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The following programs are ahead for The Denver Forum. It should be noted that events listed below are events presently scheduled. More events will be added as program opportunities occur. Please scroll down to view all of the event details, or you may use the navigation to access the event details you are looking for. Tuesday, September 21, 2010 The Denver Forum Proudly Presents: The Honorable Gary Hart Former U.S. Senator and Co-Chairman of the U.S. Commission on National Security, and Scholar in Residence, Colorado University Speaking about His Life and His Book of Memoirs: ”The Thunder and the Sunshine: Four Acts in a Burnished Life” Thursday, October 7, 2010 The Denver Forum Proudly Presents: Mary Alice Williams Speaking on: "A New Dynamic for American Democracy" Thursday, December 2, 2010 The Denver Forum Proudly Presents: Mike Moran National Leader in American Sports Speaking on: "Great Moments in U.S. Olympic History Tuesday, September 21, 2010 The Denver Forum Proudly Presents: Gary Hart – Former U.S. Senator and Co-Chairman of the U.S. Commission on National Security, and Scholar in Residence, Colorado University Speaking about His Life and His Book of Memoirs: ”The Thunder and the Sunshine: Four Acts in a Burnished Life” 12-Noon Luncheon Oxford Hotel -- Grand Ballroom 1600 17th Street Members: $30, Non-Members, $45 Phone Reservations: 303-832-9030 Event Sponsor: To Register Click Here Gary Hart – Biographical Brief “Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me— That ever with a frolic welcome took The thunder and the sunshine…” —Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses” For almost four decades, from his role in the 1972 McGovern campaign to his years as a visionary senator, from his leadership on national security matters before and after 9/11 to his contributions as a respected statesman on various issues, Gary Hart has been and continues to be one of America’s great public servants. In this insightful, humble, and often humorous account of his political and public life, Hart shares his journey through the sometimes rough seas of American politics. Through this journey, Hart conveys the lessons he has learned along the way, including the importance of public service, the continued relevance of the ideals of our nation’s founders, and the role of the American republic in the world. More than a personal memoir, The Thunder and the Sunshine is an important contribution to understanding the history of our nation since the 1960s, including firsthand accounts of the end of the Cold War, the presidential elections of 1984 and beyond, America’s initial forays into alternative energy, and the landmark work of the Church Committee. Drawing on the same keen intellect and foresight that shaped his political achievements and prolific writings, Hart provides a lucid critique of our past, present, and future. At a time when political leadership is often questioned and civil discourse is on the decline, this book provides insight to where we have been as a country, and where we must go in the twenty-first century. Thursday, October 7, 2010 The Denver Forum Proudly Presents: Mary Alice Williams Speaking on: "A New Dynamic for American Democracy" 12-Noon Luncheon Oxford Hotel 1600 17th Street Sage Room Members: $30, Non-Members, $45 Phone Reservations: 303-832-9030 Event Sponsor: Mary Alice Williams - Biographical Brief Mary Alice Williams is one of the most prestigious names in network television. She is a highly acclaimed broadcast journalist whose investigative work on such topics as foreign policy, ethics, technology, and healthcare have made her a respected authority and recognized voice for public information. Williams` preeminent stature as a news anchor, programmer, and radio and television personality extends to public and cable television, as well as the corporate business world and interactive media. Since 2003, Williams has brought her impressive history in broadcast journalism to her roles as writer at CBS Evening News, special reporter for WCBS Radio and host of Discovery Health Channel`s Daily Rounds, a program that takes and in-depth look at - and helps to make sense of - the often confusing and persistent health and medical headlines in the media. A published author, Williams adapted a weekly interview program for the Hallmark Channel about strategies for overcoming life`s toughest challenges into a book, Quiet Triumphs, published by Harper Collins. Both the series and the book featured the real life stories of celebrities who have overcome adversity at different points throughout their life and career. Williams built a career breaking new ground in communications and media. She came to national attention as one of the founding anchors and designers of the first worldwide television network, CNN. She was later named vice president and stood as one of the highest ranking female executives in American television. At NBC she became the first woman to win an Emmy Award for anchoring an evening newscast, NBC Nightly News. She continues to blaze new trails, keeping up with the latest technology that is redefining how the world does business and how we live our lives. Previously she served as corporate spokesperson for NYNEX