Dear Colleagues,

As a society, we must have zero tolerance for racism.

As business leaders, we have a defining role to play. We fervently believe that we must champion what’s right and stand for justice. We have been taking this time to really listen – and learn – and determine steps we can take as leaders. We believe we owe it to our employees, our clients and shareholders and to each other – as human beings – to help make our businesses and communities real examples of inclusivity and equality. We are acutely aware that many of our companies are just starting to address the inherent inequalities and the need for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and true partnerships with the Black community. Regardless of where we are on the journey, we do know the difference between right and wrong.

It is with this in mind that we hope you will join us in solidarity to stand up and act against racial injustice. Together we can serve as active allies and not bystanders. We will advocate for the fair and equal treatment of Black people by our criminal justice and economic systems. Together we can confront inequality and demand diversity, equity and inclusion in all that we do.

We ask that you join us today in our efforts to advance racial equality, as a unified coalition of CEOs standing against racism, by signing this online pledge.

Together, here in Colorado, we can foster a more inclusive society. Together we can start to dismantle our society’s systems and institutions that reinforce racial biases and systemic racism.

We understand that words are just that, and we will be measured by our actions. By committing to this cause, you agree to join our efforts to:

Listen

  • Listen to understand the needs of your internal and external stakeholders and work together to advance equity

Learn

  • Educate yourselves and educate and equip your employees to advance equity in the workplace

Lead*  

  • Improve practices for recruiting, hiring and advancing employees of color in your company
  • Encourage diversity in our partnerships and business relationships, and encourage your partners and vendors to embrace diversity in their workforce
  • Donate funds to support organizations addressing racial injustice and advancing equity
  • Vote and encourage your employees to vote as well
  • Actively work with and support minority-owned businesses in your community
  • Join and partner with community-based organizations advancing racial equity

Alongside B:CIVIC, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Denver Partnership, we are compiling resources for Colorado companies to deliver on these commitments, including a multi-year initiative to strengthen the talent pipeline and improve the hiring, advancement and economic mobility of disadvantaged communities in our state in partnership with Prosper Colorado and Inclusive Economy.

We will all be held publicly accountable in making changes. Six months from now, each of us will be required to report on our actions; that information will then be shared by B:CIVIC.

Conflict is hard, but the only way we know to deal with it is to confront it directly – not out of anger or to defend our actions, but out of a desire to improve, to be better, to make change. This isn’t somebody else’s problem – this is our problem.

Please contact us directly if you would like to find out more. With your help and by standing together, we can lean into our courage. We can find solutions together. Starting today.

Sincerely,**

Jandel Allen-Davis, President & CEO, Craig Hospital

Kelly Brough, President & CEO, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce

Robert Cohen, Chairman & CEO, The IMA Financial Group

Tami Door, President & CEO, Downtown Denver Partnership

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Laura Love, Founder & Chief Cultural Officer, GroundFloor Media | CenterTable

Paul Washington, Market Director of the Rocky Mountain Region, JLL

*We understand companies might not be able to take all the action steps at this time and encourage companies to take as many action steps as feasible initially.

**Roles and organizations of signers at time of pledge launch in July 2020.

Companies that have taken the pledge**:

**Roles and organizations of signers at time of pledge launch in July 2020.

Mark Cornetta

President & General Manager, 9NEWS

Qaisar Khan, MD, FACC, FSCAI

Interventional Cardiologist, Endovascular MedicineAdvanced Heart and Vein Center

Melissa Rosas

PresidentApex Design

John Hayes

Chairman, President & CEO, Ball Corporation 

Raju Patel

Senior Vice President; Market Executive & Denver Market President, Bank of America

Sarah Hogan and Cori Streetman

Principals, Barefoot PR

Jeff Ronsse

Managing Partner, BKD CPAs & Advisors

Rich Benensen

Managing Partner, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck 

Art Aaron

President & COO, CAA ICON

Dan Kobler

Partner, Campfire Digital

Walt DeHaven

Vice President and General Manager, CBS4

John Roble

President, Mountain States, Cigna

Crissy Fanganello

President & CEO, City BuildHer

Paul Collier

Founder & Principal, Coeffect

Ted Ott

President, Colorado Barricade Co. 

Everette Freeman

President, Community College of Denver

Julie Klein

Principal, Confluence Sustainability 

Joe Conroy

Chairman & CEO, Cooley 

Jandel Allen-Davis

President & CEO, Craig Hospital

Ashley Matuska

Owner, Dashing Maids

Kristin Lentz and Chad Williams

Managing Partners, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP

Helen Drexler

President & CEO, Delta Dental of Colorado

Pamela Meade

President and CEO, Designs for Learning

Chris Frampton

Managing Partner, East West Partners

Traci Lounsbury

CEO & Owner, Elements

Pip Cousins

Principal & Co-Founder, Elevate Momentum

Pete Dignan

Principal, Ever Better, PBC

Bruce Fowler

Managing Director, Fairfield and Woods P.C.

