Women We Admire is pleased to announce The Top 50 Women Leaders of Colorado for 2023. Best known for its stunning natural landscapes, with four natural parks and various mountains, this state provides a low-cost of living, a highly educated workforce, and an excellent quality of life that is increasingly attracting businesses. It’s no wonder that it is already a base for well-known companies including Arrow Electronics, Western Union, and Dish Network. This year’s awardees play a pivotal part in the organizations they serve, helming leadership roles in key industries including education, healthcare, finance, tourism and more. We acknowledge them for the dedication and passion that they exemplify in their every endeavor.
Among this year’s awardees is Ellen Valde, Managing Partner for PwC’s Denver office, who leads a team of over 800 professionals in delivering quality, innovative business solutions to multinational Fortune 50 to Fortune 1000 companies as well as private equity-owned clients around the world. Awardee Heather Pidcoke, Chief Medical Research Officer at Colorado State University, heads the university’s efforts to enhance clinical and translational research support to transition discoveries and applied sciences to human health solutions. Also awarded is Valeria Alberola, Chief Executive Officer at ZOMALAB, who is tasked with overseeing the organization's initiatives including sustainable investments and philanthropic efforts to accelerate progress in the areas of workforce, energy, water, community economic development and early childhood development in Colorado and Chile.
Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top 50 Women Leaders of Colorado for 2023.
3. Ellen Valde
Managing Partner, PwC
Ellen Valde is the Managing Partner for PwC’s Denver office where she leads a team of over 800 professionals in delivering quality, innovative business solutions to multinational Fortune 50 to Fortune 1000 companies as well as private equity-owned clients. She is recognized for driving strategy, business transformation, and scale across diverse industries including consumer products, retail, manufacturing, construction, technology and agribusiness throughout the United States and North America and in Asia, Europe, Australia, South America, and Africa.
Ellen has advised C-suite executives, senior management, audit committees, and board members of PwC’s largest clients as they navigated the financial reporting and control implications of complex and often transformational business issues including multibillion dollar mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, restructuring activities, corporate governance, accessing capital markets, technology and cyber-security readiness and breaches, fraud investigations, enterprise risk management, as well as the sensitivities of FCPA, PCAOB and SEC rules and regulations, and other compliance-related investigations.
Ellen has proven herself to be a pioneer of leadership, mentorship, client service, and community involvement. Her true passion is people development. She was one of the founders of PwC’s women’s networking circles, a program designed to provide access to role models, mentors, and networks across the firm. She is actively involved with recruiting and has served on PwC’s partner admission committee. Among her notable achievements is her recognition as the PwC mentor of the year.
Ellen received an undergraduate degree in accounting with a minor in computer science from the University of Northern Iowa where she graduated summa cum laude. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant. She has been married to her husband Jeff for 34 years and they have two children.
8. Maria Silveira
Vice President of Business Transformation, Nutrien
Maria Silveira is the Vice President of Business Transformation at Nutrien. As the world’s largest provider of crop inputs, services and solutions, Nutrien plays a critical role in feeding the future by helping growers to increase food production in a sustainable manner. Maria previously held the positions of VP of global planning & IBP, VP of transportation, distribution & logistics VP of phosphate engineering, technology and capital, as well as senior director of potash commercial for Nutrien.
Maria joined Agrium in 2013 as director of continuous improvement. In late 2016, she was appointed senior director of potash commercial. Previous to Agrium, Maria worked in the petrochemical industry holding several roles in manufacturing, research & technology and product development for over 12 years. Maria has a chemical engineering degree, a master’s degree in polymer engineering and is a certified lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
11. Veronica Castañeda
Vice President and Head of HR Consulting Group, TIAA
Veronica Castañeda is a strategic HR business leader with over 18 years of experience in human resources across multiple industries. She currently serves as the Vice President and Head of the HR Consulting Group for TIAA. Veronica leads and provides oversight to a centralized team of nine HR Business Partners principally responsible for broad HR consulting services to US mid-level and front-line people leaders and associates across TIAA.
