Taylor Simonton
NACD-Colorado President

Chair of Audit Committee, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc.

Lead Director and Chair of the Audit Committee, Keating Capital, Inc.

Chair of Audit Committee, Zynex, Inc.

Board of Managers, Quality Rail Services, LLC

Chair of Audit Committee, Fischer Imaging Corporation (2003 – 2007)

Retired National Office Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP

Taylor retired in 2001 from a 35-year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers. While serving in the PricewaterhouseCoopers National office from 1998 - 2001, Taylor was a member of the Risk & Quality Group that handles all auditing and accounting standards, SEC, corporate governance, risk management and quality matters for the firm. He was one of six partners in a specialized SEC consulting group overseeing the quality of financial statements and SEC reporting for all PricewaterhouseCoopers foreign clients that publicly report in the U.S. Prior to that, Taylor participated in the firm's Partner International Program for three years, during which time he assisted Colombian companies in-country with capital-raising activities in the United States, consulted to major companies and coordinated IPO assistance, advised on due diligence and SEC regulatory matters and traveled extensively internationally assisting companies with SEC registration statements and other capital-raising activities. Since retiring, Taylor has served or is serving on a number of corporate boards of directors. He is a C.P.A. and holds a Certificate of Director Education from the Corporate Directors Institute. He received his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Tennessee.

Kathy J. Cunningham
NACD-Colorado Past President

Board Member Quality Rail Services, LLC and Novatix Corporation; Q Advisors Advisory Board

Kathy was Chairman of the Board and a member of the audit and compensation committees of Raindance Communications, Inc. until the company was sold in May 2006.  She also previously served on the Board of Directors and audit committee of Activant Corporation and the Board of Directors, audit and finance committees of J D Edwards Corporation (now Oracle Corp.).  Kathy also serves on the Advisory Board of Q Advisors, an investment banking firm and works with the local chapter of Room to Read, an international charity devoted to building schools and libraries and providing scholarships to girls in seven countries. She is a member and past President of the Financial Executives Institute and is a founding member and past Chairman of the Colorado Software and Internet Association.  She has served as both CFO and COO of a number of software companies, both public and private, and has also worked in the communication and financial services industries.  Kathy holds a BA in Political Science and Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA in finance from the University of Denver.

Sanjai Bhagat
NACD-Colorado Program Committee Co-Chair

Board Member, Integra Ventures

Sanjai teaches Advanced Corporate Finance, Investment Banking and Entrepreneurial Finance courses at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and was Leeds School of Business Graduate Professor of the Year. He worked previously at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Princeton University and the University of Chicago. Sanjai has published extensively in leading Finance and Law academic journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics, American Law and Economics Review and the Journal of Corporation Law. He serves as a consultant to various corporate clients in the areas of valuation, mergers and take-overs, executive and board compensation, and corporate performance metrics. Sanjai has served as the Associate Editor for the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Journal of Financial Research and the Journal of Corporate Finance. His work is regularly cited in the popular and financial media such as the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Economist and the New York Times.

Tom Briggs
NACD-Colorado Sponsor Committee Co-Chair

Tom is an experienced CFO with ten years of public accounting experience in two of the current four worldwide firms, and ith 25 years as a CFO in public and private companies primarily in the food and oil and gas industries. He was most recently CFO of Healthy Food Holdings, Inc., a Boulder-based holding and management company for branded food companies, and before that the CFO of Horizon Organic, the largest organic foods company in the US, which was acquired by Dean Foods in 2004. From 1990 to 2000 he was VP-Finance at Leprino Foods, a privately-held cheese and dairy ingredients manufacturer. During the 1970's and 1980's he was a tax and M&A consultant to oil and gas exploration companies, and later CFO and senior officer in two Denver-based independent oil and gas companies. He is past Director of the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States (IPAMS). Tom holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting from Duke University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is currently a board member and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Corrpro Companies, a publicly-held engineering and construction services company headquartered in Cleveland, and a board member, member of the Audit and Nominating/Governance Committees and Chairman of the Compensation Committee of Whiting Petroleum Corporation, a public oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Denver

Ronald J. Brown
NACD-Colorado Nominating Committee Chair

Managing Partner, Heidrick & Struggles

Ron is a partner with Heidrick & Struggles, and founder of the firm's Colorado office. His national search practice focuses on senior executive-level assignments for CEOs and COOs, Board Members and functional specialists - for private equity-backed and growth stage companies. Ron's clients range from start-up and growth-stage companies such as Econergy International, eBags and Exclusive Resorts, to more established companies such as Ball Corp., Newmont Mining and Samsung. He also works extensively with venture capital and private equity investors. Ron has held various leadership positions with Heidrick & Struggles, including Associate Director of the International Technology Practice and Managing Partner of Principal Development, and he has received the company's most prestigious honor, the Partnership Spirit Award. Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Ron served in several appointed government positions, including Deputy Associate Director of Presidential Personnel in the White House. He serves on the Board of the CU-Denver College of Business, is past Chairman and current Board Member of the Bard Center for Entrepreneurship, and is on the advisory board of a start-up software company. He is a Colorado native and a graduate of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA.

Bill Heck
Program Committee Co-Chair

Harlon Group - Managing Principal

Bill is the managing principal of the Harlon Group, a performance and compensation consultancy headquartered in Denver, and the managing principal of the Board of Directors Development Group, an advisory to board leadership. Bill has experience as a human capital management expert in compensation and performance management from the vice president role with two major national health care providers and with the Hay Group, and international compensation consulting firm, BKD, LLP, a major regional public accounting firm and Arthur Andersen, LLP. Bill serves as an independent director of a privately held R&D and manufacturing firm as well as an independent director of a privately held investment management firm. He serves on the board of directors of the Colorado Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth as well as a founding board member of the Rocky Mountain Human Resource Planning Society.

Peter Miterko
NCAD-Colorado Publicity Committee Chair

Peter is a Principal and Senior Executive Compensation Consultant in the New York City Office of Hewitt Associates, LLC. He consults to the boards and compensation committees of several public companies as well as large private equity and family owned firms on the subjects of executive compensation, board governance, and board appraisal and evaluation. Prior to his move to New York in August 2008, Peter was a shareholder and co-founder of Denver Management Advisors, a Denver based executive compensation and health plan consulting firm. He continues to advise many public and private Colorado based companies as a member of Hewitt. Prior to joining Hewitt Associates, he led executive compensation practices at Aon and Ernst & Young, as well as a number of boutique firms. While at Ernst & Young, he served a global partner in charge of the firm’s actuarial, benefits and compensation business and he served on the firm’s U.S. Operating Committee. He has also worked as a senior associate at Carter Ledyard and Milburn, a Wall Street law firm. He is a graduate of Brown University, the University of Connecticut School of Law, and the New York University School of Law. Peter is a member of the Colorado and Connecticut bars.

Don Parsons
NACD-Colorado Sponsor Committee Co-Chair

Founding Member, Appian Ventures

Don is a founding member of Appian Ventures and currently represents Appian on the boards of Oxlo Systems, and ETI. He is also a Trustee of Graland Country Day School. Previously, Don served as a general partner of Centennial Ventures, a Denver-based firm specializing in telecom services and communications technologies, where he served as a Board and Investment Team member for several IT/Communications companies. These companies included HighGround Systems, (now Sun Highground), Raindance Communications, Ecrix (now Exabyte), Verio (now NTT), IVast, Wireless Telecom and Pluto Technologies. Prior to his pursuit in a venture capital career, Don was an associate engineer with a design and development firm for IBM's Personal Computer Division in Boca Raton, FL. He is a founding board member of NACD-Colorado and former President and Chairman of the Colorado Venture Capital Association. Don holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern Univeristy and an MBA from the University of Michigan Business School.

Mary Beth Vitale
NACD-Colorado Treasurer

Co-Founder, Pellera, LLC

Mary Beth is a general management executive with 25 years experience in the telecommunications and consumer products industries.  Mary Beth was Chairman of the Board for Westwind Media, spent 5 years on the Board of Intrado, sitting on the Audit, Compensation and Corporate Governance committees, and spent 3 years with RMI, sitting on the Audit Committee.  Currently, Mary Beth is a member of the Board of Directors of CoBiz Financial Corp., and chairs the Audit Committee as a financial expert.  She is also Lead Director and Finance Chair for Eye-Ris, a privately held software company, and is a member of their Compensation committee.  Mary Beth also serves on the Audit Committe of Zynex. Inc. She is a founding member of former Governor Owens Commission on Science and Technology and has been instrumental in forming its strategic direction over the past eight years.  She was awarded her NACD Director Certificate in 2006, and has been a frequent speaker and presenter at many technology functions and seminars across the United States.

Francis Wheeler
NACD-Colorado Vice President and Secretary

Partner, Cooley Godward Kronish

Fran’s practice includes corporate, securities and transactional matters, including public and private financings, mergers and acquisitions, international transactions, corporate governance and securities law disclosure and compliance. He has represented publicly and privately held companies in a broad range of industries, including biotechnology, engineering, manufacturing, multichannel television, retail, software and telecommunications, in securities and transactional matters. Prior to joining Cooley in 2001, he was a partner with Holme Roberts & Owen LLP, where he chaired that firm’s Commercial Law and Securities Practice Group. Fran also practiced with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York City. He is currently named in The Best Lawyers in America in Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisitions Law, in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers in Corporate/M&A, in Who's Who Legal USA in Corporate Governance and as a Colorado Super Lawyer 2008 in Securities and Corporate Finance. Fran received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School and a B.S., magna cum laude, from Weber State University in Chemistry. He is admitted to practice in the States of Colorado and New York.

Timothy V. Wolf
NACD-Colorado Director at Large

Chief Integration Officer - MillerCoors

Tim is the Chief Integration Officer of MillerCoors. Prior to this position he served in the capacity of Global CFO since the 2005 merger of Molson Inc. and the Adolph Coors Company. Prior to 2005,he served as chief financial officer for the Adolph Coors Company and Coors Brewing Company, where he had served for a decade. Prior to joining Coors, Tim spent 16 years in various senior planning, strategy and control positions at PepsiCo; The Walt Disney Company’s global operations in Burbank, California and Paris, France; and with Hyatt Hotels Inc. Tim serves on Xcel Energy's board as a member of the Audit and Finance Committees.