2010 Annual Meeting Featured Speakers

Keynote Speaker - Meghan McCain

Outspoken, unapologetic, authentic and brutally honest, Meghan McCain captured the attention of the press and pundits alike during her father's 2008 presidential campaign.

To give Americans a real sense of life behind the scenes on the campaign trail, Meghan launched McCainBlogette.com, which has been recognized with several distinguished awards. While on the campaign trail, Meghan also published My Dad, John McCain, an illustrated children's book that brings her father's story to life. In her current position as a columnist for the political blog The Daily Beast, Meghan discusses challenging and sometimes controversial issues. She is currently working on a highly-anticipated book, Dirty Sexy Politics: A True Story, which will be published later this year.

Meghan graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Art History.


Featured Speaker - Luke Williams

Luke Williams is co-author of the national best-selling book, Why Loyalty Matters. He is a Director of Financial Services Research at Ipsos Loyalty and an Instructor at the Fordham University Graduate School of Business, where he teaches Market Research.

Why Loyalty Matters is based on the most comprehensive study of loyalty ever conducted, the landmark Ipsos Loyalty Study. The book shows through research that, when it comes to business success, satisfaction in our relationships and even overall happiness, loyalty is essential. At CSCUSA's Annual Meeting, Luke will discuss his new findings about customer loyalty and the powerful implications those findings have for Colorado's ski industry.

During his career, Luke has conducted research in several fields, including economics, government and politics. Currently, he specializes in financial services research, focusing on the payments market and macroeconomic effects on that market.

Luke has published editorial and academic pieces for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review Online, MIT Sloan Management Review, Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, Quirks Marketing Research Review, Marketing Management, Training & Development magazine, and The Wise Marketer, among others.

Luke holds an M.A. in Social Research Methods from the University of Durham (UK) and a B.A. in Sociology from Rutgers University (US).


 Panelist - Kevin Krone

Kevin Krone is Southwest's Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Distribution. He is responsible for Southwest's marketing strategies covering all sales and promotions; special event marketing; multicultural activities; travel agent and other partnership relationships; advertising; group marketing programs; Southwest's award-winning frequent flyer program called Rapid Rewards; online marketing; and distribution of Southwest's products.

Kevin started working at Southwest in 1992 and came to the airline after over thirteen years working in the technology and marketing sectors, most recently for Cellular One in Florida. Kevin received his B.A. in finance and an MBA from the University of Illinois.



Panelist - Mary Movic

Mary Movic is United Airlines' Managing Director for United Express. In this role, Mary is responsible for all operational and financial aspects of United Express, which provides service to 182 cities with 2,300 daily departures. United Express touches more than one-third of United customers daily.

Similar to United, United Express customers received the same No. 1 on-time arrival performance on partner carriers in 2009. Partner carriers flying on behalf of United also had the best combined performance among the regional airlines flying for America's five largest global carriers.

Mary joined United in 1998 and has held positions of increasing responsibility in Finance and Operations.  She received her MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and her MS in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University.


Panelist - Daniel Shurz

Daniel Shurz joined Frontier Airlines in June 2009 as vice president for planning and strategy and in October 2009, he saw his duties expand to include Midwest Airlines as well as Frontier, which are integrating under the Frontier Airlines name. He is responsible for network planning, scheduling and alliances.

Shurz joined Frontier from Air Canada, Inc, where he was most recently vice president of network planning and alliances. In that position, he directed network design and scheduling of the company's 350 aircraft, including 150 belonging to the carrier's regional partners.

Shurz also has held a number of other senior-level positions in the transportation and airline industries, including with the Chicago Transit Authority and United Airlines.

He grew up in the United Kingdom and received his BA from University of Cambridge and his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He lives in Denver with his wife, Kathy, and two children.



Panelist - Anthony Canitano

Anthony Canitano is General Manager of Network Planning for Delta Air Lines, responsible for the Western United States.

Anthony joined Delta in 2004 and has held positions in Network Planning and Corporate Strategy. He also spent time working with Delta's associated regional carrier enterprise, Delta Connection. Most recently, he served as a manager in Delta's Corporate Strategy division and worked on the analysis and execution of Delta's merger and subsequent integration with Northwest.  Prior to joining Delta, Anthony was an Account Executive leading the McDonald's account for Integer QSR and he was a Business Consultant for Arthur Anderson. Anthony also served as Chairman of Golf Fore Good from 1998 - 2004, raising more than $120,000 for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.

Anthony has a bachelor's degree in Accounting and Marketing from Miami University and an MBA from Emory University.