Prior to joining TIAA, Veronica served as a senior regional HR business partner with ADP, and before that, as an HR generalist with Beckman Coulter. She graduated from Cal State Fullerton with an undergraduate degree in business administration with an emphasis in human resources.
18. Connie Savor Price
Chief Medical Officer, Denver Health
Connie Savor Price is the Chief Medical Officer at Denver Health and a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Prior to becoming the CMO, she served as the chief of infectious diseases and the medical director of infection control and prevention at Denver Health for 13 years. Dr. Price is board-certified in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and medical microbiology. Her research and clinical interest focus in healthcare epidemiology and methods to prevent and rapidly detect emerging and antimicrobial resistant infections.
Dr. Price has a track record of successful federal funding as a principal investigator from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. She has published >75 manuscripts and delivered >175 lectures on the prevention of healthcare associated infectious diseases and related topics. She is active in the Infectious Diseases Society of America, served in an elected position on the board of directors of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America, and as past chair of the American Society for Microbiology section on Healthcare Epidemiology. Dr. Price was the physician representative on the inaugural Colorado Healthcare Associated Infections advisory committee for public reporting of healthcare associated infections for Colorado. She has recognized expertise in outbreak management and has served as a consultant to public health authorities around the world on control of emerging infections, specifically MERS and SARS, as well as Ebola preparedness.
19. Kathryn Jacobs
Managing Director, Accenture
Kathryn Jacobs is a Managing Director at Accenture, the largest publicly traded professional services company in the world. She is highly regarded as one of the company’s global experts in the Natural Resources sector, and she helps address some of the boldest challenges facing the world today. Kathryn leads the Natural Resources Industry Consulting in North America, a diverse set of industries all with a vital role in a sustainable and net-zero future.
She prides herself on orchestrating all parts of Accenture to activate the best ideas and solutions for her clients. Kathryn owns the Global P&L and leads a team of 350+ spread across 8 countries for one of Accenture’s key client relationships. She has served as executive sponsor for several key global initiatives with the World Economic Forum, MIT, and most recently sponsored a start-up investment through an Accenture Ventures program.
She is also passionate about creating a path for others to thrive in their careers, helping to build the next generation of leaders. In 2023 she took on a coaching role for Accenture’s Leadership Development Program which each year brings together the top 2% of future, global leaders at Accenture.
Kathryn also has a thirst for adventure and deep sense of curiosity by creating new challenges as a way of life. She believes experiencing culture and geography through the immediacy of adventure is both exhilarating and expansive, informing her leadership and ability to integrate disparate client needs and initiatives with meaning and purpose through a global lens. She received a dual undergraduate degree in science and business management from The University of Queensland, Australia and went on to obtain a master’s of technology and innovation management.
22. Kim Spahn
Vice President of Operations, American Concrete Pipe Association
Kim Spahn is accomplished as a leader in partnership with association stakeholders to position the concrete pipe industry to gain market share for its members. Kim excels in strategic planning with expert skills in cultivating operational and team excellence and executive experience with planning and managing Association and Foundation budgets. Spahn drives success in 7 strategic committees that are the foundation of the association's success, mission, and vision. She works alongside a board of directors to develop teams and execute national and local strategies for growing market share of concrete pipe.
Kim leads a team of state directors in close coordination with their local and regional boards to set direction and implement initiatives that promote the increased regional use of concrete pipe. She has grown state association affiliations and their operations to establish strategic plans and support both members and staff in reaching their goals in their local markets.
Spahn also serves as the President of the Research and Education Foundation. She is responsible for managing the foundation's budget including fundraising and management of research contracts that will further the industry to meet the strategic plan. Kim works alongside stakeholders to develop and implement educational programs that educate both internal member employees as well as external specifiers and elected officials alike. She evaluates the need and strategizes the funding and implementation for educational and scholarships selection of individuals to attend ACPA seminars and schools that foster knowledge of all types of pipes under her management.
