The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. The institute is headquartered in Washington, D.C. It also has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, its original home.
Harlan Andrew Romanoff is an American politician and public servant. A Democrat, he was a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009, serving as Speaker of the House from 2005 to 2009. He was the Democratic nominee for Colorado's 6th congressional district in 2014 and twice sought the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate. He began his career at the Southern Poverty Law Center, founded the Posner Center for International Development, and has led two nonprofit organizations: Mental Health Colorado, and Great Expectations. On January 16th, 2024, he was named Executive Director for Disability Law Colorado, a non-profit legal and advocacy organization which advocates for and provides legal representation for people with disabilities.
Solihten Institute is a non-profit organization based in Denver, Colorado which manages an international network of faith-based counseling centers that specialize in evidence-based, integrated healing. Counselors and mental health professionals accredited by Solihten Institute receive theological training in addition to typical licensing in psychology, psychiatry and counseling, enabling an approach which combines "mind, body, spirit, and community." Services offered include outpatient counseling, wellness programs, and consultation and training for clergy and other professionals. This is a 12-step organization.
Larry A. Mizel is an American business executive and philanthropist based in Denver, Colorado. He is executive chairman of MDC Holdings.
John M. Bridgeland is a former director of the United States Domestic Policy Council and USA Freedom Corps. He is president and CEO of the public policy firm Civic Enterprises, the co-founder and CEO of the COVID Collaborative and the vice-chair of the non-profit organization Malaria No More.
Founded in 2001, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) is a member-based, 501(c)(3) national non-profit organization that unites finance, policy and technology to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy.
Public Allies is an American nonprofit organization that operates an AmeriCorps program and is dedicated to leadership development. Its mission is to create a just and equitable society and the diverse leadership to sustain it.
Leader's Challenge was a Colorado, USA, based nonprofit organization that provided leadership training to high potential students through experiential education programs. Their mission was to create civic and service minded youth by developing leadership skills, inspiring purpose, and developing engagement in their communities. As of October 28, 2009, Leader's Challenge was shut down due to financial difficulties.
Michael B. Hancock is an American author and politician who served as the 45th mayor of Denver, Colorado from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was in his second term as the Denver City Councilor from the 11th district at the time he was elected to the mayorship.
Action civics is a modern and alternative form of civics education in the United States. Action civics is an applied civic education process in which participants learn about government by examining issues in their own community and then select a focus issue for action through a process of debate, research the issue and learn advocacy strategies, develop civic skills such as public speaking, formulate a plan, mobilize, educate, then evaluate, and reflect on their experience. Participants' voices are encouraged, valued and incorporated. Participants learn by doing, with a focus on collective action. Action civics can encompass a number of different actions from community service to electoral engagement and from talking about concerns with public officials to creating peer education campaigns.
Daniel W. Yohannes is an Ethiopian-American businessman and philanthropist who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the OECD from 2014 to 2017.
Joseph Robert Swedish is an American healthcare executive and leader. He is a former senior adviser to the board of directors at Anthem, Inc., a Fortune 29 company, and was the CEO of Anthem, Inc. from 2013 to 2017. For 12 years in a row Swedish was named Modern Healthcare’s one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.
The Center for Asian Pacific American Women (CAPAW) is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the improvement of leadership skills for Asian American women, including native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Based in San Francisco, the organization addresses community development, education and employment.
Hurley Calister "Cal" Turner Jr. is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He served as the chairman and chief executive officer of Dollar General, a chain of low-cost variety stores founded by his father, Cal Turner Sr.
Juana María Bordas is a Nicaraguan–American community activist specializing in leadership development and diversity training. She is a founder of several Denver, Colorado-area organizations promoting Latino and Latina leadership, including the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, the National Hispana Leadership Institute, and Mestiza Leadership International, where she currently serves as president. She has authored two books and is a motivational speaker and workshop presenter for conferences and businesses. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1997.
Halee Fischer-Wright is an American physician and writer. She is the co-author of the bestselling, Tribal Leadership. Fischer-Wright is currently CEO of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).
The Franklin Project was a policy program of the Aspen Institute from October 2012 to December 2015, that focused on advancing national service in the United States. Walter Isaacson called the project the "biggest idea" to come out of the Aspen Ideas Festival during his tenure as CEO of the Aspen Institute. In January 2016, the project merged with ServiceNation and the Service Year Exchange project of the National Conference on Citizenship to form Service Year Alliance.
Patricia Anne Gabow is an American academic physician, medical researcher, healthcare executive, author and lecturer. Specializing in nephrology, she joined the department of medicine, division of renal diseases, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1973, advancing to a full professorship in 1987; she is presently Professor Emerita. She was the principal investigator on the National Institutes of Health Human Polycystic Kidney Disease research grant, which ran from 1985 to 1999, and defined the clinical manifestations and genetics of the disease in adults and children.
The Sandra Day O'Connor Institute For American Democracy is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor following her retirement from the Court. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, its mission is to "continue Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s legacy and lifetime work to advance American Democracy through civics education, civic engagement and civil discourse". Leaders and luminaries who have spoken at the O'Connor Institute include General Colin Powell, President George W. Bush and the former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev. The Institute has featured many notable historians, authors and speakers including David McCullough, Condoleezza Rice, F.W. deKlerk, Jennie and Randolph Churchill, Walter Isaacson, Ron Chernow and Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Geraldine "Gerie" Grimes was an educator and activist in Denver, Colorado, who advocated for better education for Black children and children with disabilities. She was CEO and president of Hope Center, and was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2018.
