Staff

Phil Powers
Executive Director
(303) 384-0110 ext. 12
Phil Powers joined the American Alpine Club as executive director in May of 2005. His previous experience in the non-profit world includes service as vice president for institutional advancement at Naropa University and seventeen years with the National Outdoor Leadership School as chief mountaineering instructor and development/partnerships director. He remains an owner of Jackson Hole Mountain Guides.

Powers is author of Wilderness Mountaineering and Climbing: Expedition Planning. His essay, "The Importance of Pace", was aired on NPR’s “This I Believe” in 2006.

Powers has led dozens of expeditions to South America, Alaska and Pakistan’s Karakoram Range, including ascents of K2 and Gasherbrum II without supplemental oxygen. He made the first ascent of the Washburn Face on Denali, naming it in recognition of the impact longtime AAC member Bradford Washburn’s photos had in the planning and route research of many Alaska climbs. Powers also made the first ascent of Lukpilla Brakk’s Western Edge in Pakistan, and the first winter traverse of the Tetons’ Cathedral Peaks. He continues to be an active climber and skier.

He lives with his wife and children in Denver, Colorado.

Penn Burris
Operations Director
(303) 384-0110 ext. 11

Penn Burris, Director of Operations, has had a love affair with the mountains and climbing from a very young age. A Wyoming native, he spent his teenage years climbing in the Tetons, Devil’s Tower, Vedawoo and the Wind River Range.

Burris, a married father of 3 young teenagers, moved to Colorado in the mid 1980’s to attend the University of Denver where he studied Economics and Political Science. While attending DU he furthered his involvement in the climbing community as the President of the DU Alpine Club, leading student climbing expeditions to Mexico, Alaska and throughout the U.S.

After graduating, Penn went to work as a stockbroker for Dain Bosworth, a Minneapolis based Investment Banking firm. But, the outdoor industry kept calling him back. After 3 years, he left to start retail climbing shops and guiding service in the Colorado Front Range. Eventually, that lead to other outdoor industry careers including Outdoor Prolink/The Outdoor Network and 7 years as Vice President of American Outdoor Products; makers of Backpacker’s Pantry food.

Now living in Golden, CO, Burris explains “Working for the American Alpine Club is the perfect opportunity for me. It combines my years of development in the business world, my love of climbing and working with a really great and motivated group of people who truly care about the club and its future”.

Kelly Cordes
Senior Editor, American Alpine Journal

Brittany Griffith
Events Coordinator

Brittany has climbed big walls in Yosemite, red-pointed 5.13b, competed on the NORBA pro downhill circuit and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Never one for complacency, Brittany's climbing prowess has seen her on-sight 5.12c and saunter up such notable Smith Rock routes as Oxygen (13b), The Backbone (13a), Darkness at Noon (13a) and Taco Chips (12d). Always humble, Brittany is quick to dismiss her amazing grace, insisting she loves gravity sports too much to limit herself to just one.

John Harlin
Editor, American Alpine Journal

Beth Heller
Preservation Librarian, AAC Library
(303) 384-0110 ext. 13 Beth Heller combines love of books with love of mountains in her job as Preservation Librarian for the AAC. She believes that fragile resources need to be simultaneously protected and accessible – a challenge both for things made of paper and for things made of rock, plant, or dirt. Beth is a Master’s graduate of the University of Texas, School of Information, and holds a Certificate of Advanced Study in Conservation of Library and Archival materials. She was a Mellon Fellow in Conservation of Works of Art on Paper at the Balboa Art Conservation Center in San Diego, and spent a summer preserving parchment documents at the Pinos y Sarriera Archives, Spain. She can hardly wait to start fixing all the incredible books in the AAC Library.

When she was a child, Beth used books as a way to take her to new places – by reading them, and by laying them on the floor and pretending they were rocks to step across a raging river. She came to actual outdoor sports later in life, after moving to Crested Butte and giving up her first career, as a psychotherapist in Texas, to live in a tipi on an organic farm, writing poetry, among many other jobs. Although she could never be described as an aggressive climber, Beth has happily followed other people up rock in Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, California and Mexico while pursuing her second career. These days, you will more likely encounter her hiking, or playing with the books in the Library.

Emily Kreis
Membership Data Administrator
(303) 384-0110 ext. 35

Emily Kreis’ passion for the outdoors developed during years of guiding youth trips throughout Northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. After completing a Bachelors Degree at Taylor University in Indiana, she entered the outdoor industry full-time. For two years, she served as the Director of the Wilderness Adventure Trips program for a large youth camp in Wisconsin. Although she loved her job, she couldn’t ignore the call to live in a place where all the adventures she loved were far more accessible. She moved to Colorado in the fall of 2006.

Emily joined the AAC in September 2007 after four months of pursuing her other hobby, photography, on a glacier in Skagway, AK. She is currently the Membership Data Administrator and takes care of all new and renewing members, making sure they have what they need to enjoy their AAC membership to its fullest. On a daily basis, she enjoys working on projects for the AAC’s marketing efforts as well.

Gary Landeck
Library Director
(303) 384-0110 ext. 21

This job is about as fun as it gets. There are so many fascinating aspects to the AAC Library—digitization projects, building relationships with donors, 16th-century book collections, and serving the AAC membership, to name a few. My colleagues often tell me how lucky I am to be the director of this library. They’re right, of course.

