Our Speakers are listed in alphabetical order.
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Joan Birkland
Colorado Tennis and Golf Hall of Famer
Joanie Birkland has won multiple state golf and tennis titles and is a member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, the Colorado Tennis Hall of Fame and the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Denver-born Joan Birkland has been blessed with remarkable athletic talent. In school she went beyond what was expected of girls in sports. As a competitive athlete, she excelled in tennis, golf, and basketball. Her basketball career began in college when there were very few women's teams. She played on an AAU basketball team called the Denver Viners.
Birkland carried her love of sports into her adult life. Twice she held the state golf and tennis titles simultaneously. She has won more than a dozen state tennis crowns, and for over 10 years was one of Colorado's dominant female golfers. Between 1960 and 1966 she won no fewer than seven Colorado golf championships.
Continuing to excel as an athlete and an organizer, Birkland is a local and national leader in promoting girls and women as athletes and in sporting events. She has been inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, and presently serves on their boards.
In addition, she serves on such volunteer boards as the U. S. Golf Association Women's Committee, First Data Corp. Colorado Open, and the National Girls and Women in Sports, among others. She continues to lead by example and has built on that reputation to position herself in leadership roles.
She has been the Executive Director of the Sportswomen of Coloradoorganization for almost 20 years. This organization has recognized hundreds of Colorado girls and women athletes and women who have shown excellence through their contributions to sports and coaching.
Not only has Birkland been accepted into this primarily male bastion, but she has risen to national leadership status. She initiates opportunities to provide input and open new horizons for women in sports. Recently, she was recognized in Golf magazine for her contribution and leadership in women's golf, and was named person of the year by the Sportswomen of Colorado.
Joan and her husband, Ormand, make their home in Denver.
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Kelly Brough
CEO, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
During her career, Kelly’s work has focused on improving public sector performance and service delivery and developing stronger working relationships between the public, non-profit and private sectors.
In August of 2005, Mayor John Hickenlooper tapped Kelly to be the Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of the Denver Office of Accountability and Reform. Kelly has a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Colorado at Denver and a Bachelors of Science degree in Sociology, Criminal Justice from Montana State University. She currently serves on the Metro Denver Sports Commission and the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation. Kelly was also named an American Marshall Memorial Fellow in 2001 studying local public policy in Europe. As of Oct. 1, 2009, Kelly has taken over as the CEO of Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
Website: www.denverchamber.org
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Barbara Coloroso
International Best-Selling Author and Speaker
Barb is an international bestselling author and for the past 38 years an internationally recognized speaker and consultant on parenting, teaching, school discipline, positive school climate, bullying, grieving, nonviolent conflict resolution and restorative justice.
She has appeared on Oprah, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and NPR and has been featured in the New York Times, Time, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, and other national and international publications.
Her uniquely effective parenting and teaching strategies were developed through her years of training in sociology, special education, and philosophy, as well as field-tested through her experiences as a classroom teacher, laboratory school instructor, university instructor, seminar leader, volunteer in Rwanda, and mother of three grown children.
She is the author of four international bestsellers: kids are worth it! Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline; Parenting Through Crisis—Helping Kids in Times of Loss, Grief and Change; The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander—From Pre-School to High School, How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of Violence; and Just Because It’s Not Wrong Doesn’t Make It Right—From Toddlers to Teens, Teaching Kids to Think and Act Ethically. Barbara’s latest book is Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide…and Why it Matters. She also has two critically acclaimed video programs Winning at Parenting...without beating your kids and Winning at Teaching...without beating your kids.
Website: www.kidsareworthit.com
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Rachel Greenwald
New York Times Best-Selling Author
Rachel Greenwald is the NY Times bestselling author of “Find a Husband After 35: Using What I Learned at Harvard Business School” (translated into 23 languages). Her new book, “Have Him At Hello” was named by Cosmopolitan magazine as one of the “Top 4 Best Books of Summer”.
Rachel is a renowned dating coach and matchmaker for single men and women across the United States, and is responsible for 764 marriages. She is fondly called “The WifeMaker” by the media, and has appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, including The Today Show, CNN, and Nightline. She has been featured in The NY Times, The New Yorker, The Denver Post, Fortune, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, "O" The Oprah Magazine, and many more.
Rachel will star in a Reality TV dating show on NBC this summer called “Match Off!”, and is currently the "Love Over 40" online advice columnist for More Magazine. She blogs for The Huffington Post, and is a relationship expert on YourTango and GenConnect. Rachel gives lectures around the world, and teaches training workshops for people who want to become professional dating coaches and matchmakers.
