Our Team
Christopher Garcia, Recycling Tech (In memoriam)
Christopher was the inspiration for what became Blue Star Recyclers. In the Spring of 2008 Bill Morris met Christopher, and Bill was amazed at his skills and expertise in breaking down electronic components. Christopher always made himself available to help his co-workers when they got stuck with a disassembly process, and for the first year he was the pace-setter for the team.
The original team still talks about Chris and we all miss him very much. From time to time when I look at all the wonderful things that have happened at Blue Star since our inception, I have to smile and believe Christopher is still helping his old team mates!
Alec Anderson, Lead Driver
Alec Anderson joined Blue Star Recyclers in August of 2017 as our Lead Driver. He's is a 14 year veteran of the US Army, completing two tours of duty in Iraq as an equipment mechanic. In addition, Alec has four years of experience working in corrections which will help keep us all in line! As a father of five he's always looking for new challenges, and in his own words, he has "a wicked good sense of humor." Look for him offering great pickup service to all our business customers in Colorado Springs!
Zach Anderson, Production Lead
Zach first applied for our disassembly team a year ago when he came to recycle his own electronics. Now we have the materials and Zach is wasting no time breaking them down. He enjoys working with all electronics, as well as reading and playing video games. He was also with the Boy Scouts and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. According to Zach, this is the first meaningful job he's had — and we're thrilled to have him on our team!
James Anton, Senior Recycling Tech
James started on the CI team before being officially hired by Blue Star. James is always in a great mood; his infectious giggle is a constant on our work floor. James holds the record for most computers disassembled in any one shift and is as fast as lightning when taking apart a computer tower. James likes practical jokes and teaching others American Sign Language.
Ben Arnett, Warehouse Assistant
Ben came to us as a volunteer earlier this year, and did such a terrific job we asked him to stick around! Fortunately for us, he agreed. Ben is now Warehouse Assistant in our Denver Recycling Operations.
Ben enjoys watching movies, playing video games, playing Magic the Gathering, and listening to all types of rock music and some electronic music. He also loves to cook and eat food. Ben recently graduated from high school and completed a work-study program here at Blue Star Recyclers. He is currently working to go to college and hopes to get a Bachelors degree in journalism and film-making and one day become a director and screenwriter.
Jane Blume, Administrative Assistant and Receptionist
Jane comes to us with 22 years experience in the non-profit sector. Her greatest satisfaction comes from doing whatever she can to help/serve others. Jane enjoys watching sports; football, soccer, and auto racing are her favorites. Her biggest joy in life (both literally and figuratively) is her six year old Saint Bernard. Jane is also a proud fur-mom of four cats.
Zach Bowen, Plant Operations Manager
Zach was born in St. Louis, Missouri but spent the majority of his upbringing in Lawrenceville, Georgia. He enjoys the sciences and nature. Zach says it is a great honor to work at Blue Star Recyclers, helping to preserve the environment, and assist people with disabilities.
Nathan Broin, Recycling Tech
Nathan "The Giant" has been at the recycling center for three years; longer then most of his coworkers. He likes helping the Blue Star workers load and unload pallets from the trucks. Nathan's favorite foods are pizza and coffee.
Alejandro Cabral, Logistics Assistant
Alejandro was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He enjoys listening to rock and rap music and loves a good burrito. His main passion is animals and he tries to make it to the Denver Zoo every weekend to see the animals.
Richie Cole, Recycling Tech
Richie, aka "the Crusher", is responsible for our fluorescent bulb recycling program. As a part of his job, Richie recycles fluorescent and U-Tube bulbs by operating a machine that crushes the bulbs and safely captures the mercury. Richie started out as a high school transitions student and was the first individual on the CI team to be promoted as a Blue Star employee. At lunch, he acts as pit boss, facilitating the board games played by the recycling team.
Dominic Dunbar, Retired
Dominic "The Dominator" is the self proclaimed host of the "Blue Star morning show" and is quick to offer tours or the Blue Star facility. Dominic loves music and knows virtually every song that comes on the radio. His favorite job is shredding hard drives.
Vinny Eide, Warehouse Tech
Vinny has lived in Colorado since he was five and has been mountain and road biking for about as long. He is a published music artist, with over fifty tracks on soundcloud. Vinny absolutely loves the people and consistency of work at Blue Star Recyclers, and we are extremely happy to have him!
Rusty Freymuth, Refurbishment Tech
Rusty takes apart desktop towers, and he especially enjoys taking apart anything he hasn't done before. He's always looking to challenge himself with something new.
Dave Fry, Plant Operations Manager
Like so many Blue Star employees, Dave started out as a CI employee. When he first started at Blue Star as the CI Enclave Supervisor, he was a polite and reserved young man. In quick order, he has now become a complete goofball, always willing to make a fool out of himself to keep the mood light.
