Event
Thinker Thursday
Creative Rounds
Jan 15, 2026 5:30PM-6:30PM
Schermer Meeting Hall
Calling all creatives – Join us for Thinker Thursday!
Thinker Thursday is a fast-paced, high-energy evening designed to spark curiosity and uncover surprising connections. Each of our selected presenters shares 15 images, speaking on each for just 15 seconds—giving them a total of 225 seconds to explore creativity, curiosity and passion through visuals.
Topics are intentionally unrelated, creating a dynamic mix of perspectives that keeps the audience guessing. Following the presentations, we open the floor for a lively Q&A session, where the audience is invited to connect the dots, pose questions, and join the conversation.
From speakers who illuminate the obscure with sharp insight to a moderator who artfully draws links between divergent ideas, Thinker Thursday thrives on spontaneity, curiosity, and shared discovery.
Come for the unexpected. Stay for the conversation. If you’re eager to learn something new—and you don’t mind if it gets a little weird—Thinker Thursday is your kind of night.
Stay after the presentation for dinner in the Cafe for $25 per person.
Panel
Mack Bailey
Mack Bailey is an award-winning singer- songwriter and a board-certified music therapist. After a career as a professional touring musician with the Limeliters, A Musical Tribute to John Denver and The Hard Travelers, Mack earned his master’s degree in music therapy with a focus on neurologic music therapy from Colorado State University. Mack completed his internship at Children’s Colorado Hospital in Aurora working in the psychiatric unit. Mack’s combined passion for communication and expression, along with his desire to learn more of how the brain works with music, drives Mack’s dedication to researching new techniques in addressing Music and the PTSD Brain with military veterans and at-risk populations. He achieves this through his nonprofit organization, Music Therapy Retreats.
Lissa Ballinger
Lissa Ballinger is the Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies. Lissa is dedicated to the Center’s educational and curatorial mission to the public, both in the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond. She manages all aspects of the Center, including collection management and development, exhibition planning, community outreach, and educational programming. Lissa represents the Center in interactions with local, regional, and national communities and leads efforts to partner with other museums and cultural institutions. Lissa has served in different capacities for the Aspen Institute since 2013 — as associate director, art registrar, and curator. Her new role builds on her prior work representing the Institute in the Aspen arts community and managing the art collection and exhibitions on both the Aspen Meadows campus and at the Aspen Institute’s headquarters inWashington, DC. She also coordinated the successful centennial celebration of the Bauhaus school of art and design held at the Aspen Institute in 2019. Before joining the Institute, Lissa owned an art advisory consulting service. She worked with many arts non-profits in the Roaring Fork Valley, including The Art Base and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. She graduated from Georgetown University and received her Master’s degree in Arts Administration from Columbia University. Lissa is on the Board of the Art Base, a volunteer at the Thrift Shop, and a member of the Elks Lodge. You can find Lissa biking or running the trails of Aspen in the summer and skiing in the winter.
Jon Creyts
Dr. Jon Creyts is the CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute, or RMI. He is an internationally recognized leader on global energy issues and climate change. He joined RMI in 2012 and has been a senior driver of its growth in impact globally, becoming CEO in 2022. Prior to RMI, he was a partner with McKinsey & Company, where he helped found the sustainability practice. He trained as an engineer in energy and aviation and is an alumnus of Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works prototyping facility. He earned a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley for research on industrial circularity.
Alex Leddy
Alex Leddy was born and raised in Aspen, Colorado, and attended school in the Aspen School District from the ages of 5 to 18. When Alex graduated from Aspen High School in 2004, she decided she was ready for a change and moved to New York City to attend college at New York University, majoring in Psychology. Alex had several internships in the city, one of which was at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in their department of Psychiatry conducting studies on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This gave her insight into the world of medicine, research, and the importance of understanding and treating mental health issues. After graduating from NYU in 2007, Alex moved home to Aspen for about 8 months, working for Lee Beymer, L.Ac., at Radiant Health Center. He and his late wife Crystal inspired her to pursue a career in alternative medicine, which led her to move to Los Angeles in the fall of 2008 to study at Emperor’s College of Traditional Oriental Medicine. Alex earned her Master of Traditional Oriental Medicine degree from Emperor’s College in January 2013. This four-year program consisted of 3210 instructional hours, or 224 didactic units, and 970 hours of clinic training, including a clinical externship at the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center under the supervision of Dr. Robert Chu, PhD, L.Ac., QME. Alex was also certified as a Diplomate of Oriental Medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) in January 2013. This includes certification in Clean Needle Technique, Acupuncture, Biomedicine, Chinese Medical Theory, and Chinese Herbology. Alex’s training includes adjunctive therapies such as Moxibustion, Cupping, Tui-Na, Acupressure, Auricular Acupuncture, Gua-Sha, Scalp Acupuncture, Electrostimulation, and dietary and lifestyle recommendations. In May 2013, Alex moved back to Aspen to practice acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the Roaring Fork Valley. She opened her practice at Aspen Sports Medicine in July 2013, and was fortunate enough to work alongside BJ Williams, Stan Cheo, Dr. Eric Haynie, and a few other talented physical therapists, chiropractors, and massage therapists. This allowed her to meet many people in the valley and establish her practice here. In January of 2021, Alex moved her practice to Basalt, Colroado where we offer a tranquil, healing space situated along the Roaring Fork River.