I have a B.A. in English from the Metropolitan State College of Denver and an M.S. in library science from Emporia State University. Being an information professional is my second career; I was an accountant and corporate trainer for a mutual fund company in my previous life. I was a non-traditional student and spent 12 years finishing my undergraduate and master’s degrees. All of those years in school gave me the opportunity to do what I’m doing today at the AAC. It was worth every minute.

I am a retired competitive runner and I am fortunate to have run 16-minute 5Ks, 34-minute 10Ks, in addition to completing two marathons and one ultramarathon before the years of hard training broke my knees. These days I am more of a hiker, walker, and yoga kind of guy. I love the mountains and the AAC has given me a deep appreciation of the beauty and solitude those places afford. I enjoy the gifts of the outdoors as much as I can with Erin, my wife of 15 years.

Dougald MacDonald
Editor, American Alpine News and E-News

Jerry Mack
Controller
(303) 384-0110 ext. 14

Club Controller Jerry Mack gets his stamina for long alpine routes from his other hobby. “I am an avid cyclist, and I participate in long distance and ultra marathon events. My favorite was Paris-Brest-Paris in 2003, a 1,200-kilometer race.”

Mack, a father of two grown sons, is a Colorado native. Hiking and fishing with his father, he learned to love the mountains at a very early age. He has climbed in many parts of the world, including South America, Mexico, Canada, Alaska, Europe, Africa and Nepal. His favorite climb was Mount Logan in the Yukon.

Mack feels the Club is an important resource to climbers and non-climbers alike. With its rich history and illustrious membership, the AAC sets the standard for mountaineering organizations around the world. Besides, where else can you have lunch with Brad Washburn just before leaving for Denali?

Mack is a Certified Public Accountant, who graduated from the University of Colorado. He worked in public accounting for Peat Marwick and has been a controller for two securities firms, including a subsidiary of Drexel Burnham.

He has long known of the Club through his membership in the Colorado Mountain Club. He has been on the job for nine years and enjoys working with what he calls “healthy, vital people,” in the office.

Jason Manke
Membership Director and Grants Manager
(303) 951-4567

Jason Manke, Membership Director and Grants Manager brings a wealth of nonprofit and climbing experience to the Club. Prior to landing his job with the AAC in 2003, he held several positions in the climbing industry while finishing his Natural Resources degree from Colorado State. In 2004 Jason joined an international exchange to western China to climb and snowboard Muztagh Ata. He owns a nature photography business and can frequently be found touring around Colorado's wilderness areas with a 4x5 wood field camera. Jason has been a member of the AAC for 8 years, and has climbed throughout the lower 48, Alaska, Canada, and China. He serves as a board member for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network.

David Maren
Marketing Director
(303) 384-0110 ext. 18

David Maren, Marketing Director, brings over a dozen years’ experience to the AAC building brands in the nonprofit, health, sustainability and outdoor arenas. A few years ago he received his MBA from the University of Oxford, where he focused on social entrepreneurship. There he planted the seeds for a social enterprise called Email Emblems, which in 2007 won the Tomorrow’s Wealth Prize in Europe’s largest business plan competition, the Oxford University 21st Century Challenge. His vision is to enable success for organizations devoted to bringing about a more equal, stable, sustainable world. To that end he conceived of Climbatology, and is particularly fond of a quote from the late David Brower (AAC VP in the 1950s): “There is a lot to be learned from climbing mountains, more than you might think, about life, about saving the Earth, and not a little about how to go about both.”

Janet Miller
Executive Assistant
(303) 384-0110 ext. 15 Janet Miller has been with the AAC since 2006. She came with over 6 years administrative experience, starting with Outward Bound in 2000 and then two years in New York working for the National Maritime Historical Society. Upon returning to Colorado in 2006 she came on board here at the AAC. As Executive Assistant she provides administrative support to Phil Powers and other directors on staff. Prior to Outward Bound she spent almost a decade working in veterinary medicine as a certified veterinary technician.

Janet enjoys many outdoor activities including hiking, climbing, skiing, snowshoeing and sea kayaking. As a resident of Eldorado Springs, along with her husband and two yellow labs, it’s not hard to guess where you might find her in her free time.

Dana Richardson
Volunteer Coordinator
(303) 384-0110 ext. 10

Dana Richardson grew up spending her school years in Kansas City and summers at her parent’s camp, Sanborn Western Camps, in the South Platte of Colorado. After climbing fourteeners and experiencing the excellent rock climbing of Colorado, Dana fell in love with the state and all the adventures that it has to offer. Following her graduation from the University of Kansas, she spent several years working as a field instructor and outdoor educator for Outward Bound. In September of 2005, Dana was hired as Membership Director. Following two years of beneficial service, Dana has been promoted to Volunteer Coordinator where she will coordinate the plethora of events with which the club is involved, as well as finding Ambassadors to help spread the word of the AAC.

Cheryle Wise
Development Director
(303) 384-0110 ext. 40

Cheryle Wise, a degreed professional with extensive sales, networking, marketing and business experiences. A California native, after graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara, she moved to Colorado to live in the Rockies.

The bulk of her experiences are in property management, senior health care and advertising. She brings a lot of enthusiasm, dedication and a desire to drive the AAC’s fundraising endeavors.

She surrounds herself with her family that includes her husband, two children, three horses, three dogs and lots of outdoor activities.

Drew Birnbaum
Ranch Manager
Contact regarding: The Grand Teton Climbers Ranch
(307) 733-7271

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