23. Reagan Pena
Police Chief of Staff, City of Aurora
Reagan Peña is the Police Chief of Staff for the Aurora Police Department, providing specialized support by implementing the initiatives and directives of the chief of police and overseeing the Public Information Office and the Community Relations Section. Reagan was named Chief of Staff in 2022.
An Arizona native, Reagan earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arizona. In 2003, she joined the League City Police Department in the greater Houston area and served for 14 years achieving Master Peace Officer certification. Her experience includes public affairs, community engagement, recruiting, public safety hiring, and investigations. While serving as a public information officer in League City, Reagan was selected as Region 6 director of the National Information Officers Association and was recognized by the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers for her recruiting and community outreach roles.
In 2017, Reagan began an investigations firm specializing in public safety background hiring process and criminal defense investigations. In 2019, a premier national private security firm recruited her to manage a $68 million public transportation contract. She was responsible for 300+ armed security professionals, client satisfaction, risk management, and contract profits and compliance. Under her leadership, she successfully negotiated contract changes and developed a pilot program of unarmed customer service ambassadors. At the height of calls for law enforcement reform, Reagan was called back to public service as a Public Safety Media Relations Manager with the city of Aurora Communications and Marketing Department. She served on the Chief’s Executive leadership team.
Reagan’s focus on collaboration has led her to work with various industries and stakeholders, from public sectors such as healthcare and education to nonprofit organizations and private businesses, to accomplish common goals. No matter what role she fills, Reagan’s goal is simple: To empower organizations and people to succeed. She believes people and relationships matter and knows fostering a positive, growth-oriented culture is essential to successfully implementing a company’s strategy and mission.
24. Angie Goldberg
Chief Growth Officer , Ardent Mills
As the first person to hold the position of Chief Growth Officer at Ardent Mills, Angie Goldberg’s role is to further drive the company’s mission of enhancing the quality of life and standard of health. As a key strategic addition to the leadership team, Angie is a driver of delivering consistent value to customers, all part of the organization’s plan for long-term, diverse and sustainable growth.
As part of the senior leadership team, Angie oversees innovation, research, quality and technical services, marketing, sales, corporate development and emerging nutrition. Goldberg joined Ardent Mills from Dawn Foods, where she spent more than eight years, most recently as chief transformation officer and chief marketing officer. Previously, Goldberg spent more than nine years at Barilla, where she managed the company’s growing pasta business to achieve market share leadership.
Angie currently serves on the board of trustees of the Grain Foods Foundation. She holds an MBA in management strategy and marketing from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree in accounting from Indiana University.
View the complete list of awardees.
26. Gillian McKnight-Tutein
Interim Provost & VP of Academic Affairs, Community College of Denver
Dr. Gillian (Dr. G) McKnight-Tutein is currently the interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Community College of Denver. As the chief academic officer, and a member of the president’s Executive Council, she provides vision and leads all academic divisions on the Auraria and Lowry campuses, and the Advanced Manufacturing Center.
McKnight-Tutein has served on AACC’s Commission on Student Success, Colorado Department of Higher Education’s General Education Council, and the Colorado Community College System’s VP Council. She is the recipient of several awards, including the 2022 Bernice Joseph Leadership Award.
Dr. G, a Caribbean immigrant, is a first-generation high school and college graduate. She earned an associate degree from the College of Boca Raton, an undergraduate degree in psychology from Florida International University, a master’s degree in human resources development administration from Barry University, and a doctorate in instructional technology and distance education from Nova Southeastern University.
27. Sarah Beckman
Vice President of Power Market, Ulteig
In her 11 years at Ulteig, Sarah Beckman has used her collaborative leadership style to help achieve her vision of a sustainable future while inspiring all she leads, including other women in STEM fields. She has a strong background in utility and renewable sectors, focusing much of her recent career on power delivery in the transmission, distribution and substation engineering fields. Eighteen years ago, she began her career as a civil/structural engineer and has continued to grow her expertise and leadership ability, breaking through in the engineering, power, consulting, and electric utility industries, all of which are traditionally male-dominated fields.