JJ Peet
JJ Peet earned his MFA from Yale University School of Art. His work has been featured in Artforum, Art in America, Bomb, Frieze, Modern Painters, The New Yorker, and TimeOut, among numerous other publications. Recent solo exhibitions include David Peterson Gallery, Minneapolis MN; DOWNSTAIRS projects, Brooklyn, NY; Galerie Quatre, Arles, France; and FRAC PACA, Marseille, France.
Charlotte Roennau
Charlotte Roennau, once celebrated as one of Denmark’s fastest women with aspirations for the Olympic track and field, transitioned into a career that blends sports science, yoga, and mindfulness. She dedicated a decade to fostering peaceful coexistence, social cohesion, and reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. Her work with Cross Cultures Project Association (CCPA) and Global Education through Sports (GES) utilized the core values of sports to unite children, families, communities, and cities in conflict zones, promoting respect for diversity, religion, culture, and gender. After years of traveling, she returned to Denmark to pursue a career in sports politics, management, and consulting in culture and sports facilities. In the U.S., Charlotte used her extensive background in running, yoga, and mindfulness as the Director of Mindful Leadership and Guest Transformation at Run Wild Retreats & Wellness. She trained staff, developed curriculum, and led Mindful Running retreats worldwide.
Harry Teague
As the principal designer and founder of Harry Teague Architects, Harry Teague strives to produce an architecture for our time, architecture that has a positive effect on our society, and one that elevates the human spirit. An experienced builder, he has reinvented Colorado vernacular architecture and transformed it by his skilled and thoughtful introduction of contemporary materials and building technologies. His work has been included in several exhibitions on the subject of contemporary western architecture and architectural detailing. Harry grew up in Alpine, New Jersey, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1966, and has lived in Colorado since receiving his Masters in Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture in 1972. He began his practice as a designer/builder, constructing all of his designs for seven years. His work has been published internationally, and has received numerous local, state and national design awards. He has lectured and taught throughout the country and has served on numerous professional national design award juries.
Greg Van Wagner
Greg Van Wagner grew up in central Pennsylvania racing road bikes. After a sponsorship took him to Boulder, Colorado—cycling’s U.S. hub—he landed a job with Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey at Frasca Food & Wine. It was there Greg’s passion for wine and great dining took shape. From that moment, he shifted his focus from pedal power to palate power. At Jimmy’s, an Aspen institution of 25 years, Greg had carte blanche to develop his skills and an award- winning wine program. From 2014 to 2021, he expanded the wine list to 1000 selections, receiving numerous local and national awards. In 2018, he passed the notoriously difficult Master Sommelier exam on his first attempt, earning the highest score and the prestigious Krug Cup. Most recently, he built the entire wine and beverage program for a new restaurant, Parc Aspen, from scratch. In its first year under his direction, the 1300-selection list won a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, and Greg was named Aspen’s Best Sommelier. Taking advantage of Aspen’s off-seasons, Greg has dedicated the last 12 years to spending two months annually traveling to the world’s premier wine and spirits regions. In 2020, Greg expanded into wine production by launching Ajax Cellars in partnership with winemakers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and Colorado’s Western Slope. The inspiration for founding SommGeo came from a desire to better communicate the sense of place and style of any wine region worldwide and to understand it more intuitively than text alone can provide. By leveraging his expertise through SommGeo’s unique GIS mapping technology, Greg has become a key speaker at events like the Colorado Wine Fest and national series for Somm Journal and the “Beneath Beaujolais” campaign, using the platform to bring wine geography to life.
Jan 15, 2026 5:30PM-6:30PM
While You're On Campus
Shop
ArtWorks Store
Art supplies, fine crafts, and gifts.
Store Hours
June-September: Monday – Friday, 9AM-3PM
October-May: Monday – Friday, 1-5PM (except major holidays.)
Explore
Patton-Malott Gallery
This gallery space on the Anderson Ranch campus is home to contemporary and rustic ranch architectural elements and provides the backdrop for rotating exhibitions throughout the year.
Gallery Hours
June-September: Monday – Friday, 9AM-3PM
October-May: Monday – Friday, 1-5PM (except major holidays.)
Eat
The Ranch Café
The Café is available to Ranch students, faculty, and staff only from October through May.
The Café is a social hub where students and visitors gather to discuss ideas, plan for new creative experiences, and reflect on shared teachings. Join us for a beautiful buffet lunch offering fresh salads and rotating hot items.