Chief Sustainability Officer#
The City of Fort Collins is seeking a new Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) to lead the Sustainability Service area and support organizational policies, goals, and objectives established by City Leadership. We are looking for a collaborative, human-centered leader to embrace the commitment to equity and inclusion and support the triple-bottom-line approach by leading and directing the three departments of Economic Health, Environmental Services, and Social Sustainability.
The candidates listed on this page have been selected as finalists for the position.
On January 5, 2023 a panel-style forum was held where the CSO finalists fielded questions and were given an opportunity to share their knowledge, skills and experience. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the forum in-person or viewed online. For those who were unable to attend, a recording of the program can be viewed below.
Next steps
Deputy City Manager Tyler Marr and City leadership will take time to consider feedback from a variety of stakeholders before making a final selection. Anticipate an announcement within the next few weeks sharing the outcome and introducing the new CSO for the City of Fort Collins!
Chief Sustainability Officer Candidate Finalists#
Jacob Castillo
Jacob Castillo currently serves as the Director of Larimer County’s Economic & Workforce Development Department. He is the co-founder of two business ventures, both with a strong social and environmental commitment. He was a contributing author to a textbook on sustainable venturing and has served as an instructor at Colorado State University. He holds three undergraduate degrees in Agricultural Business, Foreign Language and Literature, and Economics from CSU and pursued a double masters in Global Social & Sustainable Enterprise and Agricultural & Resource Economics at CSU.
Josie Plaut
Josie Plaut currently serves as the Associate Director for the Institute for the Built Environment and served six years prior as the Institute’s Director of Projects. She also served as the Executive Director of CLEAR (Center for Living Environments and Regeneration). Josie is a Certified Marketplace StratOp Facilitator through the Patterson Center and a LEED Accredited Professional through the U.S. Green Building Council. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sustainable Enterprise from Fort Lewis College and a Master of Science in Construction Management from Colorado State University.
Kelsey Rader
Kelsey Rader currently serves as the Sustainability Officer for the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Prior to her role at the City, Kelsey was the Natural Resources Policy Director for New Mexico First, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to statewide policy development. Kelsey also currently serves as a Commissioner for the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Arts in English and German, with a minor in Spanish and graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law with a Juris Doctor and a certificate in environmental and natural resources law.
Dan Stephens
Dan Stephens currently serves as the Executive Director of The Rotary Club of Birmingham, Alabama. Prior to his time with The Rotary Club, Dan was the Vice President of Community Impact for the United Way of Central Alabama. Dan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Georgia, a Master of Arts in Counseling from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a Master of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary. He also completed the Allstate Foundation Non-Profit Executive Leadership Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.