Tim Schultz: Wear It With Pride

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Katie Kramer, President and CEO of the Boettcher Foundation. Welcome to Colorado Leadership Stories, where we talk to everyday, courageous leaders who have made transformational impacts in their communities and are building a better state for everyone.

[00:00:18] You'll hear from leaders and organizations and communities throughout the state as we explore the idea that leadership is an activity that anyone can do.

[00:00:32] Today, we welcome a familiar face to the podcast in Tim Schultz, a mentor of mine, longtime boss, and today a lifelong friend.

[00:00:42] Tim served as the president and executive director of the Boettcher Foundation for 22 years before retiring in 2017.

[00:00:49] There is no one else that I can say this about in the same way, but Tim is Mr. Colorado and in particular, a champion for rural Colorado, the Western Slope, and also our state's agricultural history.

[00:01:01] He grew up in Grand Junction and has a decorated career in all three sectors, public, private, and nonprofit.

[00:01:08] During his career, he served as the Rio Blanco County Commissioner, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.

[00:01:15] He chaired the Colorado Wildlife Commission for two years and also served as Colorado's Commissioner of Agriculture.

[00:01:22] Tim is a giver and a connector at heart, and he's one of the founding members of the Denver Rustlers, which we're going to talk a lot about today.

[00:01:29] In particular, because of the timing of the year, knowing that the Colorado State Fair is right around the corner, and it is the 40th anniversary of the Denver Rustlers.

[00:01:38] So, Tim, it is great to have you on Colorado Leadership Stories, the Boettcher podcast.

[00:01:44] Oh, it's great to be here, and fun to be with you, Kate.

[00:01:46] Just feels like home, sitting here with you.

[00:01:50] Tim, we want to hear your origin story.

[00:01:52] You're a Grand Junction kid, son of a baker.

[00:01:56] Tell us about that growing up in Grand Junction.

[00:02:00] So, yeah, born and raised in Grand Junction, small town at the time, and only child.

[00:02:06] No daycare.

[00:02:07] Daycare was the bakery.

[00:02:09] So, my mom would take me with her when she would have to go into work and help my dad.

[00:02:13] He had a small retail bakery that the jumping very quickly ahead is still in existence today.

[00:02:20] So, my folks ran it for about 30-some years, and the people they sold it to have now had it for almost 50 years.

[00:02:26] So, it's a Grand Junction institution, but a wonderful place to grow up in.

[00:02:32] And it gave me some responsibility really early because, again, when you start running around, your parents need you to give you something to do to keep you occupied.

[00:02:43] So, they would put me and I would be icing cookies, or I would be doing some other little project at an early age standing on a bucket so I could reach them to the bench that they worked on.

[00:02:54] And so, that just sort of started my work career, I guess, but also matured me early in that because I think I was an only child that didn't have a lot of other, didn't get to play a lot,

[00:03:12] and was always at the dinner table with my folks talking about what was going on in the community.

[00:03:17] And they so respected community leaders, whether it was the editor of the newspaper, the president of the bank, the head of the college.

[00:03:24] And they talked about those things a lot, and that just, I think, made me think that somewhere along the line,

[00:03:31] I'd like to emulate some of those folks that they felt were important to the community.

[00:03:39] So, that's Grand Junction. It was Grand Junction High School for four years.

[00:03:44] It was Mesa Junior College.

[00:03:46] Two years before it became a four-year school.

[00:03:50] And then when I had worked the full-time at the bakery then to help my folks so I could go to school.

[00:03:57] And at almost 21 years old, I packed the car and headed for CSU and was so happy to put the bakery in the rearview mirror.

[00:04:04] I bet.

[00:04:05] And not have to get up every morning early.

[00:04:06] I bet.

[00:04:07] Well, so then you graduate from Colorado State University.

[00:04:11] And then you have these careers.

[00:04:13] You're a banker and you're a cowboy, like actually a cowboy.

[00:04:17] And ultimately ending up in the governor's cabinet.

[00:04:20] Tell us that story of your early career journey.

[00:04:23] You know, I think one of the features that's so special about you, Tim Schultz, is just your heart for service.

[00:04:29] And that's always been part of this as it's evolved.

[00:04:34] But how did we get from Grand Junction to Meeker to Denver?

[00:04:37] Well, in college I met the rancher's daughter, who was Sally Johnson, who was also an only child.

[00:04:47] And we got married right out of college and moved to Grand Junction where I worked in for United Banks.

[00:04:54] And went up to the ranch every weekend and fell in love with it.

[00:04:58] And after about three years, my father-in-law said, well, you sort of passed the test.

[00:05:02] If you want to come up and be a cowboy and work on the ranch, you can do that.

[00:05:06] So left the bank and moved to Piennes Creek, 40 miles from Meeker, 40 miles from Rifle and 50 miles from Rangeley.

[00:05:14] So far enough away that you don't get DoorDash.

[00:05:18] You don't get some of the other things.

[00:05:20] You know, you plan and go for groceries once a week.

[00:05:22] And the school board, right as we moved there, we were having our first child, decided to close the one-room schoolhouse, which was a mile from the ranch.

[00:05:32] And that may not seem like much to a lot of the listeners, but to us that schoolhouse was really important.

[00:05:38] Because here we had a new young person coming into our family that would have to go over an hour, almost an hour and a half, to Meeker to go even to kindergarten, over icy roads in the winter and come back.

