Top of the Pines, Inc. is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization, vested by Ouray County to oversee the operations and maintenance of the Top of the Pines facility.  Top of the Pines, Inc. consists of a Board of Directors and an Advisory Council of consultants and dedicated experts.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Brad Wallis, Board President

Brad Wallis is the owner and principal of BTB Construction & Consulting LLC, a small design/build firm specializing in the design and construction of super insulated homes in southwestern Colo. In addition to serving as board president at Top of the Pines, he is also the education coordinator for the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership and the wilderness trail crew coordinator for the Ouray Trail Group. Prior to moving to Ridgway, Brad owned and operated Greystone Mortgage, one of the top producing mortgage operations in Utah, and provided leadership to several national and regional organizations serving national parks and other public lands. He has traveled extensively both nationally and internationally supporting good business practices and ethical behavior in the conservation community.  

Patsy Young, Vice President

Patsy is a co-founder of TOP, Inc. and has been a member of the Ridgway/Ouray community for 30 years.  Young is a tenured businesswoman, including owning and operating the Ridgway Chipeta Sun Lodge and Spa. Her education includes Constructive Design from Florida State University.  Patsy is a founder of the local Voyager Youth Program. She has tenaciously worked towards the acquisition and renovation of the TOP property for 20 years.  Young's inspiration lies in her passion to bring our country's youth to the great outdoors.  She is dedicated to creating and preserving sustainable community spaces where the public can discover their connection to nature.

Jane Wilson

Jane has lived in Ouray County since falling in love with this beautiful mountain valley and moving here 2012. She holds a BS in Forestry with an emphasis in Ecological Restoration and began her career working as a Forester for the U.S. Forest Service in Washington State.  Because of her passion for education and love for working with children, she later decided to become a teacher. She now holds a Master’s in Natural Sciences Education and is currently working on a second Master’s in Literacy Education. Jane teaches science, social studies, and language arts at Ridgway Secondary School. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, skiing, traveling, and playing in the water with her husband and their two children.

Laura Mah, Treasurer

Laura and her husband moved to Ridgway to explore the area’s incredible mountains and to enjoy the outdoor recreation activities offered in Ouray County. As an avid photographer, Top of the Pines provides her with opportunities to capture spectacular images of the San Juan Mountains and to enjoy the challenge of photographing the Top of the Pine’s elusive bird population. Laura believes it is important to give back to the community and volunteers also to support Ridgway State Park, the Montrose Center for the Arts and the Black Canyon Audubon Society.

Jen Ballard

Jen Ballard was born and raised in Washington, D.C. Jen moved to Colorado in 1996 after college to have more access to rock climbing. After a few fun years of ice and rock climbing, Jen returned to the DC area to get a Masters Degree in Education while teaching Physics in an Alexandria, VA High School. As soon as her Masters program was over, Jen returned to Colorado in 2004 where she works as a high school science and health teacher. Jen has two children, Mackenzie and Aiden. On her free time, Jen and her family raise bees and hope to educate others to do the same.

Lisa S. Thomason

Lisa has worked for non-profit organizations throughout most of her adult career and currently helms  Voyager Youth Program in Ouray County. Lisa has a BA in psychology, a Masters in Education, and is board certified as a Behavior Analyst. She has also been Vocational Education certified in Early Childhood and Director Qualified in Child Care. She provided alcohol and drug evaluations for the Colorado State Judicial System for several years.  She has been a consultant/contractor for Early Intervention Colorado, and was President of the Colorado Division for Early Childhood (2014-15).  Lisa continues to practice Behavior Analysis as a contractor and in private practice. She joined the TOP board in 2018.

Sandy Hennessy, Secretary
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Sandy has been a resident of Ouray County  since 2007.  She is co-owner of several businesses including restaurant /breweries in Montrose and Ridgway. She has also worked as a national park ranger and middle school teacher. Sandy is a yoga teacher and outdoor enthusiast.