She has an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School, and a B.A. in psychology from Wellesley College. She is a Denver native, went to Graland and Kent Denver, and lives in Hilltop now with her husband of 17 years and their three children.
Website: www.rachelgreenwald.com
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Jane Hastings
Owner, Mad About Fitness
Jane Hastings has been in the fitness industry for over 25 years. She currently owns Mad About Fitness where she does personal training and teaches yoga and spinning. Jane specializes in senior clients and those with various medical conditions. Her specialty certifications include Medical Exercise Specialist and Cancer Exercise Specialist. Jane also conducts balance training workshops for various senior organizations.
Website: www.madaboutfit.com
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Wendy Kelly
Physical, Emotional Health, Meditation, and Spirituality Coach and Teacher
The negative effects of bullying on our daughters’ inner world can be long lasting and far-reaching. Often, the impact can follow them into adulthood, shaping their beliefs about themselves and the world around them. Self-bullying, a less frequently discussed topic, can be equally devastating. Healthy emotional processing and self-reliance can mitigate the effects of both of these forms of bullying.
Wendy will offer your daughter tools to help deflect and, when necessary, release the painful emotions that may result from hurtful peer encounters and negative self-talk. Wendy will also teach your daughter how to protect herself from these twin pressures by developing a more compassionate partnership with her physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self.
About Wendy
Wendy Kelly has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition. She is also a licensed Physical Therapist and a professional clairvoyant. She has done extensive teaching and coaching in the areas of physical and emotional health, meditation and spirituality.
Wendy is also the mother of three daughters, two teenagers and one pre-teen.
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Heather Klutznick
Regional Vice President, Trilogy Financial Services
Heather is the Denver Regional Vice President of Trilogy Financial Services. She manages the second largest Trilogy office nationwide, by educating and empowering financial professionals to build their careers through helping clients work towards their financial goals. Within her own financial planning practice, Heather provides wealth management services to individuals, families and small businesses. Heather has achieved a level of success few would have expected in what is globally recognized as a male-dominated industry. She is unique as a manager, trainer and speaker because her story, and the way she delivers it, appeals to diverse audiences, even those who are not in the financial arena. Heather uses motivational stories of how she overcame adversity and of how she continually grows and builds her career as a professional. She has given presentations, training seminars and motivational speeches to corporations at all levels; from groups of CEOs and upper-level executives to individuals on a one-on-one basis.
Heather is one of the Company’s leading authorities in understanding and stimulating human potential. She utilizes powerful and insightful strategies to teach, inspire and channel people to new levels of achievement. She has broken through the glass ceiling and has taken her respectful place in the boardroom of success.
Heather has over twelve years experience in the financial services industry, and an education that provides the foundation of knowledge, depth and authority to her financial planning abilities. She graduated in 1990 with a BA in Economics from Colorado University at Boulder. Prior to joining Trilogy, she was a buyer for Williams-Sonoma in San Francisco, where she managed a $30 million dollar catalog and travelled extensively around the world. This was a major accomplishment for a young woman entering the corporate world. It was a time when sexism, prejudice and discrimination were much more prominent in the work force.
Every step of the way, there could be what some would consider hurdles, challenges and limits to what a “woman can do” in the career fields Heather found herself walking. But she chose to accept no limitations to her potential. And because of that, a company, many financial advisors and hundreds of Americans are better off. Heather is a catalyst for opportunity not only for herself, but for others who might find themselves fortunate enough to work with her as a colleague or as a client.
Personally, Heather experiences equal amounts of success. She and her husband live happily in the Denver Metro area, with their two young boys. She enjoys the great outdoors such as skiing, running swimming, cycling and helping her sons with their sports.
Heather is a leader, role model, and successful female executive. She is a wife, mother and friend. From all angles of her life, she is a genuinely successful female human being with unlimited potential and a lot to offer.
Website: www.trilogyfs.com
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Katie Koontz
Tennis Pro
Katie Koontz started playing tennis when she was 35 years old. She has played in all four National Tournaments; Clay, Indoor, Hardcourt, and Grass, in both singles and doubles. She was also selected to play on four different tennis cup teams, which is like Senior Davis Cup competition, all over the world. In 2009, she was honored at the Colorado Hall of Fame Gala.