[00:05:50] And I just felt like that was not in the best interest of these young folks.

[00:05:55] So I ran for school board at 23 or 25 years old, I guess, and got elected.

[00:06:04] And they right away served as the chair of the school board for a couple of years.

[00:06:08] And then I was approached to run for county commissioner.

[00:06:11] And I decided, well, what the heck?

[00:06:14] I might as well be the youngest county commissioner in the state.

[00:06:16] So I ran for county commissioner.

[00:06:19] And I was told that the two towns of Meeker and Rangeley were the two real, only two towns in the county of 6,000.

[00:06:28] 2,000 in each town and sort of 2,000 the rest.

[00:06:31] That they just didn't get along with each other.

[00:06:34] And I thought, my gosh, I don't have any of these past issues in my background.

[00:06:39] I could make people like me everywhere.

[00:06:42] So I went to Rangeley.

[00:06:43] I shook every hand in town.

[00:06:45] And I met the very first mayor of Rangeley.

[00:06:47] We had a shot of whiskey and a little fruit jar glass.

[00:06:51] And he said that he would support me.

[00:06:54] So I bought my first full-page ad, which was a half a page in the small Rangeley Times newspaper with the mayor shaking my hand.

[00:07:01] It felt real good.

[00:07:03] Come election night, I'm at Meeker at the county courthouse.

[00:07:07] There's four precincts, and the first two Rangeley precincts come in.

[00:07:11] And I get 30 votes, and my opponent gets 812.

[00:07:15] And I wanted to go hide.

[00:07:16] I went to the bathroom to get hit.

[00:07:18] I couldn't decide whether I was going to cry or what I was going to do.

[00:07:21] I came out, and the Meeker votes came in.

[00:07:25] And he got 12 or 13 votes in Meeker, and I won by 30 votes.

[00:07:29] So it didn't matter who you were.

[00:07:32] It only mattered where you were from.

[00:07:34] And that was a very early, strong lesson to me that in a county of only 6,000 people, you could have two towns that divided because people hadn't been treated fairly and given good representation.

[00:07:50] So the very first board meeting, the county commissioner from Rangeley made a motion to have one meeting a month.

[00:07:56] We had a meeting every week, once a week.

[00:07:58] And I thought, gosh, he drives to Meeker 60 miles four times a month.

[00:08:04] I drive three times 40 miles, and I could drive 50 miles.

[00:08:08] So why shouldn't the Meeker commissioner drive once to Rangeley?

[00:08:12] I seconded the motion.

[00:08:14] His face was shocked.

[00:08:16] The face of the Meeker commissioner was in horror that I would do this.

[00:08:22] And the next week or that week's editorial in the paper called for me to be recalled.

[00:08:27] Oh, my goodness.

[00:08:28] And the next thing I would do would probably move the county seat to Rangeley.

[00:08:34] It was a crazy article.

[00:08:36] And got some real bad pushback.

[00:08:39] But what I would say is nobody told me.

[00:08:41] I had no training.

[00:08:43] Nobody gave me any warning.

[00:08:44] So the end of this story is I went down to Rangeley and found out that not one county service was provided there.

[00:08:51] You had to drive 60 miles to go to the health nurse.

[00:08:53] You had to go 60 miles to get a driver's license.

[00:08:55] 60 miles if you wanted to see somebody about your taxes, the county assessor, anything.

[00:09:00] There was no one ever showed up in Rangeley.

[00:09:03] So I decided everybody in Meeker was mad at me anyway.

[00:09:06] And I said, we will open an office in Rangeley once a week.

[00:09:09] And every one of these offices folks from county offices have to come to Rangeley.

[00:09:14] And long story short, next election, I get 90% of the votes in Rangeley.

[00:09:20] Only about 60% in Meeker.

[00:09:22] But learned a valuable lesson that learning and helping people who are not given a fair shake can come back in the long run and be really beneficial to you.

[00:09:34] So that was my story.

[00:09:36] I'm a county commissioner.

[00:09:37] And oil shale comes in the early 1970s.

[00:09:41] And it was literally on our ranch, not on our private land, but on the federal BLM land that our ranch was a part of.

[00:09:49] So our county was in the middle of an energy crisis, but an energy solution for the country.

[00:09:56] And the other two commissioners had no interest in it.

[00:09:59] It was my district.

[00:10:00] And so I said, if you'll let me, I'd like to be the spokesperson for the county and the person who really has an interest in what happens in this county.

[00:10:10] And that really vaulted me or gave me an opportunity to meet an incredible amount of people to meet and get to know well and get along very well within Governor Lamb.

[00:10:22] I was back in Washington.

[00:10:24] I became the almost immediately the chairman of the county National Association of Counties Public Land Steering Committee.

[00:10:34] So any issue on public lands, wild horses, forest fires, timbering in Washington, the chairman of the committee would be flown back to Washington to give testimony before the Senate or the House.

[00:10:48] So that was all while I was in my 20s and was amazing education.

[00:10:54] And then oil show went away and Governor Lamb then came to me in his last term and said, Tim, you're we need you to do more than be a county commissioner and me career.

[00:11:04] And at first I said, no, because I was then a Republican and he was a Democrat.

[00:11:09] I said that would ruin for sure whatever political career I had.

