A seasoned marketing executive, Lori has 20 years of experience driving growth for top-tier clients at global marketing agencies. She’s partnered with some of the biggest and best companies in the world, including Procter & Gamble, Nestlé and Bayer, to crystallize their brand and market positions and propel new levels of growth. She’s also worked with clients in the energy, retail, food, entertainment and health sectors, bringing her passion for brand development and consumer-driven marketing communications to bear for their businesses.
She currently leads Global Prairie’s Insight & Strategy practice, and is Regional Director of the Mountain/West region.

This is Lori’s second tenure on The Blue Bench board. During both terms, she has led our Marketing Committee’s efforts to raise awareness of The Blue Bench, grow our base of supporters, and ultimately increase the scope of our impact.

Coming Soon

As President of BOK Financial’s Colorado market, Andy Aye leads efforts to build a company culture that proactively supports the community’s business, individual and philanthropic needs. Through mentoring, attracting top talent and building winning teams, Andy focuses on growing relationships by bringing new ideas to the table that help clients solve problems, build businesses and protect assets.

His background as both a commercial lender and borrower has provided a unique perspective when working with entrepreneurs, family-owned businesses, corporate customers and private equity funds. Andy aspires to build long-term value by offering honest communication, consistent behavior and proactive solutions that reward well-placed entrepreneurial risk.

Andy has spent his entire career financially and operationally supporting businesses and organizations. Prior to joining BOK Financial, Andy was a Director with Stonehenge Capital Company where he was responsible for the origination and management of mezzanine and equity investments and contributed to eight portfolio companies at a strategic level through board seats and observation rights. Prior to Stonehenge he held several banking leadership positions in Denver and Chicago.

Andy sits on the Board of Governors for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and was a founding board member of Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Association (CAMA). He is also a Board Member of ACE Scholarships and The Blue Bench. Andy is Co-Chair of the BOK Financial Biz Bash, a nonprofit fundraising concert that has raised over $6 million to benefit children’s charities.

Andy received his BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and an MS in Management and Organization from the University of Colorado at Denver. Outside of work Andy enjoys golf, tennis and spending time with his wife and three kids.

Education:
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Communications - University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

Kirstan is a Right of Way Appraiser with the Colorado Department of Transportation. Previously, she has been a business owner, property manager, commercial and residential realtor with Location Innovators, LLC and CKM Properties, LLC. As a realtor, she developed and executed strategic plans to help her clients find space that reflects their culture and values. Kirstan has extensive expertise in many facets of real estate and before entering the industry in 2001, she worked in corporate public relations, marketing, event planning, advertising, management, accounting and mental health advocacy. Kirstan is a dedicated volunteer for many community organizations and is passionate about the intelligent and effective growth of Denver and surrounding communities. She is an elected board member of the Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association (LoDoNA) and also chairs the neighborhood association’s membership committee. She is an active member of several prominent organizations, such as The Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce, The Women’s Leadership Foundation, the Downtown Denver Partnership, the Alliance of Professional Women, and the Colorado chapter of the Urban Land Institute. As a member of The Blue Bench’s Board of Directors, Kirstan is grateful for the opportunity to serve and help eradicate sexual assault and sexual violence. Kirstan’s motivation is to change the absence of conversation about sexual assault and strategize for new ways to continue to educate all communities.

Recipe for Self-Care: Kirstan loves animals, traveling, golfing, reading, music and the mountains - hiking, biking, skiing/snowboarding.

Brian P. Bost is an internal medicine and pediatric hospitalist as well as the Medical Director of Transgender Care for Kaiser Permanente in Denver. He received his MD from The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and a Masters of Public Health in Global Health from the University of Massachusetts. Outside of his professional career, Brian has been involved in reducing health disparities with at-risk populations in low- and middle-income countries such as Haiti, Kenya, South Africa, and Cambodia and has worked with refugee populations in Jordan and Bangladesh.

Brian joined the board because he has seen the impact of sexual violence in all communities that he has worked in, and given that Denver is his home, wants to be actively involved in supporting the work that The Blue Bench does. 

Mary-Katherine started her career in Instinet's Hong Kong and Tokyo offices, where she spent seven years covering US-based accounts as a sales-trader. After completing dual graduate degrees at The University of Pennsylvania, she worked briefly in reinsurance before following her husband to Houston, TX then Denver, CO. Unable to find a run coach who could meet her needs, she decided to become the coach she wanted to hire and in the process embarked on a second, unexpected, career. She launched the Fitness Protection Program in 2019 alongside a daily confidence-boosting micropodcast, The Morning Mantra, and a longform podcast, Fitness Protection: Running Life, where she explores the intersections of fitness and body image for casual runners everywhere. 

