Senior Leadership Team

Elizabeth Marable
Executive Director, COEC Officer

Elizabeth came to camp in 2002 as a counselor. She also taught at HTOEC for a number of seasons. In 2003 she joined the COEC Staff as Sanborn Junior Director and became High Trails Director with Ariella in 2013. Elizabeth sits on the Local Council of Leaders for the ACA, Rocky Mountain, and is co-author (with Jane) of “101 Nature Activities”. Elizabeth graduated from Benedictine College with a B.A. in Spanish and a minor in Business.

Jane Sanborn
Director of Development, COEC Officer and Board Member

Jane began her career as a counselor at High Trails and has worked with the camps and COEC since graduating from Colorado College with a degree in English and Education. She served as the Director/Program Director at High Trails from 1970-1999, and was Executive Director of COEC from 2006-2017. Jane is active in the American Camp Association and has served in many leadership roles. Currently she is the Program Chair of the ACA National Conference.

Jerry McLain
Director of Alumni Relations and COEC Officer and Board Member

Jerry has been with Sanborn Camps and COEC since 1959, including many years as Program Director and Associate Director at Big Spring. He also directed the High Trails Outdoor Education Center program for many years and served as COEC Executive Director during the early 2000’s. He currently sits on the board of the Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds. Jerry is a former teacher and school board member; his degree is in Social Sciences and Education from the University of Colorado.

Ariella Rogge
Director, High Trails

Ariella began her career at Sanborn when she was twelve. After five years as a camper and five years as a staff member she continued her work with young people as a high school teacher. She and her family returned to camp in 2001 and she became Program Director at High Trails. In 2013, she became Director. Ariella received a B.A. in English from Colorado College and is a certified secondary English educator and WEMT. She has been active in developing Outcomes-Based Research for the ACA and often presents at conferences.

Matthew "Matty" Cook
Co-Director, Big Spring

Matty began his camping career at Hole in the Wall Gang camp in 1991 as a counselor. In 2001, he was hired as the Camp Director and ran that program until he took a job with Teton Valley Ranch Camp as their executive director in 2015. He holds a BS in Psychology and a master’s in social work. He loves conversational star gazing, campfire cooking and horseback riding. He discovered his love of horseback riding during his 2 year tenure as an a “Actor/Combatant/Stuntman” where he performed armored jousts and horseback combat shows at Renaissance festivals in Arizona and Pennsylvania. These days, he prefers Big Spring horseback riding trips.

Mark Rutberg
Co-Director, Big Spring

Mark came to Big Spring in 2016 and has served as an instructor in our HTOEC program. He has a B.S. in Kinesiology and Pedagogy from the University of New Hampshire as well as a Masters degree in Health Education. He was an Athletic Director and Teacher for a school in New York City for several years and also spent 4 years teaching at an American International School in the Netherlands. Mark holds a certificate as a K-12 teacher, a level 2 ropes course instructor and Wilderness First Responder. He has also participated in a NOLS 30-day outdoor educator mountaineering course.

Emily Burnham
Program Specialist, High Trails

Emily has known about Sanborn for as long as she can remember. Her years as a camper at High Trails gave her a passion for working with youth in the outdoors and facilitating life-changing experiences for a variety of young people. She spent four years as an HT staff member and recently joined the COEC staff in 2019 as the Program Specialist for High Trails. Emily is also involved with Emerging Professionals in Camping through ACA, Rocky Mountain. She graduated from Colorado College with a B.A. in Sociology, minors in dance and environmental issues, and is also a certified Wilderness First Responder.

Anne Shingler
Program Director, High Trails

After 18 years as a camper and staff member at other camps, Anne joined the High Trails summer staff in 2015 as Outcamp Coordinator. She returned in 2016 as Assistant Counselor and Kitchen Coordinator, instructed for the HTOEC program, and joined our year-round staff. Anne graduated from the University of Georgia with a BS in Education and Recreation Management.

Jessie Spehar
Office Manager, Summer Water Sports Supervisor

Jessie began her career at camp as a counselor in 2006 and returned each subsequent summer, taking on more responsibilities each year, including those of Camp Photographer and Supervisor of Canoeing and River trips. She joined the year-round staff in 2013 as Marketing Director for the camps. Jessie has a B.A. in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Special Education and taught for 4 years before joining the COEC full-time staff.

Sarah Adler
Director, High Trails Outdoor Education Center

Sarah grew up outside of Boston, MA. She studied history at Kenyon College in Ohio before moving out to Colorado. As an instructor for Overland Summers and the Colorado Outward Bound School, she's explored the mountains of Colorado, Switzerland, Iceland, and Alaska. Though she was respectfully booted from her sixth-grade choir, some students have favorably compared her trail-singing voice to Norah Jones.
Sarah came out to High Trails to work her first season as a field instructor in the fall of 2013. After 10 seasons of trying to find her tree, Sarah is excited to be up here in Florissant year-round as High Trails' Director.