Board of Directors

Girls Athletic Leadership Schools

EN ESPAÑOL

Bridget Ambler

Bridget is the Curator of Material Culture at the Colorado Historical Society (CHS). In her position, she is responsible for the intellectual oversight of objects, exhibit development, community outreach and object-based interpretation. A large focus of her work is working with American Indian and other ethic communities as part of efforts to share Colorado’s history with a wider public. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Northern Arizona University and an M.A. in Anthropology from Colorado State University. Formerly, she spent my time as a field archaeologist in the American Southwest. Parenting is her personal passion, and keeping up with her 11 year old daughter occupies much of her free time. Together, they enjoy rock climbing, skiing, hiking, and seeking outdoor adventures. She has been very involved in school-parent activities, and is a strong believer that it does, indeed, take a village to raise a child.

Carol Bowar

Carol Bowar, in partnership with the Board, directs all phases of operations at Girls Incorporated of Metro Denver, including long-range strategic planning, development, programming for girls, staff development and general management. She is also responsible for senior level interaction with other community-based organizations, as well as overall representation of Girls Incorporated to the public. Carol also works with Program Directors and staff to develop strategy and vision for programs, create staff and program delivery structure, creates and manages budgets, supervises program delivery and oversees evaluation and tracking of programs. Carol assumed her new role as CEO in December of 2008. Carol served as Vice President of Program Services for Girls Inc. of Metro Denver for seven years prior to her role as CEO. She currently serves on the Steering Committee for the Colorado Coalition for Girls. Her experience includes serving as Director of Training, Education & Community Service Programs for Up with People, as Policy Assistant for the Governor’s Office of Families and Children, as Program Director for KaBOOM!, as a Program Officer for the Corella & Bertram F. Bonner Foundation, and several other positions with national and local non-profit organizations. Ms. Bowar graduated with her M.A. in Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice from the University of Colorado-Boulder,and earned her B.A. in English Writing from the University of Minnesota.

Heather Lurie

Heather Lurie is a lawyer and an independent consultant working with grassroots nonprofits and political organizations on strategic planning, board development, fundraising and organizing and providing administrative support. She is the lead consultant for “Electing Women,” a prominent group of Denver women that raise money for pro-choice women running for U.S. Senate and Governor’s seats. She is also the Finance & Political Director for Congresswoman Diana DeGette. She was the Director of Strategic Development for The White House Project from 2003 through 2008 and was the Deputy Finance Director on Rollie Heath’s 2002 campaign for Governor of Colorado. Heather started her career in Colorado as the staff attorney at Project Safeguard and argued restraining order and dissolution cases for indigent battered women. Heather currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Women’s Health Research, the Board of Directors for Progress Now and is the Chair of the NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Foundation Board. She is also a member of the Public Policy Council of the Junior League of Denver.

Michael Opitz

Former elementary school teacher and reading specialist, Dr. Michael F. Opitz is a professor of reading at the University of Northern Colorado where he teaches undergraduate and graduate literacy courses and works with doctoral candidates. He is the author and coauthor of several books including Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies that Cross Proficiency Levels (Heinemann,2009),Do-able Differentiation: Varying Texts, Supports and Groups to Reach Readers (Heinemann, 2008), Don’t Speed! Read! 12 Steps for Smart and Sensible Fluency instruction (Scholastic, 2007), Diagnosis and Improvement of Reading Instruction, 5th ed. (Allyn & Bacon, 2007), Books and Beyond: New Ways to Reach Readers (Heinemann, 2006) Listen Hear! 25 Ways to Enhance Listening Comprehension (Heinemann, 2005), Reaching Readers: Flexible and Innovative Strategies for Guided Reading (Heinemann, 2001), Rhymes and Reasons: Literature and Language Play for Phonological Awareness (Heinemann, 2000), Good-bye Round Robin (Heinemann, 1998/2008), Flexible Grouping in Reading (Scholastic, 1998), and Literacy Instruction for Culturally and linguistically Diverse Students (International Reading Association, 1998). He is also an author of Literacy By Design (Rigby, 2008), a supplemental literacy program, Intervention by Design) (Rigby, 2009), an intervention program tailored to children who need additional help with reading, Summer Success Reading (Great Source, 2007), a reading program designed to help children who need additional help with reading as well as Afterschool Achiever’s Reading Club (Great Source, 2003). Michael is also a contributing author of the revised Daybooks, grades 3-5 (Great Source, 2008). Michael’s articles appear in professional and trade journals. Michael works in selected classrooms in the US and abroad planning, teaching and evaluating demonstration lessons focused on different aspects of literacy. He provides in-service and staff development sessions, serves as a consultant, and presents at state and international conferences.

