BOARD CHAIR

Deborah Malden is a co-founder of Create Boulder and has served as the volunteer Arts Liaison at the Boulder Chamber since 2013. A lifelong dancer and former banking executive, she spent 20 years financing major infrastructure projects before turning her focus to strengthening the “soft infrastructure” that supports a vibrant, just society.

Deborah has held leadership roles on the boards of 3rd Law Dance/Theater, the Dairy Arts Center, including serving as interim executive director, and the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District Board. She has also served as a member and board member of Social Venture Partners Boulder County.

A certified Change Leader with Colorado Creative Industries, Deborah serves on the Colorado Creative Industries Council. She is also a graduate of the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts Leadership Arts program.

Deborah co-led the successful 2023 campaign to pass Boulder’s Arts, Culture & Heritage Tax. Her contributions have been recognized with Dairy Center Honors, the Boulder Chamber’s Women Who Light the Community award, and the PNC Bank Cultural Leadership Award from Colorado Business Committee for the Arts.

BOARD TREASURER

Nick Forster is a co-founder of Create Boulder, a professional musician, record producer, arts and nonprofit entrepreneur, and radio host/producer. He is most widely known as a longstanding member of the award-winning bluegrass band, Hot Rize, and as the host and founder of the musical and environmental radio and podcast program, eTown, based in Boulder, Colorado.

As a 30-year Executive Director of an arts nonprofit in Boulder, Nick has experienced firsthand the impact of major gaps in funding for artists and arts organizations.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, and raised in New York, Nick has called Boulder home since moving here in 1980. Married for 30 years to his partner in life and work, Helen Forster. She and Nick live in west Boulder with the cutest cat in the world (sorry, not sorry) named Emma. Nick has three grown daughters, and three grandchildren that keep him at his most playful.

BOARD SECRETARY

Lyn Ciocca McCaleb is a dedicated advocate for the arts and community service in Boulder, Colorado. With over two decades of experience on nonprofit boards spanning the arts and education, Lyn brings leadership expertise to help foster creativity and collaboration within the local arts community. She was an advocate for the Arts, Culture & Heritage Tax petition, which led to the successful approval of ballot measure 2A by voters. A passionate supporter of artistic expression, Lyn believes in the transformative power of the arts to connect individuals, inspire change, and enhance the quality of life.

In addition to her nonprofit work, Lyn is an executive and leadership coach, collaborating with leaders and teams across startups, nonprofits, universities, and corporations. Earlier in her career, she led marketing for major consumer brands. Lyn holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from NYU.

Originally from Sleepy Hollow, NY, Lyn resides in North Boulder with her husband, Rob. Together, they are avid scuba divers and enjoy camping throughout Colorado. Her diverse board experience includes The Coral Reef Alliance, The Dairy Arts Center, Passageworks and 3rd Law Dance.  She currently also serves on the NoBo Art District board.

BOARD MEMBER

Jan Burton is passionate about art and music, serving on numerous music boards in the past, including eTown and the Colorado Music Festival and currently serves on the University of Colorado College of Music Advisory Board. She regularly hosts concerts in her Boulder, Colorado home and is dedicated to creating a sustainable future for art and cultural organizations and musicians.

Jan was a Boulder City Council member from 2015-2017 and enthusiastically advocated for the passing of the city’s first Community Cultural Plan in 2015. She is still actively engaged with the City of Boulder Office of Arts + Culture and city council around arts initiatives as well as other topics of interest in the Boulder.

Jan helped to create the Colorado Music Festival’s “Mashup” series in 2013 to reach new audiences and create a social atmosphere for orchestral performances.

She chairs the Open Boulder Foundation, an organization focused on various good governance initiatives and support of Boulder’s open space. She is an active pilot, aircraft owner, avid outdoor person, photographer, and art lover. Since 2014, she has traveled to 28 National Parks in her 1961 Airstream, blogging about the experience. She is a volunteer with Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, helping to monitor and protect raptors in their mating season.

BOARD MEMBER

Kathleen McCormick began singing in choirs in the fourth grade, sparking a lifelong commitment to music, arts, and culture. During her years working as a journalist in Washington D.C., she sang with the National Symphony Orchestra’s Choral Arts Society. In Boulder, she has sung for many years with large and small choral ensembles, including the Colorado Music Festival, the Bach Festival, Ars Nova, and Cantabile.

Kathleen was appointed to the Boulder Arts Commission from 2016 to 2023 and served as chair for two years during the Covid pandemic. She also has served on the boards for the Dairy Arts Center and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA), and has worked with marketing teams for the Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF) and other nonprofits. She was a ballot petitioner and organizer for the successful 2A/Arts, Culture & Heritage Tax campaign in 2023. She joined the Create Boulder Board in 2024.

Kathleen moved to Boulder in 1993 with her husband, Michael Leccese, and raised their son and daughter here. As a writer and editor, she has freelanced for magazines and newspapers such as The New York Times and USA Today, and produced articles, reports, and books on sustainable environmental and urban design for the Urban Land Institute, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the Sonoran Institute, design firms, and government agencies. Since 2020, she has served on the Better Boulder Board. She enjoys hiking, gardening, and attending amazing arts events in Boulder and while traveling. 

BOARD MEMBER

Maria Cole, AIA, NCARB is a Colorado-based architect and Principal at Studio Cole whose work reflects a longstanding commitment to the arts as a catalyst for enriching lives and strengthening communities. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Global Studies from the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, where she focused on the role of culture in international development.

Her over thirty years of professional practice encompasses all phases of planning, design, and construction for cultural and institutional facilities. Significant cultural-facility experience includes serving as project architect for Daniel Libeskind’s Denver Art Museum expansion and David Adjaye’s Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. As Principal, she has led the Education and Collections Facility expansion at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the Denver Art Museum’s Textile Gallery renovation, and the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising at Colorado State University. She is currently working on several renovation projects at the Clyfford Still Museum.

Maria has received multiple design awards and honors, including support from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts, a Banff Centre residency, and the Hobie Wagener Traveling Scholarship. She was also named Young Architect of the Year by both the American Institute of Architects Western Mountain Region and AIA Denver.

Maria has served on the City and County of Denver Mayor’s Commission on Cultural Affairs, chaired Denver’s 1% for Public Art program, and served on the Council of Colorado Creative Industries and the Boulder Arts Commission. She currently serves as Chair of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art.

CHAIR OF FACILITIES & VENUES COMMITTEE

Until 2022, Michael Leccese was executive director of Urban Land Institute (ULI) Colorado, a regional office of the global Urban Land Institute. In that role he worked on educational, mentoring, policy, and advisory programs across the state. Previously Michael was a communications consultant, newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and book author mainly covering architecture, urban design, and real estate. In 2023 he produced the Boulder Arts Complex Visioning Workshop and report for Create Boulder and now chairs CB’s facilities committee.

He has served on civic boards and committees in Boulder, Denver, and Washington, D.C. In Boulder since 1993, the New York native has a B.A. from the University of North Carolina.  He is married to CB board member Kathleen McCormick with two grown children and one grandchild. He enjoys cycling, travel (especially visiting museums and galleries), reading, music, and the great outdoors of Colorado. His novel First Draft comes out in early 2026.