Meet Comeback Yoga’s Board of Directors
MIKE, Board Chair
Mike was a small business owner for 25 years. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a degree in engineering and of University of Denver with an MBA/finance.
He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of A Precious Child charitable organization for over 10 years.
Mike has been happily married for over 30 years to Judy and is the father of two (Taylor and Jacob). Recently retired, he is an avid skier and golfer.
Mike is truly impressed with the benefits that yoga has demonstrated for our veterans and this is the main reason for his involvement with Comeback Yoga.
KARA
Kara is an Air Force Reserves Intelligence Officer serving in Colorado Springs. She is also a Defense Contractor supporting the Navy and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Having served on active duty, in the Reserves, Air National Guard, as a Contractor, and military spouse, Kara has been around the military for over twenty years. She understands the unique challenges of being a military member and being part of a military family.
Kara originally hails from New Jersey, but the Air Force has taken her all over the world. She loves being active, especially outdoors, so Colorado is a perfect fit, and hopefully her forever home state. Whether she's running, hiking, playing with her two daughters, she's always on the move. Yoga plays an important restorative, relaxing, and therapeutic role in her life.
JUSTIN, Treasurer
Justin is an Air Force Academy graduate and an Air Force veteran. While serving, Justin was a Finance Officer stationed in California and Colorado and also served overseas in Afghanistan.
While he was stationed in California, he met his wife (Katie) who is also a veteran. They are proud to be part of the veteran community and are passionate about giving back to it.
He has previously sat on several panels targeted at helping service members with their transitions from military to civilian life.
Justin loves Colorado and really enjoys being active in the mountains. He’s an avid skier, hiker, runner, and of course practices yoga. Yoga has been an increasing focus in his life as he strives to achieve balance between health, work, family, and passions.
SERGIO
Sergio is an Air Force Academy graduate and an Air Force veteran. During his service, Sergio was an Acquisitions Officer in Utah, California, Colorado and also served a tour in Afghanistan.
When he moved back home to Colorado, he met his wife (Lizzi), and they just started their family.a
After the military, he started his own business in real estate along with his own performance coaching company. He has helped Veterans by partnering with Salute Colorado as they transition from military operations back into civilian lifestyle.
Sergio grew up in Colorado and loves spending time in the mountains snowboarding, mountain biking, and hiking with his family. He loves to travel, workout, music, and practices yoga. Yoga helped Sergio when he was struggling with PSTD and Depression after his tour in Afghanistan. Sergio will tell you that Yoga changed the trajectory of his life.
HEATHER
Heather is a pharmacist who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. She has been working with Veterans in VA since 2016 and is a veteran herself. She served in the US Army as a combat medic in Baghdad, Iraq.
She started practicing yoga in 2006 for pain relief from injuries from her time in military service and fell in love with it.
She is passionate about studying somatic therapy and the mind body connection to overcome illness and believes trauma-informed yoga for veterans is a truly healing game changer. She is grateful to serve on a board dedicated to veterans healing.
NED, Co-Founder, Board Member Emeritus
Ned is Co-founder of Comeback Yoga. He started teaching yoga at the Denver VA Hospital and has loved his involvement there ever since. Ned is also a student of yoga and is interested in the topics of trauma informed yoga, neuro-plasticity, brain research and imaging and attachment theory in early childhood development.
After becoming a Yoga Alliance certified teacher and completing more than 450 hours of additional yoga and related continuing education, Ned has taught more than 300 trauma informed yoga classes at the Denver VA Hospital facilities.
MARGOT, Co-Founder, Board Member Emeritus
Her gateway to yoga was recovery of whole body fitness after a significant ski accident and subsequent surgeries. Recovery is not linear and she had many stops and begin again moments on her path to having a regular yoga practice – this makes her very understanding of others with similar stops and starts to their exploration of yoga. Margot brings her scientist curiosity and knowledge with her to the yoga mat and uses brain research and trauma informed yoga practices to help her students find relief, confidence and calm in their practice. Margot is the daughter of a veteran and teaches to this population out of appreciation for their service. She is a co-Founder of Comeback Yoga and has been teaching since 2014.