Elected Officers

Tess is a lifelong Republican and patriot.  She served three years on active duty and six years in the Army reserves with temporary duty assignments in Panama and Germany.  Tess has nearly 30 years in executive management in the real estate industry, as vice president, president and chief operating officer, with local and global franchise brands.  She is currently a licensed broker with Slifer, Smith & Frampton Real Estate in Breckenridge.    Tess and her husband, Tony, love all things Summit County. They have a sailboat on Lake Dillon, for which Captain Tony is a skilled pilot. They love to ski, hike, bike, eat, drink and be merry.  Tess is active in the community and volunteers for the Dillon Community Church food bank and frequently runs the media slides for church messages. She also embraces the Freedom for Summit (CT3) network of local patriots and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Denver.  She was recently elected Vice Chair of the GOP Central Committee for Summit County. Tess is honored to be the president of Summit County Republican Women. 

  This native Floridian knew the minute she rode her first chairlift in 1976, during a University of Missouri Ski Club trip, that she wanted to live in Summit County. After graduation she headed back west only to land a job at Keystone in food and beverage and eventually ski patrol. She also worked various aspects of Copper Mountain. Ruthie enjoys telling the old stories of the original Summit ski resorts, restaurants and fabulous '70s when lift tickets were only $8 and there was ONE stop light from Keystone to Silverthorne. She lived in Summit for 10 years before moving to California where she worked a decade in the film and television industry. Her heart strings kept pulling her back to Colorado. She eventually settled in Denver and developed a modality that would change the massage and spa industry in the early '90s.  

She met her life-love in 2015 in Denver, and together they decided to move from the city that was changing rapidly to the small-town mentality and conservative values they both grew up with. Ruthie sold her company, and she and Rick sold their homes and relocated to Silverthorne. Being back (full circle) in Summit County, Ruthie hopes to instill old-fashioned values and gratitude to locals. She is involved heavily with the volunteer program at FIRC and recognizes how important our Latino community is in Summit County.  She also volunteers at Habitat for Humanity. Ruthie hopes to reinforce important skills with this new generation of youths, assuring them that they should protect the freedoms THIS country affords us all.