Staff | CASA of the Continental Divide

Claudine Norden

Cathy Hyde — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 21:27:43 +0000

Claudine has been a CASA Volunteer since 2016 for D&N Truancy cases.

She now joins the CASACD staff as a Safe Exchange & Parenting Time Monitor. Claudine’s passion for elevating the voice of the marginalized is what inspires her advocacy work. She is a Personal and Professional Leadership Development Facilitator and also shares this work with CASACD facilitating leadership and belonging training with volunteers and staff. Claudine and her family live in Summit County and enjoy traveling, adventuring, volunteering, and connecting and serving their community and beyond.

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Mary Ann Leake

Cathy Hyde — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 20:13:59 +0000

Trained and started volunteering in the fall of 2013.

Started mentoring new volunteers on their first case in the spring of 2016.

Temporarily hired as a Program Coordinator from July 2018 thru October 2018.

Earned a Bachelors Degree in Special and Elementary Education, and a Masters Degree in Computers in Education.

Work experience includes: CASA Volunteer, Teacher of elementary and middle school aged children, Teacher of Special Needs children and adults, Elementary Reading Teacher

Personal interests include: reading, walking/hiking, camping, tennis and pickleball, spending time with our two daughters, and spending time with our first grandson!

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Rachel Pleimann

Cathy Hyde — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 17:02:04 +0000

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Rachel moved to Breckenridge back in 2014, after obtaining her undergraduate degree. She has a Master’s in Business Administration, from Colorado Technical University. A majority of her employment has been focused in the field of healthcare, working with providers in the Summit County region. She is thrilled, and honored, to serve as a Program Coordinator with CASACD, in continuing to provide services and support to our mountain communities.

Rachel is a tea enthusiast, enjoys BBC mysteries, puzzle fanatic, audiobook/podcast obsessed, and is always craving Mediterranean food. Free time is typically shared adventuring with her husband and three children.

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Karla Leal

Melissa Kiel — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 17:24:21 +0000

Hi, my name is Karla Leal. I’m the SEPT (Safe Exchange and Parenting Time) coordinator. I was born and raised in Eagle County. I have many passions like traveling, riding horses, anything nails or cosmetics, learning new languages, reading, and more! I enjoy working with children and young adults. I currently have an associate’s degree in psychology, and I’m working on furthering my education. I’m excited to begin my journey with CASA and bring more help to a community that needs it.

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Lori Engels

Melissa Kiel — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 13:22:48 +0000

Born and raised in Kansas. Lori moved to Summit County, Colorado in 2014 to be able to explore the beautiful high country and adventure the surrounding areas. She likes to be in nature, with easy access to hiking and snowboarding. Lori also enjoys putting her artistic creativity in any and every aspect of her time. She has her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sustainability Studies from Colorado Mountain College. Her favorite sustainability goal is Social Equity; putting the people and especially the children in our community first while guiding them with the resources they need, which she believes is the most important step overall in sustainable development. Lori is excited to assist CASAcd along the way and be the best support system for the success of the organization.

Lori enjoys traveling and experiencing new places. She expresses her creativity through painting, drawing and crocheting with inspirations from nature. More recently she became intrigued with the idea of riding motorcycles, so she went through a course to obtain her license and purchased a new bike to explore around in the high country.

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Siri Lewis

Melissa Kiel — Sat, 29 May 2021 00:26:07 +0000

Siri Lewis is a resident of Clear Creek County and is honored to support her community as a Program Coordinator with CASA of the Continental Divide. Siri graduated from Fort Lewis College and then went on to Lesley University to earn her MA in Education. She loves the outdoors and spends much of her time on trails, off-piste, and exploring the Continental Divide. Her explorations of the mountains are not limited to the summer months as she grew up on the Colorado slopes and tromping through the beautiful terrain on snow shoes. Siri recently began exploring waterways and has loved paddle boarding and canoeing.

Siri describes herself as an outdoor adventurer…as long as it doesn’t involve heights! She loves chocolate, coffee, and salty snacks. Her next planned adventure will be traversing the Pyrenees Mountains on foot; pictures will be coming this Autumn.

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Janine Mariani

Melissa Kiel — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 22:07:56 +0000

Janine Mariani was hired as Program Coordinator in September 2020, promoted to Program Director in November 2021 and has recently transitioned into Co-Executive Director of Programs as of May 2022. She received her Master of Laws (LLM) in Health, Law and Society from the University of Bristol in February 2020. She spent several years prior traveling and living abroad in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In the past, Janine has worked in areas such as domestic violence, mental health and education. In her free time she enjoys traveling and spending time in the outdoors.

Janine enjoys traveling as much as she can, spending time with family and friends and being outside whether that is at the beach or in the great outdoors. If she’s at home you can find her eating pizza and hanging out with her husband, Dylan and cat, Beauregard.

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Cathy Hyde

tdl_tracy — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 03:00:00 +0000

Cathy Hyde started her journey with CASACD as an Administrative Assistant on January 24, 2017. She was promoted to Development and Events Coordinator on July 1, 2019 and served as the Operations Director starting July 2021. In May of 2022 she moved into the role of CO-Executive Director of Operations alongside Janine Mariani. Cathy received her Baccalaureate of Arts with dual majors in History and Library Science and Media, and her Masters’ Degree in Education with a concentration in Library Science and Media. Both degrees focused on curriculum building for differentiated instruction and problem solving.

Cathy describes herself as a tea drinking, book reading, chocolate eating (dark please!), mountain girl that somehow found herself in the Midwest. She recently left our beautiful mountains to live in Lincoln Nebraska and has continued her work with CASA remotely. Her most recent accomplishment is “keeping my rose bush alive despite my notoriously black thumb.”

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