About Us

Smart Growth Advocates (SGA) is a Colorado non-profit corporation, formed in 2004 and based in Pueblo, Colorado.  SGA is a grass-roots organization staffed by volunteers.

Our mission is to actively promote sustainability in Pueblo, which in turn, will assure that Pueblo is a place where its citizens enjoy the highest attainable quality of life.  

SGA collaborate closely with  local, state and national organizations, community leaders and the government to enhance Puebloans' quality of life.  Our ethically based business model uniquely balances long term goals with real world experiences.  We enjoy a solid reputation and experience with smart growth issues, sustainable development, and economic development with emerging growth companies.   With a commitment to integrity and enhancing quality of life; we continue to adapt our expertise and experience to the unique aspects of each project we undertake. 


Loraine Torres and Vickie Massam co-founded SGA in 2004.  Their successful sustainability efforts have been recognized by the Pueblo Board of County Commissioners as well as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment when they were awarded "Sustainability Champions" in 2007.  Below, Loraine and Vickie with Colorado Governor Bill Ritter.

Dawn DiPrince

Marketing director. Dawn is a Colorado native with a passion for the arts and making the world a better place for her children.  Dawn's creativity combined with her intelligent approach to problem solving has been invaluable to SGA.   Dawn serves as Associate Director for the Sangre de Cristo Art Center, as well as on the Pueblo League of Women Voters, among her many community and civic duties.

updates coming soon

Mark A. Ranalli

Mark’s energy utility and alternative energy business and project development experience spans more than twenty five years. His experience, in corporate and entrepreneurial settings, includes twenty years in the electric and gas utility industry with Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation. He received his BS degree from Purdue University, and his experience includes general management, business development, product marketing & sales, customer relations, project development and engineering, business operations, contract administration, and defining technology initiatives. Mark currently has his own energy consulting and project development firm specializing in distributed generation and alternative energy technologies and applications. Mark serves on the board of directors for Auburn Cayuga Development Corporation and Greening USA; and is a co-founder of Cayuga Wind Turbines, LLC. - an intermediate wind turbine manufacturing and project development enterprise, and Auburn BioDiesel Corporation - a vertically integrated oilseed processing and biodiesel research, production and marketing enterprise.

Michael Bowman

"This isn't your father's energy economy! In a world facing global warming, peak oil, and emerging technologies, energy will go through one of its greatest-ever periods of change in the 21st Century ... and Colorado is poised to be at the forefront of this transition. Michael Bowman is a fifth-generation Colorado native, born and raised on the family farm in eastern Colorado. He serves on the National Steering Committee for “25x’25”, served as Chair of Colorado’s New Energy Future in 2006, and was co-chair of Governor-elect Bill Ritter’s transition team for energy policy. He was a member of the 2005 Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on Climate Change, and was active in Colorado’s “Amendment 37” campaign, the nation’s first citizen-initiated renewable electricity standard.

Dr. Matthew Briggs

Dr. Briggs has extensive experience and is a leading sustainable aquaculture authority spanning 25 years in the industry in Ecuador, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Philippines, China and Vietnam.  Rooted in aquaculture science, sustainability and best management practices with research and teaching skills, Dr. Briggs spent 11 years at the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Scotland.  He has also consulted for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Thailand, India, Vietnam  and Bangladesh, Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia (NACA) in Thailand and Vietnam among others.  Dr. Briggs' background shows his commitment to the science behind sustainability.