Panel Moderator - Andy Wirth

Andy Wirth is a member of the high performance leadership team at Intrawest's Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation and maintains a concurrent role for enterprise‐wide responsibilities as Intrawest's Senior Vice President of Strategic Alliance & Partnership Marketing.

Andy has been working with virtually every facet of Steamboat's air program since starting with the ski area as an intern in 1986, the resort's first year of guaranteed air service. He was the recipient of HSMAI's prestigious global award, "Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing" award, Steamboat's "2002 Business Leader of the Year" and remains active in many other community organizations. Mr. Wirth received his B.S. from Colorado State University with a year studying at the University of Edinburgh. He is married to Mrs. Karen Wirth and has three children (and one Border Collie, Max Chance Wirth).


Double Diamond Awards Dinner Presenter - Gretchen Bleiler

Four-time X Games gold medalist and Olympic silver medalist Gretchen Bleiler is one of the most accomplished female snowboarders in the world. Among her many accomplishments on and off snow, Gretchen won the silver medal in Women's Halfpipe at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. She is now widely recognized as a role model and pioneer in the sport of snowboarding. Gretchen also founded the first-ever, all-girls annual snowboard halfpipe competition, the COVERGIRL Snow Angels Invitational. The event includes top female snowboarders from all over the world.

She currently resides in Aspen, Colorado and in Carlsbad, California with her husband, Chris.


Double Diamond Awards Dinner Speaker - Craig F. Walker

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Denver Post staff photojournalist Craig F. Walker has covered some of the most important threads of the terror attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., fixing a compassionate lens on the men, women and children tangled then, and now, in the continuing story of geopolitical conflict.

Walker's photo essay "Ian Fisher: American Soldier" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in 2010. It also earned the American Society of News Editors community photojournalism award, the Sidney Hillman Foundation prize for photojournalism, a Gold Medal from the Society of Newspaper Design and other awards.

Walker came to the Post in 1998 from the Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Photography and began his career in Massachusetts, at the Marlborough Enterprise. Walker grew up in York, Pennsylvania.


Double Diamond Awards Dinner Speaker - Tim Rasmussen

Tim Rasmussen is the Assistant Managing Editor of Photography at The Denver Post, where he leads a staff of 27. The Post has won numerous awards under his leadership, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and Best Use of Photos from the National Press Photographers Association's Best of Photojournalism. Before joining the Post, Tim was the Director of Photography of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Tim's work was published in American and international magazines and newspapers, including the cover of the New York Times Sunday Magazine.



Guest Speaker - Rick Cables

Rick Cables became Regional Forester of the Rocky Mountain Region in January, 2001.

As Regional Forester, he is responsible for the administration of over 22 million acres in 17 National Forests and 7 National Grasslands, and cooperative efforts with state and private landowners in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and eastern Wyoming.

Cables was born in Pueblo, Colorado, graduated from Northern Arizona University Forestry School in 1976, and began his forestry career on the Kaibab National Forest in Northern Arizona.  After serving on several National Forests in New Mexico and Arizona, he became District Ranger on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. He then served two years in the Washington Office before he was selected to attend the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1989-1990.

In 1990, Cables was promoted to Forest Supervisor of the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Maine.  In 1995, he became the Forest Supervisor of the Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Comanche and Cimarron National Grasslands in Colorado and Kansas.

Before becoming Regional Forester of the Rocky Mountain Region, Cables was Regional Forester of the Alaska Region, covering the Tongass and Chugach National Forests.




Featured Candidate Speaker - Mayor John Hickenlooper

After being laid-off as a geologist in the 1980s, John struggled for a while until he came up with the crazy idea to build Colorado's first brewpub. Although he had to interview with more than 20 banks, he eventually opened The Wynkoop Brewing Co. in the dilapidated warehouse district of downtown Denver. His vision proved successful, and his brewpub and restaurant are now mainstays of Denver's community, and the beating heart of the lower downtown neighborhood.

As the mayor of Denver, John's business abilities, partnered with his progressive vision for the city, have played important roles in the success he has achieved since taking office. In 2005, Time Magazine placed him among the top five "big-city" mayors in the country.

Born in Narberth, Pennsylvania, John lost his father at a young age and was raised by his notoriously frugal mother. Having lived through the Great Depression, John's mother never wore a dress she didn't sew herself, and she washed plastic wrap and aluminum foil for reuse. John has carried those lessons of frugality and budget consciousness throughout his life, and as an entrepreneur and politician, they have been crucial to his success.

