Colorado Mesa University

BAPTISM BY FIRE Jennifer Stoll, '05 By Katlin Birdsall At just 25-years-old Jennifer Stoll was coordinating 3,600 volunteers from more than 20 countries for one of the biggest golf tournaments in the world — the Ryder Cup. A PGA championships department sporting event that features 24 of the best golfers from Europe and the U.S. She had recently graduated from the University of Louisville (UofL) in Kentucky with her master's in sports administration and hit the ground running. "It was kind of like baptism by fire," she said. The bluegrass state was just one stop on Stoll's journey which began in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she grew up in the same house for her entire childhood and adolescent life. The day after graduating high school she drove across the country with her mom to Colorado where her mom had landed a job on the Front Range. After an initial year at Colorado State University, Stoll transferred to Mesa. She received a bachelor's degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in sports management before heading out to Kentucky to pursue her master's. Her husband Stan, who she met at Mesa, also pursued an engineering degree at UofL. After the Ryder Cup wrapped, Stoll headed back to Colorado with an idea she gained from working with Kentucky Sports Authority representatives — to start a sports commission in conjunction with Colorado Mesa and the Grand Junction community. Under Stoll's direction as executive director the GGJSC has brought and retained many sporting events to the Grand Valley including the Special Olympics Summer Games and the Rim Rock Marathon. Stoll is also busy working on her doctorate in sports management and ensuring her two children, Wyatt, 5, and Hadley, 3, get to experience all that western Colorado offers including fishing, camping and paddleboarding. "It's a circus," Stoll said with a laugh. "Logistics are my life not only for work but for home and school and kids. But it's a lot of fun." • "You start to see not only the economic side and how that can benefit a community but also the exposure side," said Stoll when speaking about sports commissions. "I think Grand Junction is a place where we all live here for the quality of life, and to be able to share that and find something that maybe isn't the end all be all for economic stability but is at least a piece of it." In 2008, Stoll met with President Tim Foster and JUCO chairman and Home Loan Insurance CEO Jaime Hamilton, who Stoll considers a mentor, to present her idea. Although they liked it, it would be another five years until the Greater Grand Junction Sports Commission (GGJSC) would come to fruition. In the meantime, Stoll worked for a nonprofit in Denver and on another senior PGA championship. As the Greater Grand Junction Sports Commission executive director, doctoral student and mother of two, logistics are Jen Stoll's life. Brenden Fatchett, '17 Brenden founded Kokopelli Pictures along with CMU alumna, Kayla Niksic. Their company offers digital marketing services and video production. This summer they launched a documentary called The Secret Sauce, which aired on Rocky Mountain PBS. It is a glimpse into how the Grand Junction medical community handles Medicare cases. They formed Kokopelli Pictures while attending CMU and it was the first business to go through the Maverick Innovation Center's accelerator class. Under Professor of Business Tim Hatten, PhD, and the late Regis Tucci's guidance, In Memoriam Joy Foster, '41; William Pomrenke, '59; Richard Braslin, '61; Wallace Gross, '61; Cynthia Koch, '72; Linda Livingston, '77; Cynthia DeWeese, '78; Patricia Hobbs, '91; Heather Anable, '09; Jared Goebel, '17 SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTE TODAY. Keep your friends, classmates and the CMU Alumni Association up-to- date by submitting a Class Note! Visit SupportingCMU.org/alumni/class-notes to tell us what's new with you! they learned how to grow a sustainable business. One of their most recent projects was a fundraising video for Mind Springs Health, in which they illustrated some of the harsh challenges the growing mental health hospital was facing. They are chalking the project up as a success in part because Mind Springs Health is breaking ground on a new facility this fall. Now living on the Front Range, he misses the easy access to the outdoors the Western Slope affords, but still finds time to hike and enjoys attending Colorado Rockies games and other large events.

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