Staff

David Anderson

Advertising, Sponsor & Partner Development

An import from Minnesota, David joined High Country News in March 2009. With 20 years of experience in marketing and sales and an upbeat personality, he helps keep our advertising pages filled. He enjoys a good game of golf, live music, and spending time with his family, including his wife Stevi and young son Skylar.

email: davida at hcn.org

Michelle Anderson

Circulation Assistant

Michelle has the shortest commute of any of our employees – she just walks across the alley. A Vietnam veteran, she has deep family roots in Colorado and Arizona which have given her a love of the West. At work, she cheerfully helps our subscribers, and at home she works in her garden and spends time with her five kitties. Two of them, Yoda and Sweet Pea, regularly sun themselves on our back patio.

email: m.anderson at hcn.org

Cally Carswell

Assistant Editor

Cally, a 2009 editorial intern, returns to HCN as a full-time staff reporter. She heads up our multimedia work, and also writes news stories.

email: callyc at hcn.org

Craig Childs

Contributing Editor

Craig Childs is an Arizona native now living off the grid in Western Colorado with his wife and two boys.  He has published several highly acclaimed books and frequently hauls his work to the High Country News office where he sets up a desk and has been seen begging for chocolate.

email:  waterpocket at gmail.com

Mary Cox

Periodical Fulfillment Coordinator

Mary Cox has rejoined the HCN team after a 12 year absence. After working in the accounting and customer service field for 33 years, she joined HCN's business office back in 1996. In 1999, Mary left to join her husband's busy General Contracting business, in which she managed her own office until 2008 when the economy forced them to close the doors.  Once again, she joined her husband team driving, over the road, in an 18 wheeler for about 8 months.  Returning to what she knows best, she's glad to be back in the office & is looking forward to working in the circulation department.  In her spare time, she likes to spend time with her dog, relax in her yard and go camping with her husband.

email: maryc at hcn.org

Paul Gibb

Financial Advisor

Paul escaped Austin's corporate life for western Colorado in 2000.  Since then, he has been helping small businesses & non-profits with their finances while enjoying the rural lifestyle of Paonia.  Paul has consulted with more than a dozen organizations of varying size and at different stages in their evolution.  Paul signed on as High Country News' Financial Advisor in 2002.  When not crunching #’s, Paul chases around his twin sons and provides free labor to his wife’s organic farming operation.

email: pgibb at hcn.org

Shaun Gibson

Designer/Production Assistant

Shaun works with layout of the magazine and graces the pages with clever illustrations that bring our stories to life. After dabbling briefly in the world of plumbing, he earned his B.A. in Graphic Design from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. In his spare time, Shaun is an active photographer and artist.

email: shaun at hcn.org

Sarah Gilman

Associate Editor

Sarah, a former High Country News intern, now edits and writes short news, profiles, infographics and features for the magazine. She also manages the HCN intern program. Before working for HCN, she bounced around the Rockies, studying white-crowned sparrows, reporting at a daily newspaper and working on a trail crew. Sarah enjoys weaving, hiking, running and painting. Her favorite tool—from her days carving out trails on the slopes of Mount Massive—is the double jack. These days, she's also especially partial to her 8-lb. maul.

email: sarah at hcn.org

Matt Jenkins

Contributing Editor

Matt, a former High Country News intern, has written extensively about water, drought and climate change in the West. In 2006, he won the James V. Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism. Matt has worked as a firefighter on a Forest Service helicopter-rappel crew, and spent three years in China working with Médecins Sans Frontières, a humanitarian aid organization. He now writes from Berkeley and enjoys backpacking and skiing.

email: matt at hcn.org

Kati Johnson

Circulation Assistant

Since November 2011, our new circulation assistant, Kati Johnson, has been helping to fill the caverns of HCN’s databases with information. She’s also one of the friendly voices you may hear when you call our headquarters. The comforts of family and fast food from her hometown of Omaha, Neb., tug at her heartstrings from time to time, but as a Paonia resident since 2004, she loves the small-town convenience of living close to everything she needs. On a typical weekend, she’s playing cards and dice with her two teenage boys, Jonas and Noah, humiliating her husband, Ryan, at cribbage or reading a book.

email: katij at hcn.org

JoAnn Kalenak

Special Projects Marketer

JoAnn is in charge of syndicating HCN's work to other publications in both print and online.  She works with editors throughout the West - and beyond - to get our stories reprinted in the hopes of introducing new readers to HCN and to help fulfill our mission to "inform and inspire."  When she was young, her brothers would call her “Jo-Annie Oakley,” and she still considers herself a die-hard Westerner. In her free time, she is on the board of directors for a local animal rescue organization and hangs out with her husband, two cats, four dogs, three goats, and six geese.

