Christopher and Hiroko

Facilities/Property Managers, Caretakers Extraordinaire

Interests: Kayaking, bicycling, tennis, photography, bonsai, cooking, flower arranging, reading and gardening.

Chris and Hiroko Soper are a husband and wife caretaking team. Hiroko’s career evolved from her roots in Japan, where she worked as an accountant for eight years before moving to England for volunteer work, then to Boulder, Colorado where she met Chris.

Chris’s background is in property management, the construction trades, solar projects, and the pool and spa industry. He also earned the title of “Master Gardener” from Colorado State University.

They became gardening caretakers for a corporate retreat nestled at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Chris supervised the roofing of the main estate and cottage, built a footbridge over the creek, designed and installed landscape lighting and security systems, constructed a new deck with a custom ceramic tile spa, and updated the kitchen.

When they started coordinating catered events, stocking the kitchen, and cooking for guests, their duties expanded from caretaking to becoming the “host and hostess of the house.” Chris acts as bartender and chef for casual outdoor events, and Hiroko prepares the Japanese cuisine at formal events.

“This position has allowed us the opportunity to utilize most of our talents and to develop a few new ones. We’ve been everything from chef to chauffeur, designer to dog trainer, electrician to engineer, gardener to guard, accountant to zinnia picker and everything in between!”