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Dottie Lamm
Former Colorado First Lady
Dottie Lamm has been involved in the fight for women's equality and reproductive rights as first lady of Colorado, as a Colorado Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator, and as a columnist for The Denver Post, among other positions. She earned her BA in psychology at Occidental College and her MSW at the University of Denver's Graduate School of Social Work. Lamm came to Colorado from California in 1959 as a United Airlines flight attendant. She met her husband, Dick Lamm, future governor of Colorado, in 1961 and they married in 1963. She is an active freelance writer and public speaker, serves on the Colorado Access Board, and enjoys spending time with her grandsons. A 25-year survivor of breast cancer, she still skis, hikes, and bikes. She lives with her husband in Denver, Colorado.
Former First Lady of Colorado, she has worked countless hours for the benefit of women and girls in Colorado. In 1987, The Women's Foundation of Colorado (WFCO) created an Award to honor Dottie Lamm's commitment to women and girls issues throughout the State.
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Marilyn McWilliams
Attorney, Transaction Section
Following in the footsteps of her hero Winston Churchill, Marilyn McWilliams believes that the true value of life is measured by what we give to each other, not necessarily what we get. As such, she has dedicated her legal career to ensuring that those left behind after a loved one’s death are well taken care of.
Caring, loyal, and an authority in her field, Marilyn plans and administers estates and trusts, powers of attorney, wills, and other estate planning tools for individuals, families, and closely-held businesses to prepare them in the event of death. She is adept in the design and application of revocable and irrevocable trusts, charitable trusts, residence trusts, guardianships and conservatorships.
As a trusted family advisor, Marilyn carefully advises fiduciaries and trustees, acts as a trustee, and incorporates life insurance, stock options, IRAs, 401(k) and profit sharing plans into estate plans. Marilyn’s guidance helps clients protect their heirs and closely-held companies to ensure wealth preservation and smooth succession of assets to future generations. She aims for estate plans with the best immediate and long-term tax advantages.
Marilyn’s expertise includes specific knowledge of estate planning as it affects those with long-term disabilities–for example, how to ensure the ability to inherit without losing other benefits. She is a frequent lecturer and has co-authored an article on protecting disabled persons’ access to public benefits with special needs trusts. She also authored ”Life After Death,” a comprehensive guide for widowed persons on how to deal with the legal and financial challenges that arise on the death of a spouse.
Marilyn and her husband of more than 35 years have three daughters. In addition to being mother, wife, and professional, she is a community volunteer, cookbook author, and avid reader, favoring the works Stephen Ambrose, Herman Hesse, and Thomas Keating.
Her Publications
- Life After Death: A Legal and Practical Guide for Surviving Spouses (Bradford Publishing Co., 2005)
- ”Preserving the Disabled Plaintiff's Access to Public Benefits,” 25 The Colorado Lawyer 49, 1996.
- ”Marital Dissolution and Estate Planning,” in the Colorado Estate Planning Handbook, CLE in Colorado Inc., Supp. 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Website: www.moyewhite.com
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Deb Roffe, BSN, CPCC
Certified Life Coach, Summit Life Coaching
Deb's intuition and ability to see the potential in others have served her well in her professional and personal life. She has a natural ability to communicate with people, and her creativity and caring for her clients have helped them not only create and believe their vision, but to manifest their professional and personal goals.
Deb uses a variety of tools to help her clients understand themselves and their inner motivations, and to help them remove the roadblocks sabotaging their success. She provides her clients a wealth of resources to improve their lives personally, spiritually, professionally and financially. She conducts private coaching and group training sessions, outdoor coaching experiences, Vision Board Workshops and Groups. Summit Life Coaching is the result of Deb's journey to achieve her vision of helping others see the life they've dreamed of become a reality.
Deb received training and her Certification as a Life Coach from the Coach Training Institute, and is a member of the International Coaches Federation. Since 2005, Deb has been coaching clients of all ages and from all walks of life to help them achieve and exceed both professional and personal goals.
Deb continues to work in the medical field as a nurse, and provides coaching services to professionals in the medical field through The Nurse Coach.
Website: www.summitlifecoaching.net
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Dr. Carolyn Ross MD, MPH
Integrative Medicine Physician
Carolyn Coker Ross is an Integrative Medicine physician who has developed and pioneered the use of integrative medicine in healing food and body image issues and women’s health. She is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Arizona's Center for Integrative Medicine, directed by Dr. Andrew Weil.
Dr. Ross is the founder of Numinous Enterprises, which offers a line of nutritional supplements for those wanting to recover from eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder and for individuals struggling with obesity.