as the company expanded from the premier provider of telephone service in the northeastern United States to a global telecommunications giant. In this role, Williams earned a reputation as one of the nation`s leading experts on new technologies, while her television advertising campaign, NYNEX Right Now, garnered an Effy Award for advertising effectiveness. In addition to pioneering new telecommunications areas and continuing a distinguished journalism career, Williams is hard at work proving that the modern "super woman" doesn`t have to be a myth. She has produced and hosted programming for next generation platforms including interactive television and broadband. For INEXTV.com, she developed an interactive show about business and finance in the entrepreneurial spirit and a business series called Amazing Women. For Centerseat.com she developed a multimedia program in conjunction with Borders Books on reading, writing and literacy. At the lecture podium, Williams is equally adept at addressing the myths and realities of the information age; the struggles facing women balancing career, marriage, and motherhood; and the changing role and ethics of modern broadcast journalism. Her wit, experience, and charm make her one of today`s most engaging women. From 1989 to 1993, Williams was a correspondent and anchor for NBC News programs including Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Sunday Today (which she co-anchored with Garrick Utley), NBC News Special Reports, NBC`s extended coverage of Operation Desert Storm, and NBC Nightly News. Before her tenure at NBC News, Williams was prime-time anchor and vice president in charge of the New York bureau of CNN. She anchored Newswatch, Inside Politics, and Primenews, and was a member of CNN`s political anchor team from 1980 through 1988. She joined CNN in 1979, as part of the original project design team, and played a major role in the network`s development and globalization. As the New York bureau chief, she oversaw the planning and organization of CNN`s second largest bureau. Williams has received numerous awards, including an Emmy Award, top honors from American Women in Radio and Television, and the prestigious Woman of the Year Award from Women in Cable. She has served as broadcast chair for Women in Communications and mass media chair for the National Council of Women. She is the recipient of 14 honorary doctorates. Williams received a BA degree in English and Mass Communications from Creighton University. Williams was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She received a B.A. in English and Mass Communications from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She is the mother of three daughters; Alice Ann born 1990 and twins Sara Mary and Laura Abigail born 1992. She resides in New Jersey with her family. Thursday, December 2, 2010 The Denver Forum Proudly Presents: Mike Moran – National Leader in American Sports Speaking on: "Great Moments in U.S. Olympic History 12-Noon Luncheon Oxford Hotel 1600 17th Street Sage Room Members: $30, Non-Members, $45 Phone Reservations: 303-832-9030 Event Sponsor: To register for this event please click here. Mike Moran – Biographical Brief Mike Moran enjoys his 43rd year in the sports media and public relations field, now in his sixth year as a professional consultant, continuing a career that has earned him the respect of reporters and broadcasters across the United States and internationally. He is the Senior Media Consultant for the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation, an organization which stages the annual Rocky Mountain State Games, the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame, sports luncheons and events, and promotes the activities of area sports entities including the U.S. Olympic Committee, the USOC national governing bodies, area colleges and universities, the Sky Sox, the Mountain West and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conferences, and events like the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and this summer’s 2009 State Games of America. From February 1, 2003 until August 1, 2005, Moran served as the Senior Communications Counselor for NYC2012, the organization that led the bid by New York City to host the 2012 Olympic Games. In his role with the bid committee, he served as spokesman, media and public relations strategist, and coordinator of media programs and national outreach. London won the right to host the 2012 Games on July 6, 2005, and Moran returned to Colorado Springs. Moran served as Senior Media Consultant to the United States Olympic Committee through 2004 after retiring on January 31, 2003, as Chief Communications Officer and the USOC’s principal spokesman for nearly 25 years. The native of Omaha, Nebraska, joined the United States Olympic Committee on February 9, 1979, and handled the difficult role of directing the USOC’s public relations and media efforts, becoming one of the most visible sports public relations executives in the nation for a quarter century. He served two four-year terms as a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Press Commission. The USOC honored Moran with its highest award, the General Douglas MacArthur Award, on November 3, 2002. Other recipients of the award include Nobel Peace Prize Winner and former U.S. Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger, former USOC President and Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon, USOC President Emeritus William J. Hybl, New York Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner, former USOC President William Martin, and 1936 Olympic sprinter Marty Glickman. He was inducted into the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame in October, 2005, and also received the 2006 Distinguished Service Award from the United States Sports Academy. Past winners of the award include Dean Smith, Bobby Allison, Don Shula, Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova, Mario Lemieux, Bud Selig, Al McGuire, George Steinbrenner and Eddie Robinson. Moran coordinated the USOC’s strategies, responses and programs that dealt with the news media and the American public through 13 Olympic Games, two Olympic boycotts, and numerous controversies and crises related to the world’s most visible sporting event. His efforts helped to produce unprecedented coverage of America’s Olympic athletes, the USOC, and the Olympic Games. During his long career with the USOC, he served ten Presidents and eleven Executive Directors or Chief Executive Officers, the most durable executive stint in USOC history. Much in demand as a speaker and master of ceremonies, Moran has occupied the podium for more than 1,500 press conferences, Olympic dinners, sponsor banquets, college graduation ceremonies, sports award banquets, and community and national events. His experiences with America’s greatest athletes, the Games, and the news media are extensive and often moving and humorous for event audiences. He created the USOC’s first media training program for Olympic athletes and created similar programs for Athens-bound American Olympic stars in 2004. Moran grew up in Omaha and graduated in 1960 from the city’s Westside High School and in 1966 from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, then known as Omaha University, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Journalism. He opened his collegiate basketball career at the school with an old-school hook shot for a basket against St. Benedict’s College in 1963. Moran is a member of Westside High’s Hall of Fame, inducted in 1994 along with former University of Nebraska and Washington Redskins football star Pat Fischer and Broadway and Hollywood actor Terry Kiser. At Westside, Moran was a forward on three varsity basketball teams and a 1958-59 teammate of versatile actor Nick Nolte for the Warriors. UNO honored Moran with its Distinguished Journalism Alumni Award in 1980 and with its Distinguished Alumni Award in 1988. He was named as one of the University’s 40 most notable graduates in the first 100 years of the institution in 1998 in a university publication entitled “Profiles”. Before joining the USOC in 1979, Moran served as the Sports Information Director at the University of Colorado from 1968-78 and in the same capacity at his collegiate alma mater from 1966 to 1968. CU awarded him an Honorary “C” athletic letter in 2005 for his commitment and contributions to the Buffaloes, and he was named to the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Hall of Fame on May 23, 2002. Moran began his sports career in 1963 as a sports reporter and photographer at KMTV, Omaha’s then NBC affiliate, where he worked with veteran NBC Nightly News icon Tom Brokaw. He left the post in 1966 to become the Sports Information Director at the University of Omaha and the launch of his public and media relations journey. Mike Moran enjoys his 43rd year in the sports media and public relations field, now in his sixth year as a professional consultant, continuing a career that has earned him the respect of reporters and broadcasters across the United States and internationally. What People Say About Mike Moran: Christine Brennan, USA Today sports columnist, ABC News/ESPN commentator, best-selling author of Inside Edge and Best Seat in the House: Mike Moran is one of the best speakers I`ve ever heard. He is an excellent emcee and witty speaker with hundreds of interesting stories to tell. For years, Mike was the voice of the U.S. Olympic Committee at banquets, press conferences and events around the world. He is an entertaining storyteller, a poised and articulate speaker and a very funny guy. I recommend him highly to any group. George Vecsey – Sports Columnist, The New York Times: I`ve seen Mike represent organizations in tough public situations and manage to achieve his goals while being humorous and dignified and accurate. He is also a gifted speaker in more informal or friendly gatherings, telling stories that can be poignant or funny, or both. He has great confidence and knowledge and diversity of experience, and would be an asset in any number of events. Philip Hersh, Chicago Tribune Olympic Writer: In my 27 years covering the Olympic movement and the United States Olympic Committee, I have heard Mike Moran deliver formal speeches, introductions at press conferences and hundreds - perhaps thousands -- of incisive and witty comments, many ad-libbed. Mike brings an encyclopedic memory, an apparently limitless supply of anecdotes, passion and point of view to his speaking. He