Meetings

The Civic Center Conservancy named Eric Lazzari the Executive Director in November of 2019. 

He joined the Civic Center Conservancy in November 2011, bringing extensive event operations and program management experience to his initial role as Director of Programs and Events. Eric was promoted to Director of Strategic Operations in May of 2018.

Eric is a proud member of the 2020 Class of Leadership Denver. He was also a member of the Downtown Denver Leadership Program’s 2014 class, where he was selected as the winner of the John Parr Leadership Award and elected by his peers as the class trustee.

Prior to joining the Conservancy, Eric served as the Program Operations Manager for USA Swimming in Colorado Springs, developing and managing various programs, clinics and series. He previously served as Director of Special Projects for the Metro Denver Sports Commission, leading event production for the 2008 Frozen Four and coordinating sponsorship development and activation for the CU vs. CSU Rocky Mountain Showdown. He received his bachelor’s degree in Leisure Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and his MBA from the University of Denver.

Deep entrepreneurial and technology experience helping companies from mid-sized to major corporations apply business technology that saves millions or opens new markets.

Specialties: Entrepreneur, founder of Inc 500 company providing IT consulting and software solutions across U.S. and Canada.

Scott is passionate about giving back to the community and supports many causes. Most prominent among these are the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the Blind Institute of Technology, and the Colorado Technology Association. He co-founded the Microsoft Scramble for Sight in 2001 and has raised over $3M for the FFB to cure blindness. Learn more at ScrambleforSight.org.

Topic: High Fee Sales: How to Land Better Clients, Bigger Deals and Higher Fees
Speaker: David Newman, Do It! Marketing

In this fast-paced session, you are getting:

• How to do LESS marketing that generates MORE leads – and STOP the pointless social media monkey work and stop wasting time with non-buyers or the wrong buyers
• Prospecting insights – the “who, what, where, and when” of high-fee prospecting success that leads to more, better, faster high-fee sales conversations that are far more likely to convert to “Yes”
• Building a bulletproof sales process ONCE that you can use consistently to generate sales today, sales tomorrow, and a predictable flow of clients and cash month after month, year after year
• Premium Sales Positioning and how to show up for your prospects as a peer, not a peddler, so that you have high-trust, high-confidence sales conversations from initial contact through signed contract
• Tactical sales outreach that works, and that prospects WILL respond to
• PLUS you’ll get specific resources, links, and tools to help you implement these revenue growth ideas RIGHT NOW.

About the Speaker:

David Newman is the author of the business bestsellers “Do It! Marketing” and “Do It! Selling.” He’s the founder of the Do It! MBA mentoring program and the host of The Selling Show, a top-rated business podcast with over 400 episodes. He counts 44 of the Fortune 500 among his clients and audiences. David helps small business owners and professional services firms grow their revenues by 50%-500% in less than 15 months. Nothing makes David happier than client results. (Well, maybe puppies – but that’s it!)

Ethan is a brand strategist and marketing expert who has spent 20 years doing award-winning brand strategy, advertising, and market research for some of the world’s biggest brands.

A scientist by training but a marketer by trade, he’s the missing link between science and creativity.

His career includes roles as Insight Manager at Radar Research, Planning Director at 72andSunny, Group Strategy Director at Crispin Porter Bogusky, and Vice President of Insight & Strategy at the Integer Group.

He’s done ethnographies in Tokyo and statistics in Matlab. He’s developed promotions scorecards and shopper marketing design principles. He’s helped launch razors and position new lines of women’s clothes. And he’s presented on the science of marketing internationally, including SXSW and TED.

Ethan’s first life was studying urban ecology. He earned a PhD at the University of New Mexico under a National Science Foundation grant for complexity theory in biology.

He studied human evolution and urban metabolism, and he used computational models to explore patterns of urbanization. His papers continue to be cited today.

Only his friends call him Doctor Decker.

And only in jest.

