Board of Directors
Stephanie Aretz
Partner
Aretz & Chisholm Immigration, LLC, Denver
Stephanie Aretz has extensive experience working in and for the immigrant community, and she is a tireless advocate for her clients. As the Managing Partner of Aretz & Chisholm Immigration, in Lakewood, Colorado, Stephanie most enjoys working closely with clients and their families to find creative solutions to the most complicated immigration problems. She has extensive language training, having received a college degree in Spanish language studies, volunteered in Mexico, and worked as an English teacher in Quito, Ecuador. Before becoming the Managing Partner of Aretz & Chisholm Immigration, Stephanie gained valuable experience working and volunteering with Amnesty International USA, the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center, and RMIAN, where she has helped Spanish-speaking immigrants and refugees and asylum seekers. During law school, she worked as an editor on the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy. Stephanie has been a member of RMIAN’s Board of Directors since March of 2015. Prior to her service on the Board of Directors, she played an active role in RMIAN’s annual benefit, the Immigrant Liberty Awards, since 2012. She is the 2017 Immigrant Liberty Awards Committee Chair. Stephanie’s professional memberships include the Colorado Bar Association, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and Minoru Yasui Inn of Court. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and her two sons. She also enjoys practicing yoga, running, hiking, cycling, dancing, and cooking.
David Arnolds
Attorney
Denver
David Arnolds is a retired attorney who spent most of his 37 year legal career in mining and oil and gas related matters. He was in-house counsel for Atlantic Richfield Company and later for Chevron Corporation. David received his Bachelor of Science degree in Scholastic Philosophy from Loyola University (Chicago) and his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia. In 2010, David received the “Highest Possible Rating in Legal Ability and Ethical Standards” from Martindale Hubble. Prior to attending law school he spent five years in the U.S. Navy as a Naval Flight Officer in the F4 Phantom and was awarded various medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, while in combat in Vietnam. In addition to being on the board of directors for RMIAN, David has provided pro bono representation to individuals in deportation proceedings. Mr. Arnolds is also on the boards of directors for Family HomeStead, which provides emergency and transitional housing for homeless families in the Denver Metro Area, and El Porvenir, which works with rural communities in Nicaragua on clean water and sanitation projects.
Alicia Calderon, Board Vice-Chair
Attorney
City of Brighton
Alicia Calderon's practice career has focused on local and state government, working for Boulder County, the Colorado Attorney General's Office, the City of Loveland, and the City of Brighton. Alicia received her law degree and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Denver. Alicia's volunteer activities have focused primarily on inclusiveness, equality for all, and justice issues. In the social work field, Alicia worked in child protection, a homeless shelter, and a domestic violence program. Alicia previously volunteered on the Boulder Valley School District Safe Schools Coalition, Denver SafeHouse, and the Speakers Project to End Discrimination. Volunteering is a part of who she is and she feels privileged to be a part of the RMIAN Board.
Sasha Carlson, Board Treasurer
Tax Manager, Operations Transformation for Tax
Deloitte Tax, Denver
A CPA certified in both Canada and the United States, Sasha is a Manager in Global Operations at EY. Previously Sasha served as the Executive Director of the Association of Chartered Accountants in the US, a nonprofit professional organization. Sasha emigrated from India to Canada as a child, and later from Canada to the United States as an adult, and is passionate about RMIAN's mission.
Malcolm Evans, Board Chair
Managing Director for Commercial Banking
Wintrust Bank, Denver
In that role, Malcolm works with private equity firms, operating companies (including contractors, service providers, and health care providers) with revenues in excess of $10 million and not-for-profits with contributions in excess of $1 million. In addition, Malcolm is responsible for expanding and managing the Denver-based commercial banking team for Wintrust Bank.
Prior to joining Wintrust, Malcolm served as SVP/Senior Relationship Manager with UMB Bank from 2015-2022 where he was responsible for business development and portfolio management of middle-market corporate banking clients primarily in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.
Additionally, Malcolm served as Vice President and Senior Vice President of Commercial Banking with Zions Bancorp (dba Vectra Bank Colorado) and BBVA Compass Bank (PNC).
Malcolm began his banking career in 1987 with Central Bank & Trust in Monroe, LA, as a part-time teller while enrolled at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, where he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Commercial Banking and a minor in Economics. In 1989, he accepted an Assistant Branch Manager position with Union National Bank in Little Rock, AR. In 1991, he became an Associate National Bank Examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
Malcolm is actively involved in the Denver Metro community, serving as Chair of the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce since 2015 and Chair of Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) since 2021. Malcolm and his wife Joi have been married for the past 22 years. In their free time, they enjoy traveling, Nuggets games, and spending time with friends and family.
Doug Friesema
Pastor
Aurora First Presbyterian Church, Aurora
Doug Friesema is the pastor of Aurora First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA). The church is host and partner to 5 other congregations, including two that worship in Spanish and two that serve immigrants and refugees from a variety of countries in Africa. As a Spanish speaker, he also works with a partnership of churches called Journey with Migrants, who work through education, advocacy, and accompaniment to make the Denver area a more welcoming place for immigrants. Doug is a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary and the University of Virginia. He moved to Colorado from Atlanta in 2018.