is able to blend entertainment and enlightenment seamlessly, a rare quality. Never did I leave an interaction with Mike feeling that I had not been informed and amused. Never did I underestimate his ability to get his opinion across. My only regret over the few years since Mike left the USOC is that I hear him much less frequently. Alan Abrahamson, NBC Sports: I`ve been a sportswriter for many years now; I was at the LA Times for 17 years, the final eight covering the Olympic movement. (I left last August to go to the dotcom world -- still doing the sportswriting thing.) I thus have seen Mike any number of times, innumerable times, behind a lectern or commanding a stage. He is among the very best in the entire United States -- whether delivering a speech by himself, moderating a panel or emceeing an event. Here`s why: Mike has an incredible depth and breadth of knowledge -- not just about the Olympics but about the progression of sports in our country over the past 30 years. He is able to talk about all that he knows because, to a remarkable degree, he lived it. To hear Mike tell the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan stories from the 1994 Olympics is one of life`s great treats. Beyond that, Mike has that "it" quality -- he has presence, he has an obvious passion for the subject, he never gets rattled and he has that great deep voice. Here is my bottom line. If I were casting about for someone to come to my town to deliver a speech, I`d pick Mike. Everyone is interested in the Olympics, and that interest will only grow keener over the next 18 months, as we get ready for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, which are likely to prove a watershed event in the lives of everyone in this country (I am not overstating the matter). Mike figures to be much in demand, and whoever is in charge of his schedule figures to be busy indeed. Dick Celeste – President, Colorado College: I want to take a minute to tell you what a terrific job Mike Moran does as both as a public speaker and as an MC. Mike understands the power of words and images. He knows how to use the microphone and how to read a crowd. I have probably now heard him in a dozen different settings here in Colorado and he has never failed to connect in an entertaining and thoughtful way. As someone who has done a lot of public speaking (Governor of Ohio for eight years, Ambassador to India and now President of Colorado College) I have listened to more boring speakers than I care to remember. Mike Moran is just the opposite: he conveys a thoughtful message with grace and good humor. I strongly commend him to you. Craig Thompson -- Commissioner, The Mountain West Conference: I must first admit my bias, however. I’ve known and worked with Mike since the late 70’s and feel honored to have watched him advance through all phases of his professional career. From Sweden to Sam’s Bar and Grill, he has and will always be the consummate professional communicator. Whether handling an international Olympic press conference or a local event here in Colorado in front of eight people, he handles the duty with equal aplomb and respect. Ironically, just last week he was the emcee of a baseball luncheon that I attended and during the course of his usual remarkable effort, I turned to a tablemate and commented “Mike seems to have been born to do this.” Whether the event is solemn or light, he knows just the right attitude to bring to the podium. He is one of the best to effectively move the event along, be the keynote speaker or just add to the festivity with great stories and pertinent remembrances. Please write if I can add any detail to my perspective. Cynthia E. Stinger – Manager UNITED STATES OLYMPIANS ASSOCIATION; Olympian `84, `88, `92, United States Olympic Committee: As a three time Olympian and 20-year employee of the United States Olympic Committee, I have had the pleasure, honor, and good fortune to see and hear Mike keynote, MC, and lead many a gathering. From the White House to a Golf Tournament, from the Congressional Dinner to a briefing with Olympic Athletes, from a Board Meeting to an Awards Banquet, from an Employee Meeting to a Hall of Fame Induction, from a Memorial Service to a Retirement Celebration, Domestic or International, Large or Small, English or close to English, Mike captures and conveys the moment and the message better than any I have seen, and as I mentioned above as a three time Olympian I have seen a few that compare. From the news breaking controversies to the joys of victory I have witnessed Mike rise to the occasion and deliver the best, time and time again! Mike is entertaining, brings a sense of humor to and feel good about the occasion! He understands his role and has the ability to enlighten and inspire, and has a real podium/event presence! What sets Mike apart from the rest is his research, preparation, humor, and understanding of the occasion. When it is all said and done - Mike delivers! Mike has a unique ability to capture the moment and make all those involved feel connected to the occasion! But perhaps the highest endorsement and compliment that I can give Mike is that I have tried to improve my public speaking by emulating his preparations and delivery! On a scale of 1-10, Mike is an 11!