Katie Fitzgerald is the director for the Aspen Challenge. Prior to launching the Aspen Challenge, Katie was a project manager for the Seminars Department and the Aspen Ideas Festival Scholars Program at the Aspen Institute. In these roles, she was in charge of managing an array of seminars serving Aspen Institute fellows from around the world, working with the executive team to allocate and manage over $600,000 in scholarship funds per year, and recruiting and selecting over 300 Scholars to participate in the Aspen Ideas Festival. Katie has a B.S. from Northern Michigan University with a major in geographical information systems. While in college, Katie studied in Armidale, Australia and then traveled throughout Europe for several months. Katie has lived in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado for 15 years, after moving from Vail. She is a Chicago native and avid Bears fan. Katie resides in Basalt with her two daughters, Maggie, 12, and Lily, 10. Katie also serves on the board of Girls on the Run, and volunteers at her local food pantry, Lift Up.