Six months ago, Sarah was promoted to a newly created position, Vice President of Ulteig’s Power Market. Uniquely equipped to take on the role, Sarah’s leadership and expertise is key to Ulteig’s plans for growth across all sectors. In addition to her new duties, which include ensuring efficient project execution, expanding and diversifying Ulteig’s client base, and creating customized client solutions, Sarah continues to support Ulteig’s largest client, whose orders quadrupled under her leadership.
Sarah is the type of leader who inspires others to do their best, considers her team’s success as fundamental to her own, and drives results with optimism and enthusiasm. She loves to make connections, bringing people together whose paths may not otherwise cross, all with the end goal of a sustainable future. She is a senior member, the vice chair of the Denver Section, and the founding chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Women in Engineering Denver chapter affinity group. She also gives back to her industry and within her community by mentoring fellow female engineers.
29. Whitney Heaps
Chief of Staff, Unreasonable
Whitney Heaps is Chief of Staff at Unreasonable Group. Unreasonable is building the world's most trusted community of growth-stage entrepreneurs, institutions, and investors profitably solving our most pressing global challenges. In her role, she advises and supports Unreasonable's executive leadership team across all things people and operational while overseeing the human resources function of the company.
Whitney has over 10 years of experience across a variety of social and environmental sectors including education, health care, conservation and entrepreneurship. She has nearly 8 years of experience in providing social and environmental entrepreneurship ecosystem support serving as an operational leader at Unreasonable. Whitney holds an undergraduate degree from Lake Forest College and double master’s degrees in business administration and environmental policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
30. Marilee Clark
VP of Sales Learning & Development of The Vomela Companies
An inspirational, persuasive, and creative problem solver with over 30 years of experience in sales, Marilee Hutton is part executive, part coach and part client whisperer. Throughout her career she has established herself as a results-driven, dynamic business and sales leader, with a history of growing strong, sustainable revenues and driving profits. Marilee is also coaching the next generation of sales leaders to further explosive business growth using her strengths in teaching, intuition, and collaboration. With her positive, motivating mentality, she ignites the passion in everyone around her, catapulting businesses, teams, and individuals forward.
Marilee’s expansive career began in sales, but quickly grew into more. Over the years, Marilee thrived in an ever-evolving sales role at C2 Imaging (Vomela affiliate), a full service, specialty print graphics company and commercial printer that brings brands to life. From sales lead to general manager at C2 Imaging, Marilee eventually managed a $6 million manufacturing facility of digital large and small format printing company with fifty-five employees. Marilee’s passion for learning everything she could about industry trends and business solutions led to her innovating the sales process for the $300M organization across their 21 U.S. locations.
Part of Marilee’s ongoing success is her ability to inspire, motivate and coach those around her. In 2018, Marilee moved from C2 Imaging into a broader scale and learning development leadership role with Vomela. In this role, Marilee utilizes her Predictive Index training and oversees the onboarding, development and continued education of the national sales team. She also hosts a weekly meeting of the minds called The Breakfast Club, a national sales meeting where 70+ reps from across the nation join to share ideas and materials.
No matter her role, Marilee is as equally curious as she is confident, and thoughtfully creates a culture where everyone, no matter their role, feels seen, heard, and valued. This cohesive, kind team mentality has led to the success of both businesses and individuals, including several multi-million-dollar sales reps. With a knack for identifying both the fine details and the larger picture, Marilee helps people see what they haven’t yet recognized in themselves, teaching them the tools to lead a more fulfilled life while making a positive impact on the world around them.
31. Iswari Natarajan
President, St. Mary’s Academy
Iswari Natarajan is a true visionary leader in the field of education. Her remarkable career path has taken her from engineer to teacher, principal, and now President of St. Mary’s Academy. She has an impressive record of accomplishments, making her a great source of inspiration for SMA's students, faculty, and staff. She believes that creating a vibrant, supportive school community is essential for students to thrive.