John moved to Colorado in 1981, after earning a Master's in Geology at Wesleyan University, and found work with Buckhorn Petroleum. With the collapse of the oil industry in the 1980s, John was laid-off, providing him with the opportunity to follow his entrepreneurial vision. He opened the Wynkoop Brewing Company in 1988.

As Denver began the construction of its new football stadium, John got involved in the negotiations, ensuring that the new stadium stay true to its original name, the famed Mile High Stadium.

In 2003, without ever having run for public office, John entered the race for mayor. Despite opposition from seasoned political veterans, he captured the attention of voters with his outsiders' perspective and business prowess, and he won by a landslide 2-to-1 margin. Before ever taking office, he tossed aside regional conflicts - announcing to suburban mayors that the days of "Denver first" were over. John pushed aside partisanship and reached out to Colorado's Republican Governor to bridge a new, city-state partnership. Just like he did in his early days in LoDo, John knew that as the state and region succeeded, so would Denver and vice-versa.

In 2008, John successfully marketed Denver's long-shot bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. As promised, John avoided using public funds for the campaign. Instead, he traveled the country to garner support from leaders in the Democratic community, procuring the necessary funding to host the convention. The event put Colorado on the international stage and brought more than $260 million into the local economy.

John's most ambitious campaign, his mission to reduce homelessness in Denver, has seen great success. Denver's Road Home provides employment assistance and housing for the homeless. The success of this program has become a model for other cities, illustrating how they can combat homelessness within the inner city.

Overall, his tireless efforts to improve the city of Denver have paid off. Despite shrinking budgets and managing the city through two national recessions, a recent citizen survey found that Denver's overall community quality rating improved from 78 percent in 2002 to 86 percent today.


Featured Candidate Speaker - Scott McInnis

A fourth generation Colorado native, Scott was raised in Glenwood Springs, graduated from Fort Lewis College in Durango, and served his hometown as a police officer and volunteer firefighter.  Scott's law degree from St. Mary's University law school enabled him to return home to Glenwood and serve the community as an attorney and legal resource.

Scott's neighbors urged him to enter public service, and he ran successfully for the state House of Representatives.  As a hard-working, results-oriented legislator, he rose through the ranks and was chosen by his peers as Majority Leader. After serving five consecutive terms as a state representative and twelve years as a United States Congressman, Scott returned home to work in private business.

The Denver Post, praising his focus on the environment, called Scott "a strong conservationist carrying on a GOP tradition that harkens back to Teddy Roosevelt."  Scott championed the cause of preserving Colorado 's most scenic places and authored three key wilderness laws.  Scott led the charge to create two new National Parks: the Great Sand Dunes and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

As an outspoken advocate for reducing the size and scope of government and an aggressive foe of tax increases, his work earned him the praise of taxpayer advocacy and anti-deficit groups.

Unable to sit idle as failed, anti-jobs policies harmed the state, Scott decided to return to public life and run for governor of Colorado. When not on the campaign trail, Scott and his wife, Lori, enjoy spending time with their children and their granddaughter. They live in Grand Junction.

Featured Candidate Speaker - Dan Maes

Dan Maes is a business leader running for Colorado Governor. From an early age, Dan knew he wanted to live in Colorado. Motivated only by a desire to live here, Dan moved to Colorado in 1985, after 2 years as a police officer, and with no job. After a month he stumbled into what was destined to be his career - business development. Dan's natural leadership led him to management roles and ultimately he earned part of a business through sweat equity. He and his partners sold a telecommunications franchise in 1997. He then started and sold a credit reporting agency between 2005 and 2009.

Dan lives in Evergreen with his wife, Karen.


Featured Candidate Speaker - Jane Norton

A third generation, lifelong Coloradan Jane was born and raised in Grand Junction. Jane's Mom taught school in Grand Junction and her Dad coached at Mesa Jr. College. She doesn't look any further than her parents when it comes to naming her heroes. With a lifetime of public service experience, Jane announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate on September 15, 2009.

In 2007, Jane was named the first executive director for the Denver Police Foundation (DPF). The DPF supports individual officers and their families in times of crisis and provides equipment, training, and technology in support of Denver police officers.

In 2002 Jane was elected as Colorado's 46th Lieutenant Governor. During her term as LG, Jane was elected by her peers to serve as chair (2005-2006) of the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA), garnering national support for Colorado-based Project C.U.R.E., bone marrow donation, sexual predator legal reform, and an award-winning cervical cancer public awareness campaign.