Dr. Judy Regensteiner

Dr. Regensteiner's research expertise in women's health is in the cardiovascular effects of diabetes. She also has extensive expertise in vascular diseases, including peripheral arterial disease. She has been Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator of large grants to assess exercise capacity and gender differences in type 2 diabetes and the effects of exercise training in people with type 2 diabetes and peripheral arterial disease. She has been an Investigator for the National Institutes of Diabetes Prevention Program and is an Investigator for the National Institutes of Health's "Look Ahead" program to reduce cardiovascular outcomes in people with diabetes. Her work is funded by the American Diabetes Association and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Regensteiner has authored more than 100 research publications in her areas of expertise and has received many honors, including the Department of Medicine's Ph.D. Teaching and Research Award, the CU System-wide Elizabeth Gee Memorial Lectureship Award, and the American Federation for Medical Research's Henry Christian Award for Outstanding Cardiovascular Research. She is a member of the National Institutes of Health Think Tank for Cardiovascular Research in Women and of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee, formed by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. She has given medical grand rounds at Philadelphia's Drexel University on women and vascular disease, and has presented her research findings at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Stanford University, University of Minnesota, University of Basel in Switzerland, the Quebec International Symposium on Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, the Transatlantic Vascular Medicine meetings, the Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology, and in Kuopio, Finland, at the Conference for Physical Activity in Conjunction with Pharmacological Therapy for Chronic Vascular Diseases.

Jonathan Tee

Jonathan Tee is Chief of Operations and Communications for the Alliance for Choice in Education (ACE), a Denver-based non-profit that provides low-income children with financial assistance to attend the private K-12 school of their choice. Since 2000, ACE has allocated more than $9 million in scholarships to over 6,000 low-income children along Colorado’s Front Range. Jonathan brings more than a decade of experience to ACE in the areas of education, political campaign management, fund raising, communications strategy and media relations. Having worked in the private, public, political and non-profit sectors, Jonathan has acquired a wide range of experience. Jonathan was previously Communications Director for the Colorado Secretary of State, serving as spokesperson for the Department of State. In this role he developed communications strategies and provided policy advice on a wide-range of issues, including elections, campaign finance, and Colorado’s business and non-profit sectors. Prior to working in state government, Jonathan worked as a political campaign operative in California and Colorado. In this capacity, Jonathan oversaw all aspects of political campaigns and managed races at every level, including Los Angeles City Council, State Assembly, Congress and a statewide campaign for California Insurance Commissioner. In Colorado, Jonathan served as Communications Director for Rick O’Donnell’s nationally-targeted 2006 congressional campaign. Jonathan is a graduated of the Hillsdale College, where he earned a B.A. degree in History and State Certification as a secondary teacher. He substitute taught at the middle and high school levels in Michigan and Colorado.

Elizabeth A. Wolfson

The Girls Athletic Leadership Schools is the vision of Elizabeth A. Wolfson, who will serve as chair of the board of the first school and currently serves as President of the Girls Athletic Leadership Schools organization.Elizabeth Wolfson is an organizational development specialist with senior level consultancy and management experience in the profit and non-profit sectors in local, national, and international settings. She has spent seven years living and working professionally in Israel. Highlights of her professional work include designing and developing the first corporate plan for global internal communications (including technical infrastructure) for a world leader in telecommunications with 40 offices around the globe; leading the start-up of an adult education organization; representing a major international political leader; serving as consultant to the executive of a large sports-oriented non-profit where she has contributed to projects such as the World Scholar Athlete Games, National Sportsmanship Day, and the Center for Sports Poetry; and bringing the United Way to the Middle East. Elizabeth Wolfson captained the Division I Field Hockey program at Brown University, graduating with a degree in Organizational Behavior and Management. She studied for her Master’s degree in Public Administration at the University of Southern California, simultaneously earning a Master’s degree in Jewish Communal Service from the Hebrew Union College. She was inducted into the Sussex County, New Jersey, Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. This past February, Ms. Wolfson was invited to participate in the Aspen Institute Seminars program.