COLORADO WOMEN’S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

News: The annual dinner that celebrates the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business puts the spotlight on women who’ve overcome obstacles, broken barriers and shattered glass ceilings to pave the way for others while bringing value, new ideas and needed change to fields where women previously had been underrepresented. 

In its 13^th year, chamber CEO Simone Ross and other organizers of this Aug. 21 event took extra care to emphasize the strengths women bring to fields that include medicine, law enforcement, banking, finance and nonprofit organizations. 

“Let’s be clear,” Ross said to the770 guests, “Women aren’t DEI, they’re GDP.” GDP stands for gross domestic product, an indicator of the health of national and global economies; DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Ross went on to say that in Colorado, women-owned businesses “Pump $33 billion into the state’s economy every year. Women are economic powerhouses, period. Excellence has no gender.” 

One of the best examples, Ross added, is Donna Lynne, chief executive officer for the Denver Health and Hospital Authority and recipient of the chamber’s 2025 Legacy Award. 

“She cannot be stopped,” said U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, who had tapped Lynne to be Colorado’s 49^th lieutenant governor and chief operating officer during his term as Colorado’s governor. “She has been a big fish in whatever pond she is in,” he added, be it government, healthcare or nonprofit service. “And, she has climbed all 58 of Colorado’s 14ers – after the age of 50!” 

Prior to taking the top job at Denver Health, Lynne was chief operating officer at Columbia University Medical Center, CEO of Columbia Doctors, executive vice president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and group president of Kaiser’s Colorado, Pacific Northwest and Hawaii regions, overseeing an $8 billion budget, 1.4 million members and 16,000 employees. 

In addition, she has served on the boards of Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Denver Public Schools Foundation, Teach for America Colorado and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. 

“We were a great team,” Lynne said to Hickenlooper as she accepted the Legacy Award.  

Lynne added that when she was informed that she would receive the Legacy Award, her immediate response was “Hey guys, I’m not dead yet. It doesn’t represent the end for me.” 

She went on to say that elevating women has been an important part of her professional life. “They — whomever they are – have said women couldn’t do this and couldn’t do that, but we’ve proved them wrong.” 

The following were recognized as the 2025 Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business: 

• Capt. Sarah Allen, chief of staff for the Colorado State Patrol 

• Dr. Isabelle Amigues, a physician/scientist, rheumatology specialist and founder of Unabridged MD 

• Tiffany Anderson, who oversees the Boettcher Foundation’s portfolio of programs and grants 

• Amanda Blaurock, co-founder of the Village Exchange Center, co-producer of “My Father’s House,” a short documentary that won the Emerging Filmmaker Jury Award at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, American Pavilion.  

• McCall Fen, a partner at Growth Suite Consulting who had been the first chief recruitment officer for a large financial services network in Colorado. 

• Karrie Fletcher, Denver market president for Alpine Bank who is a member of the boards of Make-A-Wish Colorado, Warren Village and the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation 

• Lacey Golonka, community affairs manager for Molson Coors, where she is responsible for building, maintaining and executing strategic and effective outreach to Hispanic, Asian American Pacific Islander and veterans’ organizations and positioning the company as a leader in diversity, equity and inclusion at a national level 

• Maria Gonzalez, founder/CEO of Adelante Community Development, an organization that has been a force for Colorado’s Latino community, promoting economic mobility, health and wellbeing and digital equity 

• Rebecca Holmes, who has led the Colorado Education Initiative since 2017, and has worked tirelessly to elevate the voices of Colorado educators on key education issues 

• State Rep. Jamie Jackson and chief operating officer of The Naloxone Project. She also is vice president of Colorado Black Women for Political Action and had been COO of the Colorado Children’s Campaign 

• Dr. Sandy Jones, chief engagement officer at Colorado State University Global who held leadership roles at CU Boulder, the University of California Irvine and the University of Southern California 

• Zaneta Kelsey, co-founder and CEO of Access Mode, Inc., which cultivates venture-ready tech companies led by diverse entrepreneurs. She also founded Delightsum, LLC, which guides brands through digital transformation 

• Mary Ann Littler, owner/CEO of Peak-to- Peak Business Strategies, chief development officer at AdventHealth Avista Hospital and chair of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado board of trustees 

• Trena Marsal, chief of operations for the Denver Public Schools, where she leads a team of some 2,500 employees 

• Lorez Meinhold, founding executive director of Caring for Denver Foundation and a 20-year veteran of work in the healthcare policy and fundraising arenas 

• Yevgenya Muchnik, an attorney, founding partner of Launch Legal LLC and senior of counsel at Jason Wiener, P.C., where she advises growth-stage tech and blockchain companies on complex corporate structuring 

• Vanessa Ortiz, senior director of business operations at Bespoke, a global, award-winning experiential marketing company that brings meetings, incentives and retreats to life 

• Dr. Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, an agency that provides comprehensive programs and services for young children, families and early childhood professionals 

• Patty Salazar, executive director of the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), which has oversight of more than   50 industries 

• Denver City Council President Amanda Sandoval, a Denver native and member of a family deeply rooted in local politics 

• Mary Kathryn “Kate” Strauss, founding partner of Galvanize Law Group where she represents clients in construction law, complex litigation and appellate matters 

• Ana Temu Otting, president/CEO of Corazon Printing, the only Latina-owned unionized print shop in Colorado 

• Angie Voigt, chief nursing officer at HealthONE’s Sky Ridge Medical Center, whose 17 years in nursing includes experience in critical care, travel nursing and nursing leadership 

• Dace West, chief impact officer at the Denver Foundation, where she oversees the Impact Group and the foundation’s policy advocacy work and other community leadership efforts 

• Alexandria Wise, executive director of Community Enterprise Development Services, a nonprofit impact investment organization serving refugees, immigrants and low-to-moderate income Americans in the metro Denver area 

About the organization: The Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce was founded in 188 by nine women whose goal was to give women a voice in business, support women in business and provide resources to help them grow. 

Website: cwcc.org 

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