About

Joan May lives her life by principle and approaches each day with a desire to make the world a better place. She believes that we each have a role in shaping our communities and our world. An inspiring and optimistic leader, she empowers others to fulfill their potential as active civic participants.

Combining passion and experience, she has a proven record of environmental preservation and achieving positive outcomes through creative and effective collaboration.

Joan served three terms as a respected elected San Miguel County Commissioner in Telluride, Colorado. She has cultivated meaningful change via daily interaction with constituents. During her tenure of county leadership, San Miguel County transformed, becoming known throughout Colorado for strong environmental practices and vibrant community participation.

After choosing not to run for a fourth term, Joan shifted her focus to encouraging civic and grasstops engagement and actualizing specific solutions. Broadening the scope to state and federal policy implementation, she embarked on partnerships to achieve these goals. Some of the groups she’s worked with include Emerge Colorado, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Reform, The National Forest Foundation, Western Leaders Network, and Sheep Mountain Alliance.

Currently, her primary work is coordinating government participation in creating policy. Her contracts include Colorado Communities for Climate Action, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, and American Whitewater.

Joan is an active community volunteer, advising, writing, and also participating in regional planning. She continues to serve on a number of boards that emphasize and engage significant environmental and social change initiatives.

To clear her mind and connect to nature, she spends as much time as possible in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado. Her proudest accomplishment is raising her kind and loving adult son, Micah.