AHEC Senior Leadership Team

In July 2019, Colleen Walker was named the Chief Executive Officer of the Auraria Higher Education Center. In this unique role, Walker oversees the strategy and operations for Colorado’s largest higher education campus. Collectively, the Auraria Campus serves 45,000 students, faculty, and staff of the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and the University of Colorado Denver in downtown Denver. Previously, she served as Vice President for University Partnerships at Academic Partnerships, a major global online services provider in higher education.  

In Dallas, Walker served as the Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, where she led the transformation to operationalize the newly built museum. She directly oversaw the acquisition of Ellie May - a Columbian mammoth; the launch of both the Kosmos Energy STEM Teacher Institute and the Dell TECH Truck; the first US visit from National Geographic World Explorer, Dr. Lee Berger, regarding his South African Discovery of the Homo naledi, an all-new species on the human family tree; and, the first self-curated exhibition, The Eye of the Collector, which saw over 100,000 visitors and garnered record media attention. 

As CEO of Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, Walker successfully integrated the merger of 3 separate Girl Scout Councils into a unified organization to increase mission impact and was a key member of the national strategy team to define Girl Scouting in the 21st century. She also launched a capital campaign for two camps, including a historic South Dallas location that has been transformed into a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Center of Excellence; this model has been adopted at the national level by Girl Scouts of the USA for other Girl Scout Councils across the country to replicate. In 2012, Walker executed the largest Girl Scouts Centennial celebration in the nation at the State Fair of Texas to commemorate 100 years of Girl Scouting.

Working to develop female leaders and advocating for increased opportunities and education in STEM have been Walker’s priorities since college. In 1996, she founded Engineers of Dreams, a nonprofit organization promoting math and science literacy among fourth- through ninth-grade students, especially girls and young women, in Texas, Colorado, and Louisiana. Through this work, Walker visited 175 schools and developed a multimedia educational program to encourage more than 60,000 participating students to pursue a technical education.

Walker graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering. In 2000, she received a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University. While at Harvard, she was awarded the Horace W. Goldsmith Fellowship for outstanding contributions to a nonprofit organization. In 2015, Walker joined the National Endowment for Financial Empowerment Board of Trustees, and was elected Vice-Chair in October 2020; Walker also serves as a national board member for the Miss America Foundation.

In recognition of her leadership, Walker has been honored by the Dallas Business Journal as one of the Top 25 Female Business Leaders in Dallas, and by the Women’s Council of Dallas as Woman of the Year. She was also selected by D CEO as one of the Most Powerful Dallas Business Leaders in Dallas Fort-Worth.

Colleen has been married to Felipe Gumucio for 27 years, and they have two children, Isabella and Jacob.

Zach Hermsen is the Chief Financial Officer for the Auraria Higher Education Center. Before joining the AHEC Executive Team, Hermsen worked as Vice President of Tax Credit Financing at S.B. Clark Companies, a national, women-owned public finance consulting firm based in Denver. Prior to joining S.B. Clark, Hermsen worked at Emily Griffith Technical College, serving as Director of Business Services from 2011 to 2014, Sr. Director of Finance & Operations/CFO, 2014-2019, and Vice President of Finance & Operations/CFO beginning in 2019. Prior to joining Emily Griffith, Hermsen worked in various roles at IBM from 1999 to 2011, including Finance Manager for IBM Global Services and Senior Finance Manager for IBM Integrated Technology Division. He received eight management recognition awards for outstanding work at IBM and was also in the IBM Top Talent Program and was inducted into the prestigious One Hundred Percent Club. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of New Mexico and an MBA from the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business. As an undergraduate, Hermsen was a 3-time All-WAC Scholar-Athlete.

Skippere “Skip” Spear is the General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer for the Auraria Higher Education Center. Skip joined the AHEC team after spending 17 years representing the people of Colorado as a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Colorado Department of Law. At the Department of Law, Skip’s practice focused on higher education, government law, civil rights, construction, and litigation. In the Higher Education Unit of the Department, Skip provided legal representation to all of Colorado’s public colleges and universities both inside and out of the courtroom. Prior to entering public service, Skip practiced complex litigation at a private law firm for seven years. Skip holds a bachelor’s degree from The Johns Hopkins University, with double majors in Anthropology and Writing Seminars, and a juris doctorate from the University of Denver College of law. Skip is passionate about providing affordable and quality higher education opportunities to everyone in Colorado. Skip brings this passion to the AHEC team in his role supporting the various constituents of the Auraria Campus.

Lulu Lantzy is the Chief Activation Officer for the Auraria Higher Education Center. Having dedicated her career to mentoring and helping students, Lulu is excited to connect the Auraria Campus to the community and help create a robust learning environment. Prior to joining AHEC, Lulu was a part of the Emily Griffith Tech College Executive Team.  As the head of partnerships and innovation, Lulu oversaw successful implementation of current and prospective employer engagement initiatives and leveraged industry partnerships to connect students to the Colorado workforce. 

