Nathan Fey is the new director of the Colorado Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry. Fey, who has served as acting director for the past month, is a sixth-generation Coloradan who spent 12 years as Colorado’s regional director for American Whitewater. He grew the national organization’s network of regional paddling groups to more than 20 from […]
Luis Benitez
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Here’s how John Hickenlooper introduced himself to America in his presidential campaign kickoff
John Hickenlooper launched his bid for the presidency on Thursday by casting himself as the Democratic candidate who can rebuild America after four years of President Donald Trump. Pointing to his experience governing through tragedy in Colorado — from floods to fires to a mass shooting — Hickenlooper and his supporters talked of a new […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Luis Benitez leaving outdoor recreation office he built to work for outdoor juggernaut VF Corp
Luis Benitez is leaving the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office after almost four years directing the country’s second-ever office of its kind and establishing the state as the epicenter of the outdoor industry. The mountaineer and former Town of Eagle trustee who united Colorado’s diverse outdoor community, helped land the Outdoor Retailer trade shows, lured […]
Posted inBusiness, Culture, News, Outdoors
Women continue to scale outdoor-industry mountains. And they’re giving others a hand on their way up
In what is now at least the second year of what many call the “Year of the Woman,” Colorado has emerged as a national leader in the outdoor industry movement to make a leader’s gender unremarkable. Not that long ago, a female president of the board, a female CEO or a female entrepreneur was noteworthy. […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Colorado’s explosive outdoor industry growth is emerging as global model
Luis Benitez is the outdoor industry’s apostle. Carrying the message that the outdoors is a key to economic prosperity and a hale population, he’s helped spark outdoor recreation offices in a dozen states. Now he’s taking his outdoor gospel global. The inaugural boss of Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office recently rolled his one-man revival through […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Colorado was ready for California to join states with outdoor recreation offices, but its governor just vetoed it
In the years since 2013, when Utah forged the first office championing outdoor recreation, a deluge of states has followed. Last year, the number of states with an outdoor-recreation office or task force doubled to 11, and more are forming, building momentum for an industry that is flexing its burgeoning economic and political might. And […]