The Sopris Sun’s board meets at 6:30 PM on the second Thursday of the month at the Third Street Center and via Zoom.
Current Board Members
Kay Clarke Co-Chair
Outside of 15 years locally in the journalism field, Kay has worked in community outreach and affordable housing for four local governments. She was among a small group of Carbondale residents who formed a community housing nonprofit. With the latter, legislation was created valley-wide for inclusionary housing measures and guidelines. She has been here since 1977 and is passionate about the importance of a local, independent newspaper.
Eric Smith Co-Chair
Eric moved to Carbondale in 2010 from Washington, D.C. where he was a lawyer practicing copyright and trade law and was also president of a trade association (the International Intellectual Property Alliance) representing the copyright-based industries and comprising over 3000 companies. Before that Eric was SVP and GC at PBS. Coming to the RFV was a dream for Eric. Shortly after arriving, he was honored to be asked to take over as president of the board at the Thunder River Theatre Company. After his term ended at TRTC, he was invited to join the board of The Sopris Sun and is now co-chair. He is also the VP and board member of the Aspen International Mountain Foundation (AIMF) dedicated to mountain sustainability on a global basis. AIMF is on the Steering Committee of the UN’s Mountain Partnership, a coalition of 60 mountain countries and over 400 intergovernmental organizations and NGOs. The Sopris Sun, and el Sol del Valle, is an incredible community resource and he is proud to be contributing to its growth and its deepening commitment to Carbondale and the Valley as a whole.
Donna Dayton Secretary
Donna went to high school in Arvada, college in Gunnison, graduate school at Denver University. Then she taught middle school in Steamboat Springs and served as the director of technology at a high school in Carpinteria, California. She is retired, volunteers for the Forest Conservancy and the Roaring Fork Quilt Guild. She is married to Jerome Dayton and lives in Carbondale.
Klaus Kocher Treasurer
Klaus is a photojournalist and adjunct professor at the Isaacson School at Colorado Mountain College. He holds an MFA in photography from Ohio University, along with a Bachelors in Business and a Bachelors in Food Technology from Iowa State. He has won numerous awards in the Denver Photographic Society, was a finalist in the Gordon Parks Photography Competition and honorable mention in the Rotary International Photography Contest.
Before coming to the Valley, he worked as a contract photographer for United Press International and The Associated Press in Iowa, the Centerville-Bellbrook Times, the Kettering-Oakwood Times and the Troy Daily Times in Ohio. While living in Denver before graduate studies, he worked at the Camera Obscura Gallery with his mentor Hal Gould. Klaus continues to shoot as a freelance photographer based in Glenwood Springs. He is always traveling the world with camera in hand and loves to teach darkroom photography. Klaus was awarded the CMC Adjunct Faculty of the year in 2015.
Jessi Rochel
Jessi Rochel is a longtime local. She grew up in Carbondale, worked for Carbondale Parks & Rec. for 14 years, and is the current executive director of the Chris Klug Foundation. She likes running, biking, and swimming silly long distances, traveling to faraway places, reading just about anything, volunteering with other nonprofits and cats. She especially likes cats.
Andrew Travers
An Aspen-based writer and former newspaper and magazine editor, Andrew’s recent work has been published by The Atlantic and The Colorado Sun. His writing and criticism have earned awards from the Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists, Colorado Press Association and Local Media Association. He is currently Penner Manager of Educational Programs at the Aspen Institute.
Roger Berlinger
Roger grew up in Cincinnati and attended Dartmouth College. He was drawn to Washington D.C. where he served members of the House, Senate, and Executive Branch. Later, he moved to Sacramento to serve the California State Assembly and finish law school. He owned a law firm and consulting firm focused on energy and utilities, and ran for local office and served for 12 years as a commissioner for Montgomery County, Maryland (called council members back east) before moving to this beautiful valley four years ago with his wife, Karen, and their pups, leaving two grown children, Jesse and Owen, back east.
Anna Huntington
Anna Seaton Huntington is a Kansas native and happy Carbondale transplant. She is a nonprofit communications and development professional with a background in journalism focused on women’s sports.
Lee Beck
Liz Phillips
Founding Board Members
- Russ Criswell
- Peggy Devilbiss
- Allyn Harvey
- Colin Laird
- Barbara New
- Elizabeth Phillips
- Becky Young
Honorary Publishers for their annual commitment of $1,000+
Lee Beck & John Stickney
Kay Brunnier
Michelle & Ed Buchman
Toni Cerise
CoVenture
Sue Edelstein & Bill Spence
Deborah & Shane Evans
Greg & Kathy Feinsinger
Peter & Mike Gilbert
Gary & Jill Knaus
Carly & Frosty Merriott
Mama Sandy & Lee Mulcahy
James Noyes
Ken & Donna Riley
Patti & George Stranahan
Anne Sullivan & John Colson
Megan Tackett
True Nature Healing Arts
Elizabeth Wysong
Alpine Bank
Legacy Givers
for including us in their final wishes.
Mary Lilly
Legacy Givers , those who have included us in their final wishes
- Mary Lilly
DONATE:
By mail:
P.O. Box 399
Carbondale, CO 81623
In person:
520 S. Third Street #32