The RIHEL team you’ve come to know and trust continues to evolve! With bittersweet excitement we announce the retirement of Dr. Kathy Kennedy, who served as the founding Executive Director of RIHEL since its inception in 1998 until October 31, 2021. Her passion and persistence contributed to the development of thousands of health and environment leaders across our region. She is now confidently handing the baton to Arron Mansika, who began as RIHEL’s Executive Director on November 1, 2021. Arron holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental/Resilient Leadership and recently stepped down as Executive Director of a large and active natural products trade association he co-created and led since 2006. Prior to that, Arron served as Co-Director of an environmental and social advocacy group, worked as Managing Director of a multi-issue nonprofit peace and justice center, then founded, grew and sold his own small organic products business. Arron embraces the RIHEL model and community and will lead with heart and mind. The positive work of RIHEL is sorely needed, highly regarded and poised to expand while also deepening. Thank you for being part of this caring and impactful RIHEL community. We are excited to explore new approaches to our prized programming and develop entirely new programming to further empower and inspire you! We do this work for you and with you. Thank you.
Support the Regional Institute for Health & Environmental Leadership in continuing to provide quality leadership training and development in the Rocky Mountain region.
$25 buys complete program notebooks for two leadership program participants.
$70 buys an emotional intelligence assessment for a leadership program participant.
$100 buys healthy whole fruit snacks for one day at a leadership program session.
$150 buys a day-long ropes course experience for a leadership program participant.
$400 buys RIHEL’s survey software for the whole year.
$1,000 buys staff travel to all events for a year.
Donate $100 or More and Join the RIHEL 100 Campaign!
RIHEL needs at least 200 of our stakeholders to contribute $100 or more by the end of the year. You can count on RIHEL to squeeze a lot out of every dollar, so you know that your contribution will go far.
Questions? Please send us a message through the form below:
Healthcare Operations and Response Branch Supervisor; HPP Program Manager, CO BH Disaster Coordinator, CDPHE Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Assistant Professor, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, Department of Community and Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health
RIHEL is a nonprofit organization incorporated in the State of Colorado.
RIHEL graduates and other friends provide unrestricted, on-going support to help RIHEL through the uncertainties of work in the non-profit sector. Join the RIHEL 100!
The Colorado Health Foundation has provided generous support to RIHEL at several times in our history. We are grateful to the Colorado Health Foundation not only for their financial support, but for their vision of health which we enthusiastically share. The Colorado Health Foundation and Kaiser Permanente have provided support for the Leadership for Healthy Community Design Program. This program improves the health of people and the environment by building the capacity of Colorado communities to lead, plan and execute healthy community design projects.
In partnership with the Colorado Medical Society, RIHEL has delivered the Advanced Physicians’ Leadership Program (APLP) with funding from The Physicians Foundation and The Colorado Health Foundation. This program helps physician leaders to advocate for expanded and sustained access to health in Colorado. APLP was launched earlier with support from The Colorado Trust as part of their Building Public Will to Achieve Access to Health initiative.
Community Investment USA of Encana Oil and Gas has been a generous supporter of RIHEL’s Advanced Leadership Training Program (ALTP). In addition to financial support from the corporation, Encana employees have participated as ALTP fellows for several years, make charitable contributions to RIHEL as part of a corporate matching program, and volunteer as peer coaches to fellows in the ALTP. The generosity of the corporation and its employees to leadership development for the health and environment of our region is a model of effective community investment from the private sector.
RIHEL is also pleased to partner with the Colorado Kids 1st License Plate Program (a program of the Rocky Mountain Research & Prevention Institute) to promote the health and safety of Colorado children. Through the Colorado Kids 1st Fund, RIHEL received an award to support the partial tuition for one ALTP fellow who will conduct a leadership project to address health promotion and/or injury prevention for children living in the state of Colorado.
Historically, the Rose Community Foundation has generously supported RIHEL operations at critical times, which has allowed us to move our health agenda forward when we needed support the most. ASTHO previously acted as a fiscal agent for the Institute, and the Health One Alliance and Lutheran Medical Center Foundation provided support in our early years. Kodak Colorado, now Kodak Alaris, has been RIHEL’s most generous corporate donor. In 2005, the RIHEL Governing Board proudly honored Kodak with our distinguished Corporate Leadership Award for Kodak’s significant contribution to the promotion of leadership among current and emerging leaders in the health and environmental professions in the Rocky Mountain region.
RIHEL has benefited from the gifts of time from dozens of volunteers over the years, not the least of which are the hundreds of hours (valuing tens of thousands of dollars) contributed by our Governing Board. In-kind as well as monetary contributions have been given by many individuals, including Mr. John Fielder who donated the profits of the sales of many of his books to RIHEL. The donated auction gifts, refreshments for meetings, and personal checks of many supporters are significant and contribute meaningfully to our success and our fiscal viability. Thank you to all of our contributors.
The RIHEL faculty, staff, board, graduates and beneficiaries of all of our programs are sincerely grateful for the vision and generosity of all of our sponsors, partners and friends. We would not exist with out you. The depth of our appreciation is great.
RIHEL is a nonprofit organization incorporated in the State of Colorado. The major academic affiliates of RIHEL, in which most of the RIHEL faculty hold appointments, include the University of Colorado – Colorado School of Public Health and the University of Denver. We are grateful to the University of Denver for their generous donation of office space and work infrastructure.
RIHEL provides leadership training, builds linkages among leaders, and strengthens the relationships among health professionals, environment professionals, the academic community, the public sector and the private sector. The Institute was founded and sustained for fourteen years by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Financial support for the Institute has been provided by the many sources included in the “Sponsors” section.
The mission of the Regional Institute for Health and Environmental Leadership is to develop and connect leaders who work collaboratively in diverse sectors and communities to create and sustain the health and well-being of people and the environment.
The goals of the Institute are to:
Develop Leaders: Enhance and develop leadership training in the Rocky Mountain Region.
Connect People: Build upon and foster a diverse and multi-disciplinary Institute network among fellows, alumni, Board members, other health and environment professionals and the community.
Influence People to Create Better Health and Environments: Address the health and environmental challenges of diverse communities through a portfolio of resources and activities (fellows, alumni, projects, existing and new programs, etc.)
Sustain the Institute: Provide the people and financial resources to assure the continuation of the Institute and its mission.