Join us as we host Hilary Blair presenting on Executive/Leadership Presence:

• Discover what Leadership Presence is and what it looks like, to make you and your team work better, boost retention and reduce recruiting costs.
• Insights and strategies to cultivate an active presence that exudes confidence and authority.
• Gain tools to shift communication patterns that may sabotage Leadership Presence and Influence.
• Voice your ideas with confidence and conviction, to be heard above the noise and have influence, to help facilitate reaching the objectives of the company.

Recent Presentations Delivered:

• Unlocking Success through Interpersonal Communication: The Power of Authentic Presence.
• Increasing Leadership Presence and Influence through Heart-Based Communication.

Hilary Blair, CEO, CSP, Speaker, Leadership Coach, and Group Facilitator, weaves her professional acting experience into programs for corporate teams and individuals to elevate presence, communication, and connection. She’s certified in Conversational Intelligence™ (CIQ) and CultureTalk and trained in ORSC (Organizational Relationship Systems Coach) and approaches coaching from a wholistic systems perspective.

She holds a BA from Yale University in Psychology and an MFA in Acting from the National Theatre Conservatory.

In June we welcome Brooke Chesnut who will share the most recent data from Fortune 100 CEO’s, Top Business Periodicals and Personal Success Stories describing why this next decade is so important for Corporate Culture. He will discuss 3 fundamental trends for Leadership to share immediately with your current workforce, so they can make an impact upon what drives Culture, How to apply a Culture Shift and how to build Culture that will Retain Today’s Top Talent in a Remote Workforce Environment.

Brooke Chesnut has invested 38 years building successful corporate teams in Sales and Leadership. Drawing from these experiences, Brooke inspires CEOs, Senior Leaders, Business Owners, HR Professionals and Directors / Managers to improve their Leadership skills. Brooke is passionate about disrupting the status quo in Corporate America by impacting Leaders to think differently about their Culture while leveraging Generational Diversity and Communication to create a foundation of trust and success for the future.

Julie Mansfield and her Engagement Committee always do a fantastic job of facilitating our members-getting-to-know-one- another-better meetings.  These members only meetings don’t happen often so you won’t want to miss this one. 

We look forward to hearing from Nancy Gedeon, a Colorado demographer, about the state of affairs in Colorado as well as specifics on our economy. Profile photo of Nancy GedeonNancy Gedeon joined the State Demography Office in 2020 as the estimates demographer. The State Demography Office is the primary state agency for population and demographic information which is used by state agencies, local governments, and non-profit organizations. Nancy has experience with local government and community development, and is certified with the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). She has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, and a master’s degree in urban planning and development from Cleveland State University.

“Giving Denver Kids a Hand Up, Not a Handout”

The Lonnie Porter Leadership Academy was founded in 1996 by Lonnie “Coach” Porter.  In 2006, Chauncey Billups partnered with Coach Porter and the program was renamed the Porter-Billups Leadership Academy (“PBLA”).  PBLA helps youth from at-risk communities who have demonstrated academic and leadership potential to successfully graduate from high school and pursue higher education.  Students enroll in a three-week summer program during the summer before their fourth grade year and continue to attend the academy every summer through their junior year of high school.  Upon completion of the program, graduates who qualify for admission to Regis University are eligible to receive a scholarship to Regis University that covers tuition and fees.  Please join us to learn more about PBLA and how we are inspiring Denver’s young leaders.

Jennifer Clark is a former Denver Public School teacher who found her passion for educating young people was greater than the confines of a standard curriculum.  As a result, she started teaching at PBLA in 2015 and then became the Assistant Director of PBLA in 2017.  Jennifer’s contributions to PBLA have included recruiting students, assembling and leading a diverse faculty, developing a relevant curriculum that focused on overcoming barriers faced by the students, as well as establishing authentic relationships with the students that both support them while they navigate the world we live and while they hone their leadership skills for the future.

Our very own Dean Isaacs will tackle the complex topic of AI.