

Collaborative Volunteer Board of Directors
Collaborative Volunteer Board of Directors
How We Uphold the Mission & Vision of the Collaborative




Cindy Kaufman
President and CEOLC Co-Founder
My commitment as a volunteer Board Member and co-founder of the Colorado End-of-life Collaborative is to support the growth of the collaborative in a way that serves our doula and affiliate members and serves the end-of-life and aging needs of all of those in our community. As part of this commitment, I strive to have diversity in our members so that we may serve the diverse needs of our community members. It is important to me that everyone have access to end-of-life services and that our collaborative is a part of supporting community death care. I want clients to have all the choices they need to serve their wishes and to have complete autonomy in their decision making about their own death and post-death care. Lastly, I hope to inspire others to see death as a natural transition with its own innate gifts and beauty and not something to be feared and avoided. If I can be a small part of achieving these things within this collaborative, I will have left a beautiful legacy to my community when the day comes that I breathe my final breath.




Valerie Nicholas
Vice-President of Strategic Planning and Committees and CEOLC Co-Founder
I am a volunteer board member and co-founder of the Colorado End-of-Life Collaborative. I am committed to support our vision as being a go-to resource for the dying and their families seeking quality and trusted end-of-life support. My mission and calling are to facilitate and educate our community to holistically embrace supplemental, non-medical end-of-life care. I support our affiliates and end-of-life doulas as they are compassionate pioneers who are teaching others to embrace death in a supportive and affirmative way. I am privileged and honored to be part of this amazing team of end-of-life professionals.




Vanessa Johnston
Vice-President of Membership and CEOLC Co-Founder
As a volunteer Board Member and Vice-President in charge of Membership, I am committed to the Mission and Vision of the Colorado End-of-Life Collaborative. I seek to cultivate a supportive environment in which all our affiliate members and End-of-Life Doulas feel empowered, appreciated, and seen. I want to facilitate united and lasting relationships that allow every CEOLC member to work side-by-side for the good of the clients and one another.




Kerry Arquette
Secretary and CEOLC Co-Founder
As a co-founder and volunteer board member serving as secretary for the Colorado End-of-Life Collaborative, I also head the Speakers Bureau. I have met incredible doulas and others working in the positive dying community who inspire me to work toward acknowledgement that death is a sacred part of life. I believe that the more we talk about death and dying, and the more we model ways to support the dying, the better position we, as a society, are to reclaim the skills our great-grandparents brought to the bedside of their failing loved ones. As an end-of-life doula I wish fervently that every person’s final act before the curtain falls can be the richest expression of the life they are leaving behind.




Marisa Verrier
Treasurer and CEOLC Co-Founder
I bring the same level of loyalty, compassion, and dedication to our collaborative as I do to my work as a companion-animal end-of-life doula. I attend and participate in all board meetings, quarterly meetings, and member events, including our monthly Doulas Supporting Doulas and member Happy Hours, and also our recent Ask A Doula, and Ask A Funeral Provider webinar events. My background is in event planning, so I bring these skills to good use for the benefit of the Collaborative.