Board of Directors
Jamie Idelberg, RDH, B.S., has devoted her life to advocating for individuals with cleft lip and/or palate and their families. During a 37-year career at Children’s Hospital Colorado, she helped shape the Cleft and Craniofacial Program into the patient- and family-centered team it is today. As Outreach Coordinator, she connected generations of families to care and to one another. Among her most lasting contributions is Cleft Camp, held each summer and winter with the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center (BOEC). Since retiring, she has continued as the camp’s lead volunteer, and Face-to-Face Colorado now provides funding to sustain it. She has also volunteered with the Carabello Bocce Classic, which supports the camp, for 15 years. Jamie is a longtime leader in the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA), a regular presenter at its annual meeting, and has served on its Commission on Team Approval and Revitalization Task Force.
Jennifer Freeman, Treasurer
Jen Freeman has twenty years of non-profit management experience at all levels including as executive director. She has significant experience collaborating with non-profits, government agencies, and funders including grant solicitation, relationship building, grant management, fund management, and reporting. She specializes in youth development and engagement, conservation and stewardship, community collaboration, and national service/AmeriCorps programs. Prior to launching her consulting business in 2014, Jen served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA), a statewide non-profit organization that promotes youth development through conservation. She has a Bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Management and Organizational Development, both from Benedictine University in Illinois. Jen lives in Denver with her husband and two children. Her husband and son are cleft-affected. The Freeman family enjoys spending time in Colorado’s great outdoors – hiking, camping, and skiing.
Kristyn Lockhart, Board Member
Kristyn Lockhart has not one, but two cleft cuties! Jett was born with a unilateral cleft lip and complete cleft palate and also has a bilateral mixed hearing loss. Macklin was born with a bilateral cleft lip and a partial cleft palate. Together, both boys have had 10 surgeries and two very different journeys. Kristyn, her husband Chris, and the two boys have spent countless hours with numerous specialists for feeding, speech, dental, and motor skills. She is incredibly passionate about sharing her experiences advocating for her children, and navigating the extra things cleft-affected kids need like Early Intervention, IFSPs, and IEPs. While challenging, they also get to have a lot of fun together watching Jett and Macklin in all their sports and activities and traveling to Wyoming to spend time with family. Both boys have taught Kristyn and Chris to never give up. When life gets hard, that is the most important time to keep going. As Jett says, “The only way you actually lose is if you quit…Don’t ever give up!” Being part of Face-to-Face Colorado and the cleft community means that Kristyn can serve as a guiding light for anyone that might need help or direction with cleft-affected children.
Theresa Snelling, Board Member
Theresa Snelling is the team Speech Pathologist and Clinical Coordinator at the Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Center at Rose Medical Center. Her full-time work is at her private practice/speech therapy clinic in Lakewood; her passion is medical cleft palate missions which she has been participating in yearly for 11 years now! She also serves on the advisory board for Face-to-Face Colorado.
Kirsi St. Marie, Board Member
Kirsi St. Marie is an engineering consultant with passion for giving back to the community that has supported her and her family over the years. Kirsi is the mom to a cleft-affected daughter. She and her husband have navigated the complex care and health insurance rules from their daughter’s infancy to her young adulthood. During this journey she has learned about the potential health issues cleft affected can experience from breathing, eating, hearing, speech, teeth alignment, jaw growth and so forth. She values both the coordinated health care from their Cleft Team and the community and emotional support her daughter has received from the cleft community social events and the Children’s Hospital Colorado Cleft Camp. She feels strongly that no child should have to go through cleft journey alone without peer support.
Linda Rollert, Board Member
Consultants
Meaghan Carabello, Marketing Consultant
Meaghan Carabello is the lucky mother of two wonderful children: Maggie (14) and Luca (12), wife to Zeb, and a marketing consultant living in Denver. When Luca was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, they started an incredible journey navigating the changing seas of healthcare, insurance, emotions, and all of the ups and downs of loving, caring for, and advocating for their son. She is passionate about supporting other families navigating the same journey, as well as educating the general public about cleft-related issues. For the past 15 years, Meaghan and Zeb have hosted an annual charity bocce ball tournament that has raised more than $100,000 to support the Children’s Hospital Colorado Cleft Camp for kids who are cleft-affected. She is honored to be part of the Face-To-Face Colorado team and community.