Kay Rider

​Kay Rider has been a resident of Ridgway for the past 16 years.  She is now a retired middle school teacher and spends her energies mountain biking, hiking, camping and dabbling in a variety of fiber arts.  The beauty of the Colorado outdoors is a daily inspiration. 

Nancy Lazenga

Nancy Lazenga was born in Chicago and raised in Wilmette, Illinois. Her family vacationed in Colorado during the summer months where she learned to love the mountains. She moved to Colorado from the Minneapolis area in 2009. She was a Human Resources professional working for several major corporations as well as non-profit organizations where she concentrated on recruiting, on-boarding, diversity, compliance and work-life balance programs. She received her B.S. from Northern Illinois University in Family Social Services. She continued her studies at the University of Iowa in their M.A. Family Studies program and then at the University of Minnesota in their M.Ed. program in Human Resource Development. She has two grown children and two grandchildren. She has been an active volunteer for many organizations that mainly focus on improving the lives of children and families as well as in the performing arts. She has served as stage manager for a pre-professional ballet school in Minneapolis and CASA’s Dancing with the Stars. She’s currently retired from HR but keeps active serving as a mentor in the Partners program and works part-time at Ridgway Secondary School. She loves the outdoors; hiking, camping, x-country skiing and traveling. She has served on the TOP board since 2019. 

Robb Austin

Robb retired as the Chief Executive Officer of the Moab Regional Hospital in April of 2015 after working 40 years in the health care industry. He received his Master of Science degree in Business & Health Fiscal Administration from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and his B.S. degree from Moorhead (MN) State University. Robb’s wife Betsy Baier is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker currently working as the Bereavement Coordinator for Hope West in Montrose. Robb and Betsy have three children and three grand-children. In addition to serving on the TOP board, Robb is also a former Ridgway Town Councilor and a board member of the Ridgway Chautauqua Society, dba The Sherbino Theater.

Val Szwarc

Val has been a part-time resident of Ouray County since the mid 1990’s and became a full time resident as of 2014 when he retired from a career as an aerospace engineer and atmospheric scientist from a number of employers including NOAA/Boulder and NREL/Golden. Val and his wife Laura are frequent visitors to TOP year-round. In summer they enjoy a short hike or mountain bike ride and in winter they love the XC-skiing opportunities. Recently, Val has taken note of the pristine dark skies above TOP and has taken advantage of opportunities to capture those dark skies through the lens of his camera. He is currently leading an effort with TOP to become an International Dark Sky Association (IDA) designated Dark Sky Park that would complement the Town of Ridgway’s recent IDA designation as a Dark Sky Community. Val is an active member of IDA and currently serves as a Director of Colorado’s Western Region for the Colorado Chapter of IDA. Val has a BS from Penn State, and graduate degrees from the University of Colorado and the University of Pennsylvania.

ADVISORY COUNCIL

John Clark

John has lived in Ridgway since 1982, evolving from a landscaper to a glass artist to a computer consultant & graphic artist/web designer. He has taken on the task of being TOP's webmaster, while continuing to pursue his love of the great outdoors. In 2012, he became Mayor of Ridgway as well, continuing a 30+ year span of involvement in the Town of Ridgway government.

John Peters

John serves as TOP board liaison from the Ouray Board of County Commissioners.

Additional advisory council members include Chris Haaland, Bill Leo, Marisa Murphy, Danika Gilbert, Tim Manzagol, Liana Schmidt and Kelvin Kent.

STAFF & VOLUNTEERS

Samantha Wright

Samantha is a Ouray native who now lives just over the mountains in Silverton, where she works as a freelance writer when she is not keeping tabs on Top of the Pines' scheduling and communication needs.

Ethan and Liz Stupka – Campground Hosts

We’re Ethan and Liz! We have lived full time in our fifth wheel RV now for 2 years. We have worked at RV parks, ranches and even tour guided Yellowstone on horseback. We have been almost everywhere in the US (minus a couple states) and hope to complete all 50 within the next couple years! We have Instagram and YouTube accounts named LifeOn8Wheels! Check us out!