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The Denver & Colorado Tourism Industry Hall of Fame was created to recognize outstanding individuals who through their leadership, dedication and professionalism have made significant contributions to the tourism industry in Denver and Colorado.
The Denver & Colorado Travel Industry Hall of Fame was created to recognize outstanding…
“Tourism Star” awards are presented to organizations and attractions that had a…
President and CEO, National Western Stock Show and Rodeo
January 2025 will be the last National Western Stock Show and Rodeo for Paul Andrews as he will retire in spring/summer 2025 as the president and CEO, a position he held since November 2010 in which he oversees the business operations, staff and venue development for this multi-year event complex and home of the National Western Stock Show. During his tenure, the Stock Show and the historic north Denver campus that has hosted the event every January since 1906 saw significant changes. His leadership is credited with helping the show grow to an average attendance of more than 700,000 people per year over its 16-day run. The number of events held as part of the show doubled on Andrews’ watch, exceeding 250 per year, while the show has a $171 million economic impact to the metro-Denver area. Most importantly, the January show occurs at a time that is typically slow for Denver’s hotels and hospitality industry. In 2015, Andrews was one of the leaders of the coalition that backed the successful campaign for Ballot Measure 2C, a bond measure that called for an extension of taxes on hotels and rental cars to raise $1 billion for the overhaul of the National Western Center complex and campus. Andrews’ tenure also saw the development of the Colorado State University Spur campus, adjacent to the National Western Stock Show complex. Paul currently serves as a director on the boards of the Western Stock Show Association, VISIT DENVER, Monarch Casino and the Gold Crown Foundation.
Former Vice President of Tourism, VISIT DENVER
Jayne Buck served as the vice president of tourism at VISIT DENVER, the marketing organization for Denver, for more than 20 years during a period in which the Mile High City’s tourism industry saw unprecedented and continual growth. Before retiring in 2020, she drove increases in Denver’s visitor numbers for 15 consecutive years and consistently achieved annual goals. Buck was instrumental in developing successful tourism programs including Mile High Holidays, a $1 million program to drive business in the slow months of December and January; the Go the EXTRA Mile hospitality training program, which helped train hospitality workers for the Democratic Convention in 2008 and every year since; and the annual Denver Arts Week marketing initiative, which became the largest arts festival in the city with hundreds of participating galleries, museums and cultural facilities.. Buck was instrumental in collaborating with Denver International Airport, the State of Colorado and the City to attract and market international nonstop flights. She crossed the globe marketing Denver in London, Berlin, Tokyo, Iceland, Australia, China, Paris, Mexico and so many other destinations, establishing relationships with hundreds of international tour operators who brought business to Colorado. She embraced the city and became VISIT DENVER’s liaison to the LGBTQ+ community, helping to make Denver PrideFest one of the biggest celebrations in the nation. She served on the board of the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, the Japan America Society of Colorado, the SCFD Denver County Cultural Council and many other cultural organizations and worked continuously to promote Denver’s art scene.
General Manager, Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center
A beloved hospitality industry veteran, Greg Leonard celebrates 45 years with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts. His journey with Hyatt Hotels began in 1980, with his connection to Denver starting in 1998 as General Manager of the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center. In 2008, he transitioned downtown to lead the Grand Hyatt Denver team, where he spent five impactful years overseeing a transformative renovation of the property’s lobby, guest rooms and meeting spaces in 2012 and 2013. Leonard’s career has also taken him to other markets, including a two-year leadership role at the Hyatt Regency San Antonio prior to returning home to Denver in August 2015 where he assumed the role of General Manager at the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center. Since then, Leonard has led the hotel through several major projects, including renovations of its meeting spaces in 2015 and 2016, a full reimagining of the lobby and food and beverage outlets in 2018 and 2019, and is currently spearheading a transformation of all 1,100 guest rooms. Beyond his exceptional contributions to the hospitality industry, Leonard has been a pillar of the Denver community. He has served as chairman of the board for VISIT DENVER and worked closely with organizations such as the Downtown Denver Partnership, the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association and Special Olympics Colorado (SOCO), where he has been a long-time board member, past board chair, volunteer, fundraiser, multi-sport coach and a proud father of a SOCO athlete. He is also the driving force behind the Bike MS Colorado Team Stay Fit at Hyatt, which raised more than $1 million over 15 years, growing to include over 200 riders. His commitment to giving back is matched only by his dedication to his family. Married to his wife, Jenny, for 44 years, Leonard is the proud father of three beautiful and successful daughters who were raised through a dozen moves across the country during his remarkable Hyatt career. Greg Leonard’s dedication to the hotel industry, his community, and his family has solidified his place as a true legend in the industry. His remarkable career spanning four and a half decades continues to inspire… with no end in sight.
