LEADERSHIP TEAM

Our shared leadership team has a range of expertise and conservation experience, as well as a deep concern for the future of wildlands in our region. Staff are responsible for the bulk of program and funding. The Board of Directors formulates policies and oversees the overall functioning of Wild Connections.
STAFF
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Sztukowski
Co-Executive Director/Conservation Director
John oversees Wild Connections' public lands work, wilderness lands inventories and educational hikes. Outreach to the public, agency staff and government offices on conservation issues and BLM or USFS activites are a large part of his job. He chairs several citizen coaltions active in conservation in the region and serves on BLM's Rocky Mountain Resource Advisory Council. John's background ranges from climate change to sustainable agriculture to habitat restoration and wilderness conservation.
Send a message to John.
India West
Co-Executive Director/Fundraising Director
India focuses on building strong relationships with Wild Connections' donors and grant makers. She is responsible for fundraising, ensuring Wild Connections revenue is sustainable for long term program and operational needs. She also covers much of the day-to-day administrative works. India's background, in addition to fundraising, includes through hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and extensive hikes in her home state of Colorado.
Send a message to India
Jim Lockhart
Board President
Colorado Springs, Legal writer (ret)Jim helps lead our backcountry hikes and has inventoried many of the Forest and BLM roadless areas as a part of the mapping team.. He is active in Pikes Peak Group of Sierra Club. Backpacking in California’s Sierras and other western wildernesses are among his favorite adventures.
Claude Neumann
Board Treasurer
Denver, Civil Engineer (ret.) Claude is retired from the City of Denver Building Department. He leads Wild Connections hikes and has done conservation work and led hikes for many years with the Colorado Mountain Club. His special wilderness interest often leads him to Utah to explore the canyons and and support protection of the red rock lands.
Kristin Skoog
Board Vice-president
Colorado Springs, Software Engineer (ret)Kristin also chairs our funding team and is on the planning team. She likes hiking, backpacking, skiing, and working on wildlands inventory and monitoring projects. Her background is in software development, and she lends her technical skills to help with the website and productivity tools for the team.
Alison Gallensky
Broard Secretary
Westminster, Conservation GeographerAlison’s extensive background in software engineering and geographic information systems have been put to use in support of Wild Connections' roadless area inventories and climate modeling. She is Rocky Mountain Wild’s Conservation Geographer Director and active in GIS in the Rockies. She likes to travel and visit far flung places across North America.
Extended Community
Wild Connections can’t do this work on our own. Our talented extended community makes our work possible and successful. We’d like to recognize the following peope for their work and ongoing support:
Rocky Smith - Public lands policies Christine Hill - Publications Lee Patton - Publications Sofia Corley - Financial assistant Beka Whitson, Whitson Strategies Plus all the photographers who share their images that invite us into wild nature
Jean Smith Founder Emerita
Colorado Springs, Non-profit Administration (ret) Jean organized a steering committee and volunteers to map roadless areas on the Pike-San Isabel National Forest beginning in 1995. This grew into Wild Connections where she served as Executive Director or Board Chair, and continues as a volunteer. Her background includes fund-raising and village development. She enjoys birding, gardening and caring for the native plants in her yard.
Wild Connections is a science-based conservation organization that works to identify, protect and restore lands of the Upper Arkansas and South Platte watersheds to ensure the survival of native species and ecological richness. . We acknowledge that the Arkansas and South Platte watersheds are the ancestral lands of the Ute, Cheyenne, Jicarilla Apache, Arapaho and other indigenous peoples
Salida - Program office info@wildconnections.org john@wildconnetions.org 817-939-4239 Colorado Springs - Development office india@wildconnections.org 719-660-5311 Admin office 2168 Pheasant Pl. Colorado Springs CO 80909 jean@wildconnections.org