Our Team
Dan Simon 🤙🏽
An entrepreneur at heart, yet an energy and water engineer by training, Dan is a founder and/or executive to seven sustainable technology companies, three of which he led from inception to over $100M in annual revenue. Dan was born with a passion for water and soil in all forms. Spending his first 18 years on Windansea Beach in La Jolla, CA, and now living in the mountains of Colorado for over 30 years, Dan thrives on the nectar nature provides. Dan has lived on 3 continents, worked in over 35 countries, speaks Japanese and Spanish, and has been an active board member, advisor, and volunteer to public and private companies, organizations, and universities throughout the world. Dan is the grateful father to Nicholas and Natalie and husband to Sarah. After living on ranches for the last 20 years, the family is deeply connected to mother earth. Losing his son, Nick has been life-altering. Together with his family, Dan recognizes the best way to honor Nick’s legacy is to build the Nick Would Foundation into a world-class ignitor of outdoor, wild land, and cultural exploration for generations to come.
Sarah Simon 💚
Sarah was born and raised in Steamboat Springs, CO and she and her husband, Dan, made it their mission to raise their kids (Nicholas and Natalie) on a ranch in her hometown, instilling in them a love of nature and all the outdoor adventure Steamboat offers. Working remotely as a Senior Copywriter for Virgin Pulse for the last 15 years has allowed Sarah to have a great work/life balance. When she’s not on a trail run, hiking, skiing, or traveling, you can find her spending time with friends or cheffing up something yummy.
The loss of Nick has been devastating, but the establishment and mission of the Nick Would Foundation have brought comfort, light, and hope, knowing that from something so tragic will come something incredibly bright and impactful for so many. Nick would be proud and Sarah is honored to be a part of it.
Natalie Simon 🐚
Born and raised in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Natalie is a lover of nature, adventure, outdoor pursuits, and good times with friends. Natalie and her older brother, Nick, shared a love of travel, food, camping, skiing, surfing, hiking, and most of all being together with family. She has spent time backpacking through Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland, and most recently moved to Madrid to teach English in a primary school. Natalie graduated from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo with a Business degree in Accounting and a minor in Psychology, where she enjoyed being able to surf, hike, run, and explore nearly every day.
Brooke Buchanan ⛺️
Brooke was born in Steamboat Springs and grew up skiing, rafting, biking, and doing anything that you can think of in the mountains. After graduating early from high school, Brooke traveled to Costa Rica to obtain a yoga teacher certification and spent a month in Patagonia for a NOLS sea kayaking course. Brooke recently graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in Psychology and Statistics, but her greatest accomplishment was learning to surf. After graduation, Brooke moved to San Francisco to pursue a career in analytics and to chase the cold waves of northern California. Brooke loves to travel, camp, jam the guitar, and spend time with all the amazing friends she’s made along the way!
Scott Burridge 🚲
After graduating from the University of Colorado, Scott has had a successful career as a broadcaster, entrepreneur, and non-profit fundraiser and leader. By the time he was 28 years old, he became the youngest large market on-air local television network Sports Director in the country. Along with becoming a founder/investor in 6 companies, Scott has devoted much of his adult life to fundraising and managing non-profits including being a board member for the PGA Tours First Tee, MC for the Jerry Lewis telethon, and for the past 4 years fundraising and recruiting for Greenhouse Scholars, an education non-profit that mentors and guides high achieving young adults from low-income backgrounds. Scott brings the Nick Would Foundation tremendous knowledge around scaling non-profit organizations.
Spencer Dietrich ⛷️
Adventure and the outdoors have been a constant thread, since Spencer’s childhood in the Midwest. An Eagle Scout and AFS foreign exchange student in Denmark at sixteen, followed by an Economics degree and MBA at the University of Colorado. With Boulder having primarily been home since 1984, skiing has been a constant activity throughout life, highlighted by many “heli” trips in Alaska and BC, guided by some of the world’s greatest guides (Moe, Harms, Cosgrove, Hoke). As CEO and President of CP Company, CT Power and Iceberg Enterprises, Spencer has enjoyed a career in the transportation equipment dealership/distribution business supporting OEMs such as Carrier Transicold and Hyundai Translead, since 1995. As an active member of the Young Presidents Organization, Executive Advisory Board member of Carrier Corporation, and a student mentor for CU’s Leeds School of Business, Spencer’s had an enhanced, collaborative career of continuous learning and growth. Married to Leslie since 1995, they’ve grown a family rooted in outdoor pursuits. Spencer and Leslie have three children, all born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. Henry, 26, is a ski patroller at Taos Ski Valley. Kurt, 24, is a ski guide at Silverton. Elizabeth, 23, is finishing college and raft guiding in the summer. Leslie and Spencer now split time between Boulder, Colorado, and Crane Island, Washington.
