Leadership
Cuica Montoya
Senior Director of Homelessness Programs
Cuica is a driven community servant and a passionate advocate for people experiencing life challenges. After experiencing some life-altering challenges of her own, she dove head first in volunteering and advocating for others with similar experiences. This advocacy work led her into a new career path supporting the same folks she'd been fiercely advocating for. From Peer Navigator at the Denver Public Library, to Employment Specialist at a job training program to joining CVC and leading the charge of Safe Outdoor Spaces, she has found her purpose supporting people just like her. Her lived experience influences her leadership style and is able to connect with folks - from roots to treetop. She is currently enrolled at CSU Global studying Organizational Leadership.
Elizabeth Szewczyk
Director of Development
Elizabeth joined the CVC team with a robust background in fund development, marketing, events management, and nonprofit leadership. Originally from South Bend, IN, Elizabeth has served in multiple capacities across a wide range of governmental and nonprofit organizations in the housing, performing/visual arts, and youth development sectors. Elizabeth holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern California in Applied Research – Organizational & Consumer Psychology and a Bachelor of General Studies from Indiana University. Elizabeth is also a certified yoga instructor, classically trained ballet dancer, and freelance graphic and web artist. In her spare time, she loves teaching dance and yoga, hiking mountains, and spending time with her family of cats and wonderful husband.
Our Board
Chad M. Gentry
Chad M. Gentry graduated from Oklahoma State University. Shortly after graduation the Rocky Mountains drew him west. His passion around personal finance and serving his community led him through the financial industries and to becoming the founder and Executive Director of mpowered, a local nonprofit organization, with a focus on serving low income families across Colorado. A sense of adventure and travel took him on a year and a half long volunteer sabbatical which educated and inspired him about the power of diversity. He learned what true poverty looked like across our nation and in seven different countries across the globe. Although financial literacy and social entrepreneurship are his passions, he is equally interested in becoming a leader of leaders in the ever changing landscape of the Denver metro area!
Jenna Farley
Jenna is the director of community relations at Regis University and helped to bring the Safe Outdoor Space program to the Regis campus in 2021, where it thrived for a year. In Jenna’s past work life, she crunched data for a midwifery program in Oaxaca, Mexico; launched a successful nonprofit that took soccer and poetry into Denver Public Schools; served women and their children experiencing homelessness at a shelter; and built 16 new playgrounds with communities across the country. She has traveled the globe with both purpose and wanderlust (she even met her husband while working in Antarctica). Jenna holds her BA in sociology from Seattle University and MA in sustainable development from the SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont. She is a fifth-generation North Denver resident where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
Jen Livovich
Jennifer Livovich has lived in Boulder, Colorado for thirteen years. Her first five were spent on the streets as a chronically homeless high system user. Frostbite led her to Fort Lyon, a sober transitional housing program, where she stayed for eighteen months and pursued an undergraduate degree in human services from Colorado State University. She founded her first peer-led nonprofit in 2021 and her most recent, Streetscape in 2023.
Jennifer brings a unique and informed perspective to issues related to homelessness, a deep understanding of the systems and funding that shape homeless solutions, and a talent for organizing events that build community. She's currently pursuing her Masters in Public Administration at CU-Denver.
Jordyn Gendel
Jordyn has been in Colorado’s non-profit scene since moving from Chicago to Denver in 2016. She has centered her work around uplifting the voices of lived-experts in order to make positive changes in larger systems including the child welfare, juvenile justice, homelessness, and education systems. She currently serves as the Development Director at Colorado Homeless Legal Project. Jordyn is passionate about equal access to legal services, especially for people experiencing instability. She lives in the City Park neighborhood and frequents local trails, restaurants, and parks.
Layla Said
Layla Said is the Strategic Communications Coordinator at the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, the Continuum of Care responsible for leading and advancing collaboration to end homelessness in our region. Her work with their Young Adult Leadership Committee has taught her a lot about facilitating empathetic spaces where people with lived experience can feel empowered and heard. She believes the personal is inherently political, and her own lived experience is what drove her to this work. Layla has a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Minor in English from The Pennsylvania State University. She finds healing in writing poems and arranging music.
Luke Teater
Luke is an independent housing economist and policy consultant. In this role he helped design, draft, and pass Proposition 123, generating more than $300M annually in new public financing for affordable housing in Colorado. Prior to going independent, he worked on state economic and revenue issues for Governors Hickenlooper and Polis. Luke grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina and made stops of four years in Washington DC and three years in Kolkata, India before eventually making his way to Denver in 2015. Luke has three daughters and enjoys skiing, reading, and eating ice cream.
Matt Tuft
Matt has over 20 years of experience in the financial services business, Matt brings a broad scope of knowledge grounded in a consultative, planning‐based philosophy. In his role, as a Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch, Matt partners with his clients to develop customized solutions in the areas of retirement, income and estate tax and risk management for each client.
With broad access to multiple insurance companies, Matt and his team are able to tailor the optimal solution for each client to help ensure that their financial goals are able to be achieved by limiting some of the greatest risks each client faces to achieving those goals.
Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Matt has been an insurance planning specialist with TIME Financial and Saybrus Partners. He has also spent 8 years as a Regional Life Specialist with Lincoln Financial Distributors, partnering with advisors and their clients to identify and address their goals of wealth transfer, estate planning and business succession.
Matt holds a BS in Business Administration with an emphasis in Financial Services as well as a CFP® designation and an MBA.
Matt resides in Denver, Colorado with his wife, Molly, where they both enjoy skiing and traveling together.
Mary Coddington
Mary developed an interest in cities while working as a flight attendant. A career which enabled her to live in, and experience different urban environments all across the country. After hanging up her wings, Mary moved to Denver to pursue her Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from CU Denver.
Today, Mary is a principal at Cappelli Consulting, a Denver-based firm committed to increasing housing opportunity across Colorado. She works with a range of clients, both urban and rural, to promote housing access across all price points. Her focus areas include development feasibility, project management, housing strategies, development code, and policy. She currently serves on the Denver Planning Board and lives in the Clayton neighborhood with her family.
Ryan Hoeft
Ryan Hoeft is the Chief Financial Officer of performance fit innovator BOA® Technology Inc. During his 11 years at BOA® he has managed finances contributing to revenue growth from under $25MM to more than $200MM, helped establish five global subsidiaries and helped recapitalize the organization in 2020. Ryan has a B.A. in Accounting from Michigan State University and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Colorado. Ryan is a mountain and road cyclist, skier, golfer and a hobbyist woodworker. In addition to his role as Treasurer of the Board for CVC, Ryan is an active volunteer in WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students), a national organization that engages fathers and father figures in the educational system and communities. He is married with two children.