We are pleased to announce some changes and new faces on our team…
Jayson Simons-Jones brings more than two decades of experience in the avalanche industry to our staff as our new Education Manager of Rec Education.
He started his career as a winter program instructor at the Colorado Outward Bound School and has since instructed all levels of recreational and professional avalanche courses. He is proud to have taught for multiple providers, including AIARE, Colorado Mountain College, the American Avalanche Institute, and Silverton Avalanche School, where he also served as the Professional Avalanche Programs Director.
In addition to his experience as an educator, Jayson was a member of the Crested Butte Professional Ski Patrol, as well as a founding member and forecaster for the Crested Butte Avalanche Center. He has worked extensively as a snowcat, helicopter, and non-mechanized guide in Colorado, Alaska, and around the world. Jayson also holds a Colorado Blaster’s License for Avalanche Control work and earned his IFMGA/UIAGM Mountain Guide License in 2014.
Prior to joining A3, Jayson worked as a consultant, project manager, and advisor within, and outside of, the outdoor industry; recently completing his Master of Science Degree in Organizational Leadership and Development at CU Boulder. In his new role at A3, Jayson will handle oversight of recreational avalanche education in the US.
Our new Board of Directors Treasurer, Jonathan Shefftz, has already served A3 for a decade as the Member Affiliate Representative. He is an avy instructor for both NSP and AIARE, as well as the only Easterner on the Board. He brings experience as the treasurer for three other non-profits and has graduate-level coursework in public sector financial analysis and management. Jonathan looks forward to working with our accountant Ian Johnston, who claims to be the only CPA who gets to ski 100 days a year, as Jonathan claims to be the only economist who averages over 600,000 earned vertical feet of skiing each year. (Both claims are entirely unverified, although both of them probably document all this in spreadsheets.) Jonathan subsidizes all of these activities as well as his NE Rando skimo race series with his consulting practice, which includes testifying as an expert witness on financial economic factors in federal district court legislation.
Thank you to our outgoing Treasurer Dan Kaveney for many years of dedicated service.
We’re lucky to have you on the team, Jonathan and Jayson!
