He was an early leader and proponent of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), serving as Regional Coordinator in the 1986 effort, and serving on the TABOR Committee in subsequent years.

His business is financial and managerial consulting to architects, engineers and contractors. He also conducts economic analyses such as forecasting and valuing closely-held stock. He opened his practice, Construction Economics, LLC in 1983.

He taught college Economics at night school, at both the graduate and undergraduate level, for thirteen years.  Penn earned his Masters in Finance from the University of Colorado at Denver and his undergraduate degrees in Economics and Political Science from CU-Boulder.

He is the former President of the Denver Association of Business Economists. In the 1980’s, he was a member of the national ASTM’s (Association of Standards, Testing and Materials) Building Economics Subcommittee, which established standards for life-cycle costing and the use of net present value analysis. He was one of 300 economists polled nationally by the National Association of Business Economists for quarterly forecasts of the economy.

Penn wrote and researched for the Independence Institute as a Senior Fellow for 12 years, during which he also served as the Director of the Fiscal Policy Center.  He served on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Union of Taxpayers for more than a dozen years, including six years as its President.

He is a veteran, having served as an officer in the Navy, assigned to U.S.S. Oklahoma City (CG5), based out of Yokosuka, Japan from 1977 to the end of 1979.

• Bob Foland, Executive Director

Bob Foland CFP® has been helping individuals, couples and small businesses with their financial planning needs since 1988.  Since 1997 he has been an independent advisor, meaning that he is not limited to nor encouraged to use the investment vehicles of any particular company.  That independence allows for true objectivity in the investment and planning advice offered by Mr. Foland through his company, The IRA Specialists.

Bob lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado with his wife and daughter.  When he is not helping his clients he enjoys fly-fishing, hunting and skiing.

• Dennis Polhill, Board member (TABOR Committee only)

Dennis received degrees in engineering and math from the University of Illinois in 1970 and graduate degrees in engineering and public administration from the University of Pittsburgh in 1978.

He worked a decade as a City Engineer and Director of Public Works in Urbana, Illinois, Cumberland, Maryland and Lakewood, Colorado, after which he worked as a consultant in engineering and management to governments all across North America for the decade of the 1980s.

The firm he established developed a new field of engineering called Pavement Management utilizing sophisticated techniques to optimize performance of capital outlays by governments.

Dennis became a Registered Professional Engineer in 12 states and a Registered Land Surveyor in 2 states.

In the 1990s Dennis became involved in numerous real estate, capital finance and entrepreneurial ventures in Colorado, California and Illinois.

Also in the 1990s Dennis became one of the leaders of the term limits movement and became a Senior Fellow at the Independence Institute.

After graduating from Michigan State University, Dana moved to Colorado.  He was one of Radio Shack’s top-ranked Senior Managers for many years before leaving to work at Qwest Communications.  He is currently a data analyst at CCIG and loves technology, college football, and PIE!  Go Green!

• Rebecca Sopkin, Corporate Treasurer

Rebecca Sopkin is an attorney who specializes in Colorado constitutional law, particularly the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.  She graduated from University of Colorado Law School in 1991 in the top 15% of her class, and was a member of Colorado Law Review.  Her private practice includes civil litigation and appellate law before state and federal courts, as well as small business and transactional matters.  She is a member of the Federalist Society, and lives in Lakewood with her husband and multiple children, dogs and lizards.

• Natalie Menten, Board member

Natalie Menten is a long time political activist from Lakewood