Staff
Lloyd Athearn, Executive Director
Erin Button, Administrative Assistant
Erin joined the CFI staff in 2025. She has spent the entirety of her career in the nonprofit sector in a variety of different roles, from administration to program management. Prior to coming to CFI, Erin worked at a youth-serving organization in Denver, and before that, at two different nonprofits in Chicago. Erin received her master’s of nonprofit management from DePaul University in 2017, and she has professional training in community outreach, volunteer recruitment, program management, and grant writing. Erin moved to Colorado from Chicago in 2018 with her husband, and she loves being able to take advantage of all that Colorado’s great outdoors has to offer. In her free time, Erin loves spending quality time with her family (including her two-year-old daughter) by baking, hiking, and exploring different parts of Colorado and the Rockies.
Hannah Clark, Operations Manager
Hannah joined the CFI staff in 2018. Prior to that she served as the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps Peak Apprentice on the Mount Elbert project in 2017. She has also worked on trail building projects and natural-resource management with Northwest Youth Corps in Oregon. Professionally, Hannah has worked as an environmental analyst, natural resource steward, and lab technician for organizations and agencies in California and Oregon. She has a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Master’s degree in environmental law and policy from Sturm College of Law at DU. Hannah brings a life-long passion for conservation education, hard work, and volunteerism to CFI.
Tom Cronin, Field Programs Manager
2022 marks Tom’s 14th consecutive season working in the realm of trails. After spending three years with the City of Boulder, Open Space and Mountain Parks he came on board with CFI in 2012. He went on to spend five seasons with CFI as a Project Manager leading projects on Holy Cross, Maroon Peak, El Diente, and Mount Eolus. In 2017, he moved into the position of Sustainable Trails Coordinator. He analyzed over 29,000 trail features while conducting comprehensive assessments of trail conditions on 33 different 14ers over the course of his next two seasons. In 2019, he moved into his current role as Field Projects Manager. In this role Tom is assisting with the management and oversight of CFI’s seasonal staff and projects as well as working with USFS Fourteeners Program Manager on designing new trails. Tom immediately became enamored with trail work, specifically dry-set stonework and has pursued his passion ever since.
Mac Gibson, Field Projects Coordinator
Mac has been working in trails since 2018, and he’s spent five of those years with CFI. Mac helped manage a large project on Mt. Wilson for two years before moving over to the High Shavano project for an additional two seasons. When he’s not building trails, Mac can be found on his bike, out for a hike, hanging on the river, or continuing his education with Arizona State University. Mac has an associate’s degree in outdoor education and is working his way through two bachelor’s degrees, one in geographic information science and another in conservation biology and ecology.
Carlie Harrison, Nomad Crew Operations Coordinator
Carlie joined CFI in 2020 as part of the Nomad Crew. She worked for four seasons with that program, maintaining trails around the state of Colorado and engaging volunteers in trail maintenance and education projects. She was a crew leader for the High Shavano project in 2024 and now joins the team as the Nomad Crew Operations Coordinator. Carlie is passionate about recreating outdoors—in both the summer and the winter—and loves engaging with volunteers and the public to help people learn about and protect the alpine ecosystem.
Lindsey King, Deputy Director
Lindsey joined CFI’s staff in 2025, after having worked as a professional journalist and magazine editor in Denver for more than 23 years. She often reported and wrote about outdoor recreation opportunities and environmental conservation efforts in Colorado. In her role at CFI, Lindsey oversees external communications and media relations, assists the organization in achieving its annual fundraising goals, and helps manage and organize operations across the state. Lindsey holds a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism. She is a seven-time finalist and two-time winner of the National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s Pulitzer Prize equivalent, with four of those stories centering on outdoor recreation in the Centennial State.
Brent Almand, Head of Finance and Accounting
Brent joined CFI in 2026 as Head of Finance and Accounting. He brings more than a decade of experience in nonprofit finance, operations, and organizational leadership. Prior to joining CFI, Brent served as Senior Director of Finance and Operations at Springs Rescue Mission and previously held leadership and accounting roles with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and MidwayUSA Foundation. Throughout his career, Brent has focused on building strong systems, improving organizational processes, and helping leadership teams connect financial information with long-term planning and decision-making. A lifelong outdoor enthusiast, Brent has spent years hiking and exploring Colorado’s mountains and is excited to combine that personal passion with work that helps protect and preserve Colorado’s 14ers for future generations..
Miriam Venman-Clay, Field Programs Manager
Miriam joined CFI in 2012 as a Project Manager working on the Maroon Bells reconstruction project. Over the past several years she has led projects on Mount Eolus and El Diente Peak, and become one of CFI’s most experienced leaders in technical rock work. In 2016, Miriam joined the permanent staff as Field Projects Coordinator. With more than a decade of experience working in the backcountry and teaching trail work, she is an integral part of the core staff – assisting with seasonal hiring, project oversight, and ensuring that CFI’s trail crew members perform to the highest standards. She loves the wilderness and feels a great urgency to help protect it through action and education. She likes working for CFI because the organization embodies her ideals and is taking action to save the sacred, endangered alpine ecosystem.
2026 Seasonal Staff