Prior to her election as LG, Jane was appointed Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment by Governor Bill Owens, a position she held from 1999-2002. As such, she had a broad range of regulatory and programmatic responsibilities. She managed a staff of 1,100 with a budget of over $280 million.
In 1988, Jane was tapped by President Ronald Reagan and by George H.W. Bush in 1992 to serve as the six state (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY) regional director of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Jane is a 1972 graduate of Grand Junction High School. In 1976 she graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science degree with distinction in health sciences. She also has a Master of Sciences in Management degree from Regis University, Denver.

Jane is married to Mike Norton, former US Attorney of Colorado. She is the mother of two grown children (Lacee and Tyler Artist), two step-children, and enjoys seven grandchildren, one of whom is serving in the US Army. Jane serves on the board of Denver Seminary, volunteers in her church and is an avid hiker and skier. She is a member of the Colorado Federation of Republican Women and a founding member of the Colorado Republican Business Coalition.


Featured Candidate Speaker - Michael Bennet

Michael Bennet is known as a pragmatic leader who finds common sense solutions to tough problems. His desire to represent Colorado in the U.S. Senate is rooted in a moral obligation to leave this country in a better place for his children, and a fear that we will fail in that obligation if we do not take a fresh approach.

Michael brings an unusual background to the Senate -- he's not a career politician. Before taking office just more than a year ago, Michael led a major urban school district as Superintendent of Denver Public Schools, he guided the City of Denver through a budget crisis, and he turned around failing companies in the private sector. Michael is married to Susan Daggett, a natural resources attorney, and has three children, Caroline 10, Halina 9, and Anne 5.


Featured Candidate Speaker - Ken Buck

Weld County District Attorney and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck is a proud Westerner with deep roots in Colorado. Over the years, Ken has worked as a truck driver, high school football coach, ranch hand, school janitor, paper boy, furniture mover, adjunct law professor, prosecutor, and businessman.

Since 2004, Ken has been elected twice as District Attorney for Weld County by large margins. He leads a staff of more than sixty employees and has a record of prosecuting criminals, supporting victims, and promoting crime prevention. As District Attorney, Ken brought together community leaders to create the Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC). To date, the center has helped more than a thousand Weld County kids and their families get back on the right path in life.

As District Attorney, Ken has also worked to address other major challenges facing his community, including crimes against the elderly, drunk driving, methamphetamine abuse and fraud.

Ken attended Princeton University where he earned his undergraduate degree in politics in 1981. He received his Juris Doctorate in 1985 from the University of Wyoming College of Law. In 1986, Ken worked on the Iran-Contra Investigation in Washington, D.C., and in 1987, he began working as a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. Ken later joined the Colorado U.S. Attorney's Office where he was the Chief of the Criminal Division. Ken has also served as an instructor at the University of Denver College of Law.

Ken has life-long ties to Colorado and has been an active leader in the state for many years. He has volunteered and served on the boards of many organizations, including, A Woman's Place; North Range Behavioral Health; Juvenile Assessment Center; Promoting Alternatives to Violence through Education (PAVE); Fresh Start, a charter school for expelled students for Denver Public Schools; and the Restorative Justice Coalition.

Ken is the father of two and has spent many hours coaching and cheering at his kids' athletic events. Cody is in his third year at West Point. Kaitlin is a freshman at Clemson University. Ken and his wife, Perry, are residents of Greeley, Colorado and spend their free time enjoying the outdoors.


Featured Candidate Speaker - Andrew Romanoff

Elected to four terms in the state legislature, Andrew Romanoff was Speaker of the House from 2005 to 2009. He led the Democrats to their first back-to-back majorities in more than 40 years. His leadership also earned national recognition, including Governing magazine's top honor as Public Official of the Year in 2008.

After earning a bachelor's degree at Yale, Romanoff set off for Costa Rica and Nicaragua, where he taught English in rural high schools. When he came home, he earned a master's degree in public policy at Harvard and a law degree at the University of Denver.

Romanoff worked in the private sector, as a senior associate at the Colorado consulting firm of Greenberg Baron Simon & Miller, before accepting a job with Colorado Governor Roy Romer. In Romer's office, Romanoff worked in the Office of Policy and Initiatives, analyzing state and national proposals for education reform.

During his time in state legislature, Romanoff is credited with many major accomplishments, including leading the fight to pass Referendum C, known as Colorado's Economic Recovery Act. For that and other economic development work, Romanoff was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Economic Development Council of Colorado.
He is currently running as a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.


CSCUSA would like to thank our Annual Meeting sponsors: