B:CIVIC Newsletter Announcement 7.16.2020
Join us on Oct. 22 for (Re)Define the '20 B:CIVIC Summit as Erin Reilly, chief social impact officer for Twilio, shares her expertise and insights on CSR’s shifting landscape, from the significance of her role as chief social impact officer to advice on weaving social impact throughout your organization.
We are thrilled to learn from a leader who is (re)defining the future of CSR!
Thank you for joining B:CIVIC, CECP and Philanthropy Colorado for our virtual event.
The Chamber and its family of organizations can be an invaluable tool for you and your organization. By getting involved, you can take advantage of the connections and leads waiting for you at the Chamber. In 2019, we held 53 events that brought together more than 9,700 people and helped close $65 million in business leads.
Chamber Orientation is the best way to get up to speed on all we have to offer – whether you’re a new member or have been around the Chamber a long time. We recently revamped our orientation to create a series of sessions that offer you the chance to go in depth on areas of the Chamber that interest you. You choose how you engage – whether you want to join us for the entire series or choose the sessions that matter most to you.
DETAILS:
Chamber Orientation
3:30 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, Feb. 12 to March 11
at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
Complimentary for All Members
Sessions
All participants will receive an invitation to a special happy hour to connect with leaders of the Chamber team and members of its board of directors.
Jennifer Kostka Beck is the communications director for the Chamber.
What inspires a person to lead – to stand up and act?
While the journeys of the 2020 9NEWS Leader of the Year finalists are different, what Luis Benitez, Jerome Davis and Tasha Jones have in common is a desire and a drive to make the community stronger.
Voting is now open to select the 9NEWS Leader of the Year. As leaders in the community, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce members, as well as Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation alumni and B:CIVIC members, have the task of deciding who will be the next 9NEWS Leader of the Year.
Get to know each of our finalists:
Tasha Jones is driven to help people get closer to their dreams. And she does that by leveraging her network to create more connections for good across the community. The senior director of marketing and community relations for Brookfield Properties has spent much of her time in the community empowering girls and women through organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado, The Challenge Foundation and Colorado “I Have a Dream” Foundation, among others.
“My heart beats for people,” Jones said. “I just have this fundamental belief that I’m here to be of service to others.”
Jones credits listening as the key to helping others – and it’s in understanding someone’s story, their hopes and their drives that allow her to create meaningful connections. From offering connections to a waitress who she learned had been laid off from a research job to a years-long mentorship of a young woman, she is always looking for ways to get to know others, and how she can help.
Jerome Davis leads from behind the scenes, creating a big impact. The regional vice president of Xcel Energy – Colorado is the visionary behind Xcel’s Day of Service, which has contributed more than 71,000 volunteer hours from 24,000 people across Colorado over the last nine years.
He’s passionate about promoting our state as a destination for events like the World Cup, and he gives his time to countless organizations, including the Colorado Health Foundation, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and VISIT DENVER.
“It’s all about serving others,” Davis said. “When you think about civic leadership, it’s not about the individual, it’s about the community. It’s about we.”
Growing up in Park Hill, his parents instilled a strong sense of engaging in the community, from his father’s military service to his mother’s volunteerism at their church.
“When you go out and put a hand out there – and it’s not a hand out, it is a hand up – it’s unbelievable the impact you can have on people’s lives,” Davis said.
Luis Benitez works to connect people to the outdoors – no surprise given that he comes from family of mountaineers and outdoor retailers.
But it was while on a mountaineering trip to Tibet that he saw Chinese soldiers attack Tibetan refugees. Sharing what he witnessed effectively ended his mountaineering career, but it opened a new door to advocacy that he has brought to the public and private sectors as Colorado’s first director of Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office and today as vice president of government affairs and global impact for VF Corporation.
“Learning you could really focus on a life of service as well as being passionate about the things that keep you outside and allow you to be outside … For me the focus was coming together to serve the common good through engagement with the outdoors,” Benitez said.
He engages in the community through Adventures Academy, Soldiers to Summits and Trekking for Kids.
Want to see the 9NEWS Leader of the Year named live? Join us for the Leading Colorado luncheon on March 12 at the Colorado Convention Center. Not only will you get to hear from these incredible leaders, but proceeds from the event support the Leading Colorado Scholarship Fund, which ensures people of all sectors can participate in the Leadership Foundation’s programs and enhance their impact in the community.
Sara Crocker is the communications manager for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
What I love about this business community is that no one sits back and waits for someone else to solve an issue. You are doers and willing to lead on some of our toughest challenges.
Since 1990, we’ve partnered with Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain to honor legends in our state who have achieved not only great business success but also made an incredible impact in their communities by inducting them into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.
We welcome eight new laureates on Thursday evening, and we still have a few seats still available for you to join us.
And as always, there’s so much to be learned from this year’s inductees: Jay Cimino, Frank E. Edbrooke, Gerald Gallegos, Larry Kendall, Charles “Chuck,” Greg and Kent Stevinson, and Judith B. Wagner.
Remember where you came from. Jay Cimino climbed the ranks of Phil Long Dealerships to become its president and CEO, and the business has grown to 14 dealerships. But it was his love for his hometown of Trinidad that inspired him to open a Phil Long Toyota in the city, establish the Trinidad Community Foundation, create the Jay Cimino Champion Scholarship Fund for Holy Trinity Academy students and grant land for a new visitor center and retail shopping space there. His current redevelopment efforts are breathing new life into his hometown.
