Before retiring in 2022, Joe Hart was Senior Vice President with David Evans and Associates, Inc. His 40+ year engineering career with regional and national consulting engineering firms focused on traffic engineering, transportation planning, and environmental studies.  His transportation planning work included interchange and highway corridor studies involving extensive public participation programs.  His projects focused on solutions for improved traffic flow, transit accessibility and enhancements for walking and cycling that enriched the quality of life and advanced economic prosperity. He holds a B.C.E. from the University of Dayton and M.S. from the University of Colorado, and is a registered engineer in Colorado.

Jayla Poppleton is the Executive Director at Water Education Colorado, the state’s leading organization for informing and engaging Coloradans on water issues. Prior to becoming E.D., Jayla oversaw Water Education Colorado’s full suite of print and digital content programming. For 9 years she was the editor for Headwaters magazine, Water Education Colorado’s flagship publication. She has written extensively on all things water, and it continues to be the subject she is most passionate about. Jayla serves on the Advisory Council for the One World One Water Center at Metro State University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in technical journalism with a specialization in natural resources management from Colorado State University. She lives in Denver with her husband and three sons, and enjoys traveling and recreating in Colorado’s great outdoors—especially in, on or around water.

German Velasco is Co-founder of Colorado-based non-profit La Mano Amiga (The Helping Hand), an organization devoted to life-advancement education of under-served individuals living in the United States of America. G. Velasco is founder of Velasco Outreach, offering Cross-Cultural Competency Training, Conflict Resolution, Facilitation and Leadership Coaching. Velasco Outreach is an accredited sponsor for Legal and Judicial Continuing Education Program for the State of Colorado Supreme Court and the State of Nevada.
G. Velasco has extensive urban and regional planning experience having worked for the World Bank in Latin America, and, having served at several public posts in Bolivia, including Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Governor of the State of La Paz (includes the capital city and 105 municipalities).
Educated in the United States of America and in South America, German Velasco holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design and Planning from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the Universidad Mayor de San Andres, and completed the Program for Advanced Studies at California University in Novato, California.

Jorge-Andres Rincon-Romero is the Manager for Country Risk and Government Relations at Newmont Corporation, the world’s leading gold producer. Jorge-Andres leads the Company’s Country Risk Program and works on key issues in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia including political risk management, stakeholder engagement, and country-entry. Currently, he is based on Mexico City, providing direct support to the Newmont Mexico team in the identification, assessment, and management of political risks.

Jorge-Andres first joined Newmont in 2017 and has held various roles in the Government Relations function within the Sustainability and External Relations group. He holds a Bachelor of Science in International Politics and a Master’s Degree in Security Studies both Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Andy’s career as an architect has spanned more than 35 years. As a Principal for 28 years, Andy enjoyed the lead role in projects, collaborating on business development strategies, winning work, and then delivering on the client’s expectations. Andy’s most recent responsibility was as Managing Director for the Denver studio of Perkins&Will, a global architecture firm. He led the 60-person studio through a merger in 2017, the COVID-19 pandemic, and strategic diversification into new market sectors. At the end of his tenure, the Denver studio was consistently rated within the top five of Perkins&Will’s monthly ranking of its 23 studios.

Having retired in April 2022, Andy has assumed larger roles in the management of 475 Lincoln Group, LLC, owners of commercial property in Denver. He is also co-manager for Barnard & Lowham, LLC, a land ownership/development entity focused primarily on properties in Wyoming.