Business Day 2022

Rachel Carlson

Rachel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Guild Education, a company on a mission to unlock opportunity for America’s workforce through education and upskilling, with a double bottom-line business model that does well by doing good. As co-founder and CEO, Rachel works with leading Fortune 1000 employers such as The Walt Disney Company,  Discover, Chipotle, Target and Macy’s to transform their education and upskilling programs. Over 4M Americans now have access to Guild, and the company has grown to over 1,300 employees to support its customer base. Guild was recognized as a winner of Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas award and a CNBC Disruptor 50 company two years in a row. 

Prior to founding Guild, Rachel was the Founder and CEO of Student Blueprint and worked for the 2008 Obama campaign before serving in the Obama White House. Rachel holds an M.B.A. from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business as well as an M.A. in Education and B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.  

Roy Romer

Former Colorado Governor Roy Romer was born in Garden City, Kansas, and grew up in Holly, Colorado. He received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Colorado State University in 1950, and a law degree from the University of Colorado in 1952.  From 1958 to 1966, he served in the Colorado House of Representatives and in the Colorado State Senate. Governor Romer returned to public service in 1975, first as Colorado’s commissioner of agriculture, then as the governor’s chief of staff. He was appointed state treasurer in 1977.  

He was first elected governor of Colorado in 1986, reelected in 1990, and again in 1994. He was the general chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1997 to 2000, vice chair of the Democratic Leadership Council and chaired the Educational Commission of the States and the National Education Goals Panel. Romer was named Superintendent of Schools of the Los Angeles Unified School District in June 2000 and held that position until 2006. 

Coach Jay Norvell

Jay Norvell was named the 24th head football coach at Colorado State on Dec. 6, 2021, after a successful five-year run at Nevada which included four bowl games and 30 wins over his last four seasons. 

Norvell's offensive coaching acumen is unquestioned as he built a conference title contender at Nevada. Wolf Pack quarterback Carson Strong was a two-time Mountain West (MW) Offensive Player of the Year as Nevada led the conference in passing offense in 2021.  

His resume and experience reach all corners of college and professional football. He has spent time in the Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, and NFL with the Indianapolis Colts and Oakland Raiders – a period that included an AFC Championship and appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII in 2002.

Angelina Howard

Angelina is a Senior Product Manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud provider. She works on the Industry Products team where she is currently developing a new service within the sustainability industry. Angelina is an advocate for inclusive product management and inclusive technology. 

She is the former president and current advisor for Amazon’s Black Employee Network (BEN). Her contributions and initiatives have resulted in grants for Black-owned businesses during COVID-19 as well as providing scholarships to organizations that are dedicated to STEM education. She co-founded BEN Startup Week and led the launch of the BEN Scholarship Program, as well as the launch of Rise, an 8-month leadership program for Black leaders at Amazon. She was recognized among Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and Black Enterprise’s 40 Under 40 in 2021.  

Angelina is also a blogger, instructor, speaker, corporate diversity consultant and co-founder of  Spektrem31, a platform and apparel brand launching this year to enable Black tech professionals to share their unique stories and skills. 

Ginger Graham

Ginger owns and runs Ginger and Baker, a food hub, market and event destination in Fort Collins, Colorado, housed in a historic grain mill, celebrating community, history, creativity and pie.  

She is a former faculty member at the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at the Harvard Business School and a former consultant to first-time CEOs in the areas of leadership, strategy, board-effectiveness and organization building.  

Ginger’s business career spans multiple industries including agriculture, cosmetics, investment banking, pharmaceuticals, medical-devices and biotech.  She is the former President and CEO of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, and the former Group Chairman, Office of the President of Guidant Corporation, a global cardiovascular medical device company.  

Ginger earned a BS in Agricultural Economics with honors from the University of Arkansas and holds an MBA with distinction from Harvard University.  

Shelly Swanback

Shelly holds a Bachelor of Science in finance and computer information systems from Colorado State University’s College of Business. She started her career at Accenture where she spent 28 years in client-facing and executive leadership roles in technology, business strategy, and transformational consulting. 

As Group Operating Officer and founding member of Accenture Digital, Shelly set up and scaled a new business to $20B over 6 years; entering Accenture into new markets and services helping clients leverage advanced analytics and digital technologies. Shelly played an active role with investors and industry analysts and was an advisor to C-suite executives about how to become a digital business and orchestrate the transformation of products, services, talent and culture.

As President of Product and Platform at Western Union, Shelly played a key role in scaling the digital business to $1B.  Shelly also built and launched a digital bank, established a new strategic cloud technology & data foundation, and transformed Western Union culture by leading others to work collaboratively with product mindsets and agile methods.

Kim O'Neil

Kim O’Neil is the Chief Operations Officer of Encompass Technologies, a Software as a Service company based in Fort Collins. With 12 years of service with Encompass, Kim has been an integral player in progressing Encompass’s mission to connect the entire supply chain for the beverage and food industry. 

In her time with the company, Kim helped grow the organization from an 8-employee team to a global organization of over 500 employees across the US, China, and the Philippines, while also creating a customer network of over 600. 

Kim is a third generation Coloradoan with a background in both computer science and international business. Prior to joining Encompass, she was a Product Manager at HP for 10 years, giving her a vantage point that many in the software industry don't have. She's seen the whole spectrum and knows how to build and grow a team at any point in the growth curve of a company. 

Kim’s passion for people, problem solving, and perpetual learning inspires both seasoned, industry thought leaders and the next generation of budding tech experts alike. 

Chuck Morris

Pioneering concert promoter, Chuck Morris, began his journey after dropping out of his political science PhD program to follow his love of music. The Brooklyn native came to Colorado in the 1960s and built his reputation by booking up-and-coming talent that would become the stars of tomorrow. Hosting artists such as The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, ZZ Top, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, Emmylou Harris, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dolly Parton, and many more at The Sink, Tulagi’s and his very own Ebbets Field club in Denver. 

 In the ‘90s, Morris partnered with philanthropist Phil Anschutz to create AEG Presents Rocky Mountains, which became the largest concert promotion company in Colorado history. He booked more than 1,100 shows per year from Red Rocks to Fiddler’s Green and Mission Ballroom.  

Chuck continues his work with AEG as their Chairman Emeritus to this day, and he most recently launched the cross-disciplinary music business program with the College of Business to equip students with the knowledge they need to pursue music industry careers. 

Eric Griffin 

Eric Griffin has a lifelong love for teaching and service. He’s the Assistant Director of the new Music Business Program at CSU’s College of Business and visiting professor at the University of the Pacific.  He has also proudly taught in the Music Business programs at Belmont University and the University of Colorado in Denver.   

A member of the California, Colorado and Tennessee State Bars, Eric also owns and operates Music City Council, a boutique law firm based in Nashville.  He continues to manage several artists and was formerly an artist manager for the Backstreet Boys, Limp Bizkit, Michael Jackson, Korn, Enrique Iglesias, Staind and Ice Cube. 

Eric graduated from The University of Colorado and received his JD from Pepperdine University School of Law.  He loves to travel to strange places, meet new people, and enjoy the adventure of the journey.