Board of Directors – Sustainability Alliance of Southwest Colorado
(as of Spring 2012)
Board of Directors
Werner Heiber, Chair
Elsa Jagniecki, Vice Chair
Carolyn Moller, Treasurer
Lisa Mastny, Secretary
Erika Brown
Erich Bussian
Maya Leonard Kane
Zachary Ray
Ryan Riebau
M'Lissa Roulson
Board Members Emeritus
Erick Aune
Bliss Bruen
Carol Clark
Laurie Dickson
Keith Fox
Kim Herb
Sara Holt
Roy Horvath
Linda Illsley
Rebecca Koeppen
Laura Lewis Marchino
Julie Levy
Kelly Miller
Sue Morris
Katy Pepinsky
Marcus Renner
Denise Rue-Pastin
Eliza Searles
Tim Wheeler
Dick White
Terry WoodwardConrad Wright
Board Member Bios
Erika Brown
Erika Brown moved to Durango from Salt Lake City where she was the Director of Environmental Affairs at a leading manufacturer 
of environmentally responsible materials for the architecture and design community, 3Form. At 3Form, she drove the company’s sustainability strategy and operations toward net neutrality and an audacious vision for more sustainable manufacturing. This included creating and implementing an environmental management system, which became ISO 14001 certified, greenhouse gas inventory and reporting, researching and recommending certifications and driving a series of aggressive environmental initiatives, including becoming a zero landfill manufacturing facility and achieving carbon neutrality. While living in Salt Lake City, Erika also acted as an Organizing Committee Member of the Salt Lake Sustainable Building Conference and as a Board Member at the University of Utah Presidential Sustainability Advisory Board.
Erich Bussian
Erich has always felt that business is one of the strongest tools to address the problems facing our society. His career has focused on making a contribution not only to the organization with which he is associated, but to the general wellbeing of his community and to those beyond the horizon. By working with San Juan Bioenergy to develop renewable and sustainable energy, Erich is helping to create a future that does not rely on borrowing limited natural resources from future generations. Erich served as Construction Manager in the initial phase of San Juan Bioenergy and is now the Director of Business Development, focusing on developing business opportunities for the second and third phases of SJB's evolution. Erich holds an MSc. from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and maintains a positive perspective on changing how business is done. Thinking outside the box has always been one of his strengths. His business background encompasses a long career in international entrepreneurial business. He has been a Managing Partner with Rocky Mountain Equity Development LLC and has held senior management positions with MapQuest and AOL. He lives in Durango, Colorado, and is an active member in the local community and dedicated father to two crazy and beautiful teenagers. He also spends part of his time in Amsterdam where he struggles valiantly to learn Dutch.
Werner Heiber
Werner has desired to live more sustainably all his life. He grew up in Basel, Switzerland, and has worked in the pharmaceutical industry in Basel, New York, and Salt Lake City, first synthesizing new pharmaceutical drugs, then specializing in transdermal drug delivery. In Switzerland, he completed an apprenticeship in chemistry, and in the United States he obtained a B.S. in chemistry from Adelphi University as well as certificate degrees in Urban Planning and Mediation and Conflict Resolution from the University of Utah. Werner’s passion has always been energy-efficient homes, gardening, and the outdoors. He built his first passive solar house in 1975. Since his early retirement from the pharmaceutical industry, he has worked on energy-efficient homes, including as a Vista Volunteer on a demonstration house for Utah State University. Since moving to Southwest Colorado, he has helped start up a rural cohousing community, built strawbale houses, and run an affordable housing non-profit building mutual self-help houses. Werner has been involved with the sustainability movement in Durango, Colorado, since 2002. He lives in Durango while exploring his passion of highly energy-efficient clustered homes combined with productive gardens.
Elsa Jagniecki
Elsa has lived in Durango for six years after graduating from Colorado State University with a BA in Anthropology. She left the community in 2009 to study her Master's in Sustainable Development in Karlskrona Sweden at Belkinge Institute of Technology where she researched and interviewed communities working with renewable energy generation in Sweden, Denmark and Germany for her master's thesis and a Process Tool for sustainable community renewable energy. With experience consulting on organizational development, process facilitation and strategic sustainable development, she is passionate about helping organizations move towards more sustainable futures through long-term visioning, internal development, capacity building, collaboration, and creative decision-making that incorporates principles of sustainability. She currently works for Durango Solar Works!, a local solar company, as their development, marketing and accounts specialist. In the past she has worked as a program coordinator for the Great Old Broads for Wilderness, a national wilderness advocacy non-profit, and as a Collaborative Communities Intern for the Center of a New American Dream's Collaborative Communities Program. Elsa enjoys gardening and volunteering time on community development projects around sustainability. Elsa currently acts as SASCO's communication manager.