[00:11:12] And I thought maybe I would want to run for Congress or something at some point.

[00:11:17] And so I asked some of the Republican leaders, could I possibly, you know, would you favor me if I wanted to run for Congress?

[00:11:26] And they said, no, you're too friendly with the governor.

[00:11:29] And I thought, well, that was my job as a county commissioner.

[00:11:32] It had nothing to do with Republican Democrat.

[00:11:33] It had to do how did I help Rio Blanco County?

[00:11:36] So I left the county commissioner job and came to Denver to be the commissioner of agriculture in the last four years of Dick Lamb's term as governor in Colorado.

[00:11:48] Well, and then how did DOLA come into the picture?

[00:11:51] Well, I was going to then go back to Grand Junction maybe and go back into the banking business.

[00:11:57] I had an opportunity to do that at a higher level.

[00:12:01] But my family had come to Denver and they loved it.

[00:12:05] They just really enjoyed the baseball, the football, the pro games, all the theater, all the different things that were going on.

[00:12:13] They didn't want to leave.

[00:12:15] So I thought, well, I'll stick around.

[00:12:17] And I told new Governor Romer that I would stay until my successor was named so that I could help that individual learn about the job,

[00:12:27] an opportunity I didn't have.

[00:12:28] I was just given the keys to the office and the other commissioner walked out and said, this place is a mess.

[00:12:33] Have fun.

[00:12:33] Oh, boy.

[00:12:34] And it took several months and nobody ever got appointed.

[00:12:38] And so the governor who had told me in no uncertain terms that I would not be appointed commissioner of agriculture,

[00:12:44] appointed a committee of 19 people representing all the ag groups in the state.

[00:12:48] That would be the onion growers to the celery growers to peach growers to feeders and cattlemen and all that.

[00:12:55] They had one meeting and they voted 19 zero that they wanted me to stay.

[00:12:58] Uh-huh.

[00:12:59] So in a ringing endorsement, he called me and said, well, I guess I got to keep you.

[00:13:04] Oh, brother.

[00:13:06] So I went home and told my family.

[00:13:09] They were elated.

[00:13:10] We were staying.

[00:13:10] Uh-huh.

[00:13:11] And very quickly into the administration, there were some-

[00:13:15] And this is Roy Romer.

[00:13:16] This is Roy Romer's administration now.

[00:13:18] And I'm the ag commissioner.

[00:13:19] And I'm really not, I'm not in the in group, but they had a trade mission to England when Continental Airlines flew the first direct flight from Denver.

[00:13:30] So a number of the folks were invited and I was invited, but I wasn't a part of the planning.

[00:13:34] So I made my own meetings.

[00:13:36] And I had meetings with people in England and in Germany about hops and beer and a variety of things that people like the Coors Brewing Company set up for me.

[00:13:46] We get to England and the meetings that the governor has are just, they just didn't work to his satisfaction.

[00:13:55] And he called, he grabs me.

[00:13:57] He said, what are you doing tomorrow?

[00:13:58] I said, I'm flying to Germany.

[00:13:59] And he said, I want to go with you.

[00:14:00] This is crap what we're doing over here.

[00:14:03] So I got him a ticket, took him to Germany and took him to these meetings with these people who grew hops and barley and stuff and looked at the beer industry there.

[00:14:11] And on the way back, he was in first class.

[00:14:14] And of course, I was in the back of the plane.

[00:14:15] I got this request to go up and sit with him.

[00:14:18] So I sat next to him the whole way.

[00:14:20] And he said, I want you to my office at eight o'clock on Monday morning.

[00:14:24] From that day forward for the next year and a half, I was with him every single day.

[00:14:28] And he terminated the head of the Department of Local Affairs and appointed me to the head of that department, which was a good fit because I was a former county commissioner and dealt with local government.

[00:14:41] I was the vice chairman of economic development.

[00:14:44] This is what we're trying to build the new airport.

[00:14:47] And all of the activities of that were in the Department of Local Affairs.

[00:14:51] And he wanted to transfer to the governor's office.

[00:14:53] So that was my mission.

[00:14:55] So for a year and a half, we worked very, very closely together.

[00:14:59] And then I decided that I had to see my family again.

[00:15:03] I was there every day, whether it was Christmas Day.

[00:15:06] I spent Christmas vacation with him.

[00:15:08] And so I asked to just push back some.

[00:15:11] And he said, what do you want to do?

[00:15:12] And I said, local affairs, which I was already doing.

[00:15:14] But we then got a new ag commissioner.

[00:15:17] And I got out of the economic development stuff.

[00:15:19] And I ran local affairs for another two years.

[00:15:22] Right.

[00:15:22] And then I had been eight years as a cabinet head in two different administrations.

[00:15:28] And different parties.

[00:15:29] Different parties.

[00:15:30] And I was a Republican both times.

[00:15:32] Both were Democratic governors.

[00:15:33] Uh-huh.

[00:15:34] And I got along great.

[00:15:36] Uh-huh.

[00:15:37] With, um, because the legislature was dominated by Republicans.

[00:15:40] Uh-huh.

[00:15:41] And I did an unheard of thing.

[00:15:43] I gave them back money that I didn't need.

[00:15:45] And when I did that, I had unbelievable credibility going forward.

[00:15:49] I got anything that I wanted because I returned like $40,000 that we had.

