Board member

Cassandra Atencio is a respected Southern Ute tribal leader, cultural advocate, and historic preservation professional who most recently served as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, where she played a central role in safeguarding and interpreting her people's cultural heritage, including work under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and broader cultural resource stewardship efforts. In her role as THPO, Atencio represented the Southern Ute in government-to-government consultations, advocated for tribal interests in federal cultural policy, and emphasized the importance of repatriation and respect for ancestral remains and sacred objects. She also actively shared traditional stories and teachings with both tribal and public audiences. 

After many years of service to her tribe and to cultural preservation, Atencio retired from her position in April 2025 to focus on her personal life and family, including spending time with her grandchildren. 

Her career reflects a deep commitment to cultural preservation, community leadership, and the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in land stewardship and historic preservation practices.

Board member

Margrit Benton began her legal career in 1984 at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, working as a litigation associate on securities and antitrust matters as well as a pro bono death penalty case. After moving to Singapore and Jakarta with her husband Mark Nelson in 1989, she left the law firm and served as an observer on behalf of international legal organizations at human rights trials in Indonesia and Malaysia. During nearly a decade in Jakarta, Margrit was an active volunteer at the National Museum, leading tours and helping conduct the institution's first ethnography collection inventory since 1945, and served as Vice Chairman for Museums for a volunteer group of several hundred members. In Singapore, she was a member of the Friends of the Museum and served for three years as vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Singapore American School, a school of roughly 4,000 students, as well as a member of the SAS Foundation Board.

After returning to the United States, Margrit and Mark undertook a two-year renovation of their 1910 Cheesman Park home, the house where Margrit grew up and which her family had purchased from descendants of its original builders. They preserved much of the home's original character while updating it for modern living. Margrit holds a degree in history from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Rutgers University. She brings to the CPI board a deep belief that preserving a community's heritage is essential to sustaining its future, along with years of experience building consensus and advocating on behalf of constituents across a range of boards.

A fourth-generation Colorado farm boy from the Peace Valley near New Raymer, [Name] brings deep roots in the northern Front Range along with family ties to Denver and Englewood through his mother's side. He earned a BA in Anthropology from CU Boulder before spending twenty years in Scotland, where he completed a Masters in Celtic History at the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, followed by work in commercial archaeology and eleven years as county archaeologist for the Scottish Borders. Returning to Colorado in December 2019, he joined History Colorado, serving first as Preservation Programs Manager and then as Deputy SHPO and Director of the State Historical Fund, where he led development of a state Historic Preservation Plan centered on intangible heritage, introduced BIPOC-specific scoring to the SHF grant rubric, and guided a strategic rebrand of the fund. Since late 2022, he served as Director of Museums for the City of Greeley, applying his belief that cultural heritage, both physical and intangible, should serve the needs of the community that holds it and recently started his own consulting firm, Heritage in Motion, LLC. He views historic preservation not as an end in itself but as a way of sustaining the connections between people, culture, and place, and he brings that conviction to his work with the CPI board.

Wade discovered historic preservation at the 2007 CPI Saving Places conference and has been part of the community ever since. He came to planning and preservation through archaeology, studying Geology and Anthropology at Western State, and found his path once he began staffing a Historic Preservation Commission. Over the years, CPI has provided him with ongoing opportunities to grow as a preservation professional and to share the wins and losses of doing this work in Southern Colorado. He has served as a grant reviewer for the State Historical Fund and as an Endangered Places reviewer, and admires CPI's staff for the saves they pull off in rural Colorado against long odds. His appreciation for the organization deepened when CPI's On the Road event came to Pueblo, where he served as tour guide and saw firsthand the professionalism and thoughtful engagement of CPI's board and staff. Since 2013, Wade has also trained for the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions, completing more than 40 trainings across the country from Hawaii to Pennsylvania. He brings that national perspective, along with a pragmatic and passionate approach to preservation, to his work on CPI's board.

Board member Bio Coming Soon!

Kathleen Corbett is an architectural historian with over twenty years of experience documenting the buildings and landscapes of Colorado. She previously served on the CPI Board from 2022 to 2024, has since returned, and now serves as Board Chair, continuing to support the organization through her work on the Conference committee and the Dana Crawford Awards committee. Kathy considers CPI's work among the most meaningful she has been part of in her career, and she brings deep knowledge of Colorado's architectural heritage to her leadership of the board.

