Industry veteran steps into Naturally Boulder leadership role

BOULDER — A familiar face is stepping into the top staff role at local natural and organic products industry accelerator and advocacy nonprofit group Naturally Boulder.

Former Naturally Boulder board chairman and industry veteran Bill Capsalis has taken over the reins as executive director after the departure of longtime leader Arron Mansika at the beginning of 2021.

Mansika, who had been with Naturally Boulder for 16 years, saw his tenure overlap with Capsalis’ tenure as a volunteer then board member.

“I watched Arron come into his own in the job and really own the role, becoming the face of Naturally Boulder,” Capsalis told BizWest. “… We owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Under Capsalis’ watch, Naturally Boulder branched out in 2019 to form the Naturally Network, a collective of seven organizations in cities across the country. Capsalis was directly involved with the establishment of the group’s San Francisco chapter. 

Capsalis, a former marketing executive and entrepreneur who has held various roles in the natural and organic industry since 2007, was most recently the CEO at the Haystack Mountain goat dairy in Longmont.

Born in Michigan, Capsalis has spent the last 35 years in Boulder. 

“There is a lot of innovation in Boulder, and I really enjoy being around those kinds of people,” he said. “… And I really love the Boulder healthy-living lifestyle and like working with brands that are out to clean up our food ecosystem and create new and interesting products for better living.”

One of Capsalis’ first challenges as executive director will be to find a new office for the organization, which has long operated out of the Boulder Alfalfa’s grocery store at 1651 Broadway. Alfalfa’s closed that location late last month. 

Once settled, Naturally Boulder’s staffers and stakeholders will get to work developing a vision for the future of the group under Capsalis’ leadership.

“We’re no longer a petulant teenager, so we really have to think about the next 15 years,” he said. “We’ll be working on that vision … [and] regrouping to figure out what Naturally Boulder needs to do to stay relevant and continue servicing this community.”

While the industry remains in a strong position, Capsalis’ acknowledged the toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on the community. 

“Obviously it’s been kind of a weird year, so we’ve got some work to do to reconnect with our community,” he said. “We’ll be focused on that this year and getting back to in-person events.” 

While in-person events such as trade shows are an invaluable asset, Capsalis said Naturally Boulder will work to include virtual components in the future.

“One of the positives to come out of the pandemic is that we’ve all learned how to use this technology a lot better,” he said.

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