Celebrating Southern Colorado’s Workforce Achievements!
GlobalMindED, a Denver-based nonprofit championing inclusive leadership, has announced the 15 recipients of its prestigious 2025 Inclusive Leader Awards. They are:
Foundations & Funders: Kyle Hybl, CEO of the El Pomar Foundation.
Early Childhood:Dr. Meera Mani, vice president, David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
K-12 Education: Dr. Susana Cordova, Colorado Department of Education commissioner.
Higher Education: Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón, president emeritus of Miami Dade College.
Government: Vicki Vasquez, owner and chairwoman of Tribal Tech.
Health and Wellness: Dr. Yele Aluko, EY Americas chief medical officer.
Banking & Finance: Patricia Pacheco de Baez, managing director, Bank of America.
Energy & Sustainability: Wahleah Johns, director, Office of Indian Energy Policy, U.S. Department of Energy.
Space & Aerospace: Joseph Acaba, chief of the Astronaut Office, NASA.
Technology: Tim Muindi, group vice president of Treasury, Sustainability and Global Impact at ServiceNow.
Entrepreneurship: Dr. Rebecca Corbin, president and CEO of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship.
Media & the Arts: Edward Lewis, Essence magazine co-founder.
Nonprofit: Adam Popp, founder of Couch to 100, supporting other veterans through sports psychology.
Leadership & Equity: Dr. Shirley Collado, president and CEO, College Track.
Global Impact: Britt Slabinski, president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
The awards will be presented June 16, opening night of the GlobalMindED Conference, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel.
Dr. Kathryn Sullivan is the 2025 recipient of the Space Foundation’s highest honor, the General James E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award. Sullivan was the first person to both walk in space and dive to the Challenger Deep, the deepest point in Earth’s oceans. The award will be presented at the 40th annual Space Symposium, April 7-10 at The Broadmoor.
Two Air Force Academy cadets earned the People’s Choice award from the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge during the 2024 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, which took place Dec. 2-6, 2024, in Orlando, Florida.
Cadets First Class Michaela Kovalsky and Kieran McCauley created the Land Engagement Adjudication Platform game. It is used in the Academy’s Multi-Domain Laboratory, giving cadets the ability to apply operational level inputs to a capstone war game that leverages basic operational design research to provide realistic results to force-on-force engagements.
The Academy was one of 17 teams competing at the 19th Serious Games Showcase & Challenge. “Serious games” focus on educational and training outcomes that can have applications in industrial, medical and military training.
U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 1st Class Luca Valenti, Class of 2025, has been selected for the Holaday Scholarship, a fully-funded two-year postgraduate program in the United Kingdom. Valenti is an aeronautical engineering major who will graduate and commission into the Air Force as a second lieutenant in May. Bart Holaday, Class of 1965, established the scholarship.
Two trustees have joined the El Pomar Foundation Board. They are:
Col. Gail Colvin (Ret.) has rejoined the board after serving from 2020 to 2024, effective Jan. 1. She has also been a regional council member on El Pomar’s Pikes Peak Regional Council since 2016. Colvin is chief of staff at the Air Force Academy and serves as its chief business officer. She has won multiple honors during her 30-year military career.
David Siegel, a 2012 El Pomar Fellowship alumnus, was named a fellowship alumni trustee. He is executive director for the Ent Center for the Arts at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, supporting the Galleries of Contemporary Art, Theatreworks and the university’s academic mission. A violinist active in the local music community, Siegel also was CEO of the Bee Vradenburg Foundation.
The Foundation also announced staff changes:
Stacy Pons has been promoted to controller, expanding her role on the Finance team.
Connie Rickard has been promoted to senior investment analyst/assistant controller, expanding her role for the Investment Office and Finance.
Sharie Dodge joined El Pomar as receptionist/administrative assistant, supporting Grants, Human Resources and Executive Offices.
