2024 COL PROGRAM

Presented by

The nonprofit Boulder Chamber is the region’s flagship business advocacy and support organization. With more than 115 years of dedicated service to our members and the Boulder community, the Boulder Chamber’s innovative programs help local businesses succeed while sustaining an economy that preserves Boulder’s high quality of life, including its environmental and cultural assets. Together with its member businesses, the Boulder Chamber is building a smarter, more vibrant economy – sustaining Boulder’s position as a global capital of innovation and a thriving center of economic vitality.

PROGRAM 5 - 5:50 PM Networking Reception

6-7:30 PM Award Ceremony HONOREES AWARDED Virginia Patterson Business Leader of the Year Neal Lurie Rising Star Award Marie-Juliette Bird Innovative Business of the Year Award Element Properties Boulder Shelter for the Homeless Entrepreneurial Business of the Year Award Meati Foods Franny Reich Lifetime Achievement Award Doug Greene Impact Award Dr. Reiland Rabaka

7:30 - 8 PM Dessert Reception

PRESENTING SPONSOR

COMMUNITY SPONSOR CONNECTIONS SPONSORS

CONTRIBUTING SPONSOR BLUE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION MEDIA SPONSORS

Virginia Patterson Business Leader of the Year Neal Lurie, President & CEO | Resource Central

Rising Star Award

Marie-Juliette Bird, Founder | The New Local

Innovative Business of the Year Award

Element Properties & Boulder Shelter for the Homeless

Entrepreneurial Business of the Year Award Meati Foods

Franny Reich Lifetime Achievement Award Doug Greene, Founder | New Hope Network

Impact Award

Dr. Reiland Rabaka, Founder & Director Center for African & African American Studies

CELEBRATING OUTSTANDING, INNOVATIVE, AND IMPACTFUL COMMUNITY LEADERS

HONOREES

VIRGINIA PATTERSON BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR NEAL LURIE • PRESIDENT AND CEO, RESOURCE CENTRAL Neal Lurie is the President and CEO of Resource Central where he has served for eight years. Under his leadership the Boulder-based nonprofit has helped more than 900,000 people save water, conserve energy, and reduce waste.

Resource Central’s water conservation programs have helped community members save more than 1.7 billion gallons of water by helping them transition from thirsty grass lawns to beautiful waterwise gardens. Its Renew Our Schools program has been recognized as one of the most impactful school climate action programs in the nation with schools in 12 states now participating in its clean energy competitions. Its popular building materials reuse program has helped local families save millions of dollars on home repairs and upgrades while diverting more than 50 million pounds of building materials from landfills. And in the nonprofit’s employee engagement survey last month, 100% of staff reported that they would recommend Resource Central as a good place to work.

RISING STAR AWARD MARIE-JULIETTE BIRD • FOUNDER, THE NEW LOCAL Marie-Juliette Bird, BA, MFA is a lifelong creative and life path bushwhacker.

A near-native of Boulder, Bird graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy and went on to become president of her class at Juilliard, before defecting to the open road in search of something altogether different. While earning an MFA from London International School of Performing Arts, she pioneered a music school, won an Independent Music Award and saw her designs featured on the cover of Vogue. Ever the prodigal daughter, Bird returned to Boulder and founded THE NEW LOCAL in 2019, with a vision towards cultivating a vibrant arts community downtown.

HONOREES

INNOVATIVE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD ELEMENT PROPERTIES

Element Properties is a privately owned, Boulder, Colorado-based full-service real estate development and investment company, focused on creating value for partners, stakeholders and community. Element targets urban-infill multifamily rental, for-sale condos and townhomes, affordable housing, office, and mixed-use opportunities in established and high barrier to entry markets with proven long-term demand drivers and a reputation for high quality of life. The Element executive team has over 80 years of combined experience in real estate development, often taking a full-spectrum approach specializing in all phases of the development process.

Since its creation in 2011, Element has sponsored on behalf of institutional and private investors the investment, development and management of over $500 million in Colorado real estate assets. Our mission is to provide solid, risk-appropriate returns to project partners by creating exceptional real estate projects that provide enduring positive impacts to people and communities through diligent risk management, cutting-edge sustainability practices, and best-in-market design.

NNOVATIVE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD BOULDER SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS The Boulder Shelter for the Homeless is a Housing Focused nonprofit that ends homelessness through unrelenting compassion and collaboration, by leveraging resources to effect as many permanent exits from homelessness as possible, as quickly as possible.

