Meet Our Board
Beth Birchfield
Co-Founder / Chair
(she/her)
Fueled by her love of backyard beekeeping and the outdoors in her home state of Colorado, Beth’s ultimate goal is to create a new system where our planet and economy can equally thrive for generations to come.
Beth is currently the Chief Sustainability Officer for Remark. Prior, Beth founded the sustainability consulting firm, ecoshyft, with a mission to help organizations meet consumer demand for increased sustainability while improving their bottom line.
Her tech and hospitality industry experience laid a foundation for understanding the interactions between people, markets, governments, and the environment. As a certified corporate coach with an academic background in behavioral economics and women’s studies, Beth facilitates structural and cultural transformation to empower people and organizations to enact sustainable change.
Miles HOffman
Vice Chair
(he/him)
Miles is the Sustainability & Energy Analyst for Boulder Valley School District, and a Senior Associate for Communication and Engagement for Lotus Engineering and Sustainability. He partners with utilities, governments, and other external partners to drive positive impact in both roles. He has a passion for engagement and collaboration, and has worked extensively with sustainability experts to ensure organizations have the resources to succeed in both planning and executing sustainability initiatives.
Miles holds an MBA from Trinity University in Washington, DC and has extensive experience in non-profits, businesses, and federal government. In addition to his positions at BVSD and Lotus, he’s a member of the Town of Superior’s Advisory Council on Environmental Sustainability (ACES) and an advisor to Jackie Mays, a vegan fast-food company.
Sarita Parikh
DEI Chair
(she/her)
Sarita’s lived experiences growing up Indian American guided her passion for social, economic, and environmental justice and the recognition that it’s all connected. Her commitment to addressing diversity, race, and equity, and belief in the role of regenerative business as a path to lifting communities and creating change led her towards entrepreneurship.
She is a co-founder of Glow + Gather, a retail lifestyle and wellness brand that believes in social impact, sustainability, spreading joy, and encouraging simple, healthy living. She is also the founder of Mind, Body, & Play Therapies, a physical therapy private practice more recently focusing on assisting clients in achieving a wellness lifestyle through targeted mobility and health goals.
From healthcare to retail, Sarita has 20 years of experience successfully starting and running companies committed to facilitating health, creating impact, providing mentorship, advocating for social, economic, and environmental justice, and building community. She has served on multiple non-profit boards focusing on children with medical and special needs, and on sustainability. She loves to spend time exploring and learning about the planet we are so passionately trying to protect.
Leontyne ashmore
Treasurer
(she/her)
Leontyne is the founder, CEO and designer of the Lisbeth Joe shoe brand. Originally from Zimbabwe she moved to London England at the age of 18 and studied Business Administration and later specialized in Accountancy and is an ACCA qualified accountant. As a finance professional she worked in several software companies prior to relocating to Boulder Colorado in 2014 with her husband and children.
In 2018 she changed career and became a ‘shoepreneur’. Her interest in not only helping women who wanted to wear more comfortable shoes, grew to also helping other women starting their own enterprises in developing countries. Some of the shoe proceeds are invested in women through KIVA. She is also a mentor for Watson Institute, which runs an accelerator program for impact enterprises.
Jessica Sherwood
Board Member
(she/her)
Jessica is a long-time social justice and community activist living in Denver for over 25 years. As principal of Mile High Emergent Consulting, Jessica has remained deeply committed to intersectionality, interconnectedness and social justice in community activism and in creating intentional workplace cultures. She has consulted for groups as varied as local unions and management, progressive politicians, school administrations and staff, communities in conflict, and nonprofits resetting and restructuring.
From Director of Restorative Justice for the Conflict Center to founding the educational environment and community outreach non-profit, Feet First, Jessica centers community engagement and authentic relationship building in all of her work. Mile High Emergent Consulting prioritizes outreach to organizations and projects working with diverse and marginalized populations believing this approach is pivotal to addressing the inherent imbalance in our society based on institutionalized and systems-based discrimintation. Jessica is particularly adept at strategic, big picture thinking, and motivating and encouraging action in others. She has facilitated numerous professional development trainings exploring Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion to ensure the internal culture shift necessary to impart the same to the organizations with which she works. Jessica holds an MSW from Case Western Reserve University, is an adjunct professor in the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work, is Mediation Certified through International Advanced Dispute Resolution, and is trained in High Impact Victim Offender Dialogue and Restorative Justice Community Group Conferencing. Jessica finds joy in social and environmental activism, animal welfare (and all things animal-related) and time spent with her two adult daughters.
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