ABOUT US
History Of The Sopris Foundation
John McBride and his daughter Kate McBride Puckett founded The Sopris Foundation in 1993. "The State of the World" conferences were held for four years and featured speakers of renown such as Lester Brown, Bill McKibben, David Orr, Ambassador Joe Wilson, Jim Hightower, Amy Goodman and Oystein Dahle. The Sopris Foundation hosted film competitions for students, and have focused on issues that concern population, natural resources and political balance.
"Innovative Ideas for a New West" marks a shift in focus; we strongly maintain the goal of educating and informing. The work of The Sopris Foundation remains focused on preserving ranch land, in keeping community intact in the face of changing land-use patterns, and working with Western leaders to develop a region-wide blueprint for livability.
Staff Biographies
John McBride always loved the West and moved permanently to Colorado in 1962. He was involved in the initial development of both Vail and Snowmass. Later, as an entrepreneur, he created the Aspen Business Center and the North Forty employee housing project. He cares deeply about preserving community and open space, and commits his time to agencies that promote this vision. He lives on a working cattle ranch and is a longtime pilot. Such activities give him an unusual perspective to ponder the future of the West. As a developer, he knows how easy it is to screw it up; as a rancher how hard it is to protect; and as a pilot how easy it is to see the difference.
Piper Foster is the Executive Director of the Aspen-based Sopris Foundation. Her interests spring from commitment to community, and curiosity about creating positive change. Foster graduated with a degree in Politics from Whitman College in 2002. Upon graduation she served as a Legislative Correspondent for Hon. George Nethercutt, Jr., the US Congressional Representative from Eastern Washington. She then studied violin and Spanish in Barcelona. Upon returning to the United States, Foster worked at the Rocky Mountain Institute under Amory Lovins. Tasks focused on calculating the organization's annual carbon footprint, developing an online fundraising strategy, and home energy efficiency. In her current work at the Sopris Foundation, she promotes innovative ideas to elected leadership in the Rockies, through conferences, films, lectures and published papers. Transportation systems, land-use planning, and locally produced energy compose the areas of focus. Current projects include altering the electricity pricing scheme for rural electric associations in Colorado, providing intelligible carbon-footprint data to laymen, and authoring a manual on best practices in sustainability. Foster served as Executive Director of Tomorrow's Voices (www.tomorrowsvoices.org), as well, between 2005 and 2008. The local non-profit provides civics education to high school students in the Roaring Fork Valley, and has a budget of $80K.
We Offset Our Air Travel
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History Of The Sopris Foundation
John McBride and his daughter Kate McBride Puckett founded The Sopris Foundation in 1993. "The State of the World" conferences were held for four years and featured speakers of renown such as Lester Brown, Bill McKibben, David Orr, Ambassador Joe Wilson, Jim Hightower, Amy Goodman and Oystein Dahle. The Sopris Foundation hosted film competitions for students, and have focused on issues that concern population, natural resources and political balance.
"Innovative Ideas for a New West" marks a shift in focus; we strongly maintain the goal of educating and informing. The work of The Sopris Foundation remains focused on preserving ranch land, in keeping community intact in the face of changing land-use patterns, and working with Western leaders to develop a region-wide blueprint for livability.
Staff Biographies
John McBride always loved the West and moved permanently to Colorado in 1962. He was involved in the initial development of both Vail and Snowmass. Later, as an entrepreneur, he created the Aspen Business Center and the North Forty employee housing project. He cares deeply about preserving community and open space, and commits his time to agencies that promote this vision. He lives on a working cattle ranch and is a longtime pilot. Such activities give him an unusual perspective to ponder the future of the West. As a developer, he knows how easy it is to screw it up; as a rancher how hard it is to protect; and as a pilot how easy it is to see the difference. Piper Foster is the Executive Director of the Aspen-based Sopris Foundation. Her interests spring from commitment to community, and curiosity about creating positive change. Foster graduated with a degree in Politics from Whitman College in 2002. Upon graduation she served as a Legislative Correspondent for Hon. George Nethercutt, Jr., the US Congressional Representative from Eastern Washington. She then studied violin and Spanish in Barcelona. Upon returning to the United States, Foster worked at the Rocky Mountain Institute under Amory Lovins. Tasks focused on calculating the organization's annual carbon footprint, developing an online fundraising strategy, and home energy efficiency. In her current work at the Sopris Foundation, she promotes innovative ideas to elected leadership in the Rockies, through conferences, films, lectures and published papers. Transportation systems, land-use planning, and locally produced energy compose the areas of focus. Current projects include altering the electricity pricing scheme for rural electric associations in Colorado, providing intelligible carbon-footprint data to laymen, and authoring a manual on best practices in sustainability. Foster served as Executive Director of Tomorrow's Voices (www.tomorrowsvoices.org), as well, between 2005 and 2008. The local non-profit provides civics education to high school students in the Roaring Fork Valley, and has a budget of $80K.
We Offset Our Air Travel
More information...
