CO - Colorado Staff

Margaret joined GRID Colorado in October 2022; she is a seasoned business leader who worked 28 years in community banking, starting at entry level positions to the top executive position as a former Well Fargo Community Bank President in Colorado. She left the banking industry and became an entrepreneur focused on systems change to address our world’s most pressing issues, including climate change and health. Margaret has extensive experience in business, community engagement, finance, operations, and entrepreneurship.

“If you’re looking for me and I’m not in the office, I’m probably out with nature. I love hugging trees, touching and feeling rocks and minerals and smelling the soil. Outdoors, travel and reading are my passions, but I have to admit on cold snowy days, I have been known to binge on Netflix Food shows like Midnight Diner!”

Kam was born and raised in London, England then transplanted to Colorado over twenty five years ago. A Mechanical Engineer by trade, he worked in various European countries in sales engineering and leadership roles. Kam has worked in nonprofit leadership for over a decade. Previously serving in the low-income weatherization assistance program at ERC and Veterans Green Jobs. Standing up and operating a large weatherization program that served Denver and Jeffco counties. Since joining GRID in 2013, Kam has served in a variety of roles. From developing a single-family residential program to developing and managing commercial solar and large-scale community solar projects.

A die-hard outdoor enthusiast. Kam enjoys all the amazing activities and places Colorado offers.

Mason is the office manager and executive assistant for the Colorado GRID Alternatives office. In the past, Mason has worked in the non-profit sector supporting music education. He graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in business administration. He spent years working to get small businesses off of the ground and comes from an entrepreneurial family. Outside of work, Mason can be found outside in the sun on a disc golf course, or curating Dungeons and Dragons games for his friends and family.

Lonnie grew up in Minnesota where he started his career as an electrician. In 1990, he moved to Colorado to pursue his dreams of snowboarding and generally spending more time outdoors. Lonnie ran his own electrical contractor business for 20 years until recently when he decided to specialize more heavily in solar electrical work. He is excited to work at a non-profit like GRID where he knows that his work will make a difference. Lonnie spends most of his free time outdoors and enjoys hunting and fishing in the Rocky Mountains.

Mario is from Denver, Colorado and is a veteran of the US Army. He attended Arizona State University for his undergraduate degrees and the University of Denver for graduate school. Mario has been in the solar industry for more than two years on both the residential and commercial sides of the business. He believes Photovoltaics (PV) is the most innovative way to create electricity and this technology should be available to everyone. When he is not dreaming of solar, Mario can be found watching soccer (Go Chelsea) or spending time with his wife, son, and three dogs.

Shravan was born and raised in New York and came to Colorado in 2012. After going to school at the University of Colorado at Boulder he started in the solar industry in 2016. He is an avid learner and teacher of the industry and is excited to bring his experience to the GRID team. Shravan volunteers with several other non-profits and travels to Kenya and Nepal working with children’s homes and local schools, teaching basic computer and electrical skills. He is looking to start solar education and installation classes in those same communities. In his free time, you can find him enjoying the outdoors with his dog or on the field playing a variety of sports.

Sam is originally from the Bay Area in California and moved to Colorado in 2016. He began working in residential solar shortly thereafter. Sam has a residential electrical license, and is enrolled in an apprenticeship program to receive his Journeyman's license. Having previously worked as a backpacking guide, Sam is an environmentalist at heart and is happy to be working in the renewable energy field. Sam is excited to be sharing his solar and electrical knowledge with GRID. When he's not working, Sam enjoys swimming at the river and playing music with his friends.

Ruth Lopez is a Denver native and a proud mother of five. She has also had the opportunity to live in the bay area of California. Ruth has been with GRID for two years and started her journey at GRID as a Solarcorp. She is now a Construction Assistant on the residential team in Colorado. Installing solar for underserved communities is right up her alley which aligns with her passion for helping people due to her caretaking nature. Outside of work, you will find her playing sports with kids and she is also excited to be spending the next year with a bunch of awesome people!

Laura joined the GRID Headquarters Philanthropy team in April 2024 as the Major Gifts Officer - Colorado. Raised in Chicago, Laura has spent more than 20 years in the nonprofit and foundation arenas. She has been a Development Director, Director of Major and Planned Gifts, and Executive Director with Colorado nonprofits such as CWEE, Mi Casa Resource Center, Project WISE and the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, as well as a Program Officer with the Daniels Fund. A former member of the Teach for America Colorado Corps, Laura holds her MBA from Columbia University in New York and is an avid Hoosiers basketball fan after getting her BA from Indiana University in Bloomington.

Laura is a proud Mom to two Colorado natives who are now young adults. In her free time, Laura can be found traveling, hiking, practicing yoga and writing poetry. Laura leads the efforts to increase major, impact-driven funding partnerships from local Colorado foundations and corporations and manages a current portfolio of foundation and corporate partners who have committed to GRID.

Cam is a Colorado kid, born and raised in Golden. He went to the University of Denver and received a B.S. in International Business. After seeing the very real consequences of climate change as a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso, he returned to Colorado dedicated to building climate resiliency and environmental justice at home. He began his journey in the solar industry in residential solar sales, before joining GRID Alternatives Colorado as an installer in June 2020. He became the business development officer in November 2020, and seeks to build strong relationships that encourage long-term investments in resilient communities. He is also currently working towards an MBA in Sustainability through Bard College. If he doesn't respond to your messages right away, you can probably find him adventuring in the mountains.

