General Manager
Wilderness First Responder
Hometown: Terre Hill, PA
School: Messiah College/ Denver Seminary

Ben was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he was one of 49 grandchildren in his family. He went on to college and received a Marketing degree from Messiah College in 1988. There, he participated in soccer and track. He then went on to play professional indoor soccer for two years. Ben went back to college to pursue his Master’s degree in Youth and Family Studies at Denver Seminary. He proceeded to then use that degree to work with high school students until getting into the guest ranching industry; he has worked with guest ranches for the past 15 years. In Ben’s free time, he enjoys watching sporting events. He also enjoys spending time with his wife, Holly and his son, Jack. Chelsea is living in Denver and Amanda is living happily with her husband, David Gillie. Their daughter Annie is now living in Boston.

Director of Ranch Operations
CPR Certified
Hometown: Windham, NY
Previous Job: Round Mountain Ranch, Manager

Charlie has been in Colorado since he was 24 years old and gradually worked his way up to Clark. Charlie has been a part of the VVR team since the late-90′s and quietly keeps the ranch running as the master organizer of our team. He and his wife Barb enjoy spending time with their grand kids, as well as road biking. Charlie rides a brown 1974 Motobécane and his wife rides a silver 1975 Motobécane. He also enjoys barbecues outside on the patio of their timber frame house he built looking out on Farwell Mountain.

Director of Hospitality
Hometown: Woodside, CA
School: UC Davis

Steph has been at Vista Verde since 1997, where she takes care of all things related to getting you here, and then making your experience as wonderful as possible at the ranch. Steph is a California native who came to Colorado with plans to stay a season or two, and has never left. She found the perfect combination of her background in the horse world along with an agricultural business degree in the dude ranch industry. As a mother of two, Steph loves to spend time with her daughters, as well as riding horses, mountain biking, practicing yoga, and skiing. Steph’s husband, Todd, is a former Olympic skier and now coaches ski jumpers in Steamboat Springs.

Properties Manager
Hometown: Clark, CO
School: Southwest Minnesota State University

Bill has been around Vista Verde for almost 25 years now! In his free time, Bill enjoys fixing up old, damaged cars and is also very skilled at making furniture. Much of the furniture located in the ranch’s accommodations was created by Bill. If you want to make friends with Bill, make him a pie. His favorite is rhubarb pie, and you should see the rhubarb he grows in the ranch gardens!

Safety Manager
CMC EMT Program
Hometown: Elgin, TX

Nate is officially our Safety Manager, but that is just the start of what he does at the ranch! When not fixing things or overseeing our fleet of 14 hot tubs, or guiding, or wrangling, he finds time to pursue his hobbies that include hiking, playing softball, dancing, and horseback riding. Nate really enjoys playing on Vista Verde’s intramural softball team during the summer and volleyball during the winter. For his first job, Nate was involved in restoring a 1939 Cadillac LaSalle. He is a volunteer with North Routt Fire Department as an EMT and Firefighter type 2. Finally, Nate married our own lovely Melissa in October 2016 in VVR's Great Room!

Human Resource Manager
Wilderness First Responder, USCG Certified Captain, CPR, AED
Hometown: Annapolis, MD
School: University of South Carolina

Zach is a dedicated outdoorsman who has been chasing anything with a set of gills or pair of antlers since he was 2 years old. Growing up on a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, he enjoys fishing for striped bass and sailing during the summer months. In the fall, he can be found bowhunting for whitetails and sika deer. Zach is also a proud USC Gamecock and looking forward to an awesome summer at VVR! Fun Fact: Before joining us at VVR, Zach sailed 1,900 nautical miles from Annapolis, MD to the Bahamas with his father.

Reservations Associate
CPR & First Aid Certified
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
School: University of South Carolina

Catherine graduated from University of South Carolina in 2017 with a degree in Business Marketing and Management. During college, she was a Young Life Leader at a high school in Columbia, SC. Colorado really captured her heart after spending a summer wrangling in Telluride. She is a sunshine enthusiast who loves to roller blade, snowboard and road trip with pals. Cat joins us in the office for her fourth season at VVR!

Reservations & Front Office Manager, Yoga Instructor
Hometown: Louisville, CO
School: Boston Conservatory

This is Devyn's 10th season at VVR! In grade school she was constantly reprimanded for too much chit chat and now she gets paid to talk to people! Devyn is a certified RYT 200 hour Hatha Yoga instructor. She is also a Colorado native who spends her winters skiing and summers hiking, fishing, and horseback riding. Devyn is a singer too and loves to sing the Star Spangled Banner.

Wilderness First Responder, First Aid, CPR
Hometown: Alpharetta, GA
School: University of Georgia

Beka joined the VVR crew when she moved to Colorado in 2009 and was instantly captured by the beauty and allure of Rockies. In the past few years she has served in a variety of roles; Human Resources, Activities Coordinator and Adventure Center manager. She has done it all at the ranch, and this summer she will be transitioning back into the office. Beka loves to spend time outdoors with her handsome husband, Michael. She couldn’t live without running, skiing, hiking, and camping in the Zirkel Wilderness. Travel is a big hobby of hers so she spends most of her time off exploring new routes or new countries, depending on the week! Beka and Michael just welcomed their new baby girl, Clara.

Store Manager
Hometown: Colorado springs, CO
School: Colorado State University/ University of Arizona

Holly grew up in Colorado Springs, CO, and attended Colorado State University where she obtained a degree in social sciences and criminal justice. She went on to receive her law degree from the University of Arizona. After focusing on the kids for the past few years, Holly is enjoying working alongside her husband, Ben, at the ranch. They have four children: Amanda, Chelsea, Annie, and Jack, and a son-in-law, David, as well as two dogs, Finn and Hazel. Holly's favorite thing is when all the kids are back home.

Bookkeeper
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
School: Academy of Art University: San Francisco

While Jennifer is originally from Philadelphia, she has been living in Steamboat Springs for the past ten years! Her son is currently a student at Steamboat Springs High School and her daughter is studying veterinary medicine at the University of Georgia. One of Jen's true passions is art. She loves to draw and paint, especially the beautiful scenes around the area. Jen also loves to explore the mountains by means of hiking, horseback riding or even stand-up paddle boarding. Fun Fact: Jen was a contender on American Gladiator!

Front Office/ Ice Fishing/ Snowmobiling Guide
Wilderness First Responder, First Aid,CPR,AED
Hometown: Plymouth, MN

Isaac is an outdoors-man in every sense of the word. Growing up he spent every second he could chasing fish around Minnesota's many lakes. As an adult not much has changed, Isaac still spends much of his time fishing the waters close to the ranch. However he has also now added ice fishing, snowmobiling, hiking, hunting, and camping to his list of hobbies. During the off season Isaac travels through the U.S. fishing for whatever will eat a well presented fly. He is looking forwards to Taking on new challenges in the office and starting the ice fishing program this winter.

Ranch Hand Manager
Hometown: Vesloes, Denmark
Previous Position: Danish Military

Michael is from a small town in the North of Denmark called Vesloes. He has spent much of his time working with his hands and doing various jobs in and out of the country. After his time in the military’s Royal Lifeguard he took a short education in Outdoor and Sports studies. Later he joined another branch of the Danish Military and spent a few year working in Greenland. He found his way to Clark after meeting his wife, Beka, while they were travelling in South America. This season he is heading up the ranch hand department. He likes running, camping, tele and skate skiing, travelling, and enjoying good food and wine. Most of all, he enjoys spending time with his wife and their baby girl, Clara.

Ranch Hand
Wilderness First Responder, First Aid, CPR, AED
Hometown:
School: University of South Carolina

Ted is returning to the ranch after spending some time working in Washington DC. He is excited to be back in the west where he can spend his time doing his favorite activities which include fly fishing, hunting, and hiking. We are glad to have Ted's hard work ethic and professional demeanor back on the ranch.

Ranch Hand
First aid, CPR, AED
Hometown: Charleston SC
School: The Citadel Military College

Miller loves anything outdoors but is especially passionate for fly fishing. During the winter months he spend many of his weekends braving the cold and ice on the Yampa river in town trying to scratch the fishing itch. Miller has even traveled to Patagonia Chile in pursuit of trout. During this previous fall he took a trip to Wisconsin along with Isaac and Zach to check musky off his list of fish to catch and caught not only one but two musky on the fly. This being his third season as a ranch hand, Miller can handle anything you throw at him. We are glad to have him back for another season at the ranch.

Ranch Hand
Hometown: Richmond, VA
School: Virginia Military Institute

Originally from Richmond Virginia, Rand enjoys fishing and duck hunting. He is looking forwards to trying out all the snow activities available near the ranch and learning some ice fishing and fly fishing.

Ranch Hand
CPR, First Aid, and Level 4 Swift Water Rescue
Hometown: Louisville, KY
School: University of Louisville School of Engineering
Robert was born and raised in Louisville, KY. he the youngest of four boys. While at U of L, he was a starting line midfield player for the club lacrosse team. Currently, he is a board member of The Pete Foundation for Depression Prevention. As a board member, he assists in coordinating PeteFest, a three day music festival held on a 90 acre nature preserve every September in Louisville. Robert loves the outdoors and is always looking for new adventures.

Ranch Hand
CPR and first aid certified
Hometown: Eureka, Kansas
School: Kansas State University

25 years old, Patrick grew up in the outdoors hunting and fishing but enjoys traveling. He spent his summer guiding elk hunters in northwest Montana and knows his way around the woods as well as anyone. He has been to Spain, France, Italy, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Fun fact: Patrick lived in Germany for 4 years

Ranch Hand
First Aid, CPR & AED Certified
Hometown: Independence, MN
School: Bemidji State University

Josiah recently finished his BS in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement. He has spent past summers at a camp in northern Minnesota working in various positions, supervising students, facilitating events, and making nature an enjoyable experience for individuals of all ages. For a while, he was even the program director for the rugged island camp and went a whole summer sleeping in a hammock or living in cabins in the woods without electricity (or a phone), and never once wearing shoes. The past two years he has focused on the facilities portion of the equine program and has come to enjoy constructing environments that enable people to appreciate horses as much as he does. Like most textbook Minnesotans, he loves snow, ice, the cold, and sipping hot cocoa outside when the windchill drops below zero. Fun Fact: Josiah once won an award for having the ``best sandcastles at 1st base`` in children's Tee-ball.