Dave was hired by Blue Star Recyclers as the Enclave Coordinator to help us grow and develop additional vocational programs. In addition to this duty, he also acts as EHS Coordinator, ensuring the team maintains a safe workplace. Under his leadership, the Blue Star separation team has more than doubled its level of productivity. Dave is a calm and attentive supervisor, who uses positive reinforcement and humor to keep the team on point. Dave is originally from Minnesota, but spent much of his childhood in Senegal.
Noah Galaska, Recycling Operations Assistant
Noah started with Blue Star in the summer of 2016. Carol Collins, a DVR counselor and longtime friend of Blue Star, assisted Noah in his job placement at Blue Star. In Noah’s words “I think Blue Star Recyclers is the best fitting job for me that I will ever find because I find all things electronic fun and intriguing.” When he’s not managing the front counter or assisting with logistics in the warehouse, Noah enjoys cooking and playing video games. He also likes a good puzzle and dismantling and rebuilding computers. Noah is a hard worker, he’s always looking for something that needs to be done with a great attention to detail. Come by Blue Star on Saturday mornings and Noah will recycle your e-waste!
Loretto Hawkins, Warehouse & Logistics Assistant
Loretto came to Blue Star as a full-time volunteer in January, providing much needed help doing janitorial work and special project material sorting. We wanted to hire him immediately but had to wait a few months before we had an available position on the team. A real job means everything to our team members, and when we gave him the good news about his job you would have thought Loretto won the lottery he was so excited.
Born in Hammond, Indiana, Loretto moved to Denver in 1996. He likes playing pool, watching wrestling, and eating crab! We suspect he will have crab for dinner on his first payday.
Shane Hayden, Recycling Tech
Shane came to Blue Star Recyclers in 2015 from Overland High School VERN program. Shane is a go-getter! He’ll get on any assigned task, literally running to whatever it is he’s assigned to. He processes laptops, data stores, and disassembles hard drives. He really loves celebrating team goals at the end of the workday.
Danny Hennessy, Recycling Tech
Danny enjoys breaking down laptops and joking with his coworkers. He has a great attitude and is ready to help out wherever he can. He is a huge fan of CC hockey, a CO Rockies fan, and all around sports nut. When he's not at Blue Star Danny can be found at virtually every CC hockey game or Rockies game, or playing video games with friends.
Ben Johnston, Recycling Tech
Ben has been into computers for a long time, and really enjoys working with electronics, computers, and anything technical / mechanical. Ben has attended classes at Boulder CTEC and at Front Range Community College to learn about Information Technology. In addition to all that, Ben has a great passion for electronics and aviation. He really likes to watch airplanes at any nearby airport, and also really enjoys meeting new people and making new friends with similar interests to him.
Adam Landgraf, Warehouse Lead
Adam has so many hidden talents we seem to discover a new one every week! Turns out that along with being an outstanding worker, Adam is an artist, singer, dancer, and even knows a few martial arts moves Chuck Norris would be jealous of! His primary responsibility at Blue Star Recyclers is sorting and staging electronics materials to make them ready for end of life processing. He also assists the logistics team in bringing in materials and keeps the warehouse organized and clean.
Tom Lombardy, Recycling Tech
Tom is a longtime friend and volunteer at Blue Star Recyclers and his specialty is disassembling laptops. He is a hard worker and loves being of help. Tom is also a renaissance man — he plays the electric bass guitar and paints with acrylics and water color pencil. He enjoys playing poker and tennis, riding his bike, and watching sci-fi movies.
Bill Morris, CEO
It could be said that Bill is just one of the many resources recycled at Blue Star Recyclers, because after a 25 year career in the telecommunications industry Bill wasn't sure where he was needed. Co-founding Blue Star Recyclers in November, 2009 with Tony and Mary Fagnant was the culmination of a long string of developments spanning the coincidental to the miraculous, and everyone on the founding team knew they were onto something special. Bill says, "I am the luckiest guy I know — to love your work and your team this much, while having an opportunity to lead an organization that produces such a positive human, economic, and environmental impact in the communities we serve.
Bill was named Recycler of the Year from the Colorado Association for Recycling, Employer of the Year from the Arc of the Pikes Peak Region, and Small Business Person of the Year from the Colorado Springs Better Business Bureau. He was invited to the White House as a "Champions of Change" finalist and was a Colorado Biz Magazine "CEO of the Year" Award finalist. Most recently he was selected as a Beanstalk Foundation Leader. Contact Bill directly at 719.494.4436 bill@bluestarrecyclers.com.