[00:15:52] We hadn't spent.

[00:15:54] I was told, don't return that because next year they'll give you $40 less.

[00:15:58] And I thought, well, it didn't make sense to me.

[00:16:00] So the, let me go back a little bit to the ag things.

[00:16:04] Right.

[00:16:05] When I was ag commissioner, I was also on the state fair board.

[00:16:09] Right.

[00:16:10] Don't know a thing about the state fair, but I know that I'm now on the board because of

[00:16:14] that position.

[00:16:14] And I'm told, Jim, you have to go to the state fair.

[00:16:18] So I told my kids and family, we got to go to the state fair for a week.

[00:16:21] And they go, we got to go to Pueblo for a week.

[00:16:23] Oh, this is going to be awful.

[00:16:25] Well, it turned out exactly the opposite.

[00:16:28] Everybody loved Pueblo.

[00:16:29] Pueblo rolled out the red carpet for us.

[00:16:32] I mean, my kids had the run of the state fair grounds and free rides, and they thought it was the best thing ever.

[00:16:38] Well, at the end of the first year, the head of the state fair came to me and said, Tim, we are no longer going to have a junior livestock sale.

[00:16:45] That's the sale where the kids from all over the state bring their steers or lambs or hogs, and they sell them.

[00:16:51] They said, we have no buyers because our buyers in Pueblo County buy mostly at the county fair where they can.

[00:16:58] And they know the people from Pueblo County who have animals, but they don't know people at the state fair.

[00:17:04] If you can't, you've got to bring us some people from Denver, and you get one year.

[00:17:09] And if you don't do it, we're going to cancel and no longer have a sale.

[00:17:13] And for me, the county fair, while it's about all sorts of things, man, I mean, the state fair, the junior livestock sale is like this culminating event for these kids that have worked so hard all year with these animals.

[00:17:25] So coming back to Denver, I don't know anybody, and I called the one person I know who's Dick Robinson.

[00:17:31] He ran Robinson Dairy, so this was a milk cow, not a beef cow.

[00:17:36] But I knew Dick because he was on a board with the milk producer's board.

[00:17:42] And he said, I will take you to a man by the name of Larry Meisel.

[00:17:46] So I went and met with Larry Meisel, his office, and he said to me, you know, I used to go to the county fair, state fair when I was a young man.

[00:17:54] And I will go, and I'll bring some friends.

[00:17:58] And 28 people went the first year, and they came to me.

[00:18:06] We had $10,000.

[00:18:07] I was so proud of it.

[00:18:08] Everybody put in $500.

[00:18:09] And I had the money in a briefcase.

[00:18:12] He showed up at the state fair.

[00:18:15] Everybody did not have these shirts on.

[00:18:17] We all had different shirts.

[00:18:19] The 28 people that Larry had rounded up.

[00:18:22] The state fair people came to me and said, Tim, you have to buy the Grand Champion for $10,000 because that will send a signal to all the kids that there's value in this sale and that they will continue to come.

[00:18:32] And I said, but my gosh, I don't want to spend all my money on one animal.

[00:18:37] So I went over to Larry, and I said, Larry, kind of nervously, is there any way you'd come up with another $10,000 and you'd buy the Grand Champion steer?

[00:18:49] And he did.

[00:18:49] He bought it along with First Interstate Bank.

[00:18:53] And they split the cost, and they bought the Grand Champion, and we used the other $10,000 to buy a number of animals from a number of kids.

[00:19:02] And the next week, he called me, and I went out to his office, and he said, I had an unbelievable time.

[00:19:09] I just saw in these young people that this money was going to make such a difference in their lives.

[00:19:15] And there was no overhead in this deal.

[00:19:17] There's no staff.

[00:19:18] It's just money from the business community going straight to help young people who've worked really hard.

[00:19:24] And I want to do more of this.

[00:19:26] And would you care if I got involved and sort of was the lead person?

[00:19:31] And it didn't take me very long to say, no, sir, I would love for you to do that.

[00:19:35] So that's now 40 years ago.

[00:19:38] And with Larry's contacts and Larry's work and people he's brought to the table, we have continued this for 40 years.

[00:19:47] He felt strongly that people who are in the Colorado legislature and in Congress in Washington needed to understand the value of the state fair and the importance of it to Pueblo.

[00:20:04] So we just went through that evolution, and he got that right away.

[00:20:09] So we have been inviting all of our state senators.

[00:20:12] Our governors have come every single year for now 39 years.

[00:20:16] Right, mayors there.

[00:20:17] Mayor from Denver comes down.

[00:20:19] We have a great bringing together of the business community and the political side of things.

[00:20:28] And so in this second year, then, Larry says, we can't all just go down.

[00:20:32] We've got to have a shirt.

[00:20:33] So for about five or six years or 10 years, maybe I get my numbers, probably 10 years, we've got a different shirt every year.

[00:20:41] Western shirt you're talking about.

[00:20:43] Western shirt.

[00:20:43] It might be blue or it might be orange or it might be something.

[00:20:47] But it was nothing as nice as this.

[00:20:50] And so after about 15 years, Larry was looking for someone to help run the rustlers and not charge a fee for it, but just do the organization of it.

[00:21:01] We needed to be a little more modern and actually have a computer system, have a record of who we had going.

[00:21:06] So we asked a lady by the name of Frances Concilia, attorney who was from Pueblo, who lived here in Denver.