Michael Gayle is a Colorado native with a degree in Architecture and a deep enthusiasm for the state's historic buildings. As Operations Manager of the Renaissance Hotel in Denver, formerly the Colorado National Bank, he spends his days sharing the building's rich history and its Allen True murals with guests, along with the hidden gems of Colorado more broadly. His passion for preservation and hospitality converge in this role, giving him a natural platform for introducing visitors to the layered history of the structures they encounter. Michael has been featured on the PBS program "Wall Street of the Rockies" and is a recipient of the CHLA Stars of the Industry Award, recognizing outstanding hospitality professionals across Colorado. He is an active member of the Colorado Concierge Association, where he shares his knowledge of the city and builds relationships with hoteliers throughout the state. Michael brings a genuine passion for preserving Colorado's structures to his work with CPI, along with a drive to find new ways of communicating the importance of the state's history to broader audiences.

Board member Bio Coming Soon!

Julie Johnson (Denver, Colorado) - Ms. Johnson is fourth generation Coloradan with family ties
to both the gold mining and cattle ranching industries. She is the Cultural Stewardship Senior
Program Manager specializing in historic preservation, for the City of Boulder Open Space and
Mountain Parks, which manages 45,000 acres around the city of Boulder. She serves as project
manager for historic rehabilitations of city owned structures ranging from historic farmhouses to
Civilian Conservation Corps recreational shelters. Julie has also served on the Board of Directors
of Colorado Preservation, Inc. and six years on the Denver Landmark Commission. She lives in
the historic Whittier neighborhood in her 120 year old home.

A native of Grand Junction, Natasha graduated summa cum laude from Mesa State College (now Colorado Mesa University) with a BA in Theatre Arts: Dance and a minor in Anthropology, and went on to earn an MA in Anthropology with distinction from the University of Bristol, England. She has spent over a decade working and volunteering as a Colorado-based archaeologist in both the public and private sectors, beginning her career as an archaeological technician turned crew chief at the Bureau of Land Management's Grand Junction Field Office before moving into cultural resource management as a staff archaeologist and project director at Metcalf Archaeological Consultants. Natasha now serves as lead archaeologist for the BLM Grand Junction Field Office, with particular expertise in historical archaeology, especially mining and settlement-related properties. She has a long-standing commitment to public outreach, developing and delivering educational programs on history and archaeology across Colorado, and serves as a guest lecturer and former adjunct faculty member at Colorado Mesa University teaching Principles of Archaeology. In 2021, Natasha received the Colorado State Historic Preservation Officer's Award for her contributions to a collaborative project documenting the history and cultural resources of Japanese-Americans in Otero County. Outside of work, she is a lifelong dancer and theatre performer, an avid hiker of Colorado's historic trails, and a ceramics artist.

James Kroll spent nearly four decades at the Denver Public Library, culminating in seventeen years as Manager of Western History and Genealogy from 1999 to 2017, where he reorganized public services, built the department's grant and trust fund programs, and managed the Blair/Caldwell Branch and its African American Research Library beginning in 2006. Earlier in his career, he managed the library's General Reference and Nonfiction and Humanities departments, oversaw the design and planning of the new Central Library, and served as liaison between the library and the White House during the 1997 Denver Summit of the Eight. He holds a Master of Arts in American History from the University of Colorado Denver, a Master of Library Science from Emporia State University, a Master of Arts in Theatre History and Literature from the University of Denver, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Gannon University. Jim's record of civic and professional service includes board leadership with the Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies and the Colorado Genealogical Society, service on Historic Denver's Board of Directors from 2008 to 2013, and service on the Colorado Preservation, Inc. Board of Directors from 2014 to 2018. He has now returned to the CPI board, bringing decades of experience in collections, community outreach, and institutional leadership. He continues to serve as a judge for National History Day.

Board member Bio Coming Soon!