email: joann at hcn.org

Marian Lyman Kirst

Editorial Fellow

Marian Lyman Kirst, a 2011 intern, is now an editorial fellow for High Country News. The Billings, Mont. native graduated from Hamilton College in Environmental studies with a focus in geology. Before joining HCN, she was living in China, where she moved after graduating from Boston University's Science and Medical Journalism program. In addition to being a serious movie and film score geek, she loves to fly-fish, snowboard, and canoe and is obsessed with insects and spiders. She looks forward to writing stories about her three loves: Rocks, fish, and bugs.

email: marianlyman at hcn.org

Paul Larmer

Executive Director/Publisher

After completing his internship in 1984, Paul went on to hold almost every possible position at High Country News. He is now responsible for working with the board of directors, drumming up funding and generally making sure the magazine is sailing in the right direction. He holds a Master’s Degree in Natural Resource Policy and worked for years at the Sierra Club. Every summer he plants a few crops on his small ranch in Western Colorado and pretends to be a farmer.

email: plarmer at hcn.org

Neil LaRubbio

Editorial Intern

Neil LaRubbio joins HCN with a master’s in journalism from the University of Montana, where he graduated last spring. Neil’s written for both Bugle Magazine and HCN. He also co-founded a documentary film company, Highway Goat Productions. After gaining a degree in radio, television and film from the University of Texas, Austin in 2003, he and one of his brothers came west in search of work and adventure. While working in Yellowstone, Neil met his future wife, Jessica. The couple camped their way through Spain and Scotland, taught English in Prague and Korea, and married in 2008. Returning to Montana, Neil worked as a wildland firefighter and decided to finally pursue journalism full-tilt. He’s joined in Paonia by Jessica and their young son, Nico.

email: neill at hcn.org

Betsy Marston

Writers on the Range Editor

She may have edited High Country News for 19 years – longer than anyone else in the history of the publication – but Betsy insists the experience did not make her crazy. She currently edits Writers on the Range and writes the column “Heard Around the West.” She also delights in collecting quirky photos from readers and sharing them on the back page of the magazine. She describes herself as a “volunteeraholic,” and in no particular order, loves Paonia, biking back roads, reading the Sunday New York Times, and her grandchildren Maude and Bruno.

email: betsym at hcn.org

Kathy Martinez

Circulation Manager

Kathy has ensured the safe delivery of the magazine to mailboxes everywhere since 1995. She now manages our in-house circulation staff who provide friendly support to our subscribers, and works to keep them coming back. Now that her kids are grown, she eats, sleeps and breathes High Country News, and relaxes at home with the flowers and vegetables in her garden. Originally from southern California, she’s made Paonia her home since 1992.

email: kathy at hcn.org

Denise Massart-Isaacson & Michelle Riley

Business Managers

Denise & Michelle are responsible for payroll, human resources, accounts payable and receivable, and general office management.  Michelle also provides staff IT support and coordinates the Development Department's monthly giving program.

email: denise at hcn.org, riley at hcn.org

Mike Maxwell

Director of Operations

In August 2009, Mike Maxwell became our new Web and IT manager. Mike maintains the HCN Web site, analyzes web traffic data, and advises the managers on online marketing strategy. Mike, who has a B.A. in political science from the University of Colorado at Denver, has been in Paonia for three years now with his partner, Thea Deley. Originally from Fort Collins, Colo., he's also lived in New Mexico and California, where he worked at an Internet start-up company. In his spare time, Mike enjoys really good wine, making Mexican food and pretending that he is an actual fly fisherman.

email: mikem at hcn.org

Judith Lewis Mernit

Contributing Editor

email:

Michelle Nijhuis

Contributing Editor

Michelle began her journalism career in 1998, as a High Country News intern, and has written for High Country News ever since. Michelle has also written for Smithsonian, National Geographic and Audubon, and won several national honors including an AAAS Science Journalism Award and inclusion in the anthology Best American Science Writing. A lapsed biologist, Michelle was once paid to chase tortoises through the Sonoran Desert; the tortoises usually won. www.michellenijhuis.com

email: michelle at hcn.org

Stephanie Paige Ogburn

Social Media Editor

Stephanie Paige Ogburn is HCN's online editor. She oversees the content for hcn.org, edits our blogs, produces multimedia for the site, and maintains our Twitter and Facebook feeds. She writes and edits for the print version of High Country News as well. Stephanie is from Virginia but has lived and worked much of her adult live in Colorado, California, and Texas. In 2007, she earned a masters in environmental science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

email: stephanieo at hcn.org

Jodi Peterson

Managing Editor

In 2004, after 16 years as a technical writer, Jodi leapt out of the corporate world to intern with High Country News. A year later, she joined HCN as News Editor; she's now the Managing Editor, which means she oversees Web and magazine content, keeps an eye on budgets and schedules, and generally steers the editorial ship.  When she's not in the office, she refuses to get within 50 feet of a computer. Instead, Jodi spends her free time backpacking, biking, gardening, reading, or rambling with her dog.

