The Community Foundation is thrilled to announce the addition of three new Board Members.

Welcome RJ Gallagher and Karen Lord and Welcome Back George Stranahan!

RJ Gallagher
Twenty years ago, RJ Gallagher founded Gallagher Sharp West, a marketing and creative services firm, where he is currently a managing partner. Before Gallagher Sharp West, RJ was the general manager of KSPN radio; a founder of TV2; Vice President of Marketing and Operations for Newfield Enterprises International, a developer and owner of fine hotels, resorts, and residential developments worldwide; and Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Aspen Club Enterprises, where he was responsible for marketing and sales for the historic Hotel Jerome after its $30 million renovation. A licensed real estate broker in Aspen since 1987, RJ has served on various profit and nonprofit boards, including the Colorado Tourism Board, Aspen Chamber Resort Association, Race for the Cure, Rotary Club/Pitkin County, and Aspen Junior Golf. RJ and his wife Nancy are parents to two teenagers. RJ’s philosophy is that, “Philanthropy is not about a handout, it’s about a helping hand. It’s about offering hope where there is none and opportunity where none exists. It’s the true spirit of community enhanced by a personal desire to make a difference. And it’s cool to make a difference.”

Karen Lord
With a background in Communications and Art History, Karen enjoyed a successful 15-year career as a retail marketing director where she won several industry awards for creative excellence. Raised in Westchester County, New York, Karen believes that socio -economic discrepancies are more extreme in the Roaring Fork Valley than in many major metropolitan suburbs. “In the shadows of great wealth are swaths of the population whose lives are, or could be, enhanced by the work of nonprofits.” Karen’s extensive volunteer work with “The Washington Project for the Arts” and a senior center in DC, and later tutoring inner-city first graders while living in Detroit, reinforced her philosophy that, “Doing is the most critical form of giving back to the community.” Karen is a dedicated Board member of Aspen Youth Experience, and has consequently inspired her husband Courtney and their children Rachel and Max to be involved with the organization as well.

George Stranahan
Although his professional career began in physics, George most strongly identifies with his role as photographer (check out his “phlog” at: www.georgestranahan.com). In between physics and photography, however, George has been a professor (Michigan State University), a soldier (U.S. Army), an education reformer (COMPASS/Aspen Community School), a rancher (Flying Dog Ranch), an institute founder (Aspen Center for Physics), a brewery and tavern owner (Woody Creek Tavern/Flying Dog Brewpub/Flying Dog Brewery/Lone Wolfe Brew Pub), an art gallery owner (Woody Creek Store), a nonprofit executive director (Aspen Educational Research Foundation), a social venture entrepreneur (Manaus Fund of Aspen Community Foundation), an editor (The Woody Creeker), and a whiskey maker (Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey), not to mention a member of countless Boards and a father to six children. Previously, George was a Board member of Aspen Community Foundation (then Aspen Foundation) from 1989-1998 and was Board Chair from 1992-1994. George and his wife Patti live in Woody Creek.