The Alumni Council is made up of alumni volunteers who represent a range of HMI programs, professions, geographic regions, and interests. The Council convenes in Leadville for a long weekend every spring to reconnect with HMI, discuss opportunities for alumni leadership in HMI’s future, consult on HMI’s strategic planning and fundraising, and to stimulate the growing HMI alumni network.
We have created this group to provide yet another leadership opportunity through which HMI alumni can grow and stay inspired by an organization that has played a meaningful role in their lives.
If you are interested in joining the Council, please reach out to Alumni Council Chair, Emily Blau.
The Alumni Council has four Sub-Committees, each with a different Chair. Learn more about the different committees below:
- DEI Subcommittee: The DEI Subcommittee of the HMI Alumni Council is responsible for providing the explicit lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to the Alumni Council’s actions and priorities, with a specific emphasis on racial equity and inclusion. Secondarily, the DEI Subcommittee serves a supportive role for HMI staff, especially those primarily focused on DEI initiatives at HMI. Through this work, the Subcommittee aims to support HMI students and alumni of color and hold accountable high-level decision-makers at HMI pertaining to DEI initiatives. Find out more about the DEI Subcommittee here.
- Fundraising Subcommittee: The Fundraising Subcommittee aims to support HMI’s equity and inclusion goals through ensuring outdoor, experiential education is financially accessible to students across all programs, including: the Semester School, Summer Term, and the Gap Semester. A signature focus of our work is the annual Summit Challenge—HMI’s alumni fundraiser devoted exclusively to raising funds for financial aid. In this effort, our work involves: developing content and materials for alumni volunteers; raising donations; assisting in alumni donor relations; and overseeing and supporting the Alumni Council in outreach efforts around alumni giving.
- Outreach Subcommittee: The Outreach Subcommittee works to connect the HMI Alumni Community and encourage them to stay involved with HMI. They work on planning major events and reunions and supporting HMI’s Alumni Coordinator.
- Governance Subommittee: The Governance Committee works to outline the Council’s expectations for membership, tenure, participation and uphold those requirements.
Meet the Council
Alexa Adams – Governance Committee Chair
Semester 28 Student & Semester 40 Apprentice
Alexa grew up in Williamstown, MA and was the first (and only) student from her high school to attend HMI. Since her time as a student at HMI, she has remained close to the worlds of outdoor education and semester schools. From leading hiking trips for Overland Summers in college to serving as an apprentice at HMI for Semester 40 to working as the Director of Admissions & Financial Aid at The School for Ethics and Global Leadership (SEGL), to now working at The Bush School in Seattle, WA as the Director of Programs for the Methow Campus and Semester School, she is passionate about working with students and building educational environments that focus on experiential learning and intentional community.
Andrew “Bernie” Bernstein
Semester 8 Student
Andrew is originally from Brooklyn, NY, and attended Packer Collegiate Institute. His semester at HMI was the most formative educational experience of his life, inspring him to remain connected to the school following his semester. He become a founding member of the Alumni Council in 2012. Since then, he’s been proud to contribute to the council’s outreach and fundraising work, and helping to foster the ever-growing communities of alumni. Andrew now lives in Boulder, CO, and works in marketing and communications in the bike and outdoor industries. He also serves his local government as a volunteer member of Boulder’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.
Andy Casamento
Semester 31 Student
Andy grew up in Massachusetts, and now lives in New York City. Andrew studied Business at the University of Richmond, and is currently working in finance.
Caroline Santinelli– Fundraising Committee Chair
Semester 37 Apprentice
Caroline studied English and Literature at Middlebury College before working at HMI as an apprentice. Caroline now lives in San Francisco and works as the CEO and Founder of Terra Prosody, where she helps climate and conservation groups secure grant funding.
Colleen Orr
Semester 27 Student
Colleen currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, where she is the Global ESG Specialist, Corporate Audit at 3M. In this role, she is working to set internal controls to prepare for global corporate ESG reporting requirements. Since the start of her career, Colleen has worked in ESG and helped advance the conversation with policymakers and regulators in Washington, DC. Colleen holds an MBA from the University of Arizona, and a BA in Environmental Science from Colorado College, where she published greenhouse gas inventory research in a peer-reviewed sustainability journal. She grew up in Louisville, KY and is a HMI Semester 27 alumna.