Dustin Whistler

Principal, Forte Commercial Real Estate

Shanda Vangas

Principal, Fourth Wave Strategies, LLC

Chris Harrison

CEO, FullContact

Lisa Beauchamp

President, Global Security Solutions

Mary Keith Floyd

Principal, Goodbee & Associates 

Brad Preber

CEO, Grant Thorton, LLP

Laura Love

Founder & Chief Cultural Officer, GroundFloor Media | CenterTable

Sue Reilly,

President, Group14 Engineering, PBC

Peter Arch

General Manager, Gymshark USA

Sylvia Young

President & CEO, HealthONE

Kathy Holmes

President, Holmes Consulting Group

Kirsten Benefiel

CEO, HSS

Robert Cohen

Chairman & CEO, The IMA Financial Group

Erica L. Tarpey

Director, Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe

Mark Reilly

West Regional President, JE Dunn Construction

Paul Washington

Market Director of the Rocky Mountain Region, JLL

Drina Quintana

Owner & Founder, JunkyFunk Designs LLC

Aaron Clark

Founder & CEO, Justice Reskill

Sam Kasparek

Managing Partner, Kairoi Residential 

Michael Ramseier

Regional President, Kaiser Permanente

Gretchen Rosenberg

President & CEO, Kentwood Real Estate

Andy Roberts

Managing Partner, Kittredge Ventures

Mike Bearup

Denver Officer Managing Partner, KPMG 

Doug McNeill

CEO, Laradon

Mark Beese

President, Leadership for Lawyers 

John Wetenkamp

Director of Operations, LoDo District, Inc.

Nancy Kristof

Owner and President, Message Matters

Janine Davidson, Ph.D.

President, Metropolitan State University of Denver

Gavin Hattersley

CEO, Molson Coors Beverage Company

Gene Hodge

Vice President, General Manager, Mortenson Denver

A. Gray Clark

President, Muller Engineering Company

Martha Weidmann

Co-Founder & CEO, NINE dot ARTS

John Couzens

President, Rocky Mountain Region, Northern Trust

Bob Deibel

President & Owner, OfficeScapes Group

K.J. McCorry

President, Officiency, Inc.

Jim Johnson

Shareholder, Otten Johnson Robinson Neff + Ragonetti PC

Joel Christensen

Founder & CEO, Parkwell

Vince DeRose

President and CEO, PEAK Resources, Inc.

Dax Craig

Co-Founder & President, Pie Insurance

Phil Kalin

President and CEO, Pinnacol Assurance

Justin Pless

Founder & Attorney, Pless Law Firm

Ryan Beiser

Regional President, PNC

Jennifer Evans

Office Managing Partner Denver, Polsinelli

Ellen Valde

Denver Office Managing Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Les Sweeney

CEO, Professional Assist Corporation

Jesus Salazar

Co-Founder, President & CEO, Prosono

Dan Igoe

Partner, Pure Brand

Mark Windhager

Founder & CEO, RedPeak

Alison Oyler-Mitsch

Owner, Refresh Studios

Rhys Duggan

Principal, President and CEO, Revesco Properties

Kirk Mielenz

CEO, RevGen Partners

Rick Kinning

Chairman, CEO & President, RK

Richard Lewis

Founder & CEO, RTL Networks, Inc.

Walter Isenberg

Co-Founder, President & CEO, Sage Hospitality Group

Lydia Jumonville

President & CEO, SCL Health

Lora Ledermann

Founder, CEO & Creative Director, Scream Agency

Rusty Brown

Principal, Semple Brown Design

Susan McFaddin

President, Seven Generations, LLC.

Binh Diep

General Manager, Denver, Slalom

Robert Niichel

Founder & CEO, SmartTab

Gary Kelly

Chairman of the Board & CEO, Southwest Airlines

Keith Porter

Principal, SPA Risk LLC

Kristin Friedman

President, Sportsfan and Sock Em’

Stan Clauson

Principal & President, Stan Clauson Associates, Inc.

Bruce O’Donnell

Principal, STARBOARD Realty Group

Kate Lyda

Principal, Staro Insights

Navin Dimond

Founder, President & CEO, Stonebridge Companies 

Charles Woolley II

President, St. Charles Town Co. 

Lori Fox, Maren Stewart and Tamra Ward

Principals, Taloma Partners

Tim Bradley

CEO, Teatulia Organic Teas

Chris Woods

Founder & CEO, Terrapin Care Station

Rich Harris

President, The Harris Law Firm, P.C.

