LEAD Speaker Roster
Amanda Cain
Peer Support Specialist, Brain Waver
Colin Larson
Colorado Representative, House District 22
Jarett Hughes
Senior Policy Advisor on Aging, Governor’s Office, State of Colorado
Adjunct Faculty, Gerontology, Colorado Mesa University
Prior to joining the Governor’s Office as the Senior Policy Advisor on Aging, Jarett worked as the Project Administrator for Colorado’s Strategic Action Planning Group on Aging. In his role with the Governor’s Office he continues to support the state’s planning efforts to address increased longevity in later life and the related impacts. As adjunct faculty at Colorado Mesa University, Jarett introduces undergraduate students to the world of Gerontology and hopes to encourage and inspire a new generation of young adults to work intergenerationally with, and on behalf of, older Coloradans. In his down time, Jarett and his wife, Ellen, enjoy taking their three dogs to the park and making overly burdensome dinners.
Judy Amabile
Colorado Representative, House District 13
Judy Amabile was recently elected to represent Coloradans in House District 13, the seat previously held by Speaker KC Becker who was term limited. HD 13 includes the western part of Boulder County, as well as Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand and Jackson Counties. Rep. Amabile is a lifelong Democrat who has lived in Colorado for almost 50 years. She is a mother of three adult sons. For 25 years, she served as the founder and business owner of Polar Bottle, a maker of sport water bottles. As a legislator, she is working to fight climate change, bring greater economic justice to all Coloradans, and increase access to mental health resources in our state.
One of Rep. Amabile’s sons has a serious mental illness that developed at age 18 and has gotten worse over time. Finding treatment has been overwhelmingly frustrating. She is one of far too many parents who know the despair of trying to access mental health services in a system that seems designed for failure. The costs and consequences of a broken mental health care are devastating to people, families, and society at large. Rep. Amabile is committed to progressive change.
Moe Keller
Director of Advocacy, Mental Health Colorado
Moe Keller has been with Mental Health Colorado since 2010. Prior to that, she served for eight years in the Colorado House of Representatives and eight years in the Colorado Senate, where she concentrated on legislation and policy for individuals who have mental health conditions and for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Keller championed and helped pass Colorado’s groundbreaking mental health parity laws in 1997 and 2007, legislation restricting use of seclusion and restraint of people experiencing a mental health crisis, and the Colorado Children’s Mental Health Treatment Act.
Prior to her work in the legislature, Keller was a special education teacher for deaf and hearing impaired children for 25 years. She has been married to Stephen Keller for more than four decades and has two adult children.
Rick Brandt
Chief of Police, City of Evans
(Bio found on the City of Evans website)
Rick Brandt has been Chief of Police in Evans since May 2007 after having retired from Aurora PD with 26 years of service. He has experience in patrol operations, investigations, internal affairs, vice and narcotics, policy writing, street crime, victim services, community policing, and crime analysis. Rick is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Public Safety Leadership Institute from the University of Denver and has a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice.
Rick’s goals for the Evans Police Department include the use of modern technology to address and reduce crime. Furthermore, his goals for the citizens of Evans are to maintain a transparent and accessible police department, provide a full range of police services, and to work with the community to make Evans a safe and desirable city in which to live, work and play.
Rod Pelton
Colorado Representative, House District 65
(Bio found on the Rod Pelton website)
I am a third-generation Cheyenne County Resident. I raised my family on the same section of land as I was raised. In 1977 I graduated from Cheyenne Wells. I am a small business entrepreneur and have run a custom harvest crew, family farm, and continue to run a beef cow herd. I continue to battle the same over-regulation and government overreach that other small businesses endure and look forward to the opportunity of taking that experience to Denver to protect rural Colorado.
My wife of 41 years and I have raised two daughters and are proud of our six grandchildren. I am proud of the way my wife and I raised our family. They grew up in a Christian household and have been taught the morals and integrity that our leaders should have.
Shannon Van Deman, MBA
CEO, Aspen Ridge Recovery
Shannon is the board treasurer for Mental Health Colorado and Vice President of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Hospital, a role she’s occupied since 2016. Shannon brings more than 16 years of experience in behavioral health to her executive director role at Partners for Children’s Mental Health (PCMH). She also serves as the VP of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Colorado. She was chosen to co-chair the children’s subcommittee on Governor Jared Polis’s Behavioral Health Task Force, intended to shape the future of behavioral health services and access across the state. Prior to joining the team at Children’s Colorado, she was the CFO of Choices Coordinated Care Solutions, a national non-profit committed to supporting youth with significant behavioral and emotional challenges.
Vincent Atchity
President & CEO, Mental Health Colorado
Vincent Atchity joined Mental Health Colorado in 2019. Vincent previously served as Executive Director of The Equitas Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to disentangle mental health and criminal justice by activating leaders, influencing policy, and spurring innovation. Vincent is an advocate for public health and health equity, a population health management strategist, and a builder of communications bridges connecting communities and community partners with better health outcomes and more efficiently managed costs.
Vincent’s work has included care management, cost control, outcomes improvement, workforce development, data integration, partnership network development and support, project design, education, and fundraising. Vincent has served on the Colorado Governor’s Mental Health Holds Task Force and the Colorado Opioid Epidemic Symposia Steering Committee, and currently serves on the Colorado Public Defender Commission, Governor’s Strategic Planning Task Force to Increase Behavioral Health Access in the state, the Denver District Attorney Advisory Council on Mental Health, the Colorado School of Public Health Behavioral Health Initiative Advisory Board, as well as on the board of a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Vincent has held positions with the North Colorado Health Alliance, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Fordham University, and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in comparative literature at the University of Southern California, and his undergraduate degree in classics at Georgetown University.
William McCall
Incoming Freshman
William is a gap year student and incoming freshman at Georgetown University, with plans to major in Political Economy. Before joining the Mental Health Colorado team in early 2021, William worked on Mike Johnston’s and Jared Polis’ gubernatorial campaigns, former US Attorney John Walsh’s bid for Senate, and most recently served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Rep. David Ortiz — the newly elected representative for Colorado State House District 38. These experiences taught William the importance of grassroots organization in fostering lasting, meaningful change within one’s community, as well as the significance of youth voices in modern political discourse.
Having had his own experiences with the mental healthcare system and seen the impact that effective care can have on individuals suffering from mental health conditions, William understands how imperative affordable, attainable, and destigmatized services are. As part of the Mental Health Colorado family, William is excited to get to work doing whatever he can to make a difference.
William grew up in Littleton, Colorado. In his downtime, he enjoys reading, jazz piano, and spending time with his family.
