The Purpose of the West End Economic Development Corporation (WEEDC) is to create and encourage an inviting, pro-business environment, integrated with our independent spirit and friendly culture, while capitalizing on our natural and historic resources.
The West End Economic Development Corporation, a not-for-profit organization, was founded in 2013 to create and encourage a friendly pro-business environment in the West End of Montrose County. This organization approached that by nurturing and developing entrepreneurs and new business owners, supporting existing employers and small business owners, and recruiting new industries and primary jobs to the region.
WEEDC operates on three goals that provided the framework for achieving a pro-business environment while maintaining the West End culture and community.
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Ensure that the West End has the resources needed to support business expansion, formation, and attraction.
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Provide a regulatory environment and the infrastructure to support culturally compatible business development.
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Build on the strong sense of identity in the West End to become a magnet for diverse talent on the Western Slope.
WEEDC is a membership organization, that fosters partnerships with state, regional, and local organizations that share our interests. Our current partners and members in business and government allow us to bring in resources, financing and incentives, cut red tape and break down barriers to job creation.
WEEDC staffs a team of talented professional to provide services to employers, small businesses and entrepreneurs interested in doing business in the West End. These services include, but are not limited to:
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Site Selection Assistance
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Small Business Development and Counseling
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Marketing
In addition, the WEEDC office building will soon be a coworking space for small businesses and entrepreneurs providing an economic development catalyst for the West End.
WEEDC Staff
Makayla Gordon
Executive Director
Following graduation from college, Makayla started her professional career at Telluride Ski and Golf Resort as the Retail Manager. Makayla Gordon grew up here in the West End, Norwood specifically. After graduating from Norwood High School, she attended the University of Northern Colorado, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
With her extensive background in business management, she has relocated back to the West End to provide her knowledge and skills to grow our community. With her knowledge of our local history, Makayla will make our home’s legacy thrive amid the ever-changing and growing world we live in today.
Makayla is raising her two sons with her partner here in the place she is most passionate about. She loves getting outside on the weekends with her family and her 2 dogs. She enjoys spending time with her extended family in the area hunting, fishing, hiking, or even just working outside. You will also probably see Makayla volunteering for one of the many organizations and nonprofits in our community.
Now Hiring
Office & Grant Administrator
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors for WEEDC includes thirteen members, representing a variety of interests within our community.
President
Erin Jones
Operations Lead & New Account Specialist, Citizens State Bank
Erin Jones has lived in the West End her entire life. She graduated from Nucla High School in 2016 and from Colorado Mountain College in 2019. Erin lives in Nucla with her husband Cody and they enjoy spending time in the outdoors; hunting, fishing, camping and just breathing in the fresh West End air. She began working at Citizen’s State Bank in Naturita as a teller in 2019 and is currently the Operation’s Lead and New Account Specialist. Her goal is to always provide great customer service and reach further into her community.
Erin joined the Nucla- Naturita Fire Department in 2014 and the West End Pay It Forward Trust board and West End Economic Development board in 2023. Erin is also passionate about the local youth. She has been the lead coach for the local AAU program and the assistant coach for the middle school volleyball team in the past. She is frequently at Nucla High School’s gym assisting with the girls’ basketball team and has been involved in the Montrose West Recreation program as a coach. Erin is always looking for ways to be a part of things that are bigger than herself and that is why she became a part of these entities. Her desire is to give back, to protect and to become a resource for the beautiful place she and her husband call home.
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
VICE PRESIDENT
Richard Wolney
Retired Mine Manager
Richard worked with the New Horizon Mine for over 14 years, and oversaw the final closure. He resides in Paradox, Colo. with his wife.
SECRETARY / TREASURER
Kenny Heldman
Owner, Kenny’s Tires
Kenny has owned and operated Kenny’s Tires for over 25 years, providing a valuable service to the West End community. Kenny serves on the Farmer’s Ditch Water Board as a Trustee, and has been a committed member of the community for over 50 years.
DIRECTOR
April Montgomery
Programs Director, Telluride Foundation
April has worked as the Programs Director for the Telluride Foundation for eighteen years, and is
currently the Vice President Programs. She helps to manage the Foundation’s nonprofit building
capacity efforts, grant programs and initiatives. From 2001 to 2009, April had a consulting business,
where she provided nonprofit and government organizations with grant writing, legal, project
management, strategic planning and land use planning assistance. April was a planner and the Open
Space & Recreation Director for San Miguel County from 1991 to 1999. She has a BA degree in
Government from the University of Virginia and received her law degree from the University of
Virginia in 1989; she is currently a member of the Colorado Bar. April lives in Norwood, Co with
her husband, where they are also small business owners.
DIRECTOR
Lisa Sutherland
Student, Colorado School of Mines
Biography Coming Soon.
DIRECTOR
Jason Wildenstein
Owner, Five Ring Seasonings
Biography Coming Soon.
DIRECTOR
Joseph Hittinger
Realtor
Biography Coming Soon.
DIRECTOR
Dani Reyes-Acosta
Founder & Director, Afuera Productions
Award-winning advocate, storyteller, and strategist Dani Reyes-Acosta inspires individual action and collective communion through stories of reciprocity in the outdoors—reframing the narrative of how we build community along the way.
Featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, and more, she is the founder of West End-based Afuera Productions, whose recent work includes TV credits like DISPATCHES (2024) and film credits like WELL WORN LIFE (2022) and the OUTLIER film series (2022). She has both consulted and worked in-house on creative strategy and change communications for Fortune 100 companies like Vail Resorts, Alterra Mountain Co., and Nike, INC. Finally, she shares her experiences as a speaker, panelist, and facilitator, engaging diverse audiences on topics like leadership, social entrepreneurship, and brand authenticity.
She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, based on a farmstead where she enjoys potluck dinners, heritage apples, and herding ducks with her partner, Johnny.