Robin Wise, Leaders in Action Award, 2023
The Leader in Action Award recognizes an LPR alum whose life is a model of “leadership, risk, courage, entrepreneurship, and success while promoting timeless constitutional principles and impacting public policy.” This year, the living example of those values, skills, and activities is Robin Wise. Her life and career are an example to the entire LPR family and to everyone who knows her.
Robin grew up in Omaha, graduated from the University of Nebraska, and began her career in marketing. She landed at the Greater Denver Chamber of Commerce, where she helped start the Colorado Business Hall of Fame. She had been involved in Junior Achievement in high school, where she learned the powerful impact positive role models have on young lives, an understanding that led to a lifelong career. For over 30 years she has been President and CEO of Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain, one of the ten largest Junior Achievement operations in the nation. There, she teaches that “Competition and individual rights are at the center of a strong, thriving market.” She leaders the largest economics education organization in the region, inspiring thousands of Front Range students to take ownership of their futures and imagine a life they may not otherwise have dreamed possible.
She and her organization have amassed a string of awards too lengthy to list, being recognized by ColoradoBiz Magazine twice, the Denver Business Journal at least three times, the Colorado Women’s Chamber, Girl Scouts Mile Hi Council, the Colorado Association of Non-Profit Organizations, and many others. She won the Ethics in Business Award, was called the “Most Admired CEO,” and one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Colorado.” She also serves on the board of the Common Sense Institute, the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network, and as an emeritus trustee of the Colorado Open Foundation.
Robin Wise fully understands the long-term cultural power of arming leaders with education and training, is a proud supporter of LPR and its mission, and shows by her own example how to mobilize dedicated citizens for freedom. She is the embodiment of a leader in action.
