Peak to Peak Leadership was inspired by Christy Orris’ Henry Crown Fellowship at the Aspen Institute and her husband Jay’s involvement with the Aspen Global Leadership Network. These experiences introduced them to a methodology designed to dig deep into complicated societal and leadership issues. They realized the importance of exploring purpose, values and issues that really matter as a way to prepare and support the next generation of humane, mindful and enlightened leaders.
In 2019, they joined forces with Ewa Borowska, who is equally passionate about creating spaces where intellectual inquiry and exchange are sparked to pave the way for nurturing leaders and change agents.
Christy is an active investor and entrepreneur. She was the CEO of the ATEK Companies from 2001-2011, leading 7 diverse manufacturing businesses. She and her team grew ATEK Medical into one of the leading finished medical device outsource suppliers in the world. Prior to joining ATEK, Christy was President of Regent Aviation, worked in operations at Baxter Healthcare and in brand management at General Mills. Christy has also served on a number of boards including: University of Colorado Leed’s School of Business, Aspen Institute’s, Henry Crown Fellowship, and Young Presidents Organization.
Christy received her MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth and BS at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Jay is a brand management and strategy professional. He has worked for several companies on numerous brands throughout his career, with a trend towards smaller enterprises and natural foods. He has managed business lines for Horizon Organic and WhiteWave Foods. He gained additional experience with Healthy Food Holdings, where he was part of the due diligence and management team for Van’s Frozen Foods and Breyer’s Yogurt. Prior to that, he worked on the snack and cereal businesses at General Mills, including Total cereal, Chex Mix and Bugles. Jay has served on a number of non-profit boards including the YMCA of Boulder Valley and Boulder Country Day School.
Jay received his MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College and his BS in Biochemistry and Economics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.
Ewa’s career has ranged from investment banking, fund management, and consulting to teaching. Before joining Peak to Peak Leadership, Ewa founded a consulting firm advising institutions on leadership, governance, strategy, marketing, communications, transitions, and finances. Prior to that, she was a senior member of the investment team for the Global and American Franchise strategies at Morgan Stanley in London. The team managed in excess of $10 billion in global long-only equity strategies. Before joining Morgan Stanley, Ewa worked at JP Morgan in New York and London, Cambridge Associates in Boston, Linden Board of Education in Linden, New Jersey, and Shearman & Sterling in New York. She has served on a number of boards, including Friends School in Boulder, Women’s Health in Boulder, and Board of Governors for the NewVic College in London.
Ewa holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA with honors in Comparative Literature from Yale University.
Moderators
Our seminar sessions are led by trained, experienced professionals from various walks of life. They are leaders in their fields, bringing a wide range of perspectives and passion for the intellectual challenge of finding solutions to the most vexing societal problems.
Jim bridges his coaching training and experience with over 25 years of executive (CEO/President) leadership. He’s led multiple companies, been involved in a wide range of industries, worked abroad, and provided strategy consulting to Fortune 500 companies. He has been a member of YPO for 10 years where he’s moderated multiple forums. Jim’s success has been built on strong communication skills, a keen nose for strategic direction and an aptitude for simplifying complexity. Leaders and teams rely on him to stay on the cutting edge of conscious leadership in order to fuel innovation, self-awareness, and aligned strategy. His laser sharp presence, inquiry, and insight result in actionable development plans that he supports his clients to realize. He is a certified Integral Coach through New Ventures West and a graduate of the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute’s Engage program.
Jim holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BS in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mickey Freeman
Mickey is a mission-driven, social enterprise leader with over 25 years of professional experience in non-profit, public, and private sector management. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of a rapidly-growing FinTech company, Covered Insurance Solutions, Inc. Previously, he served as President & CEO of Education Funding Partners, a leading benefit corporation supporting public education through corporate marketing sponsorships, President of Outward Bound Wilderness & Chief Operating Officer of Outward Bound USA, and President of Schoolpop, the leading online school fundraising company. He currently serves as a Commissioner for Serve Colorado, the Governor’s Commission on Community Service, as adjunct faculty at the Daniels College of Business (Denver University) in Executive Education, and on multiple advisory boards, including Living As One, Meeper Technology, Family Promise of Greater Denver, Photomadic, and Unite for Literacy. He also serves as a Network Advisor for the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network.
Mickey holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from UNCG. He lives in Golden, CO, and is the father of three children.
Sarah is the Program Manager for the Scholars & Honors Programs in the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. In this capacity, she provides leadership training and academic support for nearly 600 top-achieving CU students, as well as teaches two courses and leads students on international trips each year. Sarah is passionate about experiential learning and cross-cultural exchange. She joined the Leeds School of Business in 2015. Prior to Leeds, as a graduate student, Sarah developed a social entrepreneurship curriculum for Fulbright students, helped create a Guatemala alternative spring break program, and founded the Teach for America/AmeriCorps Alumni student organization. She also worked in volunteer management, natural foods, and journalism. A New England native, Sarah first came to Colorado as an AmeriCorps NCCC member in 2010.
