New Board Members
Reilly Gallagher
Reilly is an Aspen, Colorado native and currently resides in Denver. She is the Vice President of Marketing & Communications for Forte Aspen, a marketing, communications, sales, and design firm, focused on the luxury resort real estate sector. Prior to Forte, Reilly held a position at 21st Century Fox as a Publicity Coordinator based in Los Angeles. She lived and worked in New York City after graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in Political Science and Spanish. In June 2016, she earned her MBA, graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business. As part of her MBA program, Reilly and a group of her fellow students partnered with the Shining Stars Foundation on the Capstone Project. The opportunity to collaborate was an incredible experience that has left a lasting impression.
Reilly is a marathon runner, fluent in Spanish, and loves spending time with her family and friends. She serves on the Daniels College of Business’ Alumni Advisory Board’s Ambassador Committee. Reilly is dedicated to service and aims to positively influence, inspire, and serve others. She is honored and thrilled to be a member of the Shining Stars Board.
Michael Ditchfield
Humanitarian Michael Ditchfield – best-selling author, sought-after speaker, entrepreneur and former professional athlete – originally hails from Lancashire, England. Committed to addressing the humanitarian plight of developing countries, Ditchfield speaks widely on promoting empowerment while inspiring change in different cultures and individuals.
Ditchfield works with orphans of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, establishing a branch of the Sports for Peace Foundation along with promoting the Sonrise School. He also works with the international Nobel Laureate group PeaceJam, and is a consultant to the Born To Be Free Foundation and Mandela Academy in Ghana. He is an advisor to the international sports company, the Aspire Group, which takes individuals, businesses and teams to greatness.
Ditchfield was instrumental to incorporating sports into Project Mercy’s work in Ethiopia, and served as President of the Sixteenth of May Foundation which helped rebuild villages in South Sudan. Additionally, he participated in the Save Darfur campaign, speaking at the Olympic torch ceremony as the Team Darfur representative for athletes worldwide.
Ditchfield graduated from the University of Bradford before he relocated to the United States, completing graduate coursework while coaching at Penn State University. He resides in Denver, Colorado, where he served as Board President of the Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action. Ditchfield remains dedicated to transforming lives by advocating for human dignity and decency across the globe.
Tim Cottrell
While attending college at the University of Vermont, Tim decided to move to Aspen in 1971 to go to photography school. Tim has been living and working in the Roaring Fork Valley now for 47 years. He owned several restaurants, including the legendary Smuggler Land Office, and served 25 years for the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department where he was a captain for 10 years. He has been producing and launching the fireworks shows for the Valley's signature holidays since 1974. Tim also coached several teams with Aspen Jr. Hockey over 18 seasons. For the past 21 years Tim has been a real estate broker currently with Aspen Snowmass Sotheby’s. In ’08 Tim produced the Shining Stars Golf Tournament for three years in the valley and has been a buddy for the past 7 years. Most importantly he raised a daughter and three sons in Aspen- what a place to grow up! For fun Tim enjoys skiing, fast road motorcycle riding and scuba diving with his significant other and buddy, Judy, golf, tennis, hockey and Lake Powell trips. Catch him in his Ambassador suit for a tour on Aspen Mountain. Tim is proud to be a new 2018 member of the Shining Stars Board!
