Carolyn was born in New York City, and raised in West Hartford, CT.  Her career centered on improving the use of communications media and information technology by nonprofit organizations.  She served as a policy analyst for the United States House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Communications, Executive Director of the Benton Foundation (a grant-making foundation that funds nonprofit media and information technology projects), and Director of Research and Planning for National Public Radio.  For the past 20 years, through consulting and Board service, she has helped foundations and nonprofit organizations with strategic planning, fundraising, and program evaluation.  Carolyn joined the Foundation board in July of 2010.  She also serves on the Board of the Lake Dillon Theatre Company.

Carolyn is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, and holds a Master of Arts in Communications from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania.  Carolyn and her husband Alan Ciamporcero, former President of the Southeast Region of Verizon, relocated to Breckenridge from Tampa, Florida, in September of 2009.  Their daughter, Anna, will graduate from the Theatre Program at Northwestern University this Spring.