Anjulie Rao-Fundraising Committee Member

     

Anjulie, a native of Boulder, CO, did her undergraduate degree in Art History and Contemporary Visual Studies at the University of Colorado- Boulder and graduated in 2008. Since then, she has been working as an Americorps member with Metro Volunteers as their School Engagement Coordinator, with hopes of helping high-needs schools meet critical needs through volunteerism. Her professional passions and specialties are: Creating strong communities, planning special events, building relationships between for-profit and non-profit groups, and recruiting volunteers. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her bike, writing art reviews, being a vegetarian, volunteering, swimming in the Platte, and making prank phone calls.

    

Joél Contreras-Fundraising Committee Chair

   

For nearly 19 years, Joél Contreras was employed in the Information Technology area of pension fund giant TIAA-CREF and played significant roles in almost every area of the company's technology division including Database Management System, Network Infrastructure, Project Management, Disaster Recovery, and Systems Programming.   In 1995, he was selected as one of two IT managers to help expand TIAA-CREF's business operations from New York City to Denver, Colorado.  

Together with his wife (Giovanna), Joél started a language interpretation and translation company in 2004.  The company, named Cesco (pronounced "Chesco") Linguistic Services, Inc., has become a viable local entity contracting hundreds of local language professionals. 

In addition to his work with Cesco Linguistic Services, Inc.., Joél is part owner and the President and CEO of an online foreign language learning company called Learning Like Crazy, Inc..

        

Justin Krieger-Fundraising Committee Member

Justin Krieger is a Senior Advisor at Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors and specializes in representing investors in the acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate investments throughout the Rocky Mountain Region. Justin grew up in New York City, earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial & Labor Relations from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and moved to Denver to attend the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver, where he earned a Juris Doctorate. Justin is a licensed real estate broker and attorney in Colorado. In addition to being on the Y.E.S.S. Institute’s Board, Justin has volunteered and raised funds for other organizations, such as the Denver Rescue Mission, Brokers Benefitting Kids, and the Little Orchestra Society.

Thomas M. Doherty- Board Chair

Tom is currently Chief Operating Officer of Domino, Inc., a designer, manufacturer and wholesaler of equestrian rider apparel in Boulder, Colorado.  Prior to Domino, Inc., Tom spent 11 years at Classic Sport Companies, a high growth developer and marketer of innovative sporting goods products.  As the first employee of the company, Tom was involved in all aspects of the company from sourcing, product development, procurement, sales and operations.  In 2001, Tom was part of the executive team that successfully completed the sale of the company to Endeavour Capital, a private equity firm in Oregon.  In 2005, Tom joined the not-for-profit National Inventors Hall of Fame, a national provider of fee based after-school programs and summer science camps for elementary school children.  As the National Manager of Elementary School Programs, Tom was responsible for the development and implementation of the national camp strategy.  During his tenure at NIHF, Tom was also responsible for streamlining procedures and the creation and successful execution of a national fundraising program.

    

Kyle Henderson-Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair

Kyle currently works for FirstBank of Cherry Creek. Prior to this he attended the University of Oregon where he worked with a number of non-profit agencies geared towards helping disadvantaged families both domestically and abroad. These agencies assisted people from Oregon, India, Kenya, Peru, and Brazil. Since moving to Colorado he has found a calling from the at-risk youth of Denver. Many schools in the area are subject to the same pressures he was exposed to throughout school. This connection has inspired his efforts to improve children's situation in Colorado public schools.

Greg Vernon-Secretary and Fundraising Committee Member

Greg Vernon is a Vice President at the Wired Real Estate Group, the nation’s leading cloud, colocation and data center real estate firm where he advises clients on data center planning, brokerage and finance.  Mr. Vernon was previously the Regional Vice President of Sales at ViaWest, Inc., the largest privately held colocation provider in the United States, where he was instrumental in growing revenue from $0 to over $100 million. Prior to ViaWest, Mr. Vernon held senior sales positions with Thompson Reuters and Global Crossing.

Greg has been in the Denver business community since 1993 and, over the years, has been active in various for-profit and non-profit organizations in the telecommunications and technology sectors.  Greg's business development expertise and network of contacts throughout Colorado bring significant marketing and fundraising opportunity to the YESS Institute. 

Greg is married to Carol Vernon and they have three children, Brooke (9) Ellen (6) and Jack (5), for whom he loves to volunteer in the classroom and coach athletic teams. 

Greg earned a BA in Marketing from Colorado State University.

    

Yung Vu-Strategic Planning Committee

Yung Vu is Vice President of Acquisitions at The Simha Group, a real estate investment and management firm, where he is responsible for originating and executing commercial and residential real estate acquisitions. Previously, Mr. Vu worked at KeyBanc Capital Markets, where he provided capital raising and mergers and acquisitions advisory services for both public and private companies in the diversified industrial and transportation & logistics sector.   Prior to KeyBanc, Mr. Vu worked at a boutique mergers and acquisitions firm in Shanghai, where he was a founding member of their China M&A practice.  Mr. Vu
earned a B.B.A. in Finance from Emory University's Goizueta Business School and completed academic programs at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's School of Business and Management and at Beijing Language and Culture University.  Mr. Vu is a Denver native and speaks English, Vietnamese, and Mandarin.

  

Terri Slivka-Curriculum Committee

Terri Slivka has been a volunteer in the Denver community for over 25 years.  Her involvement has spanned groups as diverse as the National Kidney Foundation of Colorado, Colorado Fourteeners' Initiative, Junior League of Denver, and the Cherry Creek Schools Parents' Council.  Currently serving on the Dean's Advisory Board for the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Colorado, she also volunteers for the Bridge Project of the University of Denver as a tutor and still maintains a relationship with her mentee from Denver Kids, who is now in her 30s and has a child of her own.  She has two degrees from the University of Colorado, a BA in Biology and a MA in  Counselor Psychology and Counseling Education.  Her most recent employment was as a high school counselor at Cherry Creek High School (2003-2007).

Portia Prescott-Strategic Planning Committee

Biography coming soon!