Michel Infante
Board President
Michel Infante was born in Torrance, California and was raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. He and his family immigrated back to the U.S. in June of 1999 and settled in Summit County, Colorado. Michel holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Northern Colorado (B.A. Sociology and B.A. Spanish) and a MSW from Metro State University. Michel previously worked as a research assistant at Texas A&M University conducting field research on jornaleros and the Latinx immigrant population.
Yerania Reynoso
Program Coordinator
Originally from Tijuana, Mexico, Yerania has lived in Colorado for about 8 years and currently lives in Leadville. She has worked at Father Dyer Church and is now full time with Mountain Dreamers.
Yerania enjoys outdoor activities with her family. She has two children, 13 and 7 years old. One of her passions is getting to know the beautiful places that Leadville offers for hiking, biking, or just going to the lake. She would like her Hispanic immigrant community to feel included in the decisions that affect everyone and that they enjoy the resources that are offered, and feel welcome in schools, parks, jobs, etc.
Carol Saade
Board Member
Carol Saade is the daughter of Lebanese immigrants. She grew up in the DC area and moved to Summit County in 2010. In 2016, she joined a public affairs firm based in Frisco, CO, managing various public and government relations accounts, including working on state and federal immigration reform. She has been serving on the Breckenridge Town Council since 2020 and also serves on the boards of several local and statewide organizations. Her past international experience includes working at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva, Switzerland, and also working for a small public health organization in Dakar, Senegal. She earned a BBA in Economics from James Madison University.
Perla Gurrola
Program Coordinator
Perla is from Durango, Mexico. She came to Colorado in 2000. She was educated in Eagle County from elementary school, middle school and high school, and then attended college at Colorado Mountain College. She became a Dreamer (DACA recipient) in 2013, and with that she was able to get her early education teacher certificate. She has been working with Eagle County schools for 8 years.
She really likes to spend time with her family, in nature, and also to travel to know new places.
One of her goals is to help people and be a resource for her community.
Susanne Lorenz
Board Member
Susanne was born in West Berlin during the Cold War. Her family had been displaced from East Germany by the Russians and her dad persecuted for being part Jewish. She obtained a degree in Social Services Administration, and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to San Diego State University. Her studies included Women’s Studies and Border Issues and Migration. She has worked and volunteered for various NGOs servicing refugee populations in Central America, Germany and USA. For 30 years she operated an adventure company offering hiking trips in US National Parks, that she recently sold. She now lives full time in Summit County.
Peter Bakken
Executive Director
Originally from Texas, Peter arrived in Summit County in 1997 from Flagstaff, AZ. For the next 18 years he worked in the restaurant business in Breckenridge. In these years he worked with many members of Summit’s immigrant community. He got to know them as friends and respect them as individuals. During this time he served as a volunteer on the board of directors of the Family & Intercultural Resource Center (FIRC) nonprofit. In the fall of 2015 he joined the staff of the FIRC as Director of Programs. In 2019 he co-founded, along with several other community members, the Mountain Dreamers immigrant advocacy group.
Javier Pineda
Program Coordinator
Javier is a young DACAmented citizen, and works full-time in Summit as a paralegal. He was born in Patzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico, and in 2006, after years of being separated from his father, his family moved to Breckenridge, Colorado to be reunited. After graduating Summit High School as a decorated student and Student Body President, Javier attended the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs to pursue a degree in Political Science with the hopes of attending law school. Unfortunately, without in-state tuition, or a social security number to work, Javier was not able to continue his studies at UCCS. Javier is a senior at Colorado Mountain College and hopes to graduate with a Bachelors in Sustainability Studies. He is also a community leader passionate in bridging the outdoor community with the immigrant community. Some of his other ventures include being a board member for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and Peak Health Alliance. In his free time, if any, he enjoys biking, hiking, camping and split boarding.
Zuleyma Arias
Board Member
Zuleyma Arias is a member of the Summit County community. She was born in Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico. She moved to the U.S when she was 1 year old, when her mother migrated to Summit County after becoming a widow. Zuleyma attended Silverthorne Elementary, Summit Middle School and graduated from Snowy Peaks. She is the first in her family to attend college, currently enrolled at Colorado Mountain College to obtain her bachelor’s degree in social work. Zuleyma worked for Summit County’s WIC (Women, Infants & Children) program for 5 years and has recently moved to Mountain Mentors to support youth. Zuleyma has a passion for helping and being a voice for the immigrant community.
Miriam Garcia
Program Coordinator
Miriam is a native of Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. She moved to Summit County at the age of 16. She has two children, ages 9 and 18. Her son started as a freshman at CU Boulder in 2024. She works full time at Mountain Dreamers because she likes to be involved in activities and advocacy that support immigrant families in the community, since she’s an immigrant herself, and knows what it’s like to come to a new country, culture, and community.
Liz Tabraj
Board Member
Yess Vinueza
Board Member
Veronica Rosas
Board Member
Verónica Rosas arrived in Summit County, CO 18 years ago from Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico with her two children, aged 10 and 13. She has three more children, all born in Summit. She feels very lucky to be in this beautiful place in the mountains. Here she has learned to value and appreciate nature. It has led her to explore the country, ride a bike and go for a walk every day, and connect with nature. She has realized that it is her passion to do all these outdoor activities. It is her motivation to keep going. Veronica has been involved in the immigrant rights struggle for may years as the founder of Unidos por la Igualdad, Summit’s first immigrant rights group. ‘’I am very happy living here, thank you Summit and your people for being part of me and for letting me be a part of this community, and thank you Mountain Dreamers for letting me be part of you. I have learned a lot from you.’’