Iswari understands the importance of fostering relationships between students, teachers, families, and administrators to create an environment where everyone can grow and learn. By providing opportunities for collaboration and communication among all stakeholders, she hopes to create a sense of belonging where everyone can make meaningful contributions to SMA. As a leader, female engineer, and person of color, Iswari comes with valuable experience, knowledge, cultural awareness, and a different point of view which assumes importance for each undertaking. Her leadership qualities, ability to devise person-centric solutions, fundraising capabilities and successful experience in executing large-scale educational projects have made her an inspiration to many.
Iswari has been an integral part of the SMA community since 2012 when she joined as a teacher and chair of the mathematics department at the high school. Throughout her time, she demonstrated her passion for education and her commitment to helping students reach their potential. In 2018, she was promoted to high school principal. Further, she was promoted to assistant head of school in early 2022, and VP of academic affairs later that same year.
Before entering the educational arena, Iswari had a career in electrical and computer engineering and research. She holds an undergraduate degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India and an MS in engineering from the University of Maryland. She also holds a diploma in educational leadership and administration from Montessori Casa International. She is the recipient of a 2015 Outstanding Educator/Mentor Award from Stanford University, a 2017 Outstanding Colorado Educator Award from CU Boulder, and a 2022 Outstanding Educator and Teacher of Influence Award from Carleton College. In 2018, IBM recognized Iswari as a Global Women Leader, and invited her to present a keynote about leadership. She has been featured in numerous articles for her work in STEM education and has been a presenter at the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools Global Forum and Advanced Placement conferences.
32. Colleen McGarity
Vice President of People Operations, CyberGRX
As Vice President of People Operations at CyberGRX, Colleen McGarity has cultivated a premiere employer brand in the Denver market, focusing on a highly engaged culture, best in class engagement score while also expanding the workforce from 50 to nearly 200 over the last 4 years. She leads a team that focuses on employer branding, talent acquisition and management, benefits administration, performance management. She established a growing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program, increasing both gender and racial diversity by 300%. Under Colleen's leadership, CyberGRX has been recognized as a top place to work by Denver Post, Inc. Magazine and Built in Colorado several times over.
Colleen has 15 years of experience in various aspects of human resources, most recently leading people operations with several Denver-based startups. She specializes in building strategic people functions from the ground up, transforming culture and employer brand beyond the status quo of your traditional human resource organizations. As a Denver resident for over a decade and when not working, she can be found spending time with her dog, cheering on Clemson football, skiing, hiking and enjoying all the wonderful things Colorado has to offer. Colleen was also a founding leadership member for ChickTech Denver, with the goal of introducing more young women to STEM and increasing gender diversity in the technical community.
34. Megan Smith
Chief Executive Officer, Symbia Logistics
Megan Smith is a seasoned, third-party logistics executive who has made the business of buying and successfully, integrating strategic businesses a mission-critical part of her growth strategy. As an award-winning CEO and advocate for advancing women in the industry, she currently oversees a workforce of over 1,000 employees and a network of 22 warehouses across the US. Leadership, communication, and an eye on the future are keys to her success as a pioneer in the supply chain industry. She currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Symbia Logistics.
View the complete list of awardees.
35. Leah Fitz
Vice President of Finance, AirDNA
Leah Fitz is the Vice President of Finance at AirDNA, a leading provider and pioneer of global short-term rental data solutions headquartered in Denver. Fitz joined AirDNA in 2022 shortly after the company entered into its strategic partnership with Alpine Investors, a people-driven private equity firm specializing in software and services investments. At AirDNA, Fitz leads the finance and accounting functions to enable them to effectively scale in proportion to the growth of the business. She works closely with the CEO and other members of the executive leadership team to develop and execute on AirDNA's financial strategy and ultimately ensure sustainable enterprise value creation.
Fitz has broad professional experience in SaaS and finance, having previously held roles in corporate finance, financial reporting, technical accounting, and investor relations. She also has extensive experience with IPOs and most recently helped take her previous company, Ping Identity, public in 2019. Fitz started her career in the Capital Markets and Accounting Advisory Services group at PwC, earned a Master of Accountancy degree from the University of Denver, and is a licensed CPA in the state of Colorado.
