Board of Directors

Tanya Ahamed

Tanya Ahamed is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Denver. Tanya began her career working with victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse and then moved into doing therapy with convicted offenders who have been court ordered into treatment. Though Tanya’s path changed direction, she has maintained her belief in change and healing and she has now been working to rehabilitate criminal offenders since 2005.  In addition, Tanya is the Fundraising Director and sits on the Board of Directors for S.O.U.L. Foundation where she works in rural Uganda to promote education, community development and sustainable business cooperatives within small villages. She is so thankful and proud to be a part of Breaking Silence and to contribute to the groundbreaking projects bridging healing, awareness, and support for all people healing from interpersonal violence.

Alane Holsteen

Alane Holsteen began working with victims of domestic violence in 1990 at the Denver City and County Domestic Violence Unit while studying at the University of Colorado for her degree in Women’s Studies.  She went on to be hired by Jefferson County District Attorney’s office in 1991.

Ms. Holsteen has continued to work as a Victim Specialist in Jefferson County for all crimes against children cases, including sex assaults, physical abuse, homicides, exploitation, and trafficking.  Ms. Holsteen has presented in many state wide trainings regarding child victims over the years including the Colorado Law Enforcement Officers Association, Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, Colorado Investigators Training Program, Colorado Children’s Advocacy Centers, and the Sex Offender Management Program.

Barb Sheppard

My name is Barb Sheppard.  I was born in Florida and raised in Albuquerque, NM.  Colorado has been my home since 1982.  I graduated from Metropolitan State College of Denver with a Bachelors degrees in Behavioral Science and History.  I  live  in two different worlds.   My job is in corporate America (IT) but what feeds my soul is the volunteer work I get to do.   In the 90s, I volunteered with junior achievement for several years, working with pregnant teens and low income, inner city, middle schoolers with behavior problems.  I was also a part of Kids Can, an abuse prevention program in Jefferson county that worked in elementary schools.  I have travelled to Kenya, El Salvador and Guatemala as part of educational therapy teams.  Since 2010, I have been a victims advocate in Jefferson county and a member of American Red Cross disaster team.  I am passionate about my work with victims and am grateful that I have the ability to use my time to give back to those in need. It is gift.

Callie Rennison 

Callie Marie Rennison, PhD is the Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, Associate Professor, and MCJ Program Director at the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Public Affairs. Her areas of research include the nature, extent, and consequences of violent victimization with an emphasis on research methodology, quantitative analysis, and measurement, especially in regards to the National Crime Victimization Survey. Substantively, her research examines violence against women, violence against minority groups such as African Americans and Hispanics, crime data and victim interaction with the criminal justice system. She recently served on a National Academies Committee examining domestic sex trafficking of minors in the United States and was recently a Senior Researcher at the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. Her research on violent victimization and reporting violence to the police has appeared in numerous journals including theJournal of Quantitative Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Violence and Victims, Trauma, Violence and Abuse, and Violence Against Women.

George Holley

George Holley is a Deputy District Attorney in Mesa County.  He grew up in Colorado as a lifelong student athlete. He played football, baseball and wrestled throughout his school years before going to Adams State College where was elected team captain and played linebacker. He graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in History, and then continued his education at the University of Denver where he graduated in 2010 with his Juris Doctorate. George now practices law in Grand Junction, Colorado where he is the Deputy District Attorney. He also sits on the Board of Directors for Mesa County Partners, an organization working with youth.  George prides himself on his commitment to serving justice and is proud to have joined the board of Breaking Silence.  As a lifelong athlete and now deputy district attorney, he brings a strong passion for giving impacted survivor’s a voice, reducing the rate of interpersonal violence and campus sexual assault, and spreading awareness.