Alli Meyerhardt

Executive Director

 

Alli graduated from CSU with a degree in History Education and has been an advocate since she was 16. Intermixed throughout her working career have been experiences where she taught young children, managed employees, and most significantly created the exhibit that is the hallmark program of Breaking Silence.

As a teacher, Alli learned the importance of giving people a reason to learn. As a program director, Alli used her creativity and organizational skills to create an exhibit that was only made possible by gathering volunteers, making partnerships with advocacy centers, and motivating college students to attend an intense and powerful event on their free time.

As an advocate Alli developed first responder skills such as active listening, empathy, and the necessary understanding needed to help victims process through their experience. These experiences have contributed to the creation of Breaking Silence and through continuous empowerment, collaboration, and dedication will assist in the fulfillment of our mission.

Board of Directors

  • Tanya Ahamed

    Tanya Ahamed is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Denver. Tanya began her career working with victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse and then moved into doing therapy with convicted offenders who have been court ordered into treatment. Though Tanya’s path changed direction, she has maintained her belief in change and healing and she has now been working to rehabilitate criminal offenders since 2005. In addition, Tanya is the Fundraising Director and sits on the Board of Directors for S.O.U.L. Foundation where she works in rural Uganda to promote education, community development and sustainable business cooperatives within small villages. She is so thankful and proud to be a part of Breaking Silence and to contribute to the groundbreaking projects bridging healing, awareness, and support for all people healing from interpersonal violence.

  • Alane Holsteen

    Alane Holsteen began working with victims of domestic violence in 1990 at the Denver City and County Domestic Violence Unit while studying at the University of Colorado for her degree in Women’s Studies. She went on to be hired by Jefferson County District Attorney’s office in 1991.Ms. Holsteen has continued to work as a Victim Specialist in Jefferson County for all crimes against children cases, including sex assaults, physical abuse, homicides, exploitation, and trafficking. Ms. Holsteen has presented in many state wide trainings regarding child victims over the years including the Colorado Law Enforcement Officers Association, Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, Colorado Investigators Training Program, Colorado Children’s Advocacy Centers, and the Sex Offender Management Program.

  • Barb Sheppard

    My name is Barb Sheppard. I was born in Florida and raised in Albuquerque, NM. Colorado has been my home since 1982. I graduated from Metropolitan State College of Denver with a Bachelors degrees in Behavioral Science and History. I live in two different worlds. My job is in corporate America (IT) but what feeds my soul is the volunteer work I get to do. In the 90s, I volunteered with junior achievement for several years, working with pregnant teens and low income, inner city, middle schoolers with behavior problems. I was also a part of Kids Can, an abuse prevention program in Jefferson county that worked in elementary schools. I have travelled to Kenya, El Salvador and Guatemala as part of educational therapy teams. Since 2010, I have been a victims advocate in Jefferson county and a member of American Red Cross disaster team. I am passionate about my work with victims and am grateful that I have the ability to use my time to give back to those in need. It is gift.

  • Callie Rennison

    Callie Marie Rennison is a professor and former associate dean of faculty affairs at University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs. She also served as the Director of the Office of Equity and Title IX Coordinator for the CU Denver and Anschutz Medical campuses. She earned her Ph.D. in 1997 in Political Science from the University of Houston, University Park, where she also received a B.S. in Psychology, M.A. in Sociology and M.A. in Political science. In 2016, she was awarded the Bonnie S. Fisher Victimology Career Award from the Division of Victimology in the American Society of Criminology.

    Dr. Rennison has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses including Research Methods, Statistics, Murder in America, Crime and the Media, and Introduction to Criminal Justice.

  • Brittany Meyerhardt

    Brittany Meyerhardt is a writer, director and producer living and working in Los Angeles. She is currently working full time as a content producer for an active eyewear company called goodr. Her love for film, acceptance and making stuff come to life is reflected in her support for Breaking Silence. Brittany has served on the board since 2020 and assists in the production of our flagship program, Stories of Survival.

  • Derick Gallegos

    Derick Gallegos is a doer. I’m a partnerships and sports marketing specialist with 13 years of experience and have led high value brands and startups to become their category leaders while exceeding growth and profitability expectations. I’m a go-to market strategy guy with the ability to connect consumers to products. I specialize in GTM strategies, partnerships, collaboration, licensing, and contract negotiations.

    Derick joined our board in 2019. His passion for getting things done, uplifting voices, and allowing our organization to thrive is unparalleled.