Daniel Learner
Semester 21 Student
Daniel lives in Chicago where he works as a Data Scientist in the Natural Foods industry. He was a student at HMI for Semester 21 and is an alum of both Northwestern University (BS) and the University of Chicago (MS). Daniel’s favorite places to be outdoors are canoeing in the Boundary Waters, exploring bluffs in the Driftless Area, and hiking in the Rockies near HMI (of course).
Emily Blau – Alumni Council Chair
Semester 21 Student & Semester 33 Apprentice
Emily currently lives in Denver, CO where she is a consultant at Bain & Company. After serving as HMI’s first ever Marketing Apprentice in 2014, she made Leadville her home for 7 years where she worked as a 4th grade teacher and Dean of Students in the Lake County School district. Prior to joining Bain, she received her MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and thru-hiked the Colorado Trail!
Frances Erlandson
Semester 33 Student
Frances lives in Portland, OR, where she teaches upper elementary at a public Montessori school. Prior to moving to Portland, Frances spent two years in Green River, UT, a rural town of 800 people, running an after-school program at the community center and working at Epicenter, a nonprofit community design studio. She was a student of HMI in Semester 33 and is an alum of Bennington College.
Jordan Sanchez– DEI Committee Chair
Semester 33 Student
Jordan grew up in Leadville and went to the University of Denver. Jordan now lives in Denver, Colorado
Keith Snyder
Semester 19 Student
Keith attended HMI as a Semester 19 student and now lives and works in Denver, Colorado for CFRA Research as a telecommunications analyst.
Laila Pina
Summer Term 2019, Gap 2022
Laila grew up in Weston, CT and currently calls Colorado Springs home. Since their time at HMI, Laila has continued to spend time with many other HMI Alumni in the mountains of Colorado hiking, skiing, and connecting with them. Laila is an Art major who will graduate in spring 2024 and is excited to pursue creative ways of building community and investing in meaningful ways of learning and growing.
Lia Kelly
Semester 40 Student
Lia grew up in Evanston, Illinois where she ran cross country and performed in a local circus troupe. Now she lives in Colorado Springs as a student at Colorado College. At CC she works for the Crown Center for Teaching and Development. She is majoring in sociology with a hope of working in Education!
Matt Walker
Semester 1 Student
Matt grew up in Maryland just outside of Washington D.C. and jumped at the chance to be a part of RMS #1. Following HMI, Matt graduated from the Landon School and attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where he graduated with a degree in Sociology. After a year skiing and selling guitars at a music store in Telluride Matt moved to New York City where he worked making feature films, television shows, and documentaries for many years. His work has appeared on HBO, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and PBS among others. Matt lives with his wife, Jee Nah and their two daughters, Lucy and Mae in South Glastonbury, CT in a farmhouse built in 1772.
Madison Wilkinson
Semester 33 student, Semester 45 apprentice
Madison is originally from Richmond, Virginia. Since attending HMI as a student she has made Colorado her permanent home. She graduated from Colorado College in 2020 and served as the humanities apprentice for semester 45 at HMI the following fall. After her semester wrapped, she lived in Denver for 3 years before moving to Carbondale, Colorado last June. Madison currently works for a marketing agency where she’s able to combine her love for the outdoors and working with people in an interesting new way. She lives in Carbondale with her dog Murphy.
Sam Peterson
Semester 24 Student
Sam lives in Los Angeles where he works as the Associate Director at the Pacific Council on International Policy, a foreign policy think tank focused on LA and the West coast. Before moving to Los Angeles, Sam lived in Washington DC for 6 years and worked for a variety of international affairs and education focused organizations. He was a student at HMI for Semester 24 and later attended Hobart & William Smith Colleges
Sam Timberg
Semester 7 Student, Summer Term 2005 Intern
Sam Timberg lives in Brooklyn, NY where he manages sales across New York State for an alcohol industry startup called Bluebird Hardwater. Growing up in Bethesda, MD and attending Landon School the High Mountain Institute was his first true adventure in the great outdoors and he has remained close to the school ever since. First a student in semester 7 in the Fall of 2001, he was a summer apprentice in 2005, and has been a member of the school’s Alumni Council since its inception. He attended Middlebury College where he studied abroad in Kenya for a semester, played on the baseball team for 4 years, and occasionally skied between classes.