Past Bill Daniels Ethical Leader of the Year Award Recipients
2023
Stephen Golderg, CEO and co-founder of HarperDB
As the CEO and Co-Founder of HarperDB, Goldberg’s experience and passion help provide customers with a data platform that is the right fit for them. He works closely with each customer to build trust and pragmatic problem-solving. Goldberg’s dedication to the company’s mission and values has helped grow the company 100% over the past year. He makes it clear that an ethical culture and values are the topmost importance for success within HarperDB. Read More.
2021
Kellye Gordon, Vice President of Ethics & Compliance and Legal Operations at VF Corporation
Kellye Gordon is being recognized for her hard work in ethics for VF Corporation, which currently employs over 30,000 people. Kellye uses her legal background to help VF promote ethical initiatives across many worldwide locations and a wide variety of brands, including Vans®, The North Face®, Timberland®, and Supreme®. Trained as a lawyer, she designs creative ways to help VF employees understand how to follow complex compliance requirements while living their values in their everyday work. Kellye’s focus on using data and principles of behavioral psychology to drive company-wide initiatives has led to increased associate engagement, more targeted training, and improved compliance results. Read more.
2020
Giovanna Carriero-Contreras, CEO and Founder of Cesco Linguistic Services
As the CEO and Founder of Cesco Linguistic Services (pronounced “Chesco”), Carriero-Contreras delivers high-quality interpreting and translation services in more than 120 languages, working in health care, education, social services, nonprofit, legal, workers’ compensation, and international development sectors. Carriero-Contreras has built Cesco Linguistic Services on a foundation of open and honest communication, integrity, trust, accountability, and empowerment throughout the organization, resulting in high employee morale and wide respect from the Colorado business community for the past 16 years. Read more.
2019
Bob Hottman, Partner at Plante Moran
Hottman is a partner and leader of the family office practice for the Rocky Mountain region at Plante Moran, one of the nation’s largest certified public accounting, tax, and consulting firms. He was previously a founding partner at EKS&H, where he led his firm through the lens of accountability, respect, and transparency, to make his organization the largest accounting firm in the Rocky Mountain region before its combination with Plante Moran last year. He has been providing accounting and advisory services for individuals, closely-held businesses, and public companies in the manufacturing, distribution, real estate, hospitality, club, and service industries since 1977. Hottman has consistently proven his commitment to leading the Denver community with firm ethical integrity. Read more.
2018
Gregory Anton, Chairman and CEO of ACM
Anton is a founding partner of Anton Collins Mitchell, a Denver-based CPA firm with offices in Boulder, Denver, Northern Colorado and Laramie, WY. The 170-plus member firm has been recognized by multiple outlets for its positive workplace environment and consistent growth. During the financial crisis, rather than laying off employees, management in Anton’s CPA firm voted to decline pay increases and bonuses, while reducing expenses with an eye toward the long-term, exhibiting accountability, respect, and fairness to a variety of the firm’s stakeholders. Read more.
2017
Pat Hamill, CEO of Oakwood Homes
Hamill has built a reputation for his honesty and fairness in business practices, his dedication to advancing the construction industry, and for creating successful educational communities. Oakwood Homes has invested millions in the Colorado community over 27 years, and Hamill has long been an advocate for Colorado’s education system and economic development. Hamill, much like Bill Daniels, has dedicated his career to creating and leading organizations with a guiding set of principles and proven that integrity in business pays off. Read more.
2016
Kate Paul, President and CEO of Delta Dental of Colorado
Throughout her career, Paul’s commitment to ethics and integrity has influenced the business decisions she’s made. As a young executive with Kaiser Permanente, she took on medical leadership to fight for transparency and accountability, risking her job to do what was right. Her efforts led to sweeping changes across the organization and ultimately throughout the industry. That’s just one example of her dedication to ethics. It’s impossible to summarize Paul’s lifetime commitment to ethics in a few paragraphs. Read more.
2015
Evan Makovsky, Managing Partner, Shames Makovsky Realty Company
Makovsky co-founded Shames Makovsky Realty Company in 1971 with his partner, and uncle, Motty Shames. Working with Shames, Makovsky took Shames Makovsky Realty Company from a small industrial brokerage firm to a full-service commercial real estate company offering brokerage, investments, development, property management, and lending. He has sold, leased, developed, and funded many notable projects, some of which include the Sage Building, Marriott Residence Inn at 18th and Champa, the historic Colorado Business Bank building at 17th and Stout, Mapleton Distribution Center and the Hilton Garden Inn and Embassy Suites hotels in Boulder. Read more.