Sarah earned her MPA at Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and a BA degree in Communications Magna Cum Laude from Quinnipiac University.
Rob is founder of WisdomWrks™, an accelerator that guides and grows businesses and opportunities in Real Estate, Franchising, and the Health and Wellness. Rob’s career in real estate began in 1987 when he and his partners purchased 34 townhomes in Houston, Texas. Rob’s entrepreneurial success includes founding and leading Doc Popcorn, which went on to become one of the largest retail snack franchises in the country. As its CEO, Rob oversaw all facets of Doc Popcorn including product creation, franchise sales, real estate and construction and franchise operations. Rob sold Doc Popcorn to Dippin’ Dots. Rob was also President of Knitwaves, one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of girls’ sweaters and sportswear, and licensee of Disney and Barbie clothing. Rob is an angel investor and advisor and has taught entrepreneurship at the Leeds School of Business in Boulder Colorado. He is an active member of Young Presidents Organization / World Presidents Organization.
Rob earned a BA from Union College and graduated from Harvard Business School’s Owners, President and Managers Program (OPM).
Annette worked for nearly 20 years in the international hospitality industry including various roles at InterContinental hotels and Hilton International, with a focus on revenue management, database marketing, and customer loyalty programs. When she moved to Boulder, she shifted her career to support nonprofits, community-based programs, and public schools. She has worked for two start-up businesses including a health education company providing CME credits and a publishing company that helps colleges communicate with their parent community. She has served on the board of Blue Sky Bridge in Boulder. She is also active with Ignite Adaptive Sports as a ski instructor and coordinator of Junior Ski Instructor Training Program as well as Achilles Boulder organizing trail runs for people with disabilities.
Annette holds a BS in Hotel Administration from Cornell University.
Bart Foster is the founder and Managing Director of Sanitas Advisors, a sales strategy, executive coaching and training firm. Bart has twenty years of international sales and marketing experience in consumer products, technology and healthcare. He led sales and marketing teams at Kellogg’s and Novartis before founding SoloHealth (now Pursuant Health), a consumer technology company that places biometric health kiosks in high traffic retail locations. He is an active member of Young Presidents Organization (“YPO”).
Bart holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a BA from the University of Florida.
Darrell has over twenty years of experience in various positions within the financial markets sector, consulting, and higher education. Prior to joining Leeds as Director of the Scholars & Honors programs, Darrell worked for the University of Chicago as Director of the pre-professional undergraduate business program (500+ students). There he was responsible for curriculum development, systematic program growth, advising and mentoring students, establishing relationships with employer partners, fundraising, student recruitment, and managing a team of industry-expert advisers. Prior to working at the University of Chicago, Darrell worked for Towers Watson as an Investment Consultant and Scottrade Financial Services in both their headquarters and branch system. Darrell has earned his FINRA Series 7, 24, and 63. In college, he was a varsity soccer player.
Darrell holds a BA in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis.
Lauren Ivison is a leadership coach and facilitator with two decades of experience as a venture investor, attorney and strategic advisor serving startups through Fortune 500 companies. Through her company, Totem Leadership, Lauren works with founders, senior leaders, and boards of directors to discover their purpose and crystalize their vision so that they have a guidepost for every decision. She teaches teams to have hard conversations and helps leaders build the skills and sensibilities they need to respond decisively in a rapidly changing market.
Lauren holds a BA from Hamilton College and a JD from the University of Colorado.
Born in Jamaica, Jevon immigrated with his family to the United States when he was 6 years old and grew up in South Florida. While pursuing his Bachelor’s degree, Jevon participated in Semester at Sea, visiting and studying the society and culture of 10 countries. Jevon is also actively involved in his spare time with the Semester at Sea Young Alumni Council, where he is the Co-Chair and an acting peer diversity mentor.
Jevon is the co-founder of Findally, a platform that connects teams of young professionals with entrepreneurship and enables them to add value in emerging economies. While he is not working on Findally, he spends his time expanding his online Amazon business.
Jevon graduated from Babson College and Florida International University with a BA in Marketing and a Masters in Management and Entrepreneurship.
Kris is currently the Chief Operating Officer at flytedesk, a Boulder based ad tech company which makes the $6B in ad inventory on college campuses available at scale and supports student journalism by providing the financial engine for college media organizations. She is the former Chief Revenue Officer of Dex Media, where she drove industry leading growth on $1.6B in digital and print advertising, was on the management team that took Dex through IPO and the sale to RH Donnelley, and served as lead transition officer to merge a newly formed $3.4 billion media company.
Kris is committed to community service and currently sits on the Board of the Heart-J Center for Experiential Learning. She is a co-founder of Smart-Girl, Inc., a Colorado 501(c)3 that has provided leadership development programming to over 10,000 girls on the Front Range and was also selected by the US State Department to participate in programs on the ground in India to support the growth and development of women entrepreneurs. Kris is Adjunct Faculty at the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver. She enjoys a good book, the beach and ideally a hammock involving both.
Kris holds an MBA from the Daniels College of Business at University of Denver.
Anna Sernka
Anna is a senior at the University of Colorado Boulder studying Finance with a minor in Leadership Studies and a certificate in Social Responsibility & Ethics.
She grew up in Parker, Colorado, and enjoys spending time with her friends, family, and her sheltie. Her family owns a restaurant in Wisconsin, so she grew up learning how to cook. She spent this summer living in Wash Park & interning at J.P. Morgan.
She expects to graduate in 2021 with a BA from Leeds School of Business at CU Boulder.
Ruben is the President of Sigala Ventures LLC, a consultancy delivering integrated analytics, machine learning, and marketing solutions targeted towards organizations seeking to develop and scale their capabilities. Ruben brings over 15+years of experience across a wide range of disciplines including consulting, analytics, and marketing.
Most recently, Ruben served as the Chief Analytics Officer and Chief Marketing Officer for Caesars Entertainment, the largest gaming and entertainment organization in the world. As Chief Analytics Officer, Ruben consolidated the analytics function for Caesars into a centralized organization providing analytical support to all aspects of the operations including Marketing, Finance Analytics, Revenue Management/Pricing, Gaming Analytics, Hotel, Call Center and Labor operations, Data Science Solutions, and Enterprise Data Logistics.
Ruben has been a frequent keynote speaker and contributor to many industry panels including, amongst others, the Marketing World 50 and McKinsey’s Analytics and Data Roundtable. Prior to that, Ruben worked in the cruise line industry and as a consultant in Ernst and Young’s National Cash Management Practice.
Ruben has an undergraduate degree in Finance and Business from the University of Kansas, where he was a Rhodes and Marshall scholar nominee, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Sole set to create the most nontraditional career path. She is originally from Argentina. Pre-COVID, Sole was the VP of Operations for a boutique travel company, taking guests on culinary adventures to Spain, Morocco, Italy and India as well as managing vacation rentals in Mexico.
Sole’s previous roles include working as the Director of Marketing for Time & Place Vacation Rentals and Goddess Garden Organics; conducting research for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association; launching and running a meal preparation business; managing advertising for the Almond Board of California as a Senior Account Manager for Sterling-Rice Group; leading the Cheese department at Wild Oats/Whole Foods; developing content and working in business development for a pioneer Internet travel company when nobody knew what the Internet was; and working internationally as a Hospitality Consultant for Ernst & Young and an Internal Auditor for Inter*Continental Hotels.
Sole’s other achievements include walking long portions of three different routes of the Camino de Santiago, speaking four languages, and mothering two wonderful teenagers.
Sole holds a BS degree from Cornell University and a Culinary degree.
Gwen is an entrepreneurial leader with 24 years of experience growing brands and businesses. She has been fortunate to learn leadership serving as an officer in the Army, working for a Fortune 100 food company, and building an in-home start-up into a thriving retail service business. She is passionate about the power of innovative leaders to solve the critical challenges of our times, and looks forward to exploring and learning about leadership.
Gwen holds a BA in Public Policy from Stanford University and an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwest University.
Siobhan is a Telecom, Media, & Technology Consultant for FTI Consulting. She specializes in Telecommunication Satellites and remote sensing. In her time at CU, she ran the Hiking Club at the University of Colorado as a Tri-Executive officer. Her passions include supporting Women in Business and STEM.
Siobhan is a recent graduate of the Leeds School of Business, and Leeds Scholars program.
Evan is a tech entrepreneur and facilitator. He graduated from CU Boulder in 2021. As a student, he was in the Leeds Scholars Program and is now on their alumni board. He grew up in Longmont, CO and is a big fan of the Denver Nuggets.
Evan holds a BS in business and computer science from CU Boulder.
Emily is the Leadership Development Program Manager for global adtech company, Magnite. She is responsible for the design, implementation and facilitation of leadership development initiatives for employees across all levels of the organization. Her background is in education – both K-12 and collegiate. Throughout her 11 years working directly with students, she found a passion for igniting the spark in those around her. She has spent the majority of her career working for undergraduate leadership development programs including the Center for Leadership and the Presidents Leadership Class at CU Boulder, and the Pioneer Leadership Program at the University of Denver. She was also an adjunct instructor for the Leadership Studies Minor at CU.
Emily is passionate about the bridge between athletics and leadership. She is a volunteer coach for the Adaptive & Inclusive Recreation division of the City of Thornton and a coach educator for Special Olympics Colorado. She is an ice hockey player, team organizer, and formerly a coach for the ACHA women’s ice hockey team at the University of Denver.
Emily holds an MS from Southern New Hampshire University and BAs in English & Sociology from Syracuse University.