Build your vision – and share it with others. Chuck Stevinson wanted to see a community where you could live, work and play without needing a car. In the late 1960s, he began to slowly assemble land that, decades later, would become Denver West. And, luckily, the Stevinsons have the dealerships to sell cars to help us all get there ?. Son Greg has been instrumental in the creation of over 5 million square feet of mixed-use office space, interconnected retail districts, residential communities and recreational areas at Denver West. And as the president of Stevinson Automotive, Inc., son Kent has led the expansion of the Stevinson automotive business into one of the largest in Colorado.
Leave your mark. When you look around our city, there are so many notable buildings, like the Brown Palace Hotel and our state capitol. They, and many others, were designed by architect Frank E. Edbrooke. In fact, take a walk down 16th Street and you’ll come across many of the buildings Frank designed. In addition to significantly shaping the architecture of Denver, he also left a legacy in the community by supporting a number of local charities. Gerald Gallegos had a similar impact 100 years later. His masonry is seen across the West, including the Western Slope, Denver and most notably Beaver Creek. But he also has been a huge supporter of El Pomar Foundation, among others, and started Roundup River Ranch – a camp for kids with serious illnesses. While we can’t all create beautiful spaces the way Frank and Gerald did, they inspire all of us to find a way to leave our mark on the community.
Pay it forward. Larry Kendall has been so successful in real estate that he literally wrote the book on real estate sales, and his system is helping more than 80,000 professionals across the country improve their skills and get better results. As a connector he’s also secured more than $2 million in donations (and even more in-kind support) that enabled Respite Care, a nonprofit day care for special needs children, to quickly move to an adequately sized facility so they could serve more children from Fort Collins to Loveland.
Don’t give up. Judith B. Wagner changed the financial landscape in Colorado when she started the state’s first woman-owned investment management company in the mid-1960s. Despite the significant barriers for women in that field, she persevered and focused on educating women to manage their own investments – at a time when many women could only open bank accounts or get credit cards when their husbands, fathers or brothers co-signed. She also elevated the status of women in politics by providing financial support and the strategic advice they needed. Not only did Judi break through barriers but she helped many others do the same, and she was able to do that because she refused to give up – a philosophy she adopted from Winston Churchill.
You don’t want to miss learning more about these incredible leaders, so please join us at the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.
Kelly Brough is the president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber.
The National Western Center is putting down roots as home of the “New West” – and what better place than where old and new meet at the National Western Stock Show stockyards?
“We’re all so excited for the future of the National Western Center,” Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kelly Brough told the sellout crowd of 1,220 guests – the largest audience to date at Boots ‘n Business. “Where country meets city is where the magic happens. That’s what this event is about.”
The event – hosted by the Chamber and National Western Stock Show, and presented by U.S. Bank – kicks off the start of the 114th Stock Show. And, the 16-day show is big business, said Stock Show President and CEO Paul Andrews, noting that people from 45 states and dozens of countries are here just to take part in the livestock show, and that’s not counting the dozens of rodeos and other entertainment that locals and visitors alike will enjoy.
“That’s how we got to be the Super Bowl of livestock shows, and it’s right here in Denver,” Andrews said.
Boots ‘n Business guests got a preview of the entertainment of the Stock Show, courtesy of Entertainment Sponsor Hensel Phelps.
That fun – and business – will continue year-round with the opening of the National Western Center in 2024, said Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock.
A Look at the ‘New West’
With partners Colorado State University, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, History Colorado and the Stock Show, visitors of the revitalized National Western Center can expect to learn and see innovation and be entertained.
“We are planning for the next 100 years,” Hancock said. “They will see the sights and sounds and flavor that we believe represent the new west, and we’re very excited about it.”
Learn more about the progress at the National Western Center:
Our food and agriculture industry continues to be a critical part of Colorado’s economy, Brough said, noting that it employs 116,000 Coloradans and contributes $1.6 billion in exports each year, from beef to sweet corn.
The beverage industry, and the local barley and hops grown to support it, also have an impact, said David Coors, vice president of next generation beverages at Molson Coors Beverage Company, our Innovations in Agriculture Sponsor.
“We’ve always been grateful for these farmers who work hard day in and day out to give us the high-quality, top-notch ingredients that go into our beers,” Coors said. “And we’ve also been working with them and spending tens of millions of dollars to help future-proof their businesses with sustainable farming practices so they can go on for generations and generations.”
Connecting with Future Ag Leaders
A portion of the proceeds from this and other Stock Show events support National Western Trust scholarships for future farmers, ranchers and veterinarians.
Gov. Jared Polis applauded that effort, adding that the state’s focus is “to make darn sure that ag isn’t just a storied part of Colorado’s heritage, but it’s a dynamic and growing and exciting part of Colorado’s economic future.
Guests met one scholarship recipient, 2019 Youth Equestrian Showcase Grand Champion Halley Moak.
She is a student at Front Range Community College and is studying equine science and equine business management. Growing up in Estes Park, she was always around horses – and her grandfather was an equine veterinarian.
“(My family) put me on a horse at 3 years old and I’ve been riding for the 16 years since,” Moak said.
Students will compete this season to be named the 2020 Y.E.S. Grand Champion – one of many events that will in total draw an estimated 700,000 people to the Stock Show and create $120 million in economic impact.
“It’s huge economic impact for Denver,” said Hassan Salem, Colorado Market President for U.S. Bank.
The National Western Stock Show runs Jan. 11-26. Buy tickets at nationalwestern.com.
Sara Crocker is the communications manager for the Denver Metro Chamber.
