnerable youth.
Chief Philip A. Smith, Jr.
Philip A. Smith, Jr. is the Chief of Police for the Lakewood Police Department. Chief Smith is a veteran law enforcement professional with more than 37 years of experience who has served as a university-level adjunct professor teaching cultural diversity, law enforcement ethics and police administration. For the past nine years, Smith has served as the police chief in Roswell, New Mexico, where he created an innovative program that enhanced both the public’s safety and trust in law enforcement. He is dedicated to transparent policing and to implementing policies that improve community safety and foster positive relationships between the police and residents.
Sheriff, Reggie Marinelli
Reggie Marinelli is a 36 year veteran of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. She was elected Sheriff in November of 2022 and was sworn in on January 10th, 2023. During her tenure Reggie has been responsible for writing and overseeing policy, contracts and grants, she took part in the initial development of the Sheriff’s Office’ accreditation process with CALEA and assisted in coordinating a statewide forum in 1994 addressing Violent Youth Crime in Colorado. Reggie's extensive leadership and experience as an Investigator handling crimes against persons for several years provides unique insight and guidance for PorchLight's board.
Don Hazell
Don is a Technology Industry Executive with 30+ years experience founding and growing companies. He was a Founding Executive at Boulder-based Rally Software (RALY on NYSE) in 2004 and served as EVP of Sales & World Wide Field Operations for 9 years. Prior to that, he spent 6 years at BEA Systems where he served in several Vice President and General Management positions. BEA was on the NASDAQ until acquired by Oracle for $5.5B. Don’s other experiences include 12 years at the Unisys Corp and 5 years in Telecom Industry sales leadership positions at Sybase and Ingres.
Don is a Board of Advisor member at Pendo, Kapta, Jumpcloud, IronCore Labs, Stateless, CaliberMind, GoodBuyGear, Beerboard, TrueSync Media, and Cloud Campaign, and is a Mentor to many other early stage companies, including the Techstars and Boomtown accelerators
Rob Balgley
Rob is the former CEO of Mersive Technologies where he was responsible for strategic direction and operational execution. Rob has over 35 years of business management experience in software, software services and network technology, including responsibility for marketing, sales, product development, operations and finance.
In addition to his duties at Mersive, Rob has also served as an advisor and board director for several venture backed start-ups and is a limited partner in several venture funds.
Rob is currently the Giffords Law Center Colorado Advisory Chair, and is employed part time as a Vail Resorts ski instructor. In his spare time Rob enjoys being a mountain athlete in the Vail Valley and along with his wife Cheryl caring for their ranch property and resident wildlife.