36. Katina Lundberg
Chief People Officer, Choozle
Katina Lundberg, PHR has over 20 years of human resources experience with 15 years in leadership roles. She has a history of proven results with building high performing teams, talent acquisition, workforce planning, redesigning total rewards programs, DEI initiatives, employee relations and advancing of values and engagement programs.
Katina is the Chief People Officer at Choozle and leads all aspects of the company's human resources, finance and operation teams. Choozle provides a digital advertising software platform that leverages detailed consumer data to power programmatic advertising campaigns across multi channels. In her role, Katina drives the people's strategy to alignment with the strategic business objectives, all while promoting a People First Culture and empowering employees to achieve their full potential. Under her leadership, Choozle has earned recognition as a best place to work through Built In Colorado, Outside’s Best Places, Ad Age Best Places, Denver Post and Inc 5000. Katina also serves as a board member for Khesed Wellness, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable outpatient mental health therapy to the underinsured.
Katina earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from Western Colorado University. She is PHR, CSPS, and Human Resource Ethics certified.
39. Melanie Ryan Meador
Chief Executive Officer and President, Redeam
Melanie Ryan Meador is a travel industry veteran and business transformation specialist having spent 25+ years in hospitality and online travel prior to joining Redeam in June 2018. Melanie’s travel industry roots began when she worked for Sunburst Hospitality as director of revenue management and transient sales, where she pioneered the corporate adoption of online technology “firsts” that led the company to experience exponential revenue growth in just three years. She then went on to serve as VP of strategic accounts and business development at Orbitz Worldwide, where she led a high-performing global strategic sales and account team.
Melanie, a member of HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association) for 12 years, was an eight-year board member before being elected the national president for two consecutive two-year terms. Melanie also previously served as chief strategy officer at FORTRUST, a Tier III colocation data center, and chief revenue officer of BankRate, where she led a business transformation that resulted in the company’s acquisition. Melanie takes great pride in serving as a strategic advisor to several companies. Melanie is also the co-founder of the Meadors Masters Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on providing humanitarian support to those in need in Colorado. Melanie has an undergraduate degree in marketing and organizational leadership from Colorado State University.
40. Lucinda Hanover
Founding Partner & CEO, Lumeri
Lucinda is a Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Lumeri, a business consulting firm, helping Fortune 500 companies deliver when the stakes are high and the challenges complex. As CEO, Lucinda oversees the direction, strategy, and operations of the firm, promoting a culture that ignites the best in each person, while solidifying the coherence of the team to better serve Lumeri’s clients.
For 30 years, from North America, South America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Oceania, to the Middle East, Lucinda has helped leaders fulfill their most pressing strategic initiatives and break new ground for themselves, their organizations, and industries. Lumeri has pioneered Execution Certainty™, an approach to building an integrated pathway for shared focus and success by highlighting what is most critical to achieve together, providing executives with heightened clarity and confidence.
Lucinda is passionate about the empowerment of female leaders and amplifying their contribution in business. She is a trusted adviser to key executives in the diversity arena and has designed and led specialized programs to crack the code on the advancement of women. Lucinda is an avid philanthropist. She is a volunteer and an investor, with a number of local, national, and worldwide organizations and serves on various nonprofit boards.
41. Lauren Kolodrubetz
Executive Director of Marketplace Diversity Solutions, TEKsystems
Lauren Kolodrubetz has spent the past 10 years with TEKsystems, Global Technology Services Company, in a variety of recruiting, sales, and leadership roles while always focusing on servicing customers and helping them transform. Today, Lauren leads TEKsystems’ strategy to help customers build more diverse and inclusive technology workforces - Marketplace Diversity Solutions. Whether organizations are looking to hire more diverse candidates, renovate their culture to build a greater sense of belonging, or diversify their supplier roster, her team focuses on innovative approaches to fast-track diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
Lauren is passionate about building a better tomorrow by creating opportunities in technology careers. After growing up on the east coast in Maryland and North Carolina, Lauren has spent the past 5 years living in Colorado with her husband, daughter, and dogs where she takes advantage of the year-round music and outdoor activities.
