about us
It Started Over Pizza...
Somewhere between the second slice of pizza and a conversation about the incredible (often hard and lonely) innovative education work happening across Colorado, we found ourselves asking:
What would it take to make Colorado the best place in the nation to be a learner?
For years, we've worked alongside educators, founders, school leaders, entreprenuers, and innovators. Colorado has built some of the most remarkable learning experiences for young people available anywhere. They were solving problems, testing new ideas, and building models that challenged the idea of what school could be.
As we talked, our conversation drifted beyond education. We found ourselves looking at places where innovation flourishes: startup ecosystems, research labs, technology hubs, and entreprenurial startup communities. In those environments, people don't succeed because they have all the answers. They succeed because the conditions exist to help ideas grow. They have access to networks, mentorship, capital, research, partnerships, and communities that believe experimentation is worth investing in.
Wouldn't it be nice if school founders and leaders had those same conditions? What if educators with bold ideas had a network around them? What if promising models didn't have to reinvent everything from scratch? What if Colorado became the place where innovators could test ideas, learn from one another, share what works, and build someting bigger together.
The more we talked, the more it became clear. Colorado isn't missing innovation, it's missing infrastructure.
CultivatED Colorado was born from the belief that great ideas need more then passion, they need an ecosystem.
Today we're building the connections, resources, partnerships, and research infrastructure that help innovation thrive. We believe Colorado has an opportunity not just to participate in the future of learning, but to help lead it.
Kelly Tenkely
Systems Thinker
School Designer
Innovation Instigator
Kelly's the founder of Anastasis Academy, The Learning Genome Project, and the 5Sigma Conference- basically, if education had a startup studio, she'd be running it. With two decades of dreaming big (and building even bigger), she helps educators turn bold ideas into learner-centered realities rooted in curiosity, identity, and joy.
Dr. Kyle Gamba
Ecosystem Builder
School Whisperer
Chief Joy Officer
From leading transformations in public schools to launching LaLuz, Kyle brings vision, heart, and humor to every table. He's a master of co-creation and handshake lessons, and he's always thinking a few systems ahead to help communities design learning that matters.
Meet Our Advisors
Our advisors bridge the gap between lived experience and systems-level insight. They’ve been in classrooms, launched schools, and led transformative work—and now they champion innovation from within foundations, nonprofits, and organizations that support educators. Their guidance helps us stay grounded, strategic, and deeply connected to the broader ecosystem we’re working to grow.
Yee-Ann Cho brings more than 30 years of leadership experience across education, philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, and public service. She most recently served as a partner at LearnerStudio and previously held leadership roles with Pivotal Ventures, the University of Denver Daniels College of Business, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the State of Colorado. Yee-Ann is a trusted strategist and advisor committed to advancing equitable, learner-centered systems that help all young people thrive. She serves on several nonprofit boards and lives in Denver with her husband and two dogs.
Yee-Ann Cho
Equity Architect
Systems Weaver
Pathfinder of Possibility
Damion LeeNatali
Entrepreneur
Advocate
Optimist
Damion is a consultant with expertise in policy, impact investing, and entrepreneurship. He is currently the President at TRAILS, a national organization focused on providing equitable access to mental health services for all children and teens. A former teacher and current charter school parent, he believes deeply in innovative education for all students.
Leslie Colwell
Community-centered
Influential
Catalytic
Leslie Colwell is a leader in education policy and systems change with deep experience connecting school communities, policymakers, and practitioners. As Director of Policy at Transcend, she works to ensure that education policy supports meaningful and lasting innovation in schools. Previously, she led education policy and advocacy efforts at the Colorado Children’s Campaign and held roles in teaching, state government, and nonprofit leadership. Leslie brings expertise in coalition building, stakeholder engagement, and translating community voice into impactful policy.
Jamita Horton
Visionary
Strategic
Empowering
Jamita Horton, Ed.D. is the Executive Director of Teach Plus Colorado, where she champions educator leadership and policy solutions that expand opportunity for all students. A former teacher, assistant principal, researcher, and policy leader, Dr. Horton has spent her career advancing equity and improving outcomes for young people. Her experience spans K–12 education, advocacy, and public policy, including leadership roles with the Public Education & Business Coalition and Teach Plus. She brings a deep commitment to educational excellence, educator voice, and systems-level change to CultivatED Colorado’s advisory board.
Scott McLeod
Incessant Questioner
Champion for Children
Catalyst
Scott is on a mission to make students’ learning less boring and more meaningful and relevant. From his home base at the University of Colorado Denver, he works side-by-side with educators to redesign larger systems and day-to-day instruction. Scott dreams macro but can design micro.
Sarah Johnson
Model Navigator
Learning Polyglot
Bridge Between Worlds
Sarah's done it all: led classrooms, built a Montessori microschool, supported charter networks, and even world-schooled her kids. She gets the nuance of every model and brings unmatched wisdom to the table. Now at Donnell-Kay, she helps CultivatED cultivate what's next in Colorado's education ecosystem.
