Judges
Frances W. Owens
Frances W. Owens became First Lady of Colorado on January 12, 1999. A native of Colorado, she spent much of her childhood in Texas, but returned to Colorado to receive a degree in Art History from the University of Colorado at Denver.
As First Lady, Frances volunteered her time to many charitable organizations, some of which include Anchor Center for the Blind, Developmental Pathways, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, The Children’s Hospital, the Colorado Historical Society, The Colorado Autism Society, Habitat for Humanity, and Volunteers of America. She chaired the Colorado Commemorative Quarter Advisory Commission for Colorado’s quarter which was released in 2006.
Ms. Owens oversaw the privately funded project of renovating and restoring the Governor’s Executive Residence which was originally constructed in 1908; as well as extensive renovations of the Carriage House and lower gardens.
Ms. Owens began her career campaigning and working for former U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong in the late 1970’s as well as working for the Colorado Council on Economic Education.
Currently, she serves as Executive VP for Galloway Group, which focuses on forging mutually beneficial partnerships between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
The Owens’ have three children: Monica (26), Mark (23), and Brett (18).
Jim Benemann
Emmy-award winning journalist Jim Benemann is co-anchor of CBS4 at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Jim is an outstanding journalist and an exceptional communicator. His passion for his work and his commitment to this community make him one of the most respected broadcasters in Colorado. Jim's anchoring and reporting background has included major assignments on local, national and international stories.
He established a broadcasting bureau in Washington D.C., where he covered Capitol Hill, political campaigns and sent home reports from Cuba, Korea, South America and Europe. Jim is a Chicago native. He attended Colorado State University, earning a degree in broadcasting in 1978.
His TV news career began in Davenport, Iowa but Jim and his family have always felt at home in Colorado. Prior to returning to CBS4 where he anchored in the early 1990's, Jim worked at Denver's KUSA-TV and at KGW-TV in Portland, Ore. In his spare time, Jim likes spending time with his wife and four kids, golfing and getting into the beautiful Colorado backcountry.
Penny Parker
Penny Parker is the business gossip columnist for the Denver Post, and her reports about the quirkier side of the local business scene appear four times a week. She is also featured on KHOW radio every Friday 4-5 p.m. This second go-round at the Post began for her in early 2009, after the closure of the Rocky Mountain News, where she had served as general gossip columnist since October 1999.
She was born in San Mateo, Calif. And grew up in Palo Alto, where her 89-year-old father still lives. She moved to Denver in 1993 and took a temporary job at the Denver Post as a features writer, before moving into the business section. Without any experience in business writing, she began her new career covering skiing, tourism, retail, restaurants, and marketing and advertising.
She graduated from San Francisco State University in 1980 with a degree in journalism. She is married to Greg Henry, and she has a son from a previous marriage. He is studying theater at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Her hobbies include golf and cooking.
Linda Nelson
A Principal at Gensler, one of the worlds’s leading architecture, interior design and planning firms with more than 3,000 active projects worldwide, Linda Nelson is a native Oklahoman who relocated to Denver in 1977 to pursue her design career and explore the Colorado Mountains. Colorado has become home base for her worldwide travels from the depths of the Red Sea to the peaks of the Himalayas, New Guinea to Patagonia.
Her professional accomplishments include design for some of the leading corporations in Colorado, including Sun Microsystems, MCI, Deloitte, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Wheeler Trigg and Kennedy, and Reilly Pozner. A leader of Gensler’s Denver office, Linda is involved in staff recruitment, business development, project management, and is a local touch point for Gensler’s global accounts.
Linda is an active supporter of the arts and is a past president and current board member of the Denver Art Museum’s Design Council. A long-time resident of Capitol Hill, she is active in Capitol Hill Urban Neighborhoods (C.H.U.N.). An active mentor to younger designers, she is currently working with the University of Colorado to develop a student exchange program with a prestigious university in Shanghai.
Andrew “Andy” L. Bacon
Andy is the president of Colorado Business Bank in Golden. A native of Colorado, he spent his childhood in Grand Junction, then moved to the eastern slope where he received a bachelors degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University in 1978.
He is a third generation banker and has spent the past 30 years banking in the metro area, joining Colorado Business Bank in 1997. Andy and his wife Nicki , a pediatrician, have two children: Laura (25), an Interior Designer, and Chad (22), a student at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Since its inception 10 years ago, Andy has been a generous supporter of the CoBiz Financial Biz Bash, an annual fundraiser of CoBiz Financial raising over two million dollars for local children’s not-for-profits. In addition, throughout his career, Andy has been a supporter of Jefferson County non-profits, serving on several boards and volunteering his time. He is an accomplished gold and silversmith and enjoys golfing in his spare time.