43. McKenzie Perez
Vice President of People Operations, Maxwell
As the Vice President of People Operations for Maxwell Financial Labs, McKenzie Perez, EdD combines her passion for fine-tuning the engine that runs the most successful businesses – its workforce – with experience and expertise in all aspects of human resources management to raise the “people potential." McKenzie continually employs creative global HR, strategies, processes, and programs devised to take organizational performance to that proverbial next level.
With over 20 years of experience in human resources and organizational development, McKenzie has worked with industries ranging from fintech, law, property management, education, SaaS technology, bath and beauty, and franchising supporting large multinational corporate cultures to start-up and entrepreneurial teams. With a passion for education and a desire to build up the next generation of leaders, Dr. Perez has taught at various universities in an effort to increase business knowledge and passion among higher education students.
McKenzie successfully completed her Educational Doctorate in organizational leadership and business, through Argosy University, in 2015. Originally from California, she earned her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration management from Argosy University and California State University, respectively.
44. Crystal Stranger
Partner and Chief Operating Officer, Cleer.tax
Crystal Stranger is a Partner and COO at Cleer.tax. With over 20 years of finance, accounting, and leadership experience, she enjoys helping teams stay focused on growth while performing realistic risk assessments. A frequent speaker for tax professionals, she also is a resource for publications ranging from the NY Times to Money Magazine.
Previously, Stranger was a remote senior supervisor at Taxes for Expats and before that a tax and business consultant at 1st Tax. Earlier in her career she worked with Shelley Weiser Bookkeeping as a tax preparer.
View the complete list of awardees.
45. Audra Brehm
CEO & Founder, Brehm Media
Audra Brehm is a speaker and influential leader in utilizing social media marketing as a sales funnel for brands and creators. She is the CEO and Founder of Brehm Media, based in Denver, Colorado. Brehm Media is a family-oriented, result-driven social media marketing agency that continuously exceeds customers’ expectations. Their actions are a direct reflection of the core values their clients live by. They bring a long history of success in brand awareness, content creation, email marketing, and paid advertising. Brehm Media provides a tailored program to the individual needs of each client.
Throughout her career, Audra has advocated for small to mid-sized businesses to have a voice in the noisy digital landscape. After the birth of her second child, the busy mom of two realized it was time to turn her passion and expertise into a digital marketing agency that could focus specifically on helping smaller companies find success.
46. Kimberly Stern
Executive Director of Social and Digital Media, Colorado State University
With more than 15 years of experience in strategic digital communications, Kimberly Stern leads Colorado State University’s award-winning Social and Digital Media team. Her exceptional team deploys data-informed decisions to elevate the brand and reputation of CSU through the university’s owned social media channels. Her team are resident experts and strategic partners for multimedia needs - everything from photo shoots, video concept development, TikTok consultations and more. Stern helped create a distinct voice for the institution that fans have come to trust and engage. She savors the challenge of blending the art and science of creating innovative and impactful digital content. Under her leadership, CSU’s social media presence has blossomed into an internationally recognized powerhouse. The CSU Social and Digital Media team won a Webby Award (aka "Oscars of the Internet") and is a multi-time Shorty Awards honoree (honoring the best in social media) and has been honored with several Telly Awards for fantastic digital work. In 2023, Colorado State was named to Volt Magazine’s 10 Best Higher Ed Social Media Accounts.
Stern is a long-time member of PRSA Colorado and co-organizer of the chapter’s annual Shadow Week experience pairing professional members with local university students interested in PR, marketing, and communications. She was recognized as an outstanding young leader and named to BizWest’s 40 Under Forty and PRSA Colorado’s Mentor of the Year. She is a CSU Ram through and through earning her undergraduate journalism degree and MBA from Colorado State.
View the complete list of awardees.