[00:21:11] And Frances did it for like the next 10 years.

[00:21:14] And about halfway through, Larry calls and says, Tim, I want you and Frances to go pick out the shirts next year.

[00:21:20] So we both said, aha, we're not going to wholesale these out of state.

[00:21:25] We are going to the coolest shirt place in Colorado, Rockmont, West.

[00:21:29] Of course.

[00:21:30] We went down and we met Steve Wheel, the now owner, and met his dad.

[00:21:35] And his granddad at 100 years was still in the store.

[00:21:39] And the store is still down in Lodo in Denver.

[00:21:42] And we said, you know, we want a shirt that's going to make a statement.

[00:21:46] And so Frances and I both fell in love with this shirt.

[00:21:49] And so for the first three or four years, I was always taught of getting the next shirt.

[00:21:54] And over that time, the shirt became the rustlers.

[00:21:58] Yes, that's right.

[00:21:59] It became an iconic symbol of who the rustlers are.

[00:22:02] Right.

[00:22:02] And it can't be changed now.

[00:22:04] So it's the same shirt.

[00:22:05] It has to happen.

[00:22:06] Over and over.

[00:22:06] And you'll see people wearing it, you know, clearly at the rustlers.

[00:22:10] But I don't know.

[00:22:11] I see it at the stock show.

[00:22:13] At the stock show.

[00:22:14] And John Heckenlooper used to show up in his only Western shirt, but he showed up at the

[00:22:19] stock show.

[00:22:19] That's right.

[00:22:20] So that's sort of the story of how it evolved.

[00:22:23] Of the Denver rustlers.

[00:22:24] The only other thing I would say then, continuing sort of in my story, was one of the original

[00:22:30] rustlers was a man by the name of Barry Hirschfeld.

[00:22:33] Barry was the head of Hirschfeld Printing.

[00:22:36] At the same time, was on the board of the Betcher Foundation.

[00:22:41] So Tim meets Barry at the state fair.

[00:22:43] That's all.

[00:22:44] I see him once a year at the state fair.

[00:22:46] And I am the ringman for the group.

[00:22:48] So I have a microphone and I bid on all the animals on the behalf of the collected group

[00:22:53] of the rustlers.

[00:22:54] Right.

[00:22:54] So I leave state government and a year or so later, I get a call from Barry Hirschfeld,

[00:23:00] who I only see once a year.

[00:23:02] And he says, Tim, the Betcher Foundation, our CEO, our president is retiring.

[00:23:07] We're not going to do a search.

[00:23:09] Each trustee is to come up with one candidate.

[00:23:11] And I've watched you at the state fair help these kids for like seven or eight years.

[00:23:16] And I believe that the Betcher Foundation needs somebody that would represent all of

[00:23:21] Colorado, not just Denver.

[00:23:23] And would you be my candidate?

[00:23:25] And that took me, you know, just like when Larry asked me, could he take the wrestlers

[00:23:29] over?

[00:23:30] This took me about a quarter of a second to say, I would love to run the Betcher Foundation.

[00:23:34] Yeah.

[00:23:35] So this and then I've got one further than a lady, Debbie Jessup moves to Denver from

[00:23:43] Omni Banks, from Key Bank, who buys Omni, which is owned by Larry Meisel.

[00:23:49] And she ends up coming to the state fair.

[00:23:52] And I meet my future wife of 20 years at the state fair.

[00:23:55] So the state fair has done a tremendous amount for me.

[00:24:00] And I look back at that and I say, you know why?

[00:24:03] I really haven't done anything extraordinary or special.

[00:24:07] Larry did a lot of the work or all the work on organizing the people.

[00:24:11] I was just there buying the animals.

[00:24:13] But I think if there's a lesson in this, it's that sometimes doing things that you're not

[00:24:20] really excited about at the start.

[00:24:22] You know, having my kids tell me they didn't want to go to Pueblo and stay on the holiday

[00:24:26] in for a week and have to go to the state fair every day.

[00:24:29] And then at the end of my term as commissioner of agriculture, having them say, we don't

[00:24:34] care that you're leaving commissioner of agriculture, but can we still go to Pueblo?

[00:24:39] It was a tremendous lesson for them.

[00:24:42] It was a lesson for me that if you again give people who are sort of the underdogs and things

[00:24:50] some time and some of your time that you never know when that might come back to you.

[00:24:57] So that came back to me with the job that I was blessed to have for 22 years.

[00:25:02] Just I'm so tied to it now that they're going to take me out of there on, I guess, horizontally

[00:25:09] sometime when they do.

[00:25:10] From the state fair?

[00:25:11] From the state fair.

[00:25:12] Junior livestock sale.

[00:25:13] We still go.

[00:25:14] And Boettcher started to get involved in the wrestlers when I was there.

[00:25:19] But the best hire I ever made as a employee at the Boettcher Foundation, as a CEO, was

[00:25:25] Katie Kramer.

[00:25:26] Oh, Tim.

[00:25:27] Came to work at the foundation fresh out of college.

[00:25:30] Yep.

[00:25:31] Just little pink cheek.

[00:25:32] She shows up at the Boettcher Foundation as we call them fellows, but sort of interns.

[00:25:37] And we turn the fellows over every year.

[00:25:39] Well, Katie was there one year as the fellow.