Craig McNeal, Program Manager
Craig started his career with ten years with the Army, spending six years as a small group leader and two as his company’s human resources manager. After the Army, Craig returned to Colorado where he joined EcoCycle as a warehouse technician. Blue Star works in partnership with EcoCycle in Boulder so we were able to see Craig’s work ethic and rapport with the Blue Star team. When our Boulder supervisor position opened, we knew Craig would be a great fit. He joined our team in July and he has already hit the ground running!
Janet Morris, Finance Director
With over 25 years in the finance and accounting industry, Janet joined Blue Star Recyclers in 2011 when we became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In addition to working directly with our Board of Directors Finance Committee and CPA, Janet manages all of our accounting functions, financial reporting, HR and payroll, and annual coordination of our financial audit and 990 preparation. She also is responsible for implementing and maintaining our web-based database program that manages material flow, inventory control, and customer accounts. Janet says that, “By far the best part of my job is the daily interaction with all of the wonderful people that work at Blue Star. The hugs and the conversations can quickly turn a stressful day into a great one. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with the best people in the world.”
Sam Morris, Chief Operating Officer
Five years ago Sam worked a few events at Blue Star but he decided joining the Marine Reserves looked easier. After his tour of duty and four years at Liberty Wire & Cable Sam returned to Blue Star to fill the much needed position Recycling Operations Director for Denver and Colorado Springs. His skill in management and systems operations helped us improve efficiency at both locations. After opening our third location in Boulder, Sam was promoted to Chief Operating Officer to bring managerial oversight across all our operations. Sam credits the team and says, “The work ethic and productivity of our team of people with autism and other disabilities is amazing.”
Nick Moscoso, Lead Driver
Nick joined the Community Intersections electronics recycling team in May, 2010. He quickly applied his experience and skills and became a top member of that team, and one year later in May, 2011 he was promoted to employment with Blue Star Recyclers. Nick is a certified forklift driver and his primary responsibility is helping collect, transport, weigh, sort, and stage recyclable electronics materials for processing. He is a great team member and an invaluable member of our organization.
Along with being a highly decorated Special Olympian, Nick is the 2011 Achiever of the Year from the Arc of the Pikes Peak Region. Nick's favorite saying is, "It's All Good".
Arnie Navarro, Business Development Director
Arnie is a true "Renaissance Man", with degrees and certifications in two other professions and a wide array of skills. In his quest to learn something new, his initial attraction to electronics recycling was the opportunity to drive commercial trucks. Arnie joined Blue Star Recyclers in January 2010 as employee number two, as our Director of Operations. In that position for almost five years, Arnie has overseen the collection of over five million pounds of electronics to date. He also supervised and developed three outstanding members of our logistics team.
In July 2014 Arnie was promoted to the position of Director of Sales & Fulfillment. Arnie's commitment to customer service, his tireless work ethic, and his strong connection with every team member is the "secret ingredient" in the success of our mission to date. For his outstanding leadership of our logistics and warehouse operations Arnie received the 2011 Manager of the Year Award. Contact Arnie directly at 719.494.6342 or arnie@bluestarrecyclers.com.
Griffin O’Connor, Recycling Technician
Griffin is an excellent addition to our team in Boulder. He keeps in shape by taking long walks around his neighborhood. Like many of his friends, when he’s not working he enjoys playing Skyrim on his Xbox. He loves cooking and eating Greek food. Before joining the Blue Star team Griffin worked at the front desk of the CU Recreation Center. We are overjoyed to have Griffin on our team!
Kian Phair, Recycling Tech
In 2015 Kian moved from a transitions program at Overland High School to working with the Blue Star Recyclers team. Kian brings a lot of fun to the team. He’s quick to joke and loves teasing his supervisors. He is also a dedicated task-master and works on recycling light bulbs, shredding hard drives, processing laptops, and assisting with the refurbishment program. Kian is a great asset for Blue Star.
Ian Sabar, Recycling Tech
Ian has taken the skills he's learned at Blue Star Recyclers to volunteer with Santa's Little Hackers, a non-profit group that adapts toys for children with disabilities. He likes to dance, do crossfit training, and plays video games. His favorite thing to cook is buffalo wings.
Scott Sampson, Warehouse Tech
Scott was born and raised in Los Angeles and moved to Colorado with his family in 2012. Scott has been making abstract digital art since he was a kid. His love of art spurred him to earn a bachelors degree in art history from Humboldt State University. He is super proud of the work he does for Blue Star and we are extremely honored to have him be a part of our team!
Steven Sanchez, Lead Driver
Steven is a Denver native of 40 years. He is a proud father of four wonderful kids. Steven has a certification as a Locksmith and has extensive customer service skills. He also has experience working with people who have a wide range of disabilities and is a mentor to all around him with hopes of bringing positivity to all he touches. If you are one of our Denver area business clients, you will likely see Steve picking up e-waste at your loading dock or facility.
