Our People
Meet our team!
Mikaila Pence
she/her
Board Chair
Dr. Mikaila Heldt Pence, originally from the foothills outside of Denver, has been serving the San Luis Valley community since 2011. She attended Mullen High School in Denver, received her Bachelor's Degree in Biochemistry with minors in Biology, Physics in Medicine, Leadership, and Business as well as a Masters Degree in Physical Chemistry at the University of Denver. She completed medical school at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and Pediatric Internship & Residency at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City with specialty rotations at Children's Hospital Colorado in Denver.
She lives with her husband and 3 children in Monte Vista where they pasture raise Miniature Herefords for show, breeding & beef. When not in clinic you'll find her busy attending basketball and soccer games, track meets, cow shows, and 4H meetings.
She is excited to be a part of a community driven effort to improve access to specialty care for pediatric patients and their families and hopes that the clinic will become a true community for these children and families and last long beyond her.
CONTACT: mhpence@cscslv.org
Tracie Lopez
she/her
Internal Communications Chair
Hello! My name is Tracie Lopez; I serve as the internal communications chair for the Children Specialty Clinic board. I have been in this role for a little over a year. I am a valley native with roots in Antonito, I settled in Monte Vista with my three children-two teen girls aged 15 and 13 and a 6-year-old boy, whom are my entire world. I am the Early Intervention Services Director for Blue Peaks and have been with the agency for close to 17 years. My journey at Blue Peaks began as a direct care staff in 2003 while pursuing a business degree at Adams State. After working in direct care I realized how happy I was in my role with helping adults with developmental disabilities, I then decided to pump the breaks on business management and instead change course to focus on a degree in social welfare with a double emphases in criminal justice with hopes of eventually working for case management at Blue Peaks. As I was finishing my last semester at Adams, I was fortunate to complete my internship at you guessed it, Blue Peaks Case Management! Blue Peaks offered me a position as a case aide in June 2007 and in December 2007; I graduated and gained the title of Case Manager. I worked in case management for about 5 years and then transitioned to Early Intervention Services where I discovered my true passion working with infants and toddlers with delays and disabilities in development. I am now the director of the program with two service coordinators under my supervision. I absolutely love what I do and love the families we work with and I have a wonderful team! Mikaila Pence really is the glue here, she recruited me a year ago to sit in a board meeting, and I have been here since. I love her vision and her passion for helping children and their families with neurodivergent needs. My goals in my position on the board are to settle into my role as internal communications chair and I would like to help accomplish the vision of the clinic in both the short term and see it through to long term. My favorite part of living in the San Luis Valley is of course the mountains! I love our surrounding mountains and any time we can get out, we take it. I also love being close to family and long-time friends. When I am not out changing the world, I enjoy spending time with my family and reading. I enjoy any activities that have to do with my kiddos; they are very athletic and outgoing at Center Schools.
Matthew Tulley
he/they
Community Relations Chair
Howdy! I’m Matthew Tulley! I am the Community Relations Chair for the Children’s Specialty Clinic of the San Luis Valley. I grew up in the Valley during my formative years and truly call Monte Vista, CO home. While growing up in Monte Vista, my mantra for life has always been “leave people better than how you found them” and my education track and career choices have continued to be examples of just that. I went to Adams State University and obtained my Bachelor of Arts in Clinical Psychology in 2016 and graduated from Arizona State University with my Master of Science in Positive Psychology in 2020. The first part of my career began at Alamosa County Department of Human Services where I served as a Foster Care Coordinator for 4 and half years before becoming a Child Welfare Supervisor over the Foster Care Program and Ongoing case management for a half year. I decided I needed to get out of the child welfare sector and move toward system change and system collaboration and I became the San Luis Valley Interagency Oversight Group Director for Alamosa and Saguache Counties. In this current role, I work to reduce duplication of services and push for system collaboration which got me interested in serving as part of this board. With my many connections within systems, I feel I can bolster the clinic to provide wraparound services and connect the clinic to the community in powerful ways. Being involved with system work and child welfare work, I have heard many stories of families being left behind or getting lost in the cracks, so my ultimate goal is to ensure we are improving those systems and filling in those cracks. When I’m not doing that, I’m helping San Luis Valley Pride plan Pride and run the organization, I’m doing Yoga, travelling to see my favorite band BTS and buying BTS Merchandise!
Debra Scott
she/her
Finance Chair
Debra (Debi) Scott, I am a board member with a non-profit financial background. I am originally from Minnesota but I’m an Air Force brat, so home is where I’m at and for now that is Thornton Colorado. I have been in finance all my life in one form or another but for the last 25 years I have worked for Banner Health, a non-profit hospital organization, then went to Sunrise Community Health where I held a variety of jobs. I was the CFO, then the COO and back to the CFO before I retired in 2023. During my time at Sunrise, I was a project manager for the construction of our three largest clinics. I’m proud to say we came in on time and on budget for each of them. During my time at Sunrise we added six new clinics, everything from a one provider clinic to a 15-provider clinic. Talking with Mikaila, hearing her vision and seeing her enthusiasm for CSCSLV inspired me to want to be part of the board to help get the clinic well established in the Valley with a positive bottom line. Since my retirement my hobby and interest are traveling and my grandchildren and great grandson, love being part of their lives.
DJ Enderle
he/him
Board Member
I am not a Colorado Native, I moved to the San Luis Valley in 1999 to attend college and I settled here to raise my family. After learning that college was not the best path for me I joined the Army; in 2022 I retired as a Command Sergeant Major. I decided that my post military life would be about making the community I chose to make my home better in any way I can. This passion brought me to work for the City of Monte Vista as a City Planner and Community Development Director. Where I strive to improve the City and the surrounding community. My wife and I have three beautiful children and I have a passion to make the lives of the families in the San Luis Valley better. As a business owner, a City Employee and the various boards I serve on, my number one goal is to improve the lives of those around me.
Arielle Middlemist
she/her
Board Member
My name is Arielle Middlemist and I am a board member for the Children's Specialty Clinic of the San Luis Valley. I am a San Luis Valley Native and grew up in Manassa, CO. I received my B.A. in Psychology from the University of Colorado Boulder and am currently obtaining my M.A. in Communication Disorders from Emerson College to become a Speech Language Pathologist. I have worked as a behavior technician with children in home, school, clinic, and community settings for about 5 years. I am passionate about providing children and their families support and resources to learn, grow, and thrive! In my free time, I enjoy playing and teaching piano, adventuring with my 2 dogs, and spending time with friends and family.