[00:25:42] And then she made a pitch to me as how she, I needed her to be at the, at the Boettcher

[00:25:48] Foundation and to run the scholarship program.

[00:25:50] And I couldn't say no.

[00:25:52] And so we partnered for 21 years or whatever it was at, at the Boettcher Foundation.

[00:25:59] And as, and Katie began to get involved in the state fair with me.

[00:26:04] And so Katie and her husband, Joe, they attend every year.

[00:26:07] She sits there with a, with a, Joe built a, wrote the first software we had.

[00:26:11] Mm-hmm.

[00:26:12] Which kept track of all the animals that we bought.

[00:26:14] Mm-hmm.

[00:26:15] And our, our kitty grew from the $10,000 to about $100,000.

[00:26:20] About $100,000 we take down there every year to spend at the sale.

[00:26:23] No longer in a briefcase.

[00:26:25] No, no, no.

[00:26:25] Things are a little more, more modern than they used to be.

[00:26:28] Right.

[00:26:28] But, um, it's special when you go to a community, when, when you take people from Denver, where

[00:26:35] is the, the, the power city, where the power structure resides, and you bring them down

[00:26:40] to another community.

[00:26:42] And Pueblo is a, you know, clearly a large community.

[00:26:45] But a number of those folks each year have never, have never seen Pueblo.

[00:26:49] And then you go to the state fair, even a bigger number have never really seen someone

[00:26:55] from a ranch or from a farm.

[00:26:57] And you, you introduce these folks to the, the young kids.

[00:27:02] And, and what we do when we go down there, we bus down there, we get off the bus and we

[00:27:07] have the, all the buyers go in and meet the kids with their animals.

[00:27:12] They're all in a barn and stalls and talk to kids.

[00:27:14] And then as they come in, we used to form a long line and they would go through and shake

[00:27:19] every hand of every one of these young people.

[00:27:21] And I was shocked at the people that would look at me and say, I had no idea.

[00:27:26] Right.

[00:27:26] These kids from the country, they will shake my hand with a firm handshake.

[00:27:30] They'll look them in the eye.

[00:27:31] They'll say, good morning.

[00:27:32] Good afternoon.

[00:27:33] Yes, sir.

[00:27:33] Yes, ma'am.

[00:27:34] Much more than, than my kids.

[00:27:36] Well, sure.

[00:27:37] They're, they're running a business and the responsibility that those kids have is, is

[00:27:41] huge.

[00:27:42] It is.

[00:27:42] It is.

[00:27:43] It's amazing.

[00:27:43] So the learning has gone both ways.

[00:27:46] I think so.

[00:27:46] And I think that's what's so important about events like the state fair.

[00:27:51] It's important about the, the national Western is for the bulk of the population in this state

[00:27:59] by far, probably 90% are not on farms and ranches.

[00:28:04] Right.

[00:28:04] And we've grown away from being an economy where most of us grew up on farms and ranches.

[00:28:09] So we just don't understand it.

[00:28:11] And so it's really easy for us to take for granted what those folks in rural Colorado have

[00:28:16] to go through every day to put on our table, the food that we eat.

[00:28:21] And this is a chance for.

[00:28:24] Builds empathy for people to understand they're all of Colorado.

[00:28:29] Isn't that right?

[00:28:29] I mean, that I think that it is, there's a group of people that think that their meat and

[00:28:35] their produce comes from the grocery store.

[00:28:37] That's exactly right.

[00:28:39] And they don't realize it.

[00:28:40] Actually, there's the part before that.

[00:28:42] So I think that that's one of the gifts that I think is the showcase of Colorado agriculture

[00:28:47] and youth.

[00:28:48] I mean, those kids, it's amazing how much time and dedication they do.

[00:28:53] And if you've never been to the junior livestock sale or anything, they have these animal projects

[00:28:57] for a year.

[00:28:58] Yeah.

[00:28:59] They get these as young animals.

[00:29:01] Right.

[00:29:01] They tend to take care of them for a year.

[00:29:03] They groom them.

[00:29:04] They raise them.

[00:29:05] They train them to lead.

[00:29:07] And all the things that they do culminate in that sale arena.

[00:29:13] That's right.

[00:29:14] And it is just wonderful to see these kids and reward them by purchasing their animal.

[00:29:21] And I would say 75% of them use the money then for their education.

[00:29:26] That's right.

[00:29:27] For college.

[00:29:27] The other 25% that don't go to college tend to stay home and work on the farm around.

[00:29:32] Right.

[00:29:32] And they start investing in their own herd or their own equipment that they need, that

[00:29:37] type of thing.

[00:29:38] What a legacy.

[00:29:39] I'm sure there's many things to be proud of in your career, but the impact in Colorado

[00:29:44] agriculture and with through even the Denver wrestlers.

[00:29:47] And it's profound.

[00:29:51] And I think the other part of the story that people need to hear about is that the example

[00:29:56] that then that buyer group of the Denver wrestlers coming from Denver, but then there's other

[00:30:00] buyers groups, right?

[00:30:02] A bunch of buyers groups.

[00:30:02] Yeah.

[00:30:03] So say more about that.

[00:30:05] And then what's happened now with the sale?

[00:30:08] I hate to admit it, but 40 years ago, it was only men that went.

[00:30:14] And so a number of ladies around the state said, wait a minute here.

