The Sopris Sun LLC was established in 2009 as 501(c)(3) nonprofit for the benefit for the community. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors.
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. For more information, contact board@soprissun.com.
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 resources, and he is proud to be contributing to their growth and their deepening commitment to Carbondale and the Valley as a whole.
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 Bachelor’s in Business and a Bachelor’s 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 a camera in hand and loves to teach darkroom photography. Klaus was awarded the CMC Adjunct Faculty of the Year in 2015.
Roger Berliner
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.
Carlos Ramos
Carlos Ramos Lujan is a real estate broker specializing in luxury residential homes and commercial transactions in the Roaring Fork Valley. Born in Glenwood Springs and raised in the Valley, Carlos has a deep connection to the community he calls home. His passion for helping others is evident through his work with nonprofits focused on recovery and personal development. He is very active in working with local business leaders to improve their business presence and help with their branding efforts.
In his free time, he is an avid reader with a love for biographies. Malcolm X and Robert Moses are his favorites. Carlos also enjoys practicing Brazilian Jiujitsu at Aspen MMA with Ernesto Mendez. His commitment to the local community extends to involvement with the Colorado River Chamber of Commerce and fundraising for scholarship programs.
Loren Jenkins
Loren Jenkins spent the better part of four decades covering international news as a correspondent and editor around the world. He was variously based in London, Madrid, Paris, Beirut, Hong Kong, Saigon, and Rome. The stories he covered ranged from assorted Middle East conflicts to the Vietnam War, from battles between India and Pakistan to the war between Iraq and Iran, the fall of the Shah of Iran and the rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the Palestinian Intifada revolt in Israel, as well as the wars in El Salvador. For the past 15 years, he was the Senior Foreign Editor at NPR in charge of the network’s award-winning international coverage. During his time at NPR, Foreign Desk reporters won countless Columbia-DuPont, Peabody, and Overseas Press Club awards for superior news coverage of events ranging from 9/11 and its aftermath in Iraq and Afghanistan to, most recently, the coverage of the civil war in Libya and Syria.
Before coming to NPR, Mr. Jenkins was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his Washington Post coverage of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath. He has also won an Overseas Press Club award for his coverage of the Lebanese Civil War for Newsweek. He was the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City in 1988-89. His articles and reviews have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, the Nation, the Rolling Stone, Salon, Conde Nast Traveler, and the New York Times.
He also served as Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of The Aspen Times. He is currently writing a TV series based on his work as a foreign correspondent.
Liz Phillips
Liz has been in this valley for many years. As with all long-time residents, she has worn several hats. Most notably, she ran the Basalt Chamber of Commerce through very exciting changes, including the creation of Basalt River Park and the live music amphitheater. She was a metalsmith for 3 decades and is still an Aspen SkiCo instructor. Liz was a founding board member of the Sopris Sun in 2009.
Gayle Wells
Gayle Wells is a Colorado native who has lived in Carbondale since 2002. She graduated from Northwestern University & worked for the Kellogg Business School in the Media Management program until her husband Richard and she decided to retire to Colorado. Staying busy since retiring with volunteering at The Forest Conservancy, local schools, Lift Up, and is delighted to serve a second term with The Sopris Sun.
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