email: jodi at hcn.org

Alyssa Pinkerton

Development Associate

For the first time in years, Alyssa is sitting behind a desk. Before coming to the magazine, she bounced around the country working at dude ranches and summer camps, where she did everything from leading creek walks to orchestrating tie-dye extravaganzas. Her duties now include working with the High Country News Board and administering the “Sustainers’ Club” monthly giving program. In her scant free time, she enjoys hanging out with her two kids, painting on oil and silk, and spending time outside.

email: alyssap at hcn.org

Ed Quillen

Contributing Editor

Ed Quillen was born in Colorado in 1950 and has stayed there ever since. A native of Greeley, he twice dropped out of the University of Northern Colorado there. He edited three Colorado newspapers -- the Middle Park times of Kremmling, the Summit County Journal of Breckenridge, and the Mountain Mail of Salida -- before taking up full-time free-lancing from his Salida home in 1983. He and his wife, Martha, founded Colorado Central Magazine, a small regional monthly, in 1994. He's a regular op-ed columnist for the Denver Post. His hobbies revolve around reading, siestas, and walking the dog.

email: ekquillen at gmail.com

Ray Ring

Senior Editor

Ray has been writing about the West since 1979. He started freelancing for High Country News in 1985, did a stint as an editor in Paonia from 1994-1995, and has been back on staff since 2001, covering the Northern Rockies from his home base in Bozeman. He has won numerous awards, including the Sidney Hillman Foundation Journalism Award for his 2007 High Country News cover story “Death in the Energy Fields.” His favorite Western places include the Grand Canyon, Butte, Montana, Wyoming and any Mexican café.

email: rayring at hcn.org

Eric Strebel

Website Developer

Eric Strebel, our soft-spoken new Web developer, joined the HCN team Dec. 1. He’s been working with computers since 1978, when he got his first personal computer. Eric eventually developed his programming hobby into a livelihood. Prior to joining us, he freelanced and operated Mountain West Communication’s website for about a decade. Eric enjoys fishing, hiking in the mountains and perfecting his salsa recipe. He lives in nearby Hotchkiss, Colo., with Barbara, his wife of 32 years.

email: erics at hcn.org

Diane Sylvain

Copy Editor

Diane splits her time between painting – she’s an accomplished artist who sells her art all over Western Colorado – and making our prose sparkle. She sometimes draws illustrations for the magazine, too. She’s worked at High Country News since 1990. Her dad and brother have followed her to Paonia, where she lives in a century-old house with her exceptionally large cat, Gumbo.

email: diane at hcn.org

Doris Teel

Fulfillment Worker

Doris helps distribute direct mailings and issues of the magazine.

Jonathan Thompson

Editor

Jonathan Thompson is a native Westerner with deep roots in southwestern Colorado. He owned and edited the Silverton Standard & the Miner newspaper in the tiny town of Silverton, Colo., and was the editor-in-chief of High Country News from 2007 to 2010. Currently he is a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder. When not in the West, Jonathan and his wife and two daughters live in Berlin, Germany.

email:

Danielle Venton

Editorial Intern

Danielle Venton was born in Petaluma, Calif. Early backpacking trips sparked her curiosity about the natural world, which eventually led her to study biology at Humboldt State University. Unlike her classmates, Danielle couldn’t settle on just one organism to study for the rest of her career, so after graduating in 2005, she left California in search of new challenges.  In 2006, she interned at the federal research facility Fermilab, then became an editor and writer at CERN in Switzerland, interviewing diplomats, physicists and computer scientists. In 2011, she finished a one-year certificate in science communication at UC Santa Cruz, interned at WIRED and freelanced for KUSP public radio.  At HCN, Danielle will continue to gain fluency on Western issues.

email: daniellev at hcn.org

Cindy Wehling

Art Director

Cindy has been responsible for making the magazine look its best since 1990. She works with photographers and artists, and designs and produces most of the magazine. Cindy and her husband also work on the family farm, and are continuing to improve their Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired house.

email: cindy at hcn.org

Tammy York

Renewal & Invoicing Fulfillment Coordinator

Tammy grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, but set off for the West shortly after graduating from college. She's never looked back. She spent ten years in nearby Ridgeway, CO – where she says the wildlife is just incredible – before moving to Paonia in 2007. In her free time, she enjoys biking, playing the piano, baking sweets, and hanging out with her husband and kids.

email: tammyyork at hcn.org