Eugene Buchanan 🚣🏼♂️
A former reporter for the Denver Business Journal and 14-year publisher and editor-in-chief of Paddler magazine, Eugene Buchanan has written about the outdoors for more than 25 years, from covering the X Games for ESPN.com to working for NBC at the Beijing Olympics. With freelance articles published in the New York Times, Men’s Journal, Sports Afield, Sierra, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Forbes Life, Ski, Powder, and other publications, Buchanan is a former ski patrol and raft and kayak guide whose passion for traveling and writing has taken him to more than 30 countries on six continents. A Fellow member of the Explorer’s Club and contributor to Men’s Journal’s The Great Life anthology, he also spearheaded the Outdoor Industry Association’s Outdoor Idols campaign, honoring teens’ accomplishments in the outdoors. He is the author of four books: Brothers on the Bashkaus (2007); Outdoor Parents, Outdoor Kids (2010); Comrades on the Colca (2016), and Tales from a Mountain Town (2017). He lives with his wife, Denise, and daughters, Brooke and Casey, in Steamboat Springs, Colo., just a block away from the Yampa River.
Jack “JV” Vanderbeek 🎵
JV was born in Denver and moved to Steamboat Springs in elementary school. He grew up skiing, mountain biking, and playing music with his friends. Graduating a semester early, he, Matt, and Nick crowdfunded a ski trip across the west in a VW Vanagon - competing in freeride contests along the way. They called themselves the Steamboat Van Clan and gained lots of time on snow and a lifelong brotherhood. JV then went on to Montana State University, earning a degree in Electrical Engineering with a focus on electro-optics. During his time in Bozeman, he played drums in a couple of bands, skied many of Montana’s iconic lines, managed a crew of landscapers, and won undergraduate research grants for his work. JV now lives in Los Angeles and works on satellite communication systems. His free time is spent riding motorcycles, taking said motorcycles apart, trying to put them back together, and surfing a bit in between.
Matthew White 🏄🏼♂️
Matthew White grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and has known Nick Simon since he can remember. A member of the Steamboat Springs Van Clan with Nick and Jack Vanderbeek, Matthew lives for adventure and spends as much time as possible outdoors doing a variety of activities including surfing, skiing, free-diving, backpacking, biking, rock climbing, and more. He attended college at the University of California, Santa Barbara, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Physics, a minor in surfing, and weekend camp trips he conjointly earned with Nick Simon. Matthew lives to spend time with loved ones outdoors, exploring new mountain and coastal regions of the world. He currently lives in Santa Barbara, CA, working as a project manager for a construction company.
Jack Craig 🧗🏼♂️
Jack Craig is an athlete, entrepreneur, scientist, and mountaineer. Considered eccentric and charismatic by his friends, he is determined in his decision-making and is skilled at overcoming obstacles and working collaboratively. When he isn’t skiing or climbing in the mountains, he enjoys playing music, making coffee, learning about the world on Wikipedia, and training for his next adventure. Most of all, Jack loves spending time with his friends and family, laughing around a campfire, and exploring the world with those he loves.
Nathan Brickman 🧱
Nathan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended college at Cal Poly, in San Luis Obispo, California, where he had the privilege of meeting Nick Simon. They quickly became close friends and ended up living together for the subsequent three years at the University and graduating together in the Spring of 2020. Nathan and Nick lived with four other boys from various parts of southern California, a crew of best friends and fun-hogs known as the “Patricia 6”. Together, they share many memories with Nick, most notably while pursuing outdoor activities such as rock climbing, river rafting, surfing, fishing, hiking, biking, skiing, and more. They have been fortunate to travel together to places such as Europe, Mexico, Morocco, and Colorado, and explore the beauty of California from its mountains in the eastern Sierras and rugged beaches of the Central Coast. Nathan is currently living in San Francisco and working in technology.