Dr. Ross also maintains a private practice using the best of western and complementary and alternative medicine to treat a wide array of medical issues including eating disorders, obesity, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, depression, anxiety and others. She is the author of three books and provides professional consulting and training workshops to treatment centers and medical facilities on eating disorders, weight management and integrative medicine. She is a nationally known expert speaker on topics such as women’s health, eating disorders, obesity and integrative medicine.
Website: www.carolynrossme.com
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Karen Sather
Head of Athletics, Denver Country Club
Karen has over 25 years of competitive tennis experience. Since 1999, Karen has been the Director of Athletics at the Denver Country Club. She has been very active in the tennis, aquatics, and junior programs, and instrumental in the development of DCC Fitness. She earned her personal training certification from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in July 2004. She is also certified to teach Spin and Yoga. Past achievements include All American Collegiate Tennis Player, Colorado State Open and Denver City Open Singles Champion, Two USTA national senior championships, and USPTA Intermountain Pro of the Year.
Website: www.denvercc.net
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Lata Shirnamé-Moré, Ph.D.
Leader, The Art of Living Center
Since 2000, Lata has been practicing the Yoga Breathing techniques taught in the Art of Living Course, and has experienced great transformation in her personal and professional life. Inspired by it, in January 2004 she completed the Art of Living teacher’s training under the guidance His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of Living Foundation and became a certified volunteer instructor for Art of Living Course.
She has been responsible for organizing programs, lectures and conferences for the Foundation. She has been instrumental in developing the Art of Living program for the faculty and staff Wellness program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and has conducted mini-workshops on the Art of Living Course for the students and staff at the UT School of Public Health. Lata is also a member of the Art of Living Research Committee which is responsible for developing research studies on the health benefits of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY). She has served as the Art of Living Foundation and the International Association for Human Values liaison in projects involving planning and delivery of services for survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Houston. Lata is an experienced teacher and has taught numerous courses for the general public from all backgrounds including university students and members of corporations.
She is an environmental health scientist by profession and has a Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of Bombay, India. She has held professional positions at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York University Medical Center Center in NYC, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Health Effects Institute in Boston, National Air Toxixa Research Center and University of Texas Scholl of Public Health in Houston. Most recently, she serves as the Manager of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at National Jewish Health, in Denver. She and her husband recently moved to Denver from Houston and they have two college going sons. Lata and her husband live in Park Hill area of Denver.
Website: www.us.artofliving.org
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Linsey Starck-Weller, PA-C
Patient Assistant C
Linsey Weller graduated from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center Physician Assistant program with a Master of Science degree in 2005. While getting her masters degree, she completed a study abroad program in medical Spanish in Costa Rica. Prior to graduate school, Linsey received a bachelor of arts degree in Zoology with a minor in chemistry from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Prior to joining Advanced Pediatrics in 2007, Linsey worked as a physician assistant at Clinica Campesina Family Health Centers in Denver, Colorado. She is a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants and the Colorado Academy of Physician Assistants and speaks Spanish. Her interests in pediatrics focus on adolescent and female health care, as well as providing care for Spanish speaking families. Linsey is a Certified Physician Assistant trained to talk to adolescents about birth control, STD's,abstinence and self-esteem. Her personal interests include running, snow and water skiing, and spending time outdoors with her husband and black lab.
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Kristen Tourangeau
4.5 USTA Women Champion
Kristen Tourangeau held the top Intermountain junior doubles ranking for the 16s and 18s in the late 70s; at Colorado College, she played volleyball, ski raced, and played soccer, earning11 letters. She was elected to the CC Sports Hall of Fame and was an All-American in soccer. In 2009, Kristen and her teammates were the 4.5 USTA Women Champions.
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Chantal Unfug
Senior Advisor, Denver Parks and Recreation
Chantal is the Special Assistant to the Mayor, Policy and Initiatives at Mayor's Office, City and County of Denver. In her various roles over the past six years, as the Senior Advisor to the Manager, Denver Department of Parks and Recreation, Special Assistant to the Mayor, Policy and Initiatives and in her position as Deputy City Liaison for the Democratic National Convention for Mayor John Hickenlooper, Chantal has worked vigorously to maintain the high integrity expected from the Denver community. Throughout her career, Chantal has worked in public policy, program management, marketing, and public relations. In over 20 years, she has planned, evaluated, coordinated, and implemented National, State and local private and public initiatives. Within the Mayor’s office, Chantal was previously the Director of the Office of Boards and Commissions where she worked for four years to fill over 2000 Mayoral appointments to over 100 boards. Chantal is a third generation Coloradan and is married to Douglas Unfug.
Website: www.denvergov.org
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