[00:30:19] Who are you stuffy old guys?

[00:30:21] You know, there's a place at the table for women and women are very active in agriculture.

[00:30:26] So the fair ladies formed and they still come now 38 years later.

[00:30:31] Pueblo founded a group that the sheriffs, I think they called them from Colorado Springs.

[00:30:37] Oh yeah.

[00:30:38] And Pikes Peak Posse.

[00:30:39] Pikes Peak Posse.

[00:30:40] Pikes Peak Posse.

[00:30:41] And the pigskin buckaroos for a while.

[00:30:43] I know they have.

[00:30:44] Yes.

[00:30:44] Came out of Pueblo.

[00:30:46] And so there's all these different buying groups that have come.

[00:30:49] And the sale now went from that $10,000 to where the Grand Champion Steer sells for about

[00:30:56] $50,000 to $60,000 a year.

[00:30:58] And every single steer sells for a minimum of about $5,000, $5,000 to $10,000, that price

[00:31:06] that we paid for the Grand Champions 40 years ago.

[00:31:09] And people have asked me, you know, what, is there any one thing?

[00:31:14] And one thing that sticks with me, and it crossed over into Betcher, was, you know, getting

[00:31:20] to work at Betcher and our legacy program is the Betcher Scholarships.

[00:31:25] Right.

[00:31:25] So meeting kids from all over the state who are, become Betcher Scholars.

[00:31:31] And then seeing Betcher Scholars, a few of them show up at the Colorado State Fair.

[00:31:39] And I had the privilege of giving the commencement address at University of Denver.

[00:31:45] And following that, I got an unbelievable letter from a young man who said, you don't

[00:31:51] know the impact you've had on my life and how you've touched me.

[00:31:54] You bought my steer as a young boy at the Colorado State Fair.

[00:31:59] And you interviewed me and I got a Betcher Scholarship.

[00:32:02] And now you're talking in my graduation.

[00:32:05] It was one of the most meaningful things for me ever.

[00:32:09] And it wasn't any big belt buckle or prize.

[00:32:13] It was just a person saying you've made a difference.

[00:32:17] And I think that's what we can't forget in Colorado about the rural community and about

[00:32:24] agriculture and folks in agriculture.

[00:32:26] It's working with them one person at a time, one small town at a time, one project at a time.

[00:32:32] It's not building DIA.

[00:32:35] It's not building the next Bronco Stadium.

[00:32:38] It's just finding the next thing that they need to keep their small town alive.

[00:32:44] And that's what makes this state such a rich fabric.

[00:32:49] The diversity we have, clearly the ethnic diversity, but also the rural to urban diversity and the

[00:32:55] kinds of towns we have are what make Colorado such a special place.

[00:33:00] That's right.

[00:33:01] That's right.

[00:33:02] Well, before we go off of the State Fair, I just wanted to say a couple things.

[00:33:06] And that's why we're such a good team.

[00:33:08] And that is that, you know, State Fair is all Colorado, just like the stock show is.

[00:33:12] So encourage people to go to the State Fair, go to the Junior Livestock sale.

[00:33:17] It is very fun.

[00:33:18] You can become a Denver Wrestlers and you too can own one of these awesome shirts.

[00:33:22] That's right.

[00:33:22] You can't see because we're on audio, but they look awesome.

[00:33:25] And we'd love to have you join us for that.

[00:33:28] I also just want to say thank you.

[00:33:29] You know, Betcher has had through your leadership and involvement and engagement over these 40

[00:33:35] years.

[00:33:35] But just the last couple of years, Swold Handfling has just done such a good job.

[00:33:39] And Josh Handfling specifically in being also sort of the wrangler of us.

[00:33:45] The straight wrangler.

[00:33:46] That's right.

[00:33:47] Where we're running the actual money in the auction.

[00:33:50] So it takes a village, but it's so it's so such a Colorado thing.

[00:33:55] And so awesome that Mr. Colorado was responsible for bringing it to life.

[00:34:00] I think it's I think there's a lot to be proud of, Tim, when you think about your impact in

[00:34:05] this in this world and on the state.

[00:34:07] And this is certainly certainly one of them.

[00:34:09] So I know we're coming to a close and I know we could talk about all the things.

[00:34:13] So I have one more question for you and then we'll go to the lightning round.

[00:34:16] OK.

[00:34:16] And that really is about leadership.

[00:34:19] This is Colorado Leadership Stories.

[00:34:21] And you are singularly one of the most incredible, certainly mentors I've ever had, but leaders

[00:34:27] in this state.

[00:34:28] And I wonder where you drew your inspiration from.

[00:34:33] Is this nature or nurture?

[00:34:34] How did you become this leader that you are?

[00:34:38] I think it's a little bit of both.

[00:34:40] Yep.

[00:34:40] I think it's nature.

[00:34:42] Maybe, you know, you have a gene that allows you to be have an interest in people and being

[00:34:47] outgoing.

[00:34:48] And there's some nurture about people that I had that I've looked up to.

[00:34:52] And then there have been life lessons that stuck with me the whole time that the lowest

[00:34:59] level person, the janitor, maybe the most important person in your organization.

[00:35:05] And if you're a leader, you need to recognize everybody all the way up because your organization

[00:35:10] won't run if the people at the bottom aren't doing their job with a heart that they're proud

[00:35:17] to be a part of the organization.

