2021 Medal Recipients

Vanguard Legacy Medal Winner

Wellington Webb & Wilma Webb

Wellington Webb was the first Black mayor of Denver, serving three terms from 1991 to 2003. As mayor, Webb focused on expanding urban parks, public safety, economic development and child welfare. Later, he harnessed his public service experience to advise other mayors on urban revitalization and has served as a guest lecturer at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. 

As a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, Wilma Webb led the effort to establish Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Colorado and championed legislation focused on caring for senior citizens and providing treatment for substance abusers. She was elected to the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1991 and received the Anti-Defamation League's Civil Rights Award in 2012.

Emerging Community Leader

Fabian Jimenez

Fabian Jimenez is a civil engineering student at the Colorado School of Mines. Growing up in the small town of Leadville, Colorado, Fabian became a part of a tight knit community within his school. Fabian was involved in multiple clubs and sports, where he was able to develop personal relationships with his peers, teachers, and administrators. As a leader in the school, Fabian was able to share his experiences with younger students and encourage them to become active students and community members.

Public & Community Service Medal Winner

Tim Foster

Tim Foster served 17 years as President of Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction until 2021. Walking across campus with Tim, he seemed to know at least a quarter of the 10,000 students by name, and some of his favorite times were spent teaching classes or occasionally coaching younger kids.  

Having previously served as Majority Leader in the Colorado House of Representatives in the 1990’s, Tim was equally at home in the Colorado Legislature.  Foster was hard to define in terms of politics as he received numerous awards from diverse groups such as the Sierra 

Club, Ducks Unlimited, the Iron Skillet award from the Colorado Restaurant Association, and theGuardian Award from the National Federation of Independent Business. During that time, Mr. Foster was also a partner in the general practice law firm of Foster, Larson, Laiche and Griff in Grand 

Junction.  Back home, he made time for his constituents, even attending high school graduations in Gateway, CO when there was frequently only one graduating senior.  

In 1999 Gov. Bill Owens appointed Tim as the Executive Director for the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, and he led the Department of Higher Education until 2004. As part of that mission, he also directed the Colorado Historical Society, the Colorado Council on the Arts, and served on the boards of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, the Denver Chamber of Commerce and its Committee on Science and Technology. 

A Grand Junction native, Tim’s numerous community activities include service on the Board of Governors of the Colorado Bar Association, the Board of Powderhorn Ski Area and as chairman of the Grand Junction Economic Partnership. 

Foster earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with honors from Kenyon College,  and he completed graduate coursework for a master's degree in mineral economics at the Colorado School of Mines. He also earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Denver - College of Law. 

Growth & Innovation Medal Winner

Dan Holt

Dan has a passion for making the world a better place through amazing teams and awesome products. He has an extensive history of launching and scaling successful publicly traded companies, including serving as president for one of the largest bank technology providers, HEIT, which was eventually sold to CSI. Dan cultivated much of his leadership experience while serving in both in the Air Force as well as the private sector where he worked in numerous leadership roles for a variety of software application companies.

Kelly Seidl

Before co-founding BillGO, Kelly was a technical team lead at Google Payments, integrating international payments platforms. At Google, she specialized in backend integrations, new product integration design and production. As BillGO’s CTO, she leads a team of stars that hail from impressive backgrounds including software design and engineering, web tech, custom mobile app development, mobile security and more.

Corporate Citizenship Medal Winner

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 11,000 people in Colorado and 114,000 worldwide. It is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and sustainment of advanced technology, products and services. Through corporate charitable giving and employee volunteerism, Lockheed Martin cultivates the STEM workforce of the future, improves the lives of those who defend freedom, and strengthens the resiliency of communities where we live and work.

Covid-19 Hero Medal Winner

Nick Muerdter

Nick Muerdter built a website showing open COVID-19 vaccine appointments across the U.S. Nick had been hearing from family, friends, and coworkers about their frustrations trying to find locations and set appointments to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. A software engineer for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Nick turned his expertise after hours to developing an easy-to-use web page that gathered pharmacies' vaccine appointment schedules into a single resource allowing people to enter their ZIP code and preferred driving distance to the nearest available appointment. Nick and his software, Covid-19 Vaccine Spotter, were profiled on CNN. .