ABOUT US
Area Served: Evergreen, Conifer
Points of Contact:
Somer Walker, Foothills.Director@PMIMileHi.org
In a world where so much professional connection happens through screens, the Foothills Branch is designed to bring project professionals back together in person — closer to home and with a purpose. We want to create a welcoming local community where people can step away from email and video calls, exchange ideas face to face, build meaningful relationships and enjoy conversations that don’t require a mute button.
Our focus is to offer something useful, welcoming and consistent each month. That will include networking happy hours, interactive discussions and educational sessions featuring speakers or panels. The goal is to offer one event of each type per quarter, creating a balanced mix of connection, conversation and learning.
We're also looking forward to building this with the community. We're seeking volunteers who want to help shape the branch, as well as speakers who have experiences, insights or lessons learned to share. If we do this right, the branch will be more than a calendar of events — it will be a local community where people can grow their networks, sharpen their skills and occasionally solve a project problem before it becomes an email thread of epic proportions.
Foothills Branch Information
[IN PERSON] Foothills Branch (Jan 2027): Blood, Sweat, Tears & Years: Building the Mighty Argo
How do you turn an ambitious idea—connecting a historic Colorado mining town to the mountains above it—into a $71 million destination?
Join PMI Mile-Hi Foothills Branch for a behind-the-scenes conversation with Bryan McFarland, General Partner on the Mighty Argo Cable Car project in Idaho Springs.
The Mighty Argo Cable Car opened in May 2026 after years of development, planning, stakeholder coordination and construction. The 1.25-mile cable car rises more than 1,000 feet from the historic Argo Mill & Tunnel to Miners Point, connecting Idaho Springs’ mining heritage with a new era of outdoor recreation and tourism.
Bryan has described bringing the project to life as requiring “blood, sweat, tears, and years.”
He’ll take us inside that journey: the vision, the obstacles, the relationships and the realities of delivering a complex project involving private investment, municipal partnership, historic assets, tourism, recreation and significant new infrastructure.
We’ll explore questions familiar to anyone leading complex programs and projects:
How does a bold idea become an executable project?
What happens when a project has years—not months—of uncertainty?
How do you align investors, municipalities, designers, contractors and community stakeholders?
What does leadership look like when the path forward isn’t straightforward?
And what does it take to stay committed long enough to see an audacious vision become real?
About Bryan McFarland
Bryan Cole McFarland is a commercial real estate development executive with more than four decades of experience leading complex projects across the western United States.
Over his career, Bryan has led the development, design and construction of more than 14.8 million square feet of projects representing approximately $2.3 billion in investment. His experience spans development, capital planning, construction management, public-private partnerships and strategic leadership.
His career includes senior leadership roles on major developments including Colorado Mills, Southlands, Southglenn and Foothills. He founded Denali Development Group in 2018 following 16 years with Alberta Development Partners and six years with The Mills Corporation.
Most recently, Bryan served as a General Partner on the Mighty Argo Cable Car project in Idaho Springs.
Today, Bryan also provides fractional executive leadership as an Owner’s Representative, Development Executive, Development Partner and Strategic Advisor, helping organizations navigate entitlement, financing, design, construction, stakeholder coordination and project delivery.
Throughout his career, Bryan has maintained that successful projects ultimately come down to people—and that the relationships built while doing difficult work are among a leader’s most valuable assets.
Come hear the story behind one of Colorado’s most distinctive new developments—and what it can teach us about leading projects that take vision, persistence and years to bring to life.
PMI credential holders: This 1.5-hour event qualifies for PDUs across all three sides of the PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working, Power Skills and Business Acumen.
Ways of Working — 0.50 PDU: project delivery, development process, financing/entitlement, construction, risk, governance and execution.
Power Skills — 0.50 PDU: stakeholder coordination, leadership, negotiation, relationship-building and navigating competing interests.
Business Acumen — 0.50 PDU: the $71M investment, public-private partnership, tourism/economic development, strategic vision and community value.
Schedule:
Networking/Appetizers: 6:00
Announcements: 6:15
Presentation: 6:30-8:00
Networking continues downstairs.
Refund and Cancellation Policy
Review and accept the PMI Mile Hi Chapter Refund and Cancellation Policy as part of your registration. Please review it here.
For questions about the Foothills Branch events, contact Somer Walker, Director of Foothills Branch at Foothills.Director@PMIMileHi.org.
Event Information
Event Date | 01-20-2027 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM |
Individual Price | Goes towards event space fees. $32 for PMI.org members; $40 for non-PMI.org members. |
Speaker | Bryan McFarland |
Number Hours | 1.5 |
Location |
Venue Information - Black Hat Cattle Co.
Black Hat Cattle Co. is a locally owned Colorado steakhouse in Kittredge, known for its Western atmosphere, hand-cut steaks and welcoming mountain-community feel. Located along Bear Creek in the foothills just outside Evergreen, it offers a warm, distinctly Colorado setting for gathering, dining and conversation.
To Volunteer, please contact Foothills.Director@PMIMileHi.org
Somer Walker, Foothills Branch Director
Her PMI story began in 2004 while leading an operational transformation and building a PMO. She earned her PMP in 2005, later served on the PMI Austin Chapter board, and helped launch the Flagstaff Branch of the PMI Phoenix Chapter. Now, she is helping build PMI community again here in Colorado. With deep experience leading technology programs, PMOs, operational transformations, and large-scale cloud infrastructure initiatives at IBM, she brings a strong mix of strategy, structure, and people-focused leadership.