Chelsea joined GRID Alternatives Colorado as the Outreach Coordinator in 2020. Chelsea has a long history of working with non-profits in Outreach Services and Case Management roles. With this background, Chelsea is well equipped in working with clients and community partners. Outside of overseeing the application process, Chelsea builds connections with community organizations and informs the community of the solar programs available to them through GRID. In her free time, Chelsea advocates for affordable and safe housing, food security, and sustainability in the Fashion Industry. If you are interested in free solar, please apply now! Click our ‘Get Solar’ link at the top of the page to get started! Chelsea is excited to hear from you and stoked to get you started in the process!

Amanda (she/her) joined GRID Alternatives Colorado in August 2023 to help create exciting new equitable clean mobility programs! She has lived in various regions across the country working in the environmental field including: the California Bay Area, New York City, Boulder, CO and now Denver and has a masters in Environmental Policy from CU Boulder. Amanda likes taking a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and community inclusive approach to problem solving and is looking forward to being in community with people all over the state to build more equitable and sustainable transportation systems in Colorado. Having spent years living in New York City, she knows the incredible impact on daily life that affordable and accessible public transit can have to connect a city, reduce commuting cost and stress, give power back to pedestrians on our streets, and build community among strangers in shared public spaces. She also believes in taking collective action and building political power among everyday people to create an equitable response to the threat of climate change. In her free time, Amanda likes to read fiction, ancient Greek mythology (and modern feminist retellings), dance ballet and modern, meditate, paint, and take road trips through Colorado’s beautiful lands.

Vanessa Bernal (she/her/ella) is a bilingual outreach coordinator with GRID Alternatives. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado. After graduating from Westminster High School, she studied Industrial Design at Metropolitan State University. Since then, Vanessa has worked for several nonprofit organizations based in social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. She believes that environmental justice cannot exist without racial and social justice, which is what brought her to GRID Alternatives.

In her free time, she enjoys all things food (especially trying new restaurants), film, music, traveling, illustrating, and thrifting!

Greetings Beautiful Beings! I am LaRae. (we/us/ours) I joined GRID in summer 2023 and feel excited to grow and build together with community. I've lived in Colorado nearly all my life, growing up in Thornton, going to undergrad at CSU Fort Collins, and now residing gratefully, curiously, and courageously in a land of many names known as Denver. I understand this Great Plains ecosystem to have been stewarded for many generations by the Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute peoples and continue working to understand how we return land, resources, and w(h)ealth back to the many indigenous, Black, and immigrant/diasporic peoples from which they've been extracted.

I consider myself to be well-woven into community here thanks to local organizations like Satya Yoga Cooperative and Mo Betta Green Marketplace + Seeds of Unity Farm. Most of my background has been working alongside brilliant local youth at places like Academy of Urban Learning, Apprentice of Peace, and Project VOYCE. I see my work with GRID and solar // renewable energy as one of the many interconnected pathways towards healing the wounds created by systems of power rooted in violence and regenerating systems of power rooted in love. In my leisure, I enjoy reading the works of queer writers of color, deep diving into car pláticas and portals of possibility with my people, dreaming about our collective liberation, and playing with hummingbirds and finding frogs on adventures with my familia.

Having just joined GRID Alternatives CO in September of 2021, Rosa is excited to advance GRID's mission of environmental justice in the Workforce Development space. Originally from central New York, Rosa attended Syracuse University majoring in Policy Studies. They got involved in grassroots racial justice organizing during a gap year, and have since had a passion for social justice and political advocacy. Rosa has worked on several local political candidates' campaigns and national campaign efforts in the 2020 Presidential Election. Rosa hopes to advance equity and access to basic resources (housing, transportation, healthcare, food, and education) by helping others see these as necessary for sustained participation in the Workforce rather than conditions of employment and access to financial resources. In her free time, Rosa loves to hike, listen to podcasts, knit hats, and spend time with her beloved pug.

Rikayla is an Outreach Coordinator at GRID Alternatives Colorado, where she joined the team in late 2022. After receiving her master’s degree in Sustainable Communities from Northern Arizona University, the allure of the Rocky Mountains led her to move to sunny Colorado where she connected with GRID. As an Outreach Coordinator, Rikayla works closely with the Workforce and Clean Mobility departments to make sure GRID finds the right people to connect with in the community. Rikayla is proud to work for GRID because of their shared passion for Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (EID) and how it directly translates into the work done at GRID. In her free time, you can find Rikayla spending as much time as possible outdoors, binging tv shows, creating arts and crafts, and trying new restaurants all over Denver. 

Troy moved to Colorado to attend solar courses at Red Rocks Community College (RRCC) during the solar boom of the 1980s. That boom ended abruptly upon his arrival, and he entered the construction world eventually becoming a General Contractor. Jump to 2008, Troy returned to solar, this time developing and teaching solar energy courses for Red Rocks Community College while installing solar PV and thermal systems on the side. While at Red Rocks, he helped develop a similar solar degree program for Al-Balqa’ Applied University in Al-Huson, Jordan. Later he conducted an off-grid installation class with Madison Area Technical College, installing two off-grid power systems for medical clinics in the Blue Mountain area of Jamaica. The last few years Troy has taught certificate courses for RRCC to individuals serving sentences in the Colorado Department of Corrections facilities. In 2021, Troy began a new role as a Trainer for GRID Colorado. Troy, his wife, and two dogs enjoy spending time in the mountains. Troy continues to develop ways to have everything operate by solar alone. This all began with a solar automated chicken coop.