Council of Trustees
The Spellbinders Council of Trustees is made up of volunteers who maintain the valuable Spellbinders training materials and website, coordinate the annual meeting, respond to all inquiries from teachers and others, and help keep the Spellbinders dream alive and vibrant. The council is a separate entity from the LLSOs (Spellbinders Licensed Local Storyteller Organizations).
Liz Starrs, (Co-Chair), tells us “I grew up right outside Detroit, MI and went to the University of Michigan for undergrad. I worked for a couple of years after that doing everything from selling life insurance to working at McDonald’s. I went to law school in Boston and practiced law in Boston and shortly thereafter moved out to Denver. I practiced law in Denver for about 30 years, and then became a Denver District Court judge. I left the DDC bench in June 2020 and have been working 60%-70% of the time at the Judicial Arbiter Group in Denver since October 2020.
Karen Culver, (2026-27 Co-Chair) Karen has been a Spellbinder since 2001 and was certified as a trainer by our founder, Germaine Dietsch, in 2003. She tells multicultural folktales in primary grades, offers continuing education programs for local Spellbinder groups, and created a reference page on our website for searching traditional tales sources. She was a leader in Colorado’s Jefferson County (Jeffco) Spellbinders for many years until moving back to Loveland, where she is a member of Spellbinders Oral Storytellers of Larimer County.
A former teacher of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing children, she also worked as a special education tutor and an elementary school library assistant until retiring in 2019 after 26 years in public education.
Barb Egan, (Vice-Chair) at the time of
her retirement, had served educational institutions for over forty years. She started as a classroom teacher in the public school system and expanded her skills as a program coordinator, trainer and executive director in agencies that serve youth. She subsequently served in senior leadership positions in independent schools for more than 35 years.
Barb has also been a regional and national trainer, leadership coach and consultant on management, training, strategic planning, school change, human resource management, team-based management, accounting for independent schools, and leadership development. She served as a member of the Board of Trustees for The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and has served as an accreditation chair.
Barb joined Spellbinders in 2023 after relocating to Mesa County, Colorado. She is currently an active storyteller, and a board member and Treasurer for Spellbinders of Mesa County.
Corlin Ambler, (Secretary)
Phil Murphy, (Treasurer)
Janis Lievens, trustee, I was born and raised in Colorado. I attended Jeffco public schools and graduated from Arvada High School. After attending CSU and then graduating from UNC in Greeley I taught early elementary grades in Jeffco Schools. I retired in 2007 and moved to Anthem Ranch. I am involved in Spellbinders, obviously, Broomfield Open Space Foundation and volunteer at Sister Carmen Food Bank twice a week.
I have two grown children who both live in Denver and four grandchildren.
Besides the above mentioned activities, I enjoy bike riding, playing cards and singing in a neighborhood chorus.
Bob Laborde, trustee, started telling stories around 1994 when his two children first started school. He continued telling stories in schools, libraries, and senior citizen centers for many years. He loves reading tales and folklore from many different cultures, countries, and religions. He then takes those readings a step further and tells the stories to all who want to listen and enjoy a good story. Bob is a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) with Toastmasters International. In Toastmasters Bob has served in many leadership positions and won numerous speaking contests. He works as a Technical Writer, writing various operations, maintenance, and training materials for the specialty hardware and software his company provides. He enjoys gardening and spending time outdoors with his wife and their two dogs.
Jan Osburn (trustee), Jan Osburn worked for 42 years in the Boulder Valley School District as an elementary music teacher. Her accolades include National Board Certification, BVSD Impact on Education award, and chairing the Elementary Music Division at the CO Music Educators Conference. She is retired now but still sharing her music in storytelling with both the Boulder and Broomfield Chapters of Spellbinders. Her hobbies include singing with professional choir Ars Nova Singers, photography, and travel. She is entering her fifth year as a Spellbinder.
Steve Levin, trustee, I am a retired DPS 1st and 2nd grade teacher. In addition to gardening, I spend my time with art, piano playing, enjoying nature, having fun with our granddaughters, and, or course, storytelling.
Shirley Stafford, trustee
Kathy Beach (trustee)
Non-Voting Council Members:
Diana King (Ex-oficio Past Chair; Non-voting Board Member) Originally from St. Louis, Diana King graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs with a degree in mathematics. She later took computer science courses in Maryland. She served as a computer analyst and project manager for Federal grants systems development for 30 years in Washington D.C. She developed some of the early electronic links between financial systems and grants systems and helped develop electronic grant applications processes across multiple Federal agencies processing over $250 billion in Federal financial assistance.
She and her husband returned to Colorado in 2008. Diana became a Spellbinder in 2019 and is a dual member of Boulder Valley and Broomfield Spellbinders. She served as President of the 350-member University Women’s Club at CU Boulder, and is active in other volunteer capacities.
Lisa Radford (Web Content manager). Lisa has been telling stories with Spellbinders of Littleton since 2003 and currently tells to 1st and 3rd graders in three different schools. She served two terms as a council of trustees member and has agreed to help with updates to the Spellbinders.org website.She is currently a co-chair of the Littleton.