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Walter Isenberg, CEO and co-founder of Sage Hospitality Group. He will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Kim Jordan will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Charles S. McNeil will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Anita Padilla-Fitzgerald will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Earl L. Wright will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Winfield Scott Stratton will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Walter Isenberg, CEO and co-founder of Sage Hospitality Group. He will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Kim Jordan will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Charles S. McNeil will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Anita Padilla-Fitzgerald will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Earl L. Wright will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Winfield Scott Stratton will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Walter Isenberg, a hotelier, restaurateur and real estate investor who has renovated historic Denver landmarks including Union Station, and who partnered with famed Denver preservationist Dana Crawford to redevelop the Oxford Hotel, is among six inductees into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2025.
He joins business leaders Kim Jordan, Charles S. McNeil, Anita Padilla-Fitzgerald, Earl L. Wright, and the sole historic laureate to be inducted this year, Winfield Scott Stratton, a mining baron and benefactor of the Myron Stratton home in Colorado Springs, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain announced in a joint news release.
The winners will be inducted at the annual Colorado Business Hall of Fame dinner on Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
The inductees were selected “for their enduring and innovative professional contributions to Colorado, inspirational and ethical acumen and philanthropic endeavors,” according to the release.
Isenberg was born Jan. 24, 1958 in Kansas City, Mo. He attended Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, graduating in 1980 before co-founding Sage Hospitality Group in 1984 with Zack Neumeyer, the company’s board chairman. The hospitality group employs more than 6,000 people over four companies: Sage Hotel Management, Sage Restaurant Concepts, Sage Investments and Sage Studio.
Isenberg has led Sage Hospitality Group as its CEO for the last 40 years. He has successfully operated hotels across the United States and led dozens of major transformative projects, including complete renovations of Denver’s historic Union Station, Dairy Block and McGregor Square.
“Over the past 35 years, Junior Achievement and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce have inducted more than 170 leaders from our state into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame. I am humbled and honored to join this distinguished group,” Isenberg said Tuesday in a written statement.
He has supported several nonprofits and has received awards including the 2023 ULI Colorado Legacy Award and the 2020 Pinnacle Award. Isenberg serves on several industry and community boards, like VISIT DENVER and the Downtown Denver Partnership. He and his wife Christie earned the 2019 Community Enrichment Award from the Mizel Institute.
Isenberg is also a member of Denver & Colorado’s Tourism Hall of Fame, the highest honor awarded by the Denver travel industry.
Here are short biographies on the other five laureates:
• Kim Jordan co-founded New Belgium Brewing Company in 1991, became its CEO in 2001 when it expanded, and sold the company in 2019 to The Lion-Kirin group. As CEO, Jordan emphasized environmental responsibility and employee ownership. Jordan and her co-workers also founded the Tour de Fat, an annual bicycle parade and fundraiser for nonprofits in Fort Collins. Jordan is the founder of the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to fight climate change. She is the recipient of many awards, to include the Colorado Governors Citizenship Medal for Growth and Innovation in 2016, the Brewers Association Recognition Award in 2019, and the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Conservation Achievement Award in 2021.
• Charles S. McNeil is a fourth-generation Colorado entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of NexGen Resources Corp. His company supplies coal to Xcel Energy’s plants in Texas, commercializes carbon capture technology and develops hydrogen projects, oil and gas resources, and real estate. A licensed engineer, McNeil is a 1971 graduate of the Colorado School of Mines. He is a member of the National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum Board of Directors and previously served on the Denver Area Boy Scouts board (now the Boy Scouts of America Greater Colorado Council) and Craig Hospital Foundation.
• Anita Padilla-Fitzgerald began her career in the mortgage industry when she was 18 years old, working as a receptionist at Silver State Savings and Loans. The daughter of labor workers, Padilla-Fitzgerald held previous roles such as president and CEO of First City Financial Corp. before she founded leading U.S. mortgage lending company MegaStar Financial Corp. in 1991. She owns MegaStar Holdings and founded Take3Tech to streamline mortgage processes. She has earned awards from Inman, the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber’s National Latina Trail Blazer Award. She serves on the Board of Directors for 1st Bank Holdings and the Mortgage Bankers of America Board of Governors.
• Earl L. Wright co-founded Asset Management Group with Michael Bergmann in 1972, a company that later became AMG National Corp. in 1975. Wright is CEO and chairman of AMG, overseeing a wealth management firm with about $8.1 billion in assets. He co-founded the Common Sense Institute research organization in 2018, which analyzes the economic impacts of government policy. Wright has served previously on several educational and community boards, as well as the boards of Taiga Biotechnologies, Nichols Institute and SuperFood Services. Among other recognitions, he has received the “Masters of Profession” award from the University of Nebraska.
• Winfield Scott Stratton was the first millionaire of the Cripple Creek Gold Rush and established the Myron Stratton Home. He instructed in his will that nearly his entire fortune be used to establish and maintain a home for poor people and sick people that would be named after his father, Myron. The home opened in Colorado Springs in 1913 and today provides on-campus housing, programs and services for aging adults, as well as grants to nonprofits in El Paso and Teller counties. Stratton studied geology and metallurgy at Colorado College and the Colorado School of Mines. In 1891, he claimed the Independence Mine where he discovered a large gold vein; Stratton sold the mine in 1899 for $11 million — which amounts to more than $418 million in 2025. In Colorado Springs, Stratton helped build the Mining Exchange, the former El Paso County courthouse that is now the Pioneers Museum, City Hall and the U.S. Post Office, all in downtown. Stratton is a member of the National Mining Hall of Fame and the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Walter Isenberg, CEO and co-founder of Sage Hospitality Group. He will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Kim Jordan will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Charles S. McNeil will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Anita Padilla-Fitzgerald will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Earl L. Wright will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Winfield Scott Stratton will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame on Thursday.
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