Board & Staff

Jami has been involved in non-profits most of her life. With a degree from Pepperdine University in Administrative Management with an emphasis on Not for Profit Business, Jami honed her business acumen by working for her family’s multiple businesses. Jami’s love of animals led her to open up seven pet stores in Southern California, which she ran until 1991. Jensen then moved to Colorado to raise and train Warmblood horses for competitive jumping.

Besides overseeing the Zoology Foundation, Jami currently sits on several boards including the Jenesis Foundation, a non-profit organization that aspires to improve the quality of life for our nations young people by investing in opportunities for youth to realize their full potential.

Meg has been a licensed veterinary technician for 27years and up until 2018, all of those years have been spent in equine practice. As a life-long animal lover and advocate, she is excited to apply her experience and skill set to a wide range of different animal species.

Meg has traveled to both South and Central America as part of the Equitarians/Project Samana group that provides veterinary care to working horses and donkeys in developing countries. She enjoys spending her free time riding with her husband and enjoys practicing Natural Horsemanship techniques to improve her horsemanship.

Meg resides in Sedalia with her family and an entertaining menagerie of horses, goats, chickens, and a former street dog from the Dominican Republic.

AJ has been passionate about animals and the environment her entire life. She grew up in Colorado with a canyon practically in her backyard, cultivating an interest in the natural world from a young age. After getting her first snake at the age of 10, AJ has had a particular love of the creepy and crawly animals. Since then she has pursued opportunities to advocate for ectotherms despite their (frequently) less cuddly natures.

In 2017, when looking for an internship while in college, AJ came across a newspaper article featuring the Zoology Foundation. Being so close to home, and presenting the chance to get experience with a wide variety of animals, she reached out to inquire about the possibility of interning. Zoology had no such program, but they were happy to give it a shot! Later, after graduating from UCCS with a BS in biology, AJ joined the Zoology team as an Animal Care Technician. Currently, she is both an animal care tech and the animal care team lead.

Caelie has been enamored with animals since she was very young. She spent much of her time growing up taking horseback riding lessons in exchange for farm work, and doing competitive show jumping. When she left high school, she got her first job at a doggy daycare that sparked a love for dogs, and animal behavior science. She spent time apprenticing under dog trainers in order to further her knowledge of behavior and different training practices. She spent about 7 years in the pet care industry where she learned a lot but was ready to broaden her horizons.

The property for Zoology was one she would drive past every day to get to her previous job. And every day she would think about how cool it would be to work there. Lucky enough that’s exactly what happened! While being a part of this team she not only hopes to learn about animals she had previously not worked with, but also from her talented and well versed coworkers.

She wants to help spread the message that everyday can be an opportunity to learn something new, and how learning about the life around us can help us all care for it better.

Though Caelie no longer is involved in the day to day animal care, she is currently our Social Media Manager and loves to come to the Zoo to take all the wonderful photos you see on Facebook and Instagram

From a very early age, Jared has always had a love for animals, not only caring for them but just being with them! Fortunately, his grandparents have a farm in Iowa where Jared spent every summer. In addition to repairing fences and other farm work, Jared especially looked forward to spending time with and learning about cows, chickens, and much to his delight, horses. This time spent in Iowa developed in Jared a need to not only work with animals but to be outside.

Jared loves to be challenged and push himself out of his comfort zone, in all ways. He seeks out activities that create diversity for himself, be it sports, hobbies or even jobs. He challenges himself not only physically but educationally.

When he saw that Zoology Foundation had an open position, he knew he had to apply! He felt that a position in Animal Care would greatly further and expand his knowledge base about a wide range of animals. Jared very much enjoys learning not only about husbandry for the residents of ZoFo, but also about reading body language, how he can best build a bond with each animal and how that differs from species to species. Jared has a natural “feel” with animals and the animals accept him readily. In true Jared form, he says that “this is the best job ever!!”

For as long as Ashton can remember, they were enamored with animals. While they didn’t grow up on a farm, they were fortunate enough to take horseback riding lessons as a kid and loved visiting zoos, pet stores, and animal sanctuaries.
As soon as Ashton was old enough, they got a job at their favorite childhood pet store where they were exposed to working with a great variety of pets. Those experiences eventually inspired Ashton to pursue other animal related jobs ranging from pet sitter, doggy daycare, kennel manager, and professional dog grooming.
Outside of work, Ashton is passionate about keeping a variety of snakes, tarantulas, and freshwater fish, and enjoys combining correct husbandry practices and naturalistic enclosures. They also spend their free time drawing and visiting coffee and oddity shops around town.
After moving to Colorado from Kansas, Ashton joined Zoology Foundation in April and hit the ground running, seamlessly joining the Team. They are most excited to develop their herdsmanship skills working with the sheep, goats, pigs and alpacas.

Rileigh has always loved animals and was lucky enough to grow up with a number of pets, including several dogs, cats, and a bearded dragon. As soon as she was old enough, she began volunteering at the San Luis Valley Animal Welfare Society at their adoption events in Colorado Springs and was able to foster many dogs until they were able to find homes.
After graduating high school, she studied biology with a concentration in animal physiology at Cornell University and during this period discovered a passion for animal care while working at Oxley Equestrian Center in New York. Following her graduation, she moved to Zambia with the Peace Corps as a rural aquaculture promotion volunteer where, over the course of three years, she helped over thirty rural farmers begin small fish farming businesses.
When Rileigh returned to the U.S. in 2025, she discovered the Zoology Foundation while searching for another job in animal care and was delighted to join the team. Rileigh currently resides with her five pets that she brought back to the U.S. from Zambia, including her two African village dogs and three street cats.

Amanda spent much of her childhood catching frogs, befriending neighborhood cats, riding horses, and spending most of her time outside in South Carolina where she learned an early love of nature and animals while being a girl scout. Her favorite places to go and spend her summers were at state parks and zoos. Having been in Colorado since 2007, she took that early spark of animals and nature seriously and got an AAS in Zookeeping. Her focus was on reptiles, amphibians, and all the little crawly things, training as an intern at Denver Zoo and Butterfly Pavilion.
Amanda spent several years working at a pet store and learned the trade of dog grooming. She currently has a small menagerie of frogs and geckos at home and works as a freelance artist in her spare time, making hand-made costumes, vending her creations at conventions, and drawing. She then learned about Zoology through a current staff member and the opportunity to work with more animals was exactly what she was looking for.