Leigh Schilling, Recycling Tech
After volunteering at Blue Star Recyclers since 2012 at our front recycling counter, Leigh officially became a Blue Star employee and joined our disassembly team in May 2014. After almost five years with only one female member on that team, we are thrilled to have Leigh aboard! With an ever friendly nature, she is always ready to engage people and make them feel welcomed. Leigh likes hanging out with friends, playing video games and listening to music. She's an animal lover who would one day love to be a barrel racer!
Patrick Sharp, Warehouse Tech
Patrick is one of the most humble-minded of our crew at Blue Star. His consistent workout schedule means he excels at moving customers’ heavy CRT TVs. When not at Blue Star, Patrick enjoys playing Pokemon Go, and attending art and Spanish lessons. Muy Bueno! Patrick was born in Boulder and lives in Longmont. We are super happy to have him on our team!
Frankie Shaw, Recycling Tech
Frankie started on our disassembly team before being promoted to Counter Sales Manager. For many, Frankie's smile represents their official welcome to Blue Star. Frankie's job entails greeting our walk-in customers, handling recycling transactions, and informing the public of our mission. During the Summer, Frankie also works for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Be sure to say hello to her when you go to a ballgame!
Robbie Shepherd, Facilities Tech
Robbie joined our team in November 2014 under the supervision of Nick Moscoso. Robbie and Nick are responsible for picking up electronics from our business, government, and non-profit customers. Before joining Blue Star Recyclers, Robbie worked in the restaurant business and loves working with people. He always has a smile on his face or is laughing! He is also outstanding at bowling and air hockey.
Tom Triolo-Moloney, Customer Service
Tom oversees our front counter in Denver working with residents and businesses that bring us their e-waste to recycle. He will also assist the production team in various ways.
From the time Tom was five years old, he was taking apart radios and generally making a mess of electronics. Getting paid to do that exact thing now is mind-boggling to him. Tom has a BA in Theatre, Film, and Television Production and he administers social media for several organizations. He enjoys working at Blue Star Recyclers specifically because he has always wanted to put his talents towards a greater social cause.
Mark Tankersly, Recycling Tech
Mark "Tank" has been working with Blue Star for the past year and a half. Mark likes finding projects with big bolts on them. His favorite "color" is camouflage. Mark enjoys action movies and playing the board game "Sorry" during lunch.
Chris Whitley, Senior Recycling Tech
Chris started at Blue Star as a high school transitions student, before being formally hired as a Blue Star Recyclers employee upon graduation. Chris is an amazing worker and is consistently one of our most productive employees. Although quiet in most respects, he is not shy about asking for his paycheck first thing in the morning on payday! When not working, Chris likes to relax and listen to Peruvian flute music.
Jackie Winger, Business Development Director
Jackie is hitting the ground running in the Blue Star Recyclers’ Denver office. She brings 5 years of experience in electronics recycling sales and marketing where she worked with governments, aerospace, medical and other leading Colorado companies. She is passionate about the environment and humanitarian interests and is excited to help Denver area organizations discover the benefits of working with Blue Star Recyclers.
Jackie built her career in project management, network design, operations management and technical sales in the telecommunications industry. She was also instrumental in launching two wireless start-up companies. A life-long animal lover, be sure to tell Jackie about your pets.
Zhenyu Yu, Recycling Tech
Zhenyu was born in Hong Kong, China, and moved to the USA in 2010. He likes any kind of sport and is VERY competitive! He also likes American music. He is always upbeat, in a good mood, and wants to be the TOP recycler at Blue Star. Zhenyu comes to us from our partner vocational training program at Cherry Creek Schools Transitions Program, where Zhenyu developed his skills and was referred to Blue Star for employment.
Chris Zettel, Recycling Technician
Chris is a hard worker who comes to us from Orangevale, California with a bunch of warehouse experience. He’s a real gearhead, having taken several automotive classes focusing on transmissions and maintenance at Saddleback College. When not kicking butt and taking names while sorting electronics like a professional at Blue Star – Boulder, you can find Chris gaming or working out at home, or enjoying the outdoors with his Dad by fishing at Lake Granby or stalking white-tail deer in Kansas. We are extremely happy to have Chris on board!
Podcast Tells the Blue Star Recyclers Story
The Need Project Podcast interviewed Bill Morris and allowed him to tell the story of developing of Blue Star Recyclers and the significance of creating meaningful work for disabled people. Click here to listen to this entertaining 25-minute podcast and to hear the full story of our organization and its mission.