Alex Cooper

Founder & Executive Director, The IronCEO

Lisa Jasper

Co-Founder and CEO, Thought Ensemble

Richard Rogers

Regional President, Travelers Insurance Southwest Region

Hassan Salem

Head of Commercial Banking, U.S. Bank

Steve Rendle

Chairman, President & CEO, VF Corporation

Nancy Lindo

Owner, Viewfinder Photography

Keith Lobis

SVP, Region Bank President, Wells Fargo Bank

Carla Dore

President & CEO, Workplace Resource

Chris Cabrera

Founder & CEO, Xactly Corporation

Ben Fowke

Chairman of the Board & CEO, Xcel Energy

Mike Zoellner

Managing Partner, ZF Capital 

Community organizations that have taken the pledge:

Carina Martin

CEO & Founder, A Precious Child

Gino Greco

Regional CEO, American Red Cross of Colorado & Wyoming

Linda Groah, MSN, RN, CNOR, NEA-BC, FAAN

Executive Director & CEO, AORN

Noel Ginsburg

Founder & CEO, CareerWise Colorado

Lindsay Lierman

Executive Director, CASA of Adams & Broomfield Counties

Cris White

Executive Director & CEO, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority

Renny Fagan

President & CEO, Colorado Nonprofit Association

Mike O’Donnell

Executive Director, Colorado Lending Source

Frannie Matthews

President and CEO, Colorado Technology Association 

Maria Fabula

President & CEO, Community Resource Center

Erin Atwell

CEO, Community Shares of Colorado

Janice Sinden

President & CEO, Denver Center for the Performing Arts

Kelly Brough

President & CEO, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce

Lorii Rabinowitz

CEO, Denver Scholarship Foundation

Bert Vescolani

President & CEO, Denver Zoological Foundation

Tami Door

President & CEO, Downtown Denver Partnership

Sean Sweeney

President & Founder, Flag Steward

Erin Pulling

President & CEO, Food Bank of the Rockies

Elycia Cook

President & CEO, FRIENDS FIRST

Leanna Clark

CEO, Girl Scouts of Colorado

Heather Lafferty

CEO and Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver

John McMurtry

Executive Director, Lake County Community Fund

Beale Tejada

Board President, Lincoln Hills Cares Corporation

Sandra Mann, PsyD

CEO, Maria Droste Counseling Center

Teva Sienicki

CEO, Metro Caring

Christine Benero

President and CEO, Mile High United Way

Joanne Kelley

CEO, Philanthropy Colorado

Burke Fishburn

Executive Director, Posner Center for International Development

Cindy Eby

Founder and CEO, ResultsLab

Bob Adwar

President, River Deep Foundation

Rob Smith

CEO, Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute 

Colleen Kazemi

Executive Director, Social Venture Partners Denver

Javier Alberto Soto

President & CEO, The Denver Foundation

Michael Leccese

Executive Director, Urban Land Institute Colorado

Sue Glass

President & CEO, YMCA of Metro Denver

Frequently Asked Questions:

Companies that sign the pledge will be asked to report their commitments to action in 6 months, starting January 2021. Actions do not need to be completed in the 6-month time frame. We are encouraging companies to devise/refine their commitments to action within that time frame.

Companies are pledging to listen, learn and lead in addressing racism.

We understand companies may not be able to pledge to take all the action steps outlined and execution of the pledge will vary by company. Companies are encouraged to commit to as many of the actions, as feasible, and a minimum of one action per category (listening, learning, leading) that aligns with your company’s goals and progress to date.

This work is a journey and will take years to implement strategically.

B:CIVIC will elevate the collective commitments to action. There will not be an individual scorecard or report published, by company. Our goal is to celebrate the collective commitments (roll-up trends) and highlight a few best-in-class stories. (e.g. The details of each pledge will not be published). The pledge content will also guide the resource development we work with partners to provide the community to support those goals.

Companies pledging to Colorado Companies Uniting Against Racism are committing to develop some action steps, over the next 6 months, for their companies to combat racism by listening, learning and leading more effectively.

Colorado Companies Uniting Against Racism is a CEO-initiated pledge-to-action supported by B:CIVIC, an organization of the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation. (The Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation, along with the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, are leading the Prosper Colorado initiative.)

Companies committing to the Inclusive Economy initiative are joining a coalition of companies diving into inclusivity work (educate, recruit, hire, support, and advance employees of color and investing in the upskilling and success of jobseekers and entrepreneurs of color), with the support and resources of the Inclusive Economy movement, to execute on their commitments and measure their progress over time.

Inclusive Economy is a collection of CEOs, Eds and other business leaders, led by Helen Young Hayes of Activate Workforce Solutions and 25 Founding CEOs/Leaders.

Several companies in Colorado have already committed to, or are considering, both pledges including IMA Financial Group and Craig Hospital.

Both engage with Prosper Colorado as the umbrella regional initiative to create the best place in the nation to live, work and do business – no matter your race, ethnicity or gender.

Additional questions?

Contact us at info@bcivic.org.