Lori Canova has been the Chief Executive Officer of the "I Have a Dream" Foundation of Boulder County since 1997. Under her leadership, the organization has grown from two classes to ten serving 450 students making the Boulder County chapter one of the largest in the country. Lori helped start the local Mentors Matter group which focuses on recruitment of mentors, especially mentors of color. She also helped launch a county-wide collaborative school supply drive, Crayons to Calculators. Prior to joining “I Have a Dream”, Lori was the Program Director for Big Brothers of Metro Denver; a Program Director for the Mental Health Association of Colorado; the Director of SB94 Juvenile Diversion Program for Jefferson Center for Mental Health; and an Adolescent Counselor for Human Services, Inc. Lori has a Master of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Denver and completed her undergraduate work in Social Work at Colorado State University.  In 2010, Lori received the Woman of the Year award from the Boulder Professional Women group. 

Terry Bittner is responsible for the organization’s financial management, human resources, and information technology. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). He owned his own restaurant and catering company in Boulder for 15 years. Other previous employment includes the University of Colorado and Managed Business Solutions.

Cathie Williamson supervises six highly qualified project coordinators, who work directly with children at program sites. Cathie is dedicated to the “I Have a Dream” Foundation and its mission to support and nurture low-income children in their quests for education and a brighter future. Cathie worked for many years in the public sector, from international to local levels of government – most recently with the Boulder Valley School District. She is active in the Boulder community, with a particular interest in educating children. Cathie joined the staff of the Boulder County “I Have a Dream” in 2006, as the Director of Volunteers before becoming the Program Director in 2008. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a master’s in Public Administration from CU Denver.

B.A. in Sociology, specialization in Diversity and Change, San Diego State University. A native Spanish speaker, Enrique has worked in a wide variety of settings; from a formal classroom setting as a high school substitute teacher to in-home services for children with autism, and a residential counselor for homeless children in the Dominican Republic, where Enrique was a Peace Corps Volunteer. In the Dominican Republic, he developed and implemented an intensive summer and after school program focusing on literacy, math, and English as a second language. Enrique moved to Boulder from Chicago, where he was working as a Detention Counselor for Cook County.

B.A., Comparative Area Studies: Latin America and North America, Minor: Cultural Anthropology and Spanish, Duke University. Fluent in Spanish, Elyana served a year as an AmeriCorps member for the Longmont “I Have a Dream” Casa class before becoming the project coordinator for the Lafayette Sanchez class. Previously, she was a preschool teacher and an ESL tutor.

M.A., Curriculum and Instruction, University of Colorado. Kristen is a Colorado certified teacher - highly qualified in science and ESL. She has worked with both middle and high school students in a traditional classroom setting, a non-traditional academic program, and in numerous outdoor, athletic, and other enrichment activities. Kristen spent several years living in Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

B.A., Education, Columbia University, Barnard College in New York. Jodi is fluent in Spanish and taught school in Bronx, New York for several years. She worked as the Project Coordinator with “I Have a Dream’s” Kalmia Class in Boulder from 2001-2006. She returned to "I Have a Dream" in 2009 to serve as the Project Coordinator for the Pioneer Class.  She has also worked at the Sister Carmen Community Center as their Client Services Coordinator.

B.A., Education and Bilingual Education, Metro State College. Francisco is fluent in Spanish and taught in the Boulder Valley School District for 13 years and the Denver Public Schools for seven years. He’s taught at elementary, middle and high school levels. He worked as the Project Coordinator with “I Have a Dream’s” Broadway Class in Boulder from 1999-2009 and is now working with our newly adopted Iris Class.

B.A. in Spanish and Race and Ethnic Studies, University of Redlands. Fluent in Spanish, Rigoberto has a long history of community service. He has experience working summers in the Longmont community that includes positions with the school district, and the city of Longmont.