Our Team

Mountain States Driver’s Education is run by a group of skillful and friendly driving instructors. We are backed by decades of experience in teaching new drivers the fundamentals of road safety. The safety and success of our students are our top priorities at MSDE. All of our instructors and staff are listed below. We invite you to get to know them!

Anthony Smith

Anthony is a Northern Colorado native and has lived his entire life in Fort Collins and the surrounding areas. He has been a driver’s education instructor since 2000. Throughout the years he has been on over 15,000 driving appointments, over 1,000 driving tests, and trained more than 100 motorcyclists. He finds the MSDE staff, as well as the students and parents he meets, to be a constant joy in his life.

On his off-time, he enjoys spending time with his family, church community, and focusing on his hobbies, which includes motorcycling, cars, traveling, and exercise.

Jim Brown

Jim is a longtime area resident. He joined Mountain States Drivers Education with previous behind-the-wheel and classroom experience. Currently, he is a behind-the-wheel instructor and also teaches Driver’s Awareness and Comprehensive Driving courses for MSDE. He is proud to be a member of our team because of our well-trained instructors and strong team approach. Jim believes student safety always comes first, along with real driving experience and knowledge of the driving rules.

On top of driver’s education, Jim is a huge dog lover and real estate expert. He has over 35 years worth of experience as an educator in real estate studies, consulting, and brokerage, as well as a practicing broker. He is a former adjunct faculty member with several colleges as a senior instructor of real-estate courses and general business studies.

Randy Jutte

Randy brings more than 40 years of educational experience to Mountain States Driver’s Education.  His diversified background as a teacher, coach, counselor and driving instructor ensures that you will have a successful learning experience.
Randy and his wife Lori hail from Ohio, but they moved to Colorado as soon as they could. When Randy is not at the Loveland campus helping students become safe defensive drivers he is exploring Colorado and enjoying all the activities the state has to offer.

Bryan Critchfield

Bryan was born in eastern Kansas but has lived in Northern Colorado since 1970.  He has worked in the recreation field and as a youth basketball and soccer coach for over 13 years.  He studied at Front Range Community College and Colorado State University. Bryan, his wife, and daughter have lived in Wellington with their three cats since 2013.  Bryan is a huge fan of role-playing games, board games, fitness, hiking, reading, fantasy and sci-fi movies, and absolutely loves music, especially attending live concerts.  He enjoys working for MSDE at the Windsor Campus and helping student-drivers achieve their goal of becoming safe drivers.

‘Cille Lutsch

‘Cille (pronounced “seal”) is the office admin at our Longmont campus.  A lifelong resident of Colorado, she is happiest playing in the mountains.  An avid musician, she’ll try and play anything that’s small enough to fit in a backpack and take out on the trail:  flutes, whistles, melodicas, ukuleles, concertinas, and of course the occasional finger cymbals.  When not making music or riding bikes and boards in the mountains, she can be found hanging out (usually in the kitchen) with her husband, son, pets, friends, and family.

Tucker Knight

I’m a Fort Collins native and I’ve been driving for 26 years. I enjoy playing hockey, camping, paddle boarding and riding my Harley during my spare time. I take great pride and joy in teaching and instructing students of all ages on how to drive and to improve upon the skills they may already have. To quote my late Grandpa Walsh: “Drive Nice!” 

Theresa Mudgette

Theresa comes with 15 years of educational experience to Mountain States Driver’s Education. Currently, she is a behind-the-wheel instructor and also teaches the 32 hour class. She loves working with young adults, and giving them all the information to become a safe driver. She enjoys working for MSDE at Longmont, Fort Collins and Loveland.

She moved to Colorado in 1980. When Theresa is off she loves spending time with her daughter, doing dinner shows, and playing with her 2 dogs and 2 cats.

Mike Ortega

Mike’s bio here

Mark Marion

Mark’s bio here

Kindel Daniels

Kindel served four years in the United States Air Force, one year with the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office, and thirteen years with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.  During his time with these agencies, Kindel served as a classroom instructor and one-on-one instructor.  Kindel served as the Academy Director and primary instructor for the Colorado First Responders Academy for three years.  Since then, Kindel has served Mountain States Drivers Education as a driving instructor and as a classroom instructor.

Melissa Flynn

I am a native to Colorado, I grew up in Grand Junction and moved to the Fort Collins area when I was 18. I have 3 dogs that are my life. I enjoy hiking, paddle boarding, and hanging out with family and friends. I have worked with Mountain States Drivers Education for almost 7 years. You will find me at the front desk in our Loveland office. Helping our community with getting their loved ones into driving and succeeding at their goals is something that I am very passionate about. 

Kris Swanton

Kris bio here

Kasie Melton

Our family recently transplanted from Massachusetts to sunny Colorado. We absolutely love it out west! My husband Kris and I are both Army veterans as well as retired military police officers. Through the University of Maryland I double majored in Psychology with a specialty in trauma. We have three beautiful girls as well as three very lazy cats. My favorite hobbies include getting my rear end handed to me by our oldest in any video game, playing four straight hours of Skip-Bo with our twins, and occasionally sleeping in on Sundays.
They say if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. I love my job and I look forward everyday to working with students of all ages and abilities. I won’t just teach you how to drive for a test. I’ll teach you how to drive for life! 

Glen Dishman

My Family: wife Vickie; 4 daughters, 8 grandkids. My background: 40 years teaching Bible and PE in Christian schools, Athletic Director and coached football, basketball, and track and field. I grew up in Nebraska: “Born and bred, corn fed, red ’til dead–always a Husker.” I taught in California for 20+ years, as a driving instructor in the Bay Area. I’ve been with MSDE since June, 2022. I Love the Lord, family and football in that order!!

David Cook

I was a school teacher and coach for St. Vrain Valley School District for 33 years. I retired in 2010 and started doing Drivers Education for the school district. In 2019 the school district dropped Drivers Ed, and I was then hired by MSDE. I’m certified by the State of Colorado to teach classes and do drive tests for people trying to get their license. I’ve been married to my wife for 43 years. I enjoy hunting, golfing, and photography.

Doug Cobb

Doug’s bio here

Alicia Merrill

“Alicia was born and raised in Guthrie, Oklahoma. She came to visit on a camping trip in 2017, ended up falling in love with this beautiful state and just never left! When she’s not helping students to become better drivers you will find her outside spending time with her family and furry friends.”

Wyatt Eason

Wyatt’s bio here