Maya Leonard Kane
Maya Kane has a strong background in environmental science, policy, and law. She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Yale University and eight years of professional experience in scientific research. Her past research projects include studying the impacts of agriculture on endangered species conservation and evaluating the effects of climate change on the stability of ecological communities. For her Master’s research, she published two studies modeling the viability of populations of endangered bighorn sheep in the Sierra Nevada and the risks and benefits of potential management scenarios to promote their conservation. Most recently, Maya completed a law degree at the University of Oregon, where she had the opportunity to examine critical environmental issues from legal and policy perspectives. As part of her education, she assisted a local nonprofit with a legislative campaign to restrict toxic air emissions from field burning, worked on a successful lawsuit to enjoin the poisoning of watersheds in a wilderness area, and participated in a campaign to file the first state and national litigation petitioning for an injunction against greenhouse gas emissions under the public trust doctrine. Throughout her career, Maya's commitment to education and community involvement has been and will remain a core value. From mentoring high school students in science, to volunteering as a biologist on a National Wildlife Refuge, to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ecology, her volunteer and professional contributions have enriched her and honed her leadership and communication skills. She says this combination of skills and experience would allow her to bring a unique perspective to the Sustainability Alliance Board.
Lisa Mastny
Lisa has worked on sustainability issues for more than 15 years. She has spent the last 10 at the Worldwatch Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C., where her responsibilities include editing the bi-monthly World Watch magazine and other publications, as well as overseeing the ongoing project on sustainable production and consumption. Lisa has contributed chapters to Worldwatch’s popular State of the Worldand Vital Signs reports as well as other publications and projects. Her work has been featured in national and international print, online, and broadcast media. Lisa holds a B.A. in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University and dual M.A.s in International Relations and Environmental Management from Yale University. A Durango resident, her main motivation for serving on the Sustainability Alliance board is to bring her global knowledge and background to help foster sustainable solutions at the local level to meet the challenges of projected growth. Lisa is currently the Online Media and Communications Director for the Center for A New American Dream.
Carolyn Moller
Carolyn has had a life-long interest in sustainability issues and recalls, at age 10, placing stickers next to every lamp in her house reminding her family to “save energy.” She grew up in rural western Maryland and worked in community organizing and public health for many years in the mid-Atlantic Highlands area. She volunteered with the Maryland Health Care for All initiative, worked on various water quality projects, and helped establish several poverty outreach programs in her hometown. She holds an MBA from Hood College and an MPP in Environmental Policy from the University of Maryland. Locally, she volunteers on the boards of Durango Natural Foods and the Shanta Foundation. She currently works as a regional manager for a Southwest Colorado accounting and payroll firm. Carolyn uses her strong administrative skills and policy knowledge to help further the accomplishments of the Sustainability Alliance in cooperation with the Southwest Colorado community, helping this area continue to be an incredible place for generations to come.
Zachary Ray
Zachary Ray was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, until moving to Durango to attend Fort Lewis College. While attending FLC, he got inspired by trade issues and politics. After attending a Fair Trade Convergence in Denver in 2006, he became an Oxfam America CHANGE leader in the area of trade economics and specifically fair trade issues. CHANGE leaders are charged with bringing campaigns to their campuses and travelling the country to conferences to teach and learn in their area of expertise. After three years of working with Oxfam as a CHANGE leader, Zachary Ray became the lead facilitator for their social justice training program in Boston, MA, where he began to focus on training college-age people to be leaders themselves. Also while attending Fort Lewis, he worked for the FLC Environmental Center as the Local Food Coordinator for four years and served three years on the EC's board of directors. He graduated from Fort Lewis in May 2009 with Summa Cum Laude honors and a 3.9 GPA in Sociology and Human Service. After graduating, Zachary Ray was a local food fellow for the Growing Partners of SW Colorado and became very involved in local food sustainability. Since then, he has been working at Desert Sun Coffee Roasters as the head roaster and production manager. He is very passionate about social and environmental justice issues and would love the opportunity to work with SASCO. He is interested in serving on the board because he has attended several SASCO events that he really appreciated and would love to help out. He believes in the mission of SASCO and is specifically interest in supporting the group's efforts in local & regional policy, food & agriculture, and education & outreach.
Ryan Riebau is a Business Economics Major who graduated from Fort Lewis College in 2010. He was a member of the FLC Sustainable Business Team during 2009-2010 and conducted an Economic Impact Study of the Four Corners Motorcycle Rally in 2010. He also helped pitch the Sustainable Business Program, worked with Local First, and organized the Re-Localization Fair. Ryan was a 4CORE Outreach Intern in 2011 and worked closely with the Resource Smart Business Program marketing and project organization. Ryan thinks that the best way to lead is by example, and that is why he would like to apply his skills to the Sustainability Alliance's Sustainable Local Economic Development project, to help make Durango a national example in community development and sustainable growth. Ryan is currently the Resource Smart Business Program (RSBP) Marketing Coordinator in partnership between Local First and 4CORE.