CEO, Denver Botanic Gardens
Throughout his career, Brian Vogt has always been involved in tourism. In 1986, he was hired as Director or the South Metro Denver Economic Development Group, a fresh program of the South Metro Denver Chamber. A few years later and for the next 14 years, Brian served as president of the Chamber. Attracting visitors to the region was always a priority, and Brian led numerous initiatives to attract tourism infrastructure and new audiences. In 2002, Brian was recruited to lead the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, which included the Colorado Tourism Office. During his tenure, OEDIT launched numerous initiatives to provide services to every corner of the State, incorporate Colorado Creative Industries, rebuild the Colorado Film Commission, launch the Advance Colorado Center and pass six pieces of legislation that more than doubled state tourism funding. Brian has been CEO of Denver Botanic Gardens since April 2007. In that time, attendance has grown to 1.5 million per year. He has launched programs to address access to food in urban areas, the Center for Global Initiatives, which was launched focusing on plant research and crop genetics. Under his tenure, the Denver Botanic Gardens has had exhibit programs curating works by legends such as Henry Moore, Dale Chihuly and Alexander Calder. He also helped raise $120 million for more than 60 construction projects at the Gardens, including the Mordecai Children’s Garden, a parking complex, the Bonfils-Stanton Visitor Center, the Greenhouse Complex, the Science Pyramid, Ellipse Garden, Steppe Garden, Sensory Garden Hive Garden Bistro and the Freyer – Newman Center.
“Tourism Star” awards are presented to organizations and attractions that had a significant impact on Denver’s tourism industry during the preceding year.
Held August 20-25, 2024 at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, the penultimate event of the PGA TOUR’s playoffs brought 50 of the top professional golfers in the world - and 138,500 fans - to the metro Denver area. The event generated major national and international television coverage, broadcasting the beauty of metro Denver around the globe. The tournament was honored as the PGA Tour’s “Tournament of the Year,” raising $10.2 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation and college scholarships for youth caddies.
Biophilia: Nature Reimagined; Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian American Art Museum; and Wild Things, The Art of Maurice Sendak
Founded in 1893, the Denver Art Museum today is one of the largest art museums between Chicago and the West Coast with more than 70,000 works of art in 12 collections. Special exhibits in 2024 included “Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak”. The show presented more than 450 artworks created by Maurice Sendak, one of the most versatile artists of the twentieth century. Sendak is best known for picture books including, “Where the Wild Things Are,” the beloved children’s book he authored in 1963 that became a cultural touchstone. The show included a wide array of drawings, paintings, posters and original sketches and illustrations from many of Sendak’s books. It also included set designs for the “Where the Wild Things Are” opera and the costumes for the live-action, feature-length film making this show of interest to visitors of all ages throughout the West and across the nation. Other special exhibitions at the museum in 2024 included “Biophilia: Nature Reimagined” and “Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.”
Spirit Guides: Fantastical Creatures from the Workshop of Jacobo and Maria Angeles, Blossoms of Light, Glow at the Gardens and River's Voice: Textiles by Alexandra Kehayoglou
Covering 23 acres, Denver Botanic Gardens features North America's largest collection of plants from cold temperate climates around the world, and a variety of gardens that showcase plants from Colorado and neighboring states. Special exhibitions and events in 2024 included: “Spirit Guides: Fantastical Creatures from the Workshop of Jacobo and Maria Angeles.” Created by the workshop of Mexican artists Jacobo and María Ángeles, these huge brightly colored and richly patterned sculptures depict hybrid animals that act as both spirit guides and astrological embodiments of human character. The figures were placed around the gardens, creating an unforgettable outdoor experience reminding visitors of the profound connections that bind us to the inhabitants of the natural (and cosmological) world. Jacobo and María Ángeles are a married artist team based in San Martín Tilcajete in Oaxaca, Mexico. The artists employ more than 100 artisans in a workshop and their creations have been exhibited in museums throughout the globe, including the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. In 2024, the gardens also hosted the ever-popular holiday “Blossoms of Light” and “Glow at the Gardens” and “River's Voice: Textiles by Alexandra Kehayoglou.”
