CEO of the Year 2023 Finalist: Robin Wise

Colorado is full of devoted entrepreneurs, business leaders and tech-savvy visionaries who are constantly taking the business world to new heights. It’s no secret that here, at ColoradoBiz, we love the Colorado business community. That’s why, every year, we spotlight the most impressive CEOs throughout our Centennial state and give credit where credit is due — to the forward-thinking minds constantly chasing the next great idea and upholding their business practices to the most purposeful ideals. We’re proud to introduce our finalists for CoBiz’s prestigious 2022 CEO of the Year award.

Robin Wise

President and CEO

Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain

Greenwood Village, Colorado

Website: www.jacolorado.org

Robin Wise has been president and CEO of JA-Rocky Mountain since 1992, and during that time, the organization has grown from serving 8,000 students in the 1990-91 school year to more than 70,000 in 2022-23. 

The worldwide organization’s mission is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy through entrepreneurship, financial literacy and career-readiness programs in elementary, middle and high school classrooms.  

In the past year, Wise oversaw the construction of the new JA Free Enterprise Center in Greenwood Village, a 25,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility that is home to the Daniels Fund JA Dream Accelerator and Robert and Judi Newman JA Finance Park. These two learning labs fuse the digital and physical worlds to deliver innovative and inspirational experiences for students and will allow JA-Rocky Mountain to serve an additional 25,000 students annually.  

Over her career, Wise has engaged hundreds of thousands of educators, donors and volunteers to act on behalf of the area’s young people. 

Since JA has always delivered its programs in person via volunteer role models, the COVID-19 pandemic posed a particular challenge, forcing all programs to be implemented virtually. Wise’s response included reverse job shadows, which brought careers to students; virtual town halls that allowed students to ask questions to business leaders; and game-like simulations where students learned about the aspects of running a company and investing in the stock market.  

Mike Taylor is the editor of ColoradoBiz.