Board & Leadership
Dennis D. Curtin
Board Member
Dennis began his legal career with the IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel in Washington, DC, later co-founding a Plattsburgh, NY law firm, where in 1991 he negotiated a peaceful end to an 11-day armed standoff between Mohawk Nation members and federal authorities. He went on to lead major plasma fractionation companies, including Octapharma Plasma and BPL Plasma, and currently advises Plasma Technologies, LLC. After his son found lasting sobriety at Jaywalker, Dennis is honored to help fund scholarships for those who could not otherwise afford treatment.
Bobby Gattone, MBA
Board Advisor
Bobby Gattone serves as The Jaywalker Foundation’s Executive Advisor, supporting the board and leading grant-writing efforts. He holds an MBA from the University of Illinois and a nonprofit leadership certificate from Northwestern University, with more than 20 years of grant-writing experience raising over $15 million for mission-driven organizations. Having led two nonprofits over eight years, Bobby also helped build one of Northern Illinois’s largest substance use recovery programs after finding his own sobriety, and is committed to growing the Foundation’s impact for others.
Brett Nicholas
Board Member
Brett Nicholas brings more than thirty years of experience in mortgage finance, capital markets, and corporate strategy. He currently serves as Co-CEO of Trevally Capital LLC and spent two decades in leadership roles at Redwood Trust, helping build it into a leading housing finance company, and served six years on the University of Colorado Foundation’s Board. The Jaywalker Foundation’s mission is deeply personal to Brett: having experienced the transformative power of recovery firsthand, he is passionate about expanding access to lasting sobriety for others.
Scott Kindel
Secretary
Scott Kindel is a behavioral health executive and consultant with more than 15 years of leadership experience across the full continuum of substance use and mental health care, from detox through outpatient services. As founder of Kindel Consulting, he helps organizations nationwide with startup development, regulatory compliance, and strategic growth. Having lived and worked in Carbondale, Colorado, Scott has long admired Jaywalker’s approach to recovery and is honored to serve on its Board, supporting a mission that is deeply personal to him.
Rob Ryberg
Treasurer
Rob Ryberg serves as President & Co-CEO of Jaywalker Lodge, a role shaped by his own journey to lasting sobriety in 2007 at age 19. With nearly two decades in behavioral health, he has held clinical, operational, and board roles, including CEO of C4 Recovery Solutions and founding partner of Northern Illinois Recovery Center. Rob holds a BS from Utah Valley University and an MBA from the University of Arizona, and is honored to protect and grow Jaywalker’s legacy as an independent, family-owned program.
Stefan Bate
President
Stefan Bate’s own recovery journey began as a graduate of Jaywalker Lodge, sparking his passion for helping others heal. Originally from Iowa, he studied psychology at the University of Denver and earned a master’s in applied psychology from Regis University, and is a Licensed Addiction Counselor in Colorado. With experience as a recovery coach, therapist, and program director, Stefan now serves as Jaywalker’s Chief of Clinical Operations, designing recovery programs and speaking nationally on the open community model of care.
Who Runs the Foundation
The Foundation is led by a small, working board of directors and a scholarship committee drawn from the wider Jaywalker community. Every member of the board and the committee has a direct connection to the work, as an alumnus, a family member, a clinician, or a long-time supporter. None receives compensation from the Foundation.
Why We Exist
We exist for one reason: to help families with an opportunity for a life-changing experience. To support their loved ones with an authentic recovery experience, who would not otherwise be able to get there. That is the whole job.
Insurance covers some of the cost of treatment. Families cover some of it. For many of the men who need Jaywalker most, neither covers enough. The Foundation closes the gap, and in doing so, it does what nothing else in the system is built to do: it funds the duration of care that actually changes a life. Not thirty days. Ninety. And then the transitional months that follow, where a man learns to live as someone he has never been before.
What We Believe
We believe addiction is a disease, not a moral failing, and that the men who suffer from it deserve the same dignity and the same quality of care anyone else would receive for any other illness.
We believe a man’s recovery is his own. The Foundation does not pay for compliance; it pays for the chance to do the work.
We believe in long-term care. Thirty days is rarely enough. Most of the men we fund stay for ninety days, then transition into transitional living, then sober living. The Foundation funds duration because duration is what works.
We believe in our community. The Roaring Fork Valley, the brotherhood at Jaywalker, the clinical team, the alumni network: this is not an average treatment program. The Foundation exists to put men inside this specific community because we have watched it save the lives of men who had run out of other options.
Who We Are Not
We are not Jaywalker Lodge. The Foundation is an independent giving entity that funds scholarships at Jaywalker. We do not run the clinical program, set admissions criteria, or determine treatment plans. We fund access. The Lodge does the work.
Closing
There are men at Jaywalker today who would not be there without the Foundation, and without the donors who make the Foundation possible. Their continuing recovery is the answer to the only question that matters: did the work do what it was supposed to do? It did. It still does. That is why we are here.