2008 Rocky Mountain Roundtable: Organizers

James T. Polsfut, Chairman

Throughout his 25-year career, Jim Polsfut has specialized in financial services management and community service leadership, both of which have had a domestic as well as international focus.

Professional Background

Mr. Polsfut currently serves as the president of the Cordillera Foundation, a 501c3 organization devoted to international grant-making and philanthropic consulting. Previously, he was the president of First Western Development Corporation, a division of the Denver-based First Western Trust Bank. Earlier in his career, Mr. Polsfut served a general manager for GE Capital in Mexico City and in the United States, as Denver Mayor Federico Peña’s assistant for finance for the City and County of Denver, and as an associate in the public finance office of Smith Barney.

Community Service Involvement

Mr. Polsfut currently chairs the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the governing body of the 22 public universities and colleges in the State of Colorado. Governor Bill Ritter appointed Mr. Polsfut to the Commission in January of 2007.

Mr. Polsfut also serves on the board of the University of Denver Social Science Foundation and the Child and Family Development Committee of the Rose Community Foundation. He also serves as a continuing elder of the Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church.

In November of 2007, Mr. Polsfut ended two years of service as one of two founding co-chairs of Denver’s Road Home, a $50 million plan organized in metro-Denver to combat homelessness over a ten-year period. Previously, Mr. Polsfut served as chairman of the board of the Urban Peak shelter for homeless and runaway youth and as chair of the Governor’s Council on Housing and the Homeless. In 2002, he founded Puente Colorado, a Denver civic organization created to raise and distribute funds for not-for-profit organizations throughout Mexico. His community involvement also includes service as treasurer of the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women and as a board member of Open World Learning, the New America High School, the Latin American Educational Foundation, and the Arvada Council for the Arts and Humanities, among other organizations.

International Background

Mr. Polsfut has traveled throughout Latin America and Spain extensively, including the travel undertaken as a result of three international fellowships: a Harvard University Trustman Fellowship in eight Latin American countries and Spain in 1983, an International Rotary Foundation Fellowship in Costa Rica in 1984, and an American Marshall Memorial Fellowship in Spain and other European countries in 1999.

In addition to his international travel, Mr. Polsfut lived and worked abroad as a foreign national in Mexico from 1991 to 1996. As a complement to his professional work in that country, Mr. Polsfut has written freelance articles for Business Mexico and engaged in community work including service as interim executive director of the North American Institute, board member of Special Olympics Mexico, and chairman of the advisory board of the IPODERAC orphanage for street children in Puebla, Mexico.

Mr. Polsfut is bilingual in Spanish.

Education

Mr. Polsfut earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1989 and an undergraduate degree in government from Harvard University in 1983.

Personal Information

Mr. Polsfut lives in the town where he was raised, Arvada, Colorado, and has one son, Javier, age 14.

Stephanie A. Foote

Ms. Foote is President and CEO of Laval Strategic Resources, LLC which specializes in program development and project management. Ms. Foote has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver, University College, where she designed the curriculum “Understanding City Systems and Services” for non-profit and foundation employees, and aspiring city managers.

Ms. Foote retired from the City and County of Denver in 2003 after a 20 year career during which she was elected and served on the Denver City Council from 1983-1993. She served as Chief of Staff to Mayor Wellington Webb from 1993 until 2000 when she was appointed as the first woman Deputy Mayor and Manager of Public Works.

Ms. Foote remains actively engaged in the community through her service on numerous civic and philanthropic boards and commissions including trustee of Western State College in Gunnison, and the Colorado Tourism Office. She is currently the Chairman of the Girl Scouts of Colorado, immediate past chairman of the Board of the Metropolitan YMCA, and is a trustee of the Rose Community Foundation. She is an executive committee member of the Institute for International Education and the Food Bank of the Rockies. She is a founding member of Colorado Cooperation, a member of Denver Rotary International – Club 31, the Downtown Denver Partnership, and the International Women’s Forum. She has most recently been appointed to the Colorado Scenic Byways Commission by Governor Ritter.

Ms. Foote has continued her public service by serving on Councilwoman Marcia Johnson’s Advisory Task Force to review issues with the Denver Election Commission in 2006, and was appointed by Mayor Hickenlooper in 2007 to the Infrastructure Finance Committee to help create a plan of finance for the City of Denver’s facility maintenance and capital improvements through future bond issues. She is currently serving as the President of the 2008 Rocky Mountain Roundtable to be held in Denver during the week of August 25-27th.

Ms. Foote has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Colorado – Boulder, and post-graduate studies in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado – Denver.

Ms. Foote is married and has two college age sons.