COVENTURE
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ABOUT COVENTURE

We're here to be
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Our mission

COVENTURE is a 501-c3 non-profit organization based in Carbondale, Colorado. Our mission is to empower rural communities to build sustainable businesses and ecosystems through tactical solutions and engagement.

what we do

We’ve built a vast network of strategic partnerships, connecting people and ideas, for one purpose: to succeed together.
We’re here to build economic resiliency in the Roaring Fork Valley we call home, and throughout rural communities nationwide; to provide educational programming, on-the-ground and in-the-weeds support, meaningful networking opportunities, storytelling platforms and a place for businesses + people to grow.

Who we are

Board of directors

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Tyler Moebius
chair

Tyler is co-founder and chairman of the board of COVENTURE. In that capacity, he has provided much needed start-up capital and affordable rent as COVENTURE scales its operation. Tyler brings over 2 decades in expertise in marketing and digital media.  His company, FastG8 is a leader in digital marketing and provides services to companies all over the world. As one of the original employees of aQuantive, he has gone on to build several companies into international brands with hundreds of employees. He is now focused on bringing blockchain into a digital marketing environment.
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nicole Christianson
treasurer

Nicole is the Senior Loan Officer at B:Side Capital (aka Colorado Lending Source) and is the go-to in the Western Slope for small business financing.  Nicole is passionate about entrepreneurs and enjoys getting out in rural mountain communities to learn about the challenges being faced, so she can find new ways to help small businesses. Since moving to the mountains, Nicole has become active on many boards and committees. In her free time she enjoys hiking, fishing, camping, and hosting barbeques!

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Allen Rozansky
Secretary

Alan has been a practicing attorney for almost 3 decades and brings a wide range of law expertise to his practice.  We are fortunate to have Alan serving on our Board as well as being available to the COVENTURE network for affordable legal assistance.  His practice includes contract law, company structure, compliance issues as well as setting up personal trusts/wills.  

Allen rozansky

secretary

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Dave mayer
communication

Dave brings 2 decades of experience in Human Resources and now manages one of the most reputable talent placement firms for technology companies in the state. Dave was the founder of Aspen Entrepreneurs which was the first non-profit in our region focused on economic resiliency. Dave and Aspen Entrepreneurs merged with COVENTURE in 2018 when Dave joined the Board.

Dave meyer

communication

S Cooper

Scott Cooper
Member at Large

Scott is the EPIC Director at the Colorado River Board of Cooperative Educational Services (CRBOCES), where he leads a team of Career Technical Education (CTE) experts in developing and enhancing career pathways for students to gain industry credentials and secure living wage employment.  His ongoing mission is to innovate and enhance CTE pathways and career opportunities for students and adults alike.  

strategic advisors

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jon stokely
strategic partnerships

jon stokely

strategic partnerships

Jon is a co-founder of both COVENTURE and the Roaring Fork Angels. He has served in a number of capacities at COVENTURE including operations and marketing, but has primarily been a business strategist and mentor for our more complex businesses in the Accelerator program. He continues his work with COVENTURE as a part of our leadership council helping connect our local ecosystem to larger resources around the state and nation.
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jon greechen
Accelerator businesses

jon greechen

Accelerator Businesses

Co-Founder of the Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, he has grown and scaled the organization to chapters in over 185 cities and 60 countries, which have produced over 4000 portfolio companies with nearly $1 billion in venture funding. He also currently serves as an Advisor to Oxford Entrepreneurs (Oxford University) and the USC Incubator (University of Southern California). In his career, Jonathan has advised thousands of technology startups on marketing, growth, and product strategy, and has spoken at startup conferences on four continents.
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Alex Yajko
development

Alex Yajko

development

Alex has spent over four decades building and advising some of the largest foundations in the Roaring Fork Valley including Valley View Hospital Foundation and Colorado Mountain College Foundation. She is considered a mentor for a new generation of non-profit leaders and continues to work in an advisory capacity to many community leaders.
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Diana peiffer
incubator businesses

Diana is the co-founder (along with her husband) of the Stabers Group, a cybersecurity firm offering state of the art business solutions to both residential and commercial entities. Diana’s experience as a Marine as well as doing high-level analytics for large Venture Capital firms has provided important insight in developing an effective local business incubator and investment arm.
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Martha heim
local investor relations