Lauren Groth, Board Secretary
Partner
Hutchinson Black and Cook, LLC, Boulder
Lauren Groth is a civil rights attorney practicing in Denver, Colorado. She works primarily in Title IX policy issues in Colorado and throughout the country. Lauren earned her Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 2005, and spent several years living in Durban, South Africa, where she obtained a Master's degree from the University of Kwazulu-Natal. In 2011, Lauren received her J.D. from the University of California-Berkeley, School of Law. Prior to moving to Boulder, she clerked with Judge Richard Paez on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where she regularly worked on cases in the Ninth Circuit's busy immigration docket. Throughout her career, Lauren has volunteered extensively with immigration organizations, including the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, International Refugee Assistance Project, Tahirih Justice Center, and RMIAN. In her free time, Lauren enjoys playing in the mountains, running ultramarathons, and spending time with her husband, Brad, and beloved dog, Trout.
Dr. Janet Lopez
Senior Director of Policy, Partnerships & Learning
The Denver Foundation, Denver
As the Senior Director of Policy, Partnerships & Learning, Dr. Janet Lopez seeks to deepen relationships with nonprofit leaders, donors, and policymakers throughout Metro Denver to increase the foundation’s impact on critical needs and solutions to those needs. Her career has focused on increasing access and opportunity for communities of color. Dr. Lopez received a bachelor’s degree from Southwestern University, a master’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a Ph.D. in Education from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her community involvement includes serving on the board of the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, EDUCATE Denver and she is a current trustee for Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. She is a German Marshall Fund Marshall Memorial Fellow and a National Hispanic Institute Gen X Women of Distinction.
Jorge Loweree
Policy Director
American Immigration Council, Washington D.C.
Jorge Loweree is the Policy Director at the American Immigration Council where he directs the Council's administrative and legislative advocacy and leads the Council's efforts to provide lawmakers, policymakers, advocates, and the general public with accurate and timely information about the role of immigrants in the United States. Previously, Jorge spent ten years in a variety of positions with the U.S. House of Representatives, most recently as Senior Counsel for Immigration Law and Policy to former Representative Jared Polis of Colorado. He grew up in Juarez, Mexico, and holds a J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School and Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Saint Mary's University.
Patricia Medige, RMIAN President Emeritus
Managing Attorney
Colorado Legal Services, Denver
Patricia Medige, a RMIAN co-founder, has represented low-wage workers and immigrant crime victims with Colorado nonprofit organizations since 1995. In 2014 she was appointed to the Colorado Human Trafficking Council, established under HB 14-1273. Honors include co-recipient of the Freedom Network’s Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award recognizing outstanding anti-trafficking work (2009) and the AILA Colorado Chapter Outstanding Member Award (2016).
Marissa Molina
Colorado State Director
FWD. us, Denver
Marissa Molina is the Colorado State Immigration Director with FWD.us, where she leads FWD’s legislative advocacy efforts on immigration policy at the state and federal level. Marissa has been a leader in protecting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and has worked to recruit, train, and empower other directly impacted individuals to advocate for immigration reform before Congress. Prior to joining FWD.us, Marissa worked as an educator where she worked to increase access to educational opportunities for immigrant youth and their families. In July of 2015, Marissa was one of nine educators with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to be honored by the White House as a Champion of Change. She was appointed to the Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Board of Trustees in 2019, becoming the first Dreamer to serve on a state board.
Hiroshi Motomura
Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law
UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles
Hiroshi Motomura is the Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law and the Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law. An influential immigration law scholar and teacher, Hiroshi is the author of several award-winning books: Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States (Oxford 2006) and Immigration Outside the Law (Oxford 2014). He is also the co-author of two law school casebooks: Immigration and Citizenship: Process and Policy (9th ed. West 2021), and Forced Migration: Law and Policy (2d ed. West 2013). Hiroshi has testified in Congress and has served as co-counsel or a volunteer consultant in many litigated cases and policy matters, including the advocacy that led to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012. He has been a member of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration and an outside advisor to the Obama-Biden Transition Team's Working Group on Immigration Policy in fall 2008, and he served on the Board of Directors of the National Immigration Law Center from 2011 to 2019. Hiroshi’s teaching awards include the UCLA School of Law Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2021, the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award in 2014, and selection as one of 26 law professors nationwide profiled in What the Best Law Teachers Do (Harvard 2013). Hiroshi is a founding director of RMIAN.
Michael Touff
Director/Board of Trustees
Boys & Girls Club of Metro Denver, Rose Community Foundation, Bell Policy Center
Before retiring in 2021 Michael Touff was, for 25 years, the General Counsel of MDC Holdings, Inc., one of the largest homebuilders in the United States. Prior to joining MDC, he practiced corporate and securities law for 20 years with several Denver law firms. He is a graduate of Harvard University, the University of Michigan Law School and attended the London School of Economics. He also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand and in the United States Army in Korea. He has been active in community organizations throughout his career including the Colorado Legal Aid Foundation, the Colorado Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research. He currently serves as a director or trustee of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, the Rose Community Foundation and the Bell Policy Center. He and his wife, Pegi, are both Denver natives and have two children, Daniel and Katherine.