Since 1999, 9NEWS has recognized outstanding leaders in the community. This year, 9NEWS has again partnered with the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation – an affiliate of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce that educates and inspires people who want to make a difference as leaders in the community – to select and honor the next 9NEWS Leader of the Year, who will be named live at the Leadership Foundation’s Leading Colorado luncheon on Thursday, March 14.

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The 9NEWS Leader of the Year finalists are: Anthony Aragon, Dr. Nita Mosby Tyler and Andrew Schmidt. They each embody the values of Colorado’s Civic DNA™: inclusivity, collaboration, leadership, shared vision and responsibility. Inclusivity, in particular, is a critical component to community leadership in Colorado – and this year’s three finalists all model inclusivity in different ways.


Get to know Aragon, an alumnus of the Leadership Foundation’s Leadership Denver 2018, in his own words:

Career: Senior Advisor of Community Affairs for the Agency of Human Rights and Community Partnerships for the City and County of Denver

Community: I’ve been an LGBTQ community activist for over 30 years. I took on the PrideFest parade in 2000 and I’m still organizing the seventh largest PrideFest parade in the nation. I love to volunteer. I’m on several boards and commissions: the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Visit Denver Foundation board, the Denver Art Museum’s Latino Outreach Committee and I’m about to launch a Latino giving circle.

Leading with Colorado’s Civic DNA: My leadership style is all about collaboration. I don’t come to the table with all the answers. Having an inclusive table – I’m a big believer in making sure that every voice that can be represented is represented.

What drives him: I don’t know how I was able to travel the path that I was able to travel, but I have some amazing networks at my disposal and if I don’t use that for good, then shame on me. I’m just a big believer in trying to make a difference as much as I can.

All about action – and heart: There’s one symbol that’s near and dear to me, and that’s the heart. To me that says love and we have so much happening in our world today, and I think that’s sometime forgotten. Any time I can spread a message of love over hate I do, and that’s why that symbol is so important to me.

Leadership Foundation alumni, as well as members of their new partner, B:CIVIC, and their longtime partner, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, will have the opportunity to vote to select this year’s winner. Cast your vote between Feb. 5 and March 11 at denverleadership.org/vote.