She holds a BS from Georgetown University with dual majors in Finance and Slavic Languages, an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business, and an MA in International Studies from the Leonard J. Lauder Institute of International Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

A two-time survivor of sexual violence, Mary-Katherine is personally touched and inspired by The Blue Bench’s community outreach as well as its unique advocacy services, services she wish had been available to her at the time of her first rape. She and her husband have placed 5 benches so far on college campuses across Denver and hope to ensure that this incredible organization has stable sources of income into perpetuity.

Suzie Byrnes is Key Account Director at the Investments & Wealth Institute where she builds and maintains strategic partnerships with financial services firms, in order to secure sponsorship support for the organization and provide advanced education to financial advisors. She has over 15 years of experience in sales and marketing in the financial services industry. Prior to her current position, she was Senior Sales Manager at SourceMedia, a B-to-B publishing and digital services firm, and Key Account Manager at the Financial Planning Association. She received a BA from Nebraska Wesleyan University and attended the University of Denver Publishing Institute.

Ms. Byrnes is passionate about The Blue Bench’s mission to eliminate sexual assault and diminish its impact on individuals and our community. She is proud to help raise awareness of the many services The Blue Bench provides survivors, as well as The Blue Bench’s prevention programs.

Victoria Cunningham is a Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager in the Wealth Management group at Denver Investments, a Registered Investment Advisor. Prior to joining the firm in 2000, Ms. Cunningham was a Senior Portfolio Manager with Wells Fargo Private Asset Management for nine years, and worked for five years as a Portfolio Manager with United Asset Management Services. Ms. Cunningham received a BA from Colorado College. She is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Colorado.

Victoria joined the board of The Blue Bench in 2018. She has a keen interest in issues impacting women having served on the Investment Committee of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado and travelling around the state presenting seminars empowering woman to realize their financial goals. At The Blue Bench, she aspires to be a meaningful voice in the ongoing cultural shift in attitudes and behavior towards sexual assault in this community.

Teri has worked for Voice Media Group, LLC / Westword for the past 22 years. As the Advertising Director for Voice Media's Denver location, Teri oversees the sales and training initiatives including: print, digital, search engine optimization, programmatic marketing, special issues and events. She joined the Board of Directors in 2019 where she also serves on the Operations Committee. She is a native of Denver, CO with a degree in English Writing from the University of Colorado.  She has a passion for the mountains, hiking, writing, and spending time with her husband and two teenage children. She is a loyal believer in The Blue Bench's mission of ending sexual violence through education and empowerment, and is honored to be a part of their voice.

Brooke Smith has spent her career working with start-ups in the education space, and most recently concluded a five year stint at General Assembly, an education technology company, where she was the Regional Director of Colorado. Brooke now oversees her own business, Brelis Consulting, where she advises executives and business owners on the implementation and prioritization of Learning and Development across the employee lifecycle. She is also currently serving on the Women's Council at The Commons on Champa, a board dedicated to supporting the growth of female entrepreneurs. Brooke joined the Board because she believes in the power of education, believing that the prevention work being done by The Blue Bench in our schools, police stations, bars and other venues is invaluable in the fight to eradicate sexual assault.

Cliff Stricklin is a partner with the international law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner where he guides companies and executives through critical situations where litigation is a possible result.  He also is a member of BCLP’s governing board.

Prior to turning to private practice, Cliff served over twenty years in various roles with the government.  He is the former First Assistant for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and was the lead prosecutor in the securities fraud trial against former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio.  Prior to that, Cliff served two years on the U.S. Department of Justices’ Enron Task Force where he was a key member of the prosecution team that convicted Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay as well as the lead prosecutor in the case against five defendants in Enron’s telecommunications business unit. 

From 2001 through 2004, Cliff was a State District Judge in Dallas, Texas.  Though one of the youngest judges on the bench, after only two years his judicial colleagues elected him as presiding judge of the district courts.  Cliff used the position to overhaul the indigent representations appointments system, address bail reform, and create the first of its kind mental health court.  He was also a member of the City of Dallas’ Ethics Task Force that drafted the city’s Code of Ethics.

Cliff’s legal experience includes time as a senior attorney at one of Texas’ leading law firms, 8 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, an adjunct professor of law at CU’s School of Law and SMU’s Dedman School of Law, and a law clerk  with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.  He has also served in Washington DC as an intelligence analyst with the Drug Enforcement Administration and a Special Assistant with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and has traveled extensively with the U.S. Department of State and USAID to provide anti-corruption guidance in developing nations.

Jeff currently serves as Operations Manager for Gary Permian, LLC, a private equity backed oil and gas company located in Denver, CO. Jeff has over 17 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, and has previously worked in various management and engineering roles for Encana Corporation, and prior to that Schlumberger Ltd. Mr. Villalobos holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Jeff joined The Blue Bench Board in 2016 and currently serves as Treasurer on the Executive Committee. Jeff and his family have been active supporters of The Blue Bench over several years, and in the ongoing mission of the organization.