California Staff
Executive Director
Mark joined BCM as Executive Director in January 2003. Prior to his role overseeing the entire organization, Mark spent years working with BCM in a variety of volunteer capacities: leading trips, working with corporate sponsors, and engaging youth groups. Before transitioning to the non-profit sector, Mark spent 12 years in senior-level sales and sales-management roles with for-profit corporations. Mark has held Board or Advisory positions with other non-profits, to include Habitat for Humanity, and Exploring New Horizons Outdoor Schools. Joining BCM fulfills his long-term interest in marrying his strong business skills with his passion for the outdoors and interest in programs serving under-resourced teens.
California Program Manager
Patrice joined the BCM team in January 2008. After graduating from the University of Miami, Patrice spent a year as an Americorps fellow with the Literacy Coalition of Broward County, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Having gained experience in the non-profit sector she decided to stick with the trend and assumed the position of project manager for KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit that builds playspaces for youth throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This year she decided it was time to focus on the area where she was raised and joined the BCM team hoping to make a positive impact on the youth of the San Francisco Bay Area. In her free time Patrice loves to read, scuba dive and sail.
Colorado Staff
Director of Operations & Safety
Mitsu joined BCM with 15years of experience in the Outdoor Programming industry in multiple capacities an instructor and program manger. Having earned degrees in Environmental Engineering and in Non-Profit Management he feels he has been exceptionally fortunate to have had opportunities to combine his studies, passions, and values and beliefs into roles that he sees as doing “good” and affecting real and useful change. His last 4 years has been spent dedicated to urban youth working in both public and private schools in Boston Massachusetts. Outside of his career, he has traveled around the globe coupling his curiosity of the world and its cultures and climbing big mountains. Some of his greatest adventures to date include eating monkeys with an indigenous group deep in the Amazon Jungle, passing-out in an alley in Chamonix after an excruciatingly long climb in the French Alps, feeling sorry for himself at the moment he realized getting on a grade V 5.11 A2+ after three years away from climbing was a really bad idea.
Program Director
Erin joined BCM as Program Director in February of 2003. Erin is a Colorado mountain town native who grew up as much out of doors, as in. After attending college she spent several years working for non-profit organizations on the East Coast, including The Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, and the New York Public Interest Research Group. She then took her love of the outdoors global as she spent a year and a half backpacking around the world. These pursuits made her realize just how fortunate she had been and precipitated her committing her career to providing similar life-experiences to teens from economically challenged backgrounds. She is pictured here with her dog Boondoggle (one of BCM's official office mascots)
Logistics Manager
Greta joined BCM in January 2005 as our Colorado AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, helping to continue carrying out the expansion of the Colorado program. Greta has significant formal schooling in experiential and outdoor education, as well as considerable job experience with outdoor program management. In 2006 Greta transitioned into the full-time role of Logistics Manager.
volunteer Manager
BRIE BROWER
Brie came on board with BCM in July of 2007 as a Cause Marketing Coordinator and has since switched her focus to managing the adult volunteers and Team Leaders on the Program side. When she moved out to Colorado after two glorious years in public accounting in the SF Bay Area, she found that there was actually more to life than sitting in traffic and crunching numbers for 80 hours a week! Who knew? In her free time Brie likes to play hopscotch and hoola hoop. She also loves to eat cheese.
Cause Marketing MANAGER
Hillary joined the Summit For Someone team in the fall of 2006. Hillary has spent time as a field instructor for Outward Bound, as a climbing teacher, and in outdoor retail. The last 4 years she has been working in event planning and marketing for both retail and non profit organizations. Joining BCM was only a matter of time, and she’s excited to be organizing climbs that benefit Big City Mountaineer’s programs. When not looking at excel sheets or marketing campaigns she can be found chasing her daughter around and dreaming of returning to the sharp end of the rope.
program Manager
BCM joined Chris as his newest employer in February 2007. With the growing success of the Summit For Someone Program, Chris immediately saw an opportunity to unleash his immense knowledge of the outdoor industry upon BCM. 4 years of college, a BA in International Development, 3 years experience as a field instructor and teacher, more than enough years in retail, and one banjo later… he knew that a job in Marketing must be the perfect fit! Chris’ passion for the outdoors borders on obsession, and he is always looking to share it. When not dressed for success at BCM, he can be found clinging to various types of rock throughout the Mountain West.
Cause marketing coordinator
BRENDAN LEONARD
Brendan joined BCM in May 2008 after four years of working in the newspaper and Internet industries and finding himself increasingly gravitating toward the nonprofit sector. If he's not in the mountains climbing, hiking, backpacking or backcountry snowboarding, he's probably thinking about the mountains in some capacity (or writing about them). He enjoys talking about mountains every day with Summit For Someone climbers, and he enjoys doing work that makes a difference.
development coordinator
Megan joined BCM in April of 2008 as BCM’s Development Coordinator, where she is responsible for non-outdoor industry fundraising. She is thrilled to be working for an organization that combines her love of the outdoors and her passion for enhancing the lives of urban teens. Megan has fundraised for a number of different outdoor and educational nonprofit organizations and even did a stint as a Ranger Intern in both Death Valley and Bryce Canyon National Parks. As one of the few non-climbers on BCM’s staff, when not writing grants and talking with BCM funders, Megan can be found hiking, biking, skiing and relaxing in Colorado’s glorious scenery.
chicago regional program coordinator
Bernie started with BCM as a volunteer in 2002. Having more than 10 years experience taking at-risk youth on outdoor adventures and professional work with a white-water river outfitter, BCM was a natural fit for him -- combining his love of the outdoors with his commitment to building youth. Bernie recently left the corporate world and got his Master’s in Community Counseling to focus on youth work. He joined BCM part time as the Chicago Region Program Manager in 2007 and holds down the Midwest fort and BCM’s paddling program. When not working for BCM, Bernie runs an experiential education program for a local youth agency and counsels kids. In his free time, he and his 15 year old son explore the great outdoors by boat and foot.