An entrepreneur at heart, Lulu ran her first business when she was a sophomore at the University of Michigan. While working multiple jobs to pay for school, she started a summer business employing 6 people and successfully turned enough profit to pay for the rest of her education. She was hooked on the exhilarating feeling of building something from scratch and launched several successful construction companies straight out of college. Lulu joined the Entrepreneur’s Organization in 2006 as one of its youngest members.  Inspired by the mentors who deeply impacted her journey, Lulu became the Executive Vice President of the largest student entrepreneurial bootcamp in the US, mentoring hundreds of undergrads through their business ventures. 

Deeply committed to the Denver community, Lulu serves as a Techstars Mentor and board member for the Asian Chamber of Commerce.  In recognition of her leadership, Lulu was named Denver Business Journal’s 40 under 40 and the Women’s Chamber’s Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business.  In her spare time, she enjoys hiking and exploring the great state of Colorado.  Always one to push herself outside her comfort zone, she hiked from Switzerland to Italy with Virgin Strive to help raise money for Big Change.

Carl Meese is the Director of Campus Planning for the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC). Meese has been a planner for the campus for over 10 years. In addition to general campus-wide planning, he also leads Capital Project Planning, the Sustainable Campus Program, Design Review Boards, and the Campus Planning Committee. By supporting and advancing the strategic plan, mission, and goals of each institution on campus, Meese works to enhance the quality and use of space for the entire Auraria Campus community. He facilitates and administers the implementation of the Auraria Campus Master Plan with on-campus constituents, as well as off-campus stakeholders, including local and state governmental units and neighborhood groups. He ensures individual development plans integrate with the Campus Master Plan and provides expert guidance to the institutions as they develop their planning models.

Before working for AHEC, Meese received undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Urban Design/Architectural Studies at New York University and a Master of Arts Degree in Community and Regional Planning with an Urban Design concentration at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. 

Meese spent time as a planner for a large architecture and planning firm in New York City where he worked on many high-profile urban developments and mixed-use projects. In Denver, Meese participates on the Public Realm Council and the Mobility Council of the Downtown Denver Partnership. He is a certified planner with the American Institute of Certified Planners through the American Planning Association, a member of the Society for College and University Planning, and is a full member of the Urban Land Institute.

Liz Mendez is the Chief Operations Officer at AHEC. Prior to joining the AHEC team, Liz worked at Denver Public Schools for close to 20 years – most recently as the Executive Director of Enrollment and Campus Planning leading teams in operations, project management, and planning work at DPS. Liz made the move to district central support after working as a school teacher, school counselor and assistant principal in a variety of settings. Liz holds a bachelor's degree from University of Colorado Boulder in Biology, an Administrative Leadership certificate/license from University of Colorado Denver and a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from California State University in Sacramento. Liz is passionate about urban public education and the critical role of facility operations in students’ success from Kindergarten through higher education.

Shaneis Malouff is a proud Colorado native and the oldest of five siblings. In her spare time, she races for an elite all women's mountain bike and gravel team in Boulder, CO.  She earned her BA in Allied Health from Metropolitan State University and her MS in Allied Health from Loma Linda University.  It’s exciting that as a graduate of MSU Denver, working on Auraria Campus is a type of homecoming for her.  Following her two year clinical residency, Shaneis specialized in pediatric care in southern Colorado after obtaining her American Board Certification in the field.

In 2018, Shaneis transitioned to a role in hospital administration and leadership at Vail Health. During the pandemic, she played a crucial part in the COVID Incident Command Team, ensuring the Eagle County held equitable access to care, enhancing registration systems, and supervising clinical operations for both inpatient and outpatient COVID services. These accomplishments were later published in a scholarly article co-authored by Shaneis and her colleagues due to the success of their operations.

Expanding on Vail Health's revamped systems, Shaneis and her teams began to provide new services for Eagle County, all still operational today: Eagle County's first Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE), Forensic Nurse Examiner (FNE) program, and Eagle County's Community Health program (offering free preventative health visits and medicaid enrollement services to thousands of uninsured residents on mobile units).

After transitioning from Vail Health to her leadership role in within the public sector at CDPHE, Shaneis implemented the Disease Control and Public Health Response Division's first ever Project Managment Office. During this time, she oversaw the development and implementation of the Division's first multi year strategic plan and dashboarding system. 

Outside of her state role, she was invited to lead the fiscal and social impact reporting for a citizen-led bill in the 2023 CO Legislative Session, House Bill 23-1136. Her contributions were instrumental in the successful passage of HB23-1136 (unanimous through the house and senate committees), and success of similar bills referencing her work in IL, NM, and AR.