Martha is the manager for the local chapter of West Slope Angels, known as Roaring Fork Angels. She has had leadership roles in the financial services industry and has now pivoted to the venture capital space helping coordinate with local and regional efforts to bring equity investing to the Western Slope of Colorado, especially the Roaring Fork Valley.
Rick-Carlson

rick carlson
national investor relations

Rick is VP of Sales Strategy for Verific Design and Automation, an established silicon valley enterprise to automate complex manufacturing processes. In addition, Rick has been an active investor for over 3 decades and has been involved in several high growth start-ups that have had significant exits and a few that have had IPO’s and now sit on the stock market. Rick has been an active member of Roaring Fork Angels and has helped lead rounds of funding for several local companies, including Careloop and Savviest.
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Paige Slaughter
Marketing & creative

Paige is a creative director at SmartMedia Technologies and founder of Fruition Studio, a creative agency dedicated to cultivating joy and impact through heart-centered creative. She continues to support entrepreneurs through 1:1 consulting and her work at COVENTURE. 

Mike Mercatoris

Mike Mercatoris
Real Estate

Mike is a commercial broker at Slifer Smith & Frampton Roaring Fork Valley.  Originally from Meadville, PA, Mike launched a career in the Roaring Fork Valley, going straight into the restaurant business.  More than 25 years later, Mike has owned award-winning restaurants, a hospitality business as well as a consulting firm.  An experienced commercial real estate broker, he guides clients in commercial sales, leasing, development and entrepreneurial expansion.  

Justin Lewis

Justin Lewis
Technology

Justin is the VP at TerraFrame where he builds digital public goods software for governments and global health programs and recently founded BedRock Labs which works to build climate tech focused on MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification) of land based regenerative activities.  In the Roaring Fork Valley, he started West Slope Technologists in partnership with COVENTURE which includes a community of 200+ rural Colorado technologists.  

executive TEAM

Mountain

Mike Lowe
Executive Director

Michael has spent the last three decades as an educator and entrepreneur. He has taught high school and college classes as well as provided executive leadership for the Colorado Department of Education and the Rocky Mtn Board of Cooperative Educational Services. He has built 6 companies in the Roaring Fork Valley to a collective size of over 100 employees before serving as co-founder and executive director of COVENTURE.
Teresa Tenbrink

teresa tenbrink
Admin & Space Manager

Teresa is a small business bookkeeper.  Teresa brings over 15 years of bookkeeping and executive assistant experience from small to large businesses.  She specializes in setting businesses up for success through good organizational foundations, payroll, bank reconciliation and regulatory agency filings.

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Glenda Cortez
controller

Glenda brings over 10 years of experience as a controller for many local organizations across the valley. She specializes in finding the systems and processes that are fit.  She now heads up her own organization called Accounting Solutions.  She is very active with her family and in the community.  

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Andrea
Palm-Porter
Consulting Coordinator

Andrea is the Executive Director at Roaring Fork Leadership and brings over 30 years’ experience driving strategic growth through strong business leadership and relationships in small to multi-million dollar organizations.

Anthony Smith

Anthony Smith workforce liason

WIth over 2 decades of experience in Hospitality Management, Anthony has cultivated a diverse skill set that spans across many industries.  Now, as Founder and President of Crown International Management Group, Anthony’s leadership and expertise in various forms of entertainment have been instrumental in guiding the agency since its inception.  

 

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September 7, 1975 – September 25, 2021

In loving memory
rob gavrell

Rob was an essential member of the COVENTURE team from the beginning and helped elevate COVENTURE to another level during COVID-19 as our organization leaned into the many challenges brought on by the pandemic.

More recently, Rob was instrumental in trying to strategize how to help our local businesses and workforce with the labor shortage.

We will miss Rob dearly. His keen mind, easy laugh and abundant spirit were a welcome presence not only in the Board Meetings, but among our growing family of businesses, entrepreneurs and strategic partners.

Rob was a true renaissance man and captured what was best in our innovative community; someone who understood balance between work and play, the importance of community building and most importantly how to be a family man.

our financials

annual report
form 990 Archive
strategic plan