[00:35:18] And that's we tried to instill you and I at the Betcher Foundation.

[00:35:22] We quit trying to be stuffy and wearing three piece suits and looking down on nonprofits and

[00:35:28] saying we're going to put on the same boots and jeans you have on and we're going to figure

[00:35:32] out what you do and we want to help you.

[00:35:34] And there's nobody too small to talk to us.

[00:35:38] So I don't know.

[00:35:40] That's that's formed me a lot.

[00:35:43] And it's a theme that runs throughout your career, right?

[00:35:45] I think the ability that you have to see people and recognize their contribution and give them

[00:35:54] voice.

[00:35:55] I think that's been what's made you powerful, powerful leader.

[00:35:59] So well, thank you there.

[00:36:00] There's there's always more to learn.

[00:36:02] But it was a it was a blessing to have the jobs I did and the opportunities I had.

[00:36:07] Right.

[00:36:08] Well, we've both been blessed in that way.

[00:36:11] OK, lightning round questions.

[00:36:12] There's just three, Tim.

[00:36:13] And to ask Mr. Colorado these, I will be interested in what you say.

[00:36:17] What is your favorite Colorado hobby?

[00:36:20] My favorite Colorado hobby is eating Colorado fresh, juicy peaches.

[00:36:25] From Palisade.

[00:36:26] From Palisade, Colorado, and they are coming here to the farmers markets around you as we

[00:36:32] speak.

[00:36:33] So be sure you get that.

[00:36:35] And that's I eat them till I till I turn peach peach orange.

[00:36:40] My favorite hobby is playing golf.

[00:36:42] I play a lot of golf.

[00:36:43] Uh huh.

[00:36:43] But I look forward every fall to can't wait for the peaches.

[00:36:46] Oh, absolutely.

[00:36:48] OK.

[00:36:48] What's your favorite Colorado landmark?

[00:36:50] The Colorado National Monument.

[00:36:52] I knew you were going to say that.

[00:36:53] That's my grand junction group.

[00:36:54] Of course.

[00:36:55] Or the book cliff.

[00:36:55] So I don't know.

[00:36:57] Yeah.

[00:36:57] It's just iconic.

[00:36:58] West Slope is it goes through my blood.

[00:37:01] The Black Canyon.

[00:37:02] Yes.

[00:37:02] They aren't, you know, the famous like Rocky Mountain National Park, but they are very,

[00:37:07] very special places.

[00:37:08] They certainly are.

[00:37:09] OK, finally, what are you currently binging?

[00:37:11] Is there a show, a book, a podcast that's either wasting your time or that you're drawing

[00:37:16] inspiration from or podcast wise?

[00:37:19] I listened to the All In podcast, which is four highly successful.

[00:37:25] I don't know.

[00:37:26] I don't know their worth, but highly successful Silicon Valley friends who've gotten together

[00:37:32] and do a weekly podcast that talks about the world economy, the U.S. economy, politics.

[00:37:39] And they're they are all four of them are sort of different spectrums of the political.

[00:37:44] Oh, interesting.

[00:37:44] So there's it doesn't it may lean one side or another from one individual's perspective,

[00:37:49] but together you get all the perspectives.

[00:37:51] And I enjoy that.

[00:37:52] It brings me a lot of information on things like A.I.

[00:37:55] that I don't get otherwise reading and stuff.

[00:37:58] And my wife and I are binging right now seriously on The Sopranos.

[00:38:06] Oh, you probably watched it years ago.

[00:38:08] I watched it years ago and I can remember each character, but I can remember nothing.

[00:38:12] Not the story, right?

[00:38:13] What happened.

[00:38:13] I mean, I know overall, but and she hadn't seen it.

[00:38:17] And they are now taking 10 seasons and made them into six, I think.

[00:38:20] OK.

[00:38:21] So we are now in our fourth season of The Sopranos.

[00:38:25] So that that's getting an hour or two airtime every night.

[00:38:28] Oh, that's fun.

[00:38:29] Yeah.

[00:38:29] I've enjoyed that over the years, too.

[00:38:30] Well, thank you, my friend, mentor, and for your impact on the state and this incredible legacy with the Denver wrestlers specifically.

[00:38:39] Thank you, Katie.

[00:38:41] And watching you grow from your fresh young person out of CU to who you are today and watching you observe how foundations and philanthropy changed during my 23 years.

[00:38:57] And we changed it a lot.

[00:38:59] But knowing that the world was changing so fast and how you have recognized that change and kept true to the intent of the Betcher family and the work you're doing with the Betcher scholars and the leadership programs and this.

[00:39:13] It's bringing people together and magnifying the investment greater than just the dollars of the size of the foundation.

[00:39:23] So I'm honored to have been your mentor.

[00:39:26] And thank you so much.

[00:39:28] Thank you for joining Colorado Leadership Stories, where we hope to inspire the next generation of Colorado community builders, doers and difference makers.

[00:39:38] Colorado Leadership Stories is presented by the Betcher Foundation.

[00:39:43] The Betcher Foundation supports Colorado by empowering leaders and communities with tools to tackle challenges and pursue opportunities, building a better state for everyone.

[00:39:54] With an 85-plus year legacy of giving back, we're committed to amplifying our impact for future generations.

[00:40:02] That's the spirit of Betcher.