PURA Commissioners and Staff
Gary L. Trujillo – Board Chairman
Mr. Gary Trujillo is currently the Staff Architect for the Housing Authority of the City of Pueblo. The Pueblo native has served on the Board since 1982 and has since contributed to many successful projects such as the Main Street Parking Garage, Lake Avenue Streetscape Project and the Pueblo Convention Center. Past memberships include the Packard Foundation, Colorado Division of Housing Board, Colorado State Historic Review Board and several others. Mr. Trujillo provides over 30 years of experience in architecture to the Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority.
Andrew Trainor – Board Vice Chair 
Mr. Trainor is currently Legacy Banks’ Regional President and was recently appointed as the Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority’s (PURA) Vice Chairman. The Ordway native offers more than 30 years of banking and financing experience and has served on various boards since he made Pueblo his home. Trainor’s board work includes serving on the CSU-Pueblo Foundaion, CSU-Pueblo Land Holdings Board and Parkview Foundation. As a member of the PURA Board of Commissioners, Trainor hopes to assist in developing creative financing packages, educating the general public about the organization’s mission and projects, and establishing goals that result in new development projects that revitilize our community.
Don Bruestle - Board Treasurer 
Mr. Don Bruestle retired in 2004 from a 34-year career in public administration of affordable housing and community redevelopment programs. Bruestle’s current board work includes serving as a Chairperson for the Colorado Commission on Judicial Performance – 10th Judicial District and serves as a Commissioner for the Pueblo County Planning Commission and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Advisory Committee for the City of Pueblo as well as the Pueblo Area Council of Governments. Bruestle also retains membership with various Advocacy Committees’ such as the Public Awareness and Outreach Committee with the Pueblo Early Childhood Council and the Pueblo 2020 Commission. In addition to Mr. Bruestle’s board work, the Minnesota native provides volunteerism to the Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo, Colorado.
Dawn DiPrince – Board of Commissioners
Dawn DiPrince is the Assistant Director of El Pueblo History Museum and is finishing a full-time lectureship in English and writing at CSU-Pueblo. She is a published author of books on writing, including the popular UnJournaling. DiPrince has worked actively in both creative arts development and historic preservation in Pueblo, as the former Associate Director of the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center and the former Executive Director of Frontier Pathways Scenic & Historic Byway. DiPrince is an active community volunteer and currently serves as part of a statewide planning committee for the 100th year commemoration of the Ludlow Massacre.
Roger Gomez – Board of Commissioners
Mr. Roger Gomez was appointed to the PURA Board of Commissioners to serve a five year term ending in February 2017.
Rita Gersick -Board of Commissioners
Ms. Rita Gersick was appointed to the PURA Board of Commissioners in 2001 to serve a five year term ending in February 2015.
Elizabeth Gladney – Board of Commissioners
Beth Gladney is the owner of Sisters’ Courtyard Tea Room and Treasures. A University of Southern Colorado graduate (now CSU-Pueblo), she also studied at Southern Methodist University in pursuit of her Masters Degree. A native daughter to Pueblo, her love of hometown and her desire to see Pueblo thrive in the twenty first century led her to serve on the Pueblo Urban Renewal Board. Beth has eighteen years of physician recruitment experience and worked for SRDA as a Volunteer Coordinator for one year before opening her own business. Sisters’ Courtyard is located in downtown Pueblo and represents her belief and faith in Pueblo’s downtown core. Married to Lee, they enjoy boating, traveling and making their hometown a great place to live, work and play.
Chris Kaufman – City Council Representative
Councilman Kaufman was appointed to the PURA Board of Commissioners as the 2013 City Council Representative. Mr. Kaufman has been instrumental in current PURA initiatives as his involvement with urban renewal dates back to 2006. In addition to being the immediate Past President of the Pueblo City Council, Mr. Kaufman is also Branch Manager of the Pueblo division of Land Title Guarantee Company. Mr. Kaufman serves as the Board Chairman for the Pueblo City Center Partnership and is an active member of the Pueblo Home Builders Association, Pueblo Association of Realtors, PEDCO, Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, and the Latino Chamber of Commerce.
Cherie Sather – Board of Commissioners
Pueblo native, Cherie Sather was appointed to the PURA Board of Commissioners in February 2012. Ms. Sather volunteers her time to numerous community organizations such as the East Side Task Force, Pueblo Historical Society and the Pueblo Donor Alliance. As an urban renewal board member, Ms. Sather hopes to make a difference in the Pueblo community by delivering fresh, new ideas coupled with the groundwork already set into place.
Daniel Ramos - Board of Commissioners
Dr. Ramos has acquired an MBA in Business Administration, Ph.D. in Business Management and a Master of Science in Accounting. Other academic accomplishments include the Capps Capozzolo Award of Academic Excellence, Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, the National Dean’s List and the President’s Dean’s List. Dr. Ramos is an Associate Professor of Accounting, Statistics, Economics and Finance. As Dr. Ramos is a Pueblo native, he feels indebted to the City of Pueblo and hopes to use his qualifications to help in the strategic planning of our city. Dr. Ramos’ hobbies include photography, gardening, ornithology and music.
Ken White – Board of Commissioners
Ken is a native of Clovis, New Mexico where he grew up in the cattle and farming business with his family. After Graduation from the University of New Mexico Business school, he returned to Clovis to run a family owned radio station. In 1976, he and his father established a commodity futures brokerage firm, which he sold to Shearson (a predecessor of Morgan Stanley-Smith Barney) in 1983. Ken was a vice president financial advisor with that firm through many mergers for 23 years.
The White Family moved to Pueblo in 1993 and in 2006, Ken resumed his practice as an “independent” financial planner/advisor; now as a franchise owner of Ameriprise Financial.
He is happily married to Gala (Brown) of Portales, NM and they have three children. Kristyn WhiteDavisis an Academic advisor and instructor here at CSU-Pueblo. Ken White III is advertising director and car salesman at Southwest Motors also here in Pueblo. Kory White is a field engineer with Bechtel, a multinational construction firm, presently working at the Pueblo Chemical Depot.
Ken has been involved in agriculture, media, brokerage, ministry, and politics in his extensive career. His priorities in life are family, church, vocation, charity and civic work, and politics.
PURA Staff
John R. Batey, Ph.D., AICP - Executive Director
Mr. John R. Batey, AICP has served as Executive Director of the Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority since September 7, 2010. Mr. Batey has over 17 years of experience in the areas of community development, affordable housing, urban planning, state and local government administration and high-level policy analysis, including positions with the State of Colorado Governor’s Office, the Palm Beach County Department of Housing and Community Development, West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Broward County Housing Finance and Community Development Division, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mr. Batey holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Public Administration, from Florida Atlantic University. Mr. Batey is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Christine McCarthy – PURA Finance Director
Kristi Alfonso – PURA Communications Director
