My name is Andy Schultheiss, and I’m excited to introduce myself as the new Executive Director of the Colorado Water Trust.
For the past 20+ years of my career, I’ve been in the conservation world in various capacities and know how important healthy rivers are to Colorado and to the west. I’m thrilled to work with our team on restoring flows to Colorado’s rivers in need!
The Water Trust has some innovative ideas of how to do more projects and include more partners, and to efficiently leverage our skills and knowledge to work at a larger scale across Colorado. I’m looking forward to using my expertise in bringing people and communities together to help support our goals and to broaden the depth of our partnerships on river projects.
A word about me … (This photo, by the way, is from a few miles south of the Arctic Circle in Sweden, under one of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve ever seen. I love rivers everywhere!) Prior to joining the Water Trust, I worked in non-profit managment, and as the Chief of Staff and Colorado Director for Congressman Jared Polis. I also served as a City Councilor on the Boulder City Council for four years. While I have a master’s degree in Natural Resources Policy and
Administration, I earned my bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and remain an engineer at heart. The technical side of water transactions is as equally as fascinating to me as is the human side, understanding all the partners and priorities that are in play with water.
Like I said, I’m excited to be a part of this team. I’m greatly looking forward to meeting our project partners, and seeing more of the places where we work throughout Colorado.
I realize I’m stepping into big shoes, following Amy Beatie as the Water Trust’s Executive Director for the past ten years, and am looking forward to working with Amy for the next few weeks as I continue getting my feet wet in the water world. We are saying our official goodbye to Amy on November 2, 2017 at 6:00 pm at her going away party, and I hope to meet people there in person or at a holiday happy hour we’re planning in early December.
I’m looking forward to meeting people, so please stop by and say hello. You can email me at aschultheiss(at)coloradowatertrust(dot)org or call me at (720) 204-5843 to coordinate calendars.
Thank you for the warm welcome and I look forward to talking more with you soon!
Best Regards,
Andy Schultheiss
Executive Director, Colorado Water Trust