SPEAKER: Tracy Houston

Board Advisory Consultant

Ms. Houston is a board advisory consultant headquartered in the Denver, Colorado area. With a focus on leadership, strategy and risk management, she consults primarily with directors, presidents and senior officers providing input on high level, sensitive and complex issues. Houston, with six years of experience as a sitting director, was one of the nation's youngest women to sit on a board in the electric utility sector where she provided leadership during a period of industry change driven by deregulation, privatization, technology and globalization forces. She is the past chairman of the board of the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology. Together, her board roles span the evolutionary to revolutionary decision-making environments. In 2008 she was inducted into one of Colorado's local women's hall of fame groups.

Houston has provided strategic counsel at congressional, state and local levels with appointments that include the presidential task force that developed Colorado’s Report on Race Relations, Energy Advisory committee in the Office of the United States Congressman Coffman, Economic Development Advisory Committee in the office of United States Congressman Beauprez and Colorado’s Statehouse Small Business Report. 

An internationally published author, Houston’s work has been seen in many publications from The Denver Business Journal, and The Center for Healthcare Governance's Trustee Magazine, to the U.S. Green Building Council.

At the podium, Houston shares her compelling insights on how directors that deliver can improve bottom line results. She explores the highly dynamic governance environment, assessing how U.S. companies can create an edge with board composition. She has appeared on numerous local news programs and the television show Colorado State of Mind.

Her book, Leading By Belonging: A Pathway to Knowing Yourself, delves into today's key leadership traits that create sustainable competitive advantage.

MODERATOR: Mike Cote

Editor of ColoradoBiz Magazine

Mike Cote is the Editor of ColoradoBiz Magazine. He has spent more than 20 years in the media industry as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Florida and Colorado, and now at ColoradoBiz magazine in the metro Denver area. He has also taught reporting and editing at the University of Colorado, where he earned his master's degree in journalism.

Before joining the team at ColoradoBiz, Mike served as both the City Editor and the Business Editor at the Boulder Daily Camera.

PANELIST: Jack Rizzo

Chief Sustainablility Officer for ProLogis

Jack Rizzo is Chief Sustainability Officer for ProLogis, responsible for implementing the company’s global sustainability initiatives and for maintaining the company’s leadership position in business excellence, environmental stewardship and corporate social responsibility. As head of global construction, he is also responsible for all new industrial development projects worldwide. Mr. Rizzo initiated ProLogis’ sustainable development strategy for new projects by establishing design and construction standards to improve the environmental performance of the global platform. Additionally, Mr. Rizzo was instrumental in leading the design and construction of ProLogis’ global headquarters, a LEED certified building. Mr. Rizzo has been with ProLogis since 1999 and is a member of the Executive Committee.
 
Prior to joining ProLogis, Mr. Rizzo was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Perini Management Services, Inc., an affiliate of Perini Corporation, a global construction management and general contracting firm, and was responsible for international construction operations.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Lehigh University, where he was inducted into the Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame.

PANELIST: Josiah Hatch

Attorney, Lecturer and Writer

Josiah Hatch was educated at Georgetown University Law Center, Oxford University, Princeton and Rome's Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies.  He represents executives, boards of directors, issuers and individuals on corporate governance, securities, finance and the resolution of internal disputes. Acknowledged by his peers as an authority on corporate governance and securities law, he is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Mr. Hatch counsels investment banks on multi-national executive risk coverage and has successfully defended corporate clients against multi-million dollar class action suits, intellectual property disputes and securities-based regulatory actions.  He represents defendants and witnesses locally, nationally and internationally in complex securities and commercial actions and appeals; and has served as an expert witness on securities matters for the United States and other litigants.  

Mr. Hatch is a prolific writer and frequent lecturer.  He co-authored West's® Director and Officer Liability: Indemnification and Insurance, the essential legal guide for protecting corporate managers from liabilities unique to their positions.   An expert on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Mr. Hatch has presented papers for the past three years at the S.E.C. and Colorado Bar Association’s Annual Rocky Mountain Securities Conference.  He has led programs on U.S. investment for entrepreneurs in former Soviet block countries and represented U.S. corporations in the purchase and sale of foreign assets, including compliance with U.S. laws governing business practices and associations abroad.  Mr. Hatch also conducts legal audits for multi-national corporations concerning their foreign acquisition and investment strategies.

Mr. Hatch is engaged in various professional and civic activities and co-chaired the U.S.-Mexican Business Forum, Latin American Trade and Technology Group; CANACINTRA, the Mexican National Association of Manufacturers (2001). Mr. Hatch is recognized in Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in American and Best Lawyers in Colorado.

PANELIST: Mary Beth Vitale

CoBiz - Audit Committee Chair, Board Member and Eye-Ris - Finance Chair

Mary Beth Vitale is a general management executive with 25 years experience in the telecommunications and consumer products industries.  Mary Beth was Chairman of the Board for Westwind Media, spent 5 years on the Board of Intrado, sitting on the Audit, Compensation and Corporate Governance committees, and spent 3 years with RMI, sitting on the Audit Committee.  Currently, Mary Beth is a member of the Board of Directors of CoBiz Financial Corp., and chairs the Audit Committee as a financial expert.  She is also Lead Director and Finance Chair for Eye-Ris, a privately held software company, and is a member of their Compensation committee.  Mary Beth also serves as Director and member of the audit committee at publicly held Zynex Medical. She is a founding member of former Governor Owens Commission on Science and Technology and has been instrumental in forming its strategic direction over the past eight years.  She is Treasurer and President Elect of the non-profit NACD.  Mary Beth is NACD Director Certificate holder and SEC financial expert. She has been a frequent speaker and presenter at many technology functions and seminars across the United States.

HOST: Allison Taylor

Business Consultant

Allison Taylor is a Business Consultant specializing in relationship selling, referral marketing, customer and employee retention and non-traditional sales training.  Through her business, Paravox, she offers innovative marketing and performance tactics to significantly improve business growth and profitability.

HOST: Dave Taylor

Senior Fellow at the DaVinci Institute; Blogger, Speaker, Workshop Facilitator and Radio Guest

Dave Taylor is a Senior Fellow at the DaVinci Institute and has been involved with the Internet since 1980 and is widely recognized as an expert on both technical and business issues. He has been published over a thousand times, launched four Internet-related startup companies, has written eighteen business and technical books and holds both an MBA and MS Ed. Dave maintains three weblogs, one focused on business and industry analysis, the eponymously named Ask Dave Taylor devoted to tech and business Q&A and APparenting.com, discussing topics of interest to parents. Dave is a highly-rated speaker, sought after workshop facilitator and frequent radio guest.