Colleen Haraden

Colleen Haraden is Balance’s Chief Operating Officer and Marketing Director who has more than 35 years of experience in the geosciences, with a focus on water resources, environmental and public works fields. Colleen marries her passion for human connections, water resources, research, and art in her role at Balance. You can find her scrolling through historical images imagining early California, getting to know folks from a local watershed council, or strategizing with colleagues on how best to address a client’s needs. Throughout her career, Colleen has been involved in a broad spectrum of projects throughout the Western United States and Hawaii, from regional groundwater studies to project management of technically rich projects, such as the development of web applications and web portals for public outreach and program management, and GIS for analysis and presentation-ready graphics. She also heartily jumps into project work or mentors staff in project management and client services. Colleen supports our clients with Emergency Action Plans for dam failure planning and grant applications and strategies, prepares grant applications, assists agencies with grant management (Prop 1, 50 and 84), and manages grant-funded projects. When she is not in the office, most likely she’s creating art or is on or in the water – either swimming or stand-up paddleboarding in San Francisco and Tomales bays. In 2024, Colleen achieved a personal milestone by completing a solo swim around Coronado Island (yes, she knows it’s not an island) in San Diego, covering approximately 12 miles. Colleen’s other job is working for the river otters, volunteering and serving as a Board member for the River Otter Ecology Project. Take a minute to visit some of her friends at https://riverotterecology.org/.