Barbara Volpe

Barbara, a Colorado native, earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has more than 40 years of professional and management experience in the private and nonprofit sectors. After working as a researcher for United Bank of Denver (now Wells Fargo), she was Executive Director of the Presidents’ Leadership Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder, President of the Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and Special Projects Coordinator for former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm at his Center for Public Policy at the University of Denver.

In addition to numerous leadership positions, her leadership background includes training through the Center for Creative Leadership and participation in the Denver Community Leadership Forum Class of 1994. She also developed a series of Outward Bound leadership courses for K-12 educators and founded a K-12 public school in Denver based on Outward Bound pedagogy, The Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning (RMSEL).

Over the years, she has served on the boards of the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning, the Odyssey Expeditionary Learning School, the Colorado Outward Bound School and Outward Bound West, the Berger Foundation, the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation and the CU Boulder School of Education Advisory Board. She also worked for eight years as a consultant to the Rapides Foundation on a large school reform project in Central Louisiana.

Barbara knew Lowry as a little girl when her father was stationed at the Air Force Base. She and her husband, Les, then became residents of Lowry 7 years ago.

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