Rocky Mountain Field Institute Personnel

Eric Billmeyer, Executive Director

Eric holds undergraduate and Masters degrees in Geography and Environmental Studies from the Univ. of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Eric began at RMFI in 2003 when he completed an extensive survey of the Pikes Peak Watershed, qualitatively assessing the erosion and sedimentation damage to the area's streams and wetlands due to stormwater runoff from the Pikes Peak Highway. Since 2005, Eric has acted as Project Coordinator for our restoration work on the North Slope of Pikes Peak and as Associate Director of RMFI. Eric also is an instructor (Honoraria) at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs teaching courses on Physical Geography, GPS and GIS, and Environmental Problems of Colorado and is on the board of directors for Friends of the Peak.

Becky Reed, Associate Director

A Colorado native and avid climber and skier, Becky has spent most of her life seeking adventure in the outdoors. Prior to becoming the Associate Director, she worked as the Programs Director, planning, managing, and implementing projects in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, Garden of the Gods, Indian Creek Canyon, and Shelf Road Recreation Area. Becky holds a BA in Political Science from Colorado College and a Master of Environmental and Natural Resources Law with specializations in Public Land Law and Water Law & Policy from the University of Denver. Becky's passion lies in the social science aspect of land conservation with a focus on the intersection between people, policy, and the environment. She is a certified Wilderness First Responder.

Shaina Jordan, Project Coordinator

A voracious adventurer and lover of the natural world, Shaina brings a breadth of experience to RMFI. She brings extensive trail building and habitat restoration knowledge from her terms as a crew leader for the Washington Conservation Corps in the Cascade mountains in Washington and a crew member with the Student Conservation Association in Baxter State Park in Maine. Shaina has completed internships on water quality and marine mammal conservation. After graduating from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania with a degree in both Earth and Environmental Science and Philosophy, Shaina spent a summer in Alaska as part of a National Outdoor Leadership School semester. She is a certified Wilderness First Responder and Leave No Trace Master Educator.

Liz Nichol, Office Manager/Outreach Coordinator

Liz has worked as an instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School and Outward Bound, and was a guide for Adventure Specialists. After an Everest Expedition in 1987, she co-founded the Everest Environmental Project to do cleanup work in the Tibetan base camps on the north side of the peak. She has been on the Board of the Friends of Cheyenne Canyon as Treasurer, and Manager of the Hummingbird Garden at Starsmore Discovery Center. Liz joined RMFI's staff in 2003.

Mark Hesse, Senior Advisor

Mark holds undergraduate and Masters degrees in education from the Univ. of Colorado at Boulder. He is presently a Masters degree candidate in Applied Geography at the Univ. of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Mark served as executive director of The American Mountain Foundation from 1989 to 1998, and of the Rocky Mountain Field Institute from 1999 to 2008. Prior to assuming the directorship of the AMF/RMFI, Mark worked for over 20 years in the field of outdoor education with a variety of populations. He was employed in various capacities for the Colorado Outward Bound School from Instructor to Project Director of the Colorado Springs Program. He served as Program Director of the Southwest Outward Bound School on the early 80's. In the late 70's, Mark co-founded the Santa Fe Mountain Center, an adventure-based therapeutic program for adjudicated youth and adults in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a recipient of the American Alpine Club's David Brower Award for Mountain Conservation.

Field Staff

J.B. Haab, Senior Field Instructor

J.B. comes to RMFI with extensive backcountry experience and a strong sense of adventure and exploration. He has 13 years of outdoor experience as an instructor and guide, and brings a breadth of technical and project management knowledge to the programs he facilitates. He holds a degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois. Post graduation he served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala. J.B’s diverse professional experience stems from managing volunteers in a variety of capacities, from working with adjudicated youth to coordinating operations for corporate development organizations. J.B. is an avid climber and has spent 12 years exploring throughout the Americas in landscapes that run the gamut of levels of human impact. A strong awareness for such impact and an interest in mitigating the balance between modern society and the rest of the world drew him to RMFI in 2008. J.B. instructs the Earth Corps program and various other assignments throughout the summer season. J.B. is certified in Wilderness First Responder.

Joe Lavorini, Field Instructor

Joe has been involved with RMFI since he was a participant in the Earth Corps program in the summer of 2008. Since then, he has worked seasonally as a field instructor in and around Colorado Springs. Joe’s passion in life is developing an ethic of sustainability that encompasses the natural and built environments, and finding ways to share that ethic with the world. Joe also works for Conservation Hardware, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide the knowledge and tools needed to conserve resources. A graduate of UCCS, Joe has a Bachelor’s degree in Geography & Environmental Studies with a focus on Sustainable Development. He can often be found pursuing any of his favorite recreational activities: fly fishing, skiing, hiking and cooking. Joe is a certified Wilderness EMT.

Jes Meiris, Senior Field Instructor

Jes is an outdoor adventure enthusiast who has been involved with RMFI for many years as a volunteer, Earth Corps participant, and most recently as a field instructor. She is a Colorado native who has returned home after nine years of living on an ocean, and although she misses surfing, the opportunity for outdoor pursuits in Colorado was welcoming. Jes has extensive experience in guiding rock climbing, caving, surfing, backpacking, and rafting. In addition to RMFI, Jes works as a rock climbing guide, housecarer, and model. She can often be found getting scared in high places. Jes received her BS in Marine Science from Eckerd College in Florida. She is certified in Wilderness First Responder.

Bruce Morrow, Senior Field Instructor

Bruce has been a guide and outdoor educator for over thirty years. In his work and wanderings he has explored throughout the Four Corners states and California’s mountains and deserts. He became involved in public lands stewardship in the early nineties while working for the Colorado Outward Bound School, and witnessing social trails and erosion scars develop over just a few summers in formerly pristine areas of the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. In addition to Outward Bound, Bruce has also worked for the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative and the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center. Bruce started working with the Rocky Mountain Field Institute in 1991, and has since been involved with RMFI projects in the Sangre de Cristos, Shelf Road, the San Luis Valley, and Indian Creek, Utah. He lives in Leadville, Colorado. When not working, he skis, mountain bikes, fishes, and volunteers for the Leadville Ranger District.

Kyle Rodman, Field Instructor

Kyle Rodman, a Colorado native, is a Geography major at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He began working with the Rocky Mountain Field Institute as an employee of the U.S. Forest Service YCC program in 2006. Through this experience and his extensive outdoor pursuits he decided he wanted a career in ecological and environmental restoration. Kyle is an avid snowboarder, hiker, backpacker and landscape photographer.