• Team member, Amy Edinger
    Amy Edinger
    Finalist

    Amy Edinger is an experienced leader in connecting business and government. Her career has included both private and public sector roles, always at the intersection of economic development, policy and politics, and operations. She is a strategic leader who aligns people, policies and politics to implement projects and plans.

    Currently, Amy is Senior Vice President of the Real Estate and Commercial Business Division for Denver International Airport (DEN).  The Real Estate and Commercial Business team is responsible for developing DEN-owned land for commercial use to support the financial operations of the airport. The team also is responsible for major landside concessions including the airport-owned Westin Hotel, car rental program, oil and gas, farm and telecommunications agreements. Amy also served as acting Deputy Chief of Staff from March 2021 to March 2022 during a leadership transition, supporting all aspects of the airport including government relations, planning and operations. 

    Prior to this role, Amy served as Chief Operating Officer for Denver Economic Development and Opportunity (DEDO), the City & County of Denver’s economic development organization. As COO she was responsible for all aspects of the department, which included over 100 employees working on economic development, workforce training programs, small/MWBE business programs, housing and federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds.

    Amy’s private sector roles included work with Kaiser Permanente (Colorado), and for Lockheed Martin IMS. She also worked in governmental roles for Colorado Governor Roy Romer’s legislative team, the City of Boulder in the City Manager’s office, and as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Denver Mayor Hickenlooper. 

    Amy has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Colorado State University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado - Denver. She also studied the Russian language at Moscow State University and is a graduate of multiple leadership programs including:

    • State and Local Government Executives Program, Kennedy School of Government (Harvard) – Gates Fellow
    • Leadership Denver (Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce)
    • Downtown Denver Leadership Program (Downtown Denver Partnership)
    • Denver Community Leadership Forum (University of Colorado – Graduate School of Public Affairs)

    She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Biennial of the Americas, on the Steering Committee for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (MDEDC), and as a Certified Member of the American Association for Airport Executives (AAAE).

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  • Team member, Don Davis
    Don Davis
    Finalist

    Don Davis, born in 1968 in Dover, New Jersey, graduated from Dover High School in June 1986. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in May 1990 in the United States Marine Corps.

    From 1990 until 2017, Don served his country in many different roles, locations and commands. He was deployed numerous times, including to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan as the Commanding Officer for Marine Corps Logistics Command Forward. The last few years of his career in the Marines, he assumed command of the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia for three years and then was the Chief of NORAD-NORTHCOM Theater Strategy and Campaign Plans Division.

    After he retired from the military at the rank of Colonel, he moved on to his next adventure as County Manager, serving the citizens of Jefferson County, Colorado. He joined JeffCo in May 2017, where he enjoys serving alongside more than 3,000 dedicated employees.

    Don is a graduate of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College; the Amphibious Warfare School; the Executive Leadership Program from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill – Kenan-Flagler Business School; and the Marine Corps Executive Logistics Education Program at Penn State. He holds two master's degrees; one in Public Administration from Webster University, graduating with high honors in March 1996 and a second in Strategic Studies from the Marine Corps War College in 2011.  He is the President of the Association of Colorado County Managers, senior advisor to the United Veterans Coalition of Colorado and board member of the Marine Corps Memorial Foundation.

    He and his wife, Becky, have been married 32 years, and have been blessed with four children; Kaitlyn (30), Mackenzie (28), Jack (21), and Luke (18). 

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