Gregory Movesian brings three decades of professional fund development experience serving human service and religious organizations locally, nationally, and internationally. His career began in 1984 with the Martin J. Moran Company in New York, where he rose to Executive Vice President overseeing regional capital and endowment campaigns, followed by roles as Director of Development for the University of Denver School of Law and senior executive positions with Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, including service as U.S. Director during the Rwandan Civil War and Genocide. In the late 1990s, he founded Upway Consulting, which has since served arts, education, and human-service nonprofits on capital campaigns, including one for a girls' grammar school in Northern Ireland during the height of the Troubles. More recently, Gregory served as Chief Advancement Officer of the Denver Scholarship Foundation from 2015 to 2018, growing major gifts and endowment funding, and as Chief Development Officer for Girl Scouts of Colorado and Canon Steward of Saint John's Episcopal Cathedral in Denver, where he led fundraising and interfaith relations for a decade. Gregory currently chairs the board of the Community College of Denver Foundation and serves on the boards of St. Elizabeth's Episcopal School, Mile High Early Learning, and the Vestry of St. John's Episcopal Cathedral. He has returned to the Colorado Preservation, Inc. board after previous service, and has also served on the boards of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes and the Denver Botanic Gardens, and co-founded the Abrahamic Initiative, which has brought together Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders in dialogue and community service since 2011. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master of Arts in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, with a year of study in Paris at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques and the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales.

Board member Bio Coming Soon!

Board member Bio Coming Soon!

Meg Touborg brings a career spanning fashion, architecture, design, and education to her work on the CPI board. She currently serves as President and CEO of the Denver Architecture Foundation, a role she took on in 2024 after serving as Director of Development for the University of Colorado Denver's College of Architecture and Planning. Earlier, she founded and led Metworks, a boutique business development agency serving design-based businesses across the country, and co-founded and served as Creative Director of the Leaders of Design Council, a national membership organization of top architects, landscape architects, and interior designers, where she successfully raised funds from sponsoring companies and built the organization's community-building events and programs. That same fundraising and business development expertise shaped her earlier career in fashion and luxury design leadership, including as Managing Partner of Design Investors LLC, CEO of Rose Tarlow Melrose House, and Executive Vice President roles at Waterworks, Kate Spade, and Coach. Meg holds a Bachelor of Arts in American History and Literature from Harvard College and attended executive MBA programming at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Business. She is passionate about architecture, especially adaptive reuse, and serves on CPI's Executive Committee, bringing deep relationships across Colorado's design and architecture community along with proven skill in donor cultivation, strategic partnerships, and organizational growth. She lives in a new, old house in Five Points with her family and rescue chihuahua.

Jane Watkins holds a BFA in Art History from CU Boulder and has spent her career dedicated to historic preservation, with a particular focus on stained glass. She and her husband Phil, whom she met in a Colorado History class at CU, have worked together at Watkins Stained Glass Studio for the past 45 years, continuing a family tradition of leaded stained glass craftsmanship that dates to 1761 in England and has been established in Denver since 1868. Jane has set up a museum within the studio to preserve and share this history. Together, Jane and Phil were honored with Historic Denver's Ann Love Award for Unusual Preservation and have been featured in the Coloradan Alumni Magazine and Colorado Life Magazine, along with numerous news, magazine, and television appearances.

Jane is a member of the Association for Preservation Technology, the Fairmount Heritage Foundation, and the Stained Glass Association of America, and previously served on Historic Denver's Sacred Landmarks Committee. Early in her career, she was a Tour Guide at the Molly Brown House Museum from 1973 to 1975. She has spoken widely on Victorian stained glass restoration, the fire at Notre Dame in Paris, and mid-century stained glass, presenting for organizations including CPI's Saving Places Conference, Colorado Public Radio's Colorado Matters, Historic Denver, History Colorado, Denver Architecture Foundation's Doors Open Denver, and the National Trust Conference.

Gillian White is Aspen's Historic Preservation Officer and Principal Planner, where she manages the city's Historic Preservation Program, oversees projects such as the rehabilitation of Armory Hall and the 10th Mountain Division Cabin, and leads updates to the city's Historic Preservation Master Plan. Before joining the City of Aspen in 2024, she spent five years with the Town of Cary, North Carolina, advancing from Planning Technician to Historic Preservation Program Manager, where she managed a capital budget exceeding $4 million, guided new local historic district designations, and updated the town's Historic Preservation Design Guidelines to include resiliency standards. Gillian holds a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design from the University of Colorado, and she is an active member of the American Planning Association and the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions. She brings this depth of regulatory, project management, and community engagement experience to her role on the Colorado Preservation, Inc. board.