Staff

Marjo began at the Orton Family Foundation in the summer of 2011, bringing 15 years of experience in community development and planning. Marjo has extensive experience in public process design, facilitation and training. Prior to working at the Foundation, she spent five and-a-half years at the Sonoran Institute working predominately with rural western communities struggling with social tensions resulting from rapid demographic changes. She has been a planning consultant in New Mexico and spent five years directing an AmeriCorps program for the Enterprise Foundation. Throughout her career as a planner and facilitator, she has worked on a broad range of planning issues including public safety, youth development, land use, water and watersheds, community engagement, visioning, wildlife and conservation, energy sustainability, local foods and ranchland protection. The common thread across all these efforts has been the need to build community capacity to work collaboratively in order to develop local solutions. She received her Master’s in Community and Regional Planning and her Bachelor’s in Political Science and Studio Art from the University of New Mexico. She lives in Denver, Colorado and when not at work, enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains by bike, kayak or skis.

Caitlyn joins the Foundation with experience in community planning, public participation and non-profit marketing and fundraising. Most recently, she worked with Colorado Parks & Wildlife as the agency’s Planning Assistant. Caitlyn holds a BA in anthropology from the University of Colorado. She also earned a Master’s degree in Community Planning and Development from the Muskie School for Public Service at the University of Southern Maine where she was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Capstone Award for her work co-writing a white paper on commercial strip redevelopment. Caitlyn is an active member of the American Planning Association (APA) Colorado Chapter’s Sustainability Committee and serves on the Steering Committee for her community garden. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her partner, Ben.

Having moved to Vermont from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he served as Executive Vice President of Dane Technologies and President of its subsidiary, LEVO USA, David brings to the Foundation extensive experience in the education, non-profit, government and private sectors. At Dane Technologies and LEVO USA—a combined $20 million company he helped found in 1997—David developed new products and domestic and international distribution channels, and led company growth and sales. His broad experience spans the fields of community revitalization, rural economic development and citizen engagement in Minnesota as Executive Director of the non-profit Southwest Minnesota Initiative Fund and then as Governor Arne Carlson’s principle liaison with Minnesota community stakeholders. He also served Governor Carlson as Deputy Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development. David has sat on a number of non-profit boards, including the GMC Business Innovation Center, Minnesota’s Inventor’s Congress and the Children’s Cancer Research Fund, and as Board Chair of Bridges to Learning. In his non-profit work in Minnesota, David launched programs for business development, job creation and community revitalization by engaging the wisdom and innovation found within the people and the communities where he worked. His first career was as a public school teacher in Ohio and Brazil. After moving halfway across the country, David now lives in Vermont with his wife, Susan, and daughter, Grace, and looks forward to visits from his Boston-based daughter, Sara.

Alece comes to the Foundation with more than 10 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. She was raised in the small town of Lafayette in the historic coal mining district. Her passion for planning began as a child when her mother expressed concerns that small town heritage and culture was sacrificed for new, unfamiliar developments. In college, Alece served on Lafayette’s Board of Adjustments and worked to mobilize residents of the city to be active at City Council meetings. She has a BA in Environmental Design, Urban and Regional Planning with two minors, sustainable environments and human geography. Alece won an AICP award for work done with the Denver Regional Council of Governments in examining urban sprawl and large lot developments. While earning her Masters in Public Administration, she volunteered for a local fire department as a high angle rescuer and traveled all over the U.S. assisting Air Force bases in comprehensive planning efforts. Her projects have won merit and honors awards with the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence. Alece lives in Lafayette, Colorado with her three children, Stephen, Xochitl and Soloman.

Rebecca first joined the Foundation in 2006 and returned in 2008 as a Senior Associate. In the interim, she worked as a consultant and taught ecology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and environmental studies at Southern Vermont College. Rebecca holds a BA in biology and English from Williams College and helped found the Williams Social Choice Fund for socially responsible investing. She also earned a Master's degree in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (FES), where she was a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow and focused on land use, conservation planning and ecology. She also worked for the Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry and was a Teaching Fellow at FES and in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Before graduate school, Rebecca was a teacher in the English Department of the Phillips Exeter Academy Summer School and in the Science Department at Vermont Academy, where she was also a dorm parent, outdoor instructor and coached ice hockey, lacrosse and rock climbing. She writes on environmental issues for publications including E Magazine and Northern Woodlands. Rebecca is a native of coastal New Hampshire and now lives in Bethel, Vermont with her husband and daughter Anna.