Michelle Dyson, President: Michelle is a returning board member, having served the Autism Society of Boulder County from 2003 to 2005. In the interim, Michelle helped establish and grow Autism Speaks’ Colorado Community. In her 20-year marketing career, Michelle worked for various high tech and consulting concerns and is eager to put those promotional skills to good use for the ASBC. An East Coast transplant, Michelle has now lived in Boulder for nearly 12 years, where she is raising two children with her husband, Rick. Their eldest child has both autism and cerebral palsy.
Emmy Conroy, Vice President: Emmy co-founded an online autism support group that now counts over three dozen members in our community, and that has provided a real resource to families struggling to implement GF/CF diets and other biomedical interventions. Also a member of the BVSD Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC), Emmy is very involved in creating a productive and ongoing dialogue between parents and schools here in Boulder. Emmy and her husband Patrick are the proud parents of three children, one with ADHD and another with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.
Whitney Pinion, Secretary: Whitney first joined ASBC in 2009 as a member of its Education Committee, which created a series of autism training workshops for educators in the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD).
In her former life, as she likes to say, before autism, Whitney edited a radio programming magazine in Washington, D.C., managed ten clients for a public relations firm in San Francisco and wrote a collection of short stories for her Master’s Thesis in creative writing at San Francisco State University. She and her husband Derek moved to Boulder in 2003, and soon thereafter their son was born. After he was diagnosed with developmental disabilities at 16 months, and then with autism at the age of four, Whitney found herself using those writing and marketing skills to fill out bottomless piles of paperwork for her son, to coordinate care for him among a team of two dozen teachers, therapists, doctors, specialists and respite providers and, most importantly, to advocate on his behalf.
The mission that her new life has bestowed upon her is a passion for educating others about autism and for creating a safe, compassionate community and a rich life for her own son and for other individuals with autism.
Jill Sheldon, Treasurer: Jill move to Boulder, Colorado from Santa Barbara, California in June 2010. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1993 with a B.A. in English Literature. For five year Jill worked as the office manager and accountant for a computer networking company that her husband co-founded. After the birth of their two children, she made the decision to be a stay-at-home mom. Her daughter was formally diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder by the Koegel Clinic when she was three years old. Jill frequently volunteers in her children’s classrooms, school events and fundraisers, and is currently volunteering with the ASBC to help further autism awareness for the community of Boulder.
Ingrid Julyk, Education Committee Chair: Ingrid moved to Colorado from Iowa City, Iowa in 1989 to attend CU Boulder. She graduated in 1994 with a BA in Fine Arts, then went on to receive a K-12 Art teaching certificate in 1996. She spent her first two years teaching middle school in Iron River, Michigan before moving back to Colorado to teach in Clear Creek School District, where she taught in elementary, middle and high school over the course of three years. During that time, Ingrid’s artwork was accepted in the the Majestic Gallery in Idaho Springs where she continues to be a member. She met her husband in 2001 and moved to Longmont where she taught elementary school art in St. Vrain Valley School District for three years before her son Nathan was born. After making the decision to resign from teaching and become a stay-at-home mom, Ingrid Started a small business called Glimmer Glass in 2006. Her work is in several galleries and shops throughout Northern Colorado. Ingrid became involved in the ASBC after her son was diagnosed with autism and continues to be dedicated to autism advocacy, research and treatment coordination on her son’s behalf.
Eugenia Brady, Board Member and Spanish Support Liaison: Eugenia and her daughter moved to Boulder, Colorado from Costa Rica, almost 11 years ago. Eugenia is a Community Liaison and Translator for the Boulder Valley School District. She is also a member of the Leadership Team of the Parent Engagement Network (PEN), an organization intended to built open communication and understanding between parents and children, and through workshops and lectures, provide parenting tools and strategies to parents of students of all ages.
Eugenia believes in the power of self-advocacy, the educational rights and the potential of all children. Her experience includes many years of work in the “Patronato Nacional de Ciegos” in Costa Rica, a government’s agency for the blind, and work with students with special needs at the University of Costa Rica. Being a Community Liaison here in Boulder has given Eugenia the opportunity to witness the many struggles of members in our community, many of them, immigrant families of children with special needs who often don’t speak English. She is currently, a board member of Nuevo Horizonte, a group of 47 Spanish-speaking families with children with ASD, located in Denver, and is working on a project with the purpose to get information and resources for parents in any language. Eugenia is passionate about helping and empowers parents of children with ASD and encourages them to take a look into the “other side of the Spectrum”. She is a mother of three children. Her son was formally diagnosed with ASD when he was 2 1/2 years old.
Lauren Park, Board Member and Fund Raising Committee Chair: Lauren Park came to Boulder to attend law school over 20 years ago and never left. She worked for 11 years as a prosecutor for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. Lauren now devotes most of her time to raising two children, one of whom has autism, and fundraising for her kids’ school and for other community organizations.
Jim Morgan, Board Member and Webmaster: Jim completed an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Systems Engineering. With his growing family, he lived in Europe for several years on a company assignment. Jim’s recent interests lead him into software and information technology, which has benefited the ASBC greatly; providing the organization with more than seven years of volunteer service as its website manager. Jim has served on the Broomfield County Cultural Council and contributes as a volunteer Leader of the Science Task Force at the Broomfield Public Library.
Jim is a husband and father of five children. His three sons each have IEPs with his second son having an autism diagnosis.
