Kurt Achtenhagen, CPA (Treasurer) has 15+ years of corporate and nonprofit finance and accounting experience. He currently serves as the Director of Finance and Operations for the Leave No Trace Center For Outdoor Ethics, a national environmental education nonprofit. Additionally Kurt has served on the Board as Treasurer for the Sugar Loaf Fire Protection District.

John Carron, Ph.D (Secretary) has degrees in Mathematics, Geography, and Civil Engineering. He is a water resources planning and management consultant working in the area of water sustainability. John previously served on the board of Hydrosphere Resource Consultants where he was involved with various strategic planning initiatives, and on the Louisville Open Space Advisory Board.

.John Whitehouse Cobb  After graduating from Harvard College in 1966 and Columbia Law School in 1969, Cobb worked as a VISTA lawyer with Colorado Rural Legal Services, primarily with indigent clients and migrant farm workers. He continued to work in the public sector for Navajo Legal Services in New Mexico and Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Bangor, ME, from 1980–83. He served as Director of Colorado Coalition of Legal Services Programs and Western Regional Training Center in Denver from 1980–83 and then was in private practice in Boulder for ten years.Through a series of auspicious coincidences, he was appointed president of Naropa University in 1993 and served until 2003. He also served on Naropa’s Board of Trustees since 1985. He designed and taught a course in leadership in Naropa’s Environmental Leadership Program, and also taught “Freedom is Just Another Word: The Evolution of the Bill of Rights” at Naropa. He is a prolific poet in his spare time. Cobb is the author of Footnotes to the Inexplicable: A Memoir in Verse.Bird watching is another of his passions—an activity he shares with his wife, Bayard. John and Bayard have one son, Joshua Cobb, and two grandchildren. Since leaving the presidency, Bayard and John have been actively involved in the establishment of the Peace Studies degree at Naropa and their support led the Board of Trustees to create the Bayard and John Cobb Annual Peace Lecture.

Marti Holley, a co-founder of Eastern Sun Academy, has trained in the Waldorf method for kindergarten and elementary grades. She has 27 years of experience as a teacher and was founder of Blue Sky Kindergarten. An experienced educational administrator, she was also the children's program coordinator at Karmê Choling Buddhist Meditation Center and at Shambala Mountain Center.

Jennifer Howell  holds an M.A. in Contemplative Psychotherapy and has worked as a school-based Psychotherapist in both elementary and middle schools. She spent three years working with developmentally disabled adults and children, often assisting special needs children with their transition into mainstream education, and was a board member for four years of the Shambhala Prison Community, a non-profit education program responding to requests from federal and state penitentiaries for Contemplative Education and practices.

Hank Nicholson, CFP graduated from the University of Colorado in 1991 with degrees in English and Economics. He has worked in the financial field since 1993 as a portfolio manager, hedge fund trader and investment strategist. A Certified Financial Planner, he joined Colorado Capital Management, Inc., an independent wealth management firm, in 2000 as Chief Economist and Portfolio Manager.

Steven Sachs, a co-founder of Eastern Sun Academy, has been an educator for 26 years. A certified Montessori teacher, he has led numerous classes and written many articles in the field of Contemplative Education. He recently completed three years as the chairperson for the Boulder Shambhala Center Family Council, which oversees contemplative programs and activities for over 150 families in the Boulder area. He is also an adjunct faculty member of Naropa University, and a mentor teacher through CU Denver’s teaching licensure program.

Eric Savage (Board Chair) has held management postions in the computer software industry for 22 years, focusing on the areas of research and development, marketing, and education. In 1988, he joined Dynamic Information Systems Corporation, and has served as their Vice President of Research and Development for the past 12 years. He has also served as a fundraising coordinator for Nalandabodhi Boulder for the last 5 years.