Space Explorers: THE INFINITE, DARKFIELD: SÉANCE, FLIGHT + COMA and MONOPOLY LIFESIZED: Travel Edition
What began in 2010 as a small theatrical test kitchen has grown into a signature line of programming at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, credited with bringing immersive theatre to Colorado and helping establish Denver as a national hub for immersive art and entertainment. In 2024, Off-Center premiered three internationally-renowned immersive experiences in Denver, launching national tours of each. “Space Explorers: THE INFINITE,” the world’s largest free-roaming virtual reality experience and inspired by NASA missions aboard the International Space Station, offered audiences breathtaking 360-degree views of Earth and share stories of life in space as an astronaut. “DARKFIELD: SÉANCE, FLIGHT + COMA,” three different immersive audio experiences, took place inside custom-built shipping containers and in complete darkness. Also, “MONOPOLY LIFESIZED: Travel Edition,” now running at Off-Center @ Broadway Park, is an interactive way to play the world’s favorite board game. Combined, these three experiences engaged nearly 80,000 people in 2024 and had an economic impact of approximately $12 million.
Orcas: Our Shared Future, The Power of Poison, Wild Color and Animals of the Rainforest
The 716,000-square-foot building houses more than one million objects in its collections including natural history and anthropological materials, as well as archival and library resources and is one of the most-visited nature and science museums in the U.S. In 2024, popular exhibitions drawing visitors included “Orcas: Our Shared Future,” which traced these fascinating marine mammals, helping us to discover their stunning intelligence, complex social structures, and language and communication abilities. In land-locked Denver, the special exhibition was an opportunity for visitors to explore the mysteries of the ocean. Other special exhibitions in 2024 included "The Power of Poison,” “Wild Color” and “Animals of the Rainforest.”
10 National Hockey Championships
Winning again in 2024, the Pioneers have now taken the crown for the most Men’s Ice Hockey National Championships in NCAA history with 10 (1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1969, 2004, 2005, 2017, 2022, 2024). DU’s five national championships since the turn of the century are also the most in college hockey. The Pioneers have won 15 regular season conference championships (12 WCHA, 3 NCHC) and 18 conference playoff titles (15 WCHA, 3 NCHC). More than 80 Pioneers have gone on to play in the National Hockey League and 136 players overall have been drafted by NHL teams. The program has won at least 20 games in 23 consecutive full seasons dating back to 2001-02 and won 30 games in each of the past three years. Denver hockey will host the 2025 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game at Ball Arena against the University of Minnesota this upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. The prestige of this team has helped cement Denver’s tourism reputation as the “Hockey Capital USA” and has brought national television coverage and fans to Denver from throughout the region.
30th Anniversary
For 30 years, Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum – a Colorado-based non-profit organization and Colorado’s official Air and Space Museum -- has been a cornerstone of aviation and aerospace education, preserving history while inspiring the future. Located in Denver’s historic Lowry neighborhood in Hangar #1, the museum has grown into a world-class destination entertaining as many as 160,000 visitors annually from all 50 states and over 30 countries.
Wings Museum boasts more than 100,000 square feet of exhibit space dedicated to displaying over 60 iconic aircraft, space exploration artifacts and interactive exhibits that ignite curiosity in visitors of all ages. Through hands-on STEM programs, immersive experiences and groundbreaking initiatives like Wings Aerospace Education and Behind the Wings® PBS series, Wings continues to fuel the dreams of tomorrow’s aviators, engineers and explorers. Wings’ mission and vision remains steadfast: to honor the past, elevate the present and to educate, inspire and excite the next generation into a future of limitless possibilities.