ENTREPRENEURIAL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR MEATI FOODS Though Tyler Huggins and Justin Whiteley grew up in different parts of the country, they shared a passion for science, the environment, and addressing humanity’s most pressing challenges that would bring them together in 2015 as Ph.D. students in Colorado. Within months of beginning to collaboratively research mushroom root (aka mycelium), they knew they had a nature-based tool for taking on many global issues. Over beers at a Boulder brewery in April 2016, they decided to start a company that would guide fungi’s miraculous biotechnological power toward efficiently meeting humanity’s needs. When their deeper investigation of crafting protein from mushroom roots crossed paths with growing public alarm about the food system, their big ambitions had finally found a home: Eat Meati™, a company that would provide delicious, nutritious, and Earth-friendly nutrition to everyone.

HONOREES

FRANNY REICH LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD DOUG GREENE • FOUNDER, NEW HOPE NETWORK In 1988, we moved to Boulder after a two-year search for the best place to raise a family and grow our natural foods media business.

Founded: New Hope Network in 1975 in Malibu. Products included: Expo West, Expo East, Delicious Living magazine, NFM the trade publication, along with additional magazines, conferences and trade shows. Personal Boulder projects include The Boulder Theater since 1995 and Rembrandt Yard, Z2 Entertainment and Rosetta Hall. Featured speaker at Stanford Business School, MIT, CU and The White House.

Married to Tiff Mitchum whom I first met while coaching Little League baseball in 1978 in Malibu. We share a collection of seven amazing kids.

IMPACT AWARD DR. REILAND RABAKA • FOUNDER & DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR AFRICAN & AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES Reiland Rabaka is the Founder and Director of the Center for African & African American Studies and Professor of African, African American, and Caribbean Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also a Research Fellow in the College of Human Sciences at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Professor Rabaka has published 18 books and more than 100 scholarly articles, book chapters, and essays. His cultural criticism, social commentary, and political analysis has been featured in print, radio, television, and online media venues such as NPR, PBS, BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, MTV, BET, VH1, and The New York Times.

EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW

BOULDER CHAMBER TODAY The Boulder Chamber’s annual business publication.

https://boulderchamber.com/boulder-chamber-today/

Your work makes a difference. Join over 1,200 BOULDER CHAMBER member organizations and begin your membership journey today!

SPRING PREVIEW Save the Date for our Upcoming Events!

3/21: Business After Hours: Non-Profits 4/3: Boulder Chamber Running Club 4/17: Membership Orientation Happy Hour 4/24: Business Before Hours 4/30: Bolder Young Professionals Happy Hour 5/8: Boulder Chamber Virtual Speed Networking Don’t miss out. Register on our website.

ENTERTAINMENT TAYLOR SHAE

Dusty-altcountry-americana is at the heart of Colorado born and raised singer-songwriter, Taylor Shae’s sound. Having rocked stages at festivals and venues across Colorado since 2016, Taylor brings stories of outlaws & dreamers to life in her songs, with velvety-toned, powerhouse vocals.

At 23, the songwriter has independently released 4 albums, a handful of singles, and has earned awards for her craft such as Sustain’s Backyard Songscape Competition in 2020, eTown’s Handmade Songs in 2017, and more. Currently calling Fort Collins, CO home, you’ll catch Taylor performing as a duo or recently with a full band, amplifying the alt-country/rock energy that many of her songs lean into.

Taylor’s latest single release, “Small Town America,” is a gritty, alt-country rock track inspired by an endless dirt road & too much time to burn. The backroad harmonies & angsty-americana guitars mix in for an anthemic, badass journey that’s sure to make you drive 90 in a 45.

Learn more and follow Taylor Shae at taylorshaemusic.com, or on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as @taylorshaemusic.

ADDERLY GRANT-LORD We are proud to share that Boulder Chamber member, Adderly, of Adderly Art has her beautiful paintings on display here at the Dairy Arts Center. Be sure to check out her work before or after the program.

Art has the ability to inspire greater peace and sanity inside of us when we allow ourselves to be more moved by the beauty in our surroundings. Your ability to contribute greater value in your world is connected to the quality of conversations with beauty. The aesthetics of your surroundings should inspire an ongoing dialogue connecting you more fully to yourself, the value you are called to create and the surroundings of your life.

Adderly’s painting process immerses her in letting go and surrendering into the unknown to allow more raw and unfiltered vitality and creativity to flow through her and into the canvas. She says, “This connection between the canvas and me is where the magic lives. While the intimate conversations her art inspires in me are different in the formation of each piece, as you see, feel and converse with my art, you too connect more robustly with your own aliveness. In the end, my art is a medium for you and the people around you to foster more freedom, meaning, and beauty with yourself and the world around you.”