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

Andy has always been known as “the animal guy” since he was a child. Instead of wanting to watch Sesame Street like the other kids, he would ask his parents to put on national geographic and animal planet. He would share all the interesting and wonderful facts about animals with his classmates and teachers, even if they didn’t want to hear about them.

Andy studied Psychology at Lewis, a university in Romeoville, Illinois and focused as much of his coursework as possible on animal behavior and cognition. He spent the summer of 2019 volunteering at Glen Afric in Hartbeesport, South Africa. He worked with many incredible animals like Elephants, Lions, Tigers, Hyenas, Leopards, Cheetahs, Giraffes and more! It was this experience that solidified his conviction to working with animals for the rest of his life.

In 2022, Andy moved from Chicago to Colorado. He spent the year working with Colorado Parks and Wildlife as a Limited Commission Park Ranger at Chatfield State Park in Littleton. Now, Andy is excited to be working with the Zoology Foundation to spread awareness and harbor stewardship for the protection of animals and wild places.

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!!”

I knew I always wanted to work with animals from a young age. I would watch Steve Irwin run around the Australian outback and the Kratt brothers on Zoboomafoo. I have always enjoyed getting my hands dirty and helping however I could at my grandparents' farm. I would help put bales of straw in the barn loft, pick apples, fix fencing, help with the cattle and sheep, and ride in the columbine with my grandpa during harvest season. But my favorite thing of all was to sit in the pasture with the cattle and watch them. They would always be so curious of me and come over to investigate.

I have lived in Colorado since 2009 and have loved every moment. I never want to leave! I have grown up with dogs, but I adopted my first cat in 2022 and she’s the sweetest thing. I originally was attending Colorado Mountain College for veterinary technology but decided to change course when I realized that veterinary medicine was not my calling. I am now attending Pikes Peak State College for Zookeeping. I have learned so much, and working for the Zoology Foundation has allowed me to apply the knowledge I have learned from my courses.