The Drop Off: EPIC Conversations About the Workforce of Today and the Talent of Tomorrow (Executives Partnering to Invest in Children)

David Hammond served as EPIC’s Board Chair from 2019 to 2022 and has been critical to the organization’s growth and development since its inception in 2010. In this podcast, David tells Nicole about his interest in early childhood education and advocacy since he was a young father and the strategies that have been key to support the early childhood system in Colorado. 

David explains that emerging leaders now have powerful arguments around the need for high quality child care and how it was a “silver lining during the pandemic" to highlighting this critical need. EPIC is happy that David will remain on EPIC’s board and his emerging opportunities outside of the child care realm because building stronger, safer communities is crucial.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Christine Benero is the President & CEO of Mile High United Way. On the About page of their website, they describe themselves thusly: "Working side-by-side with the community, Mile High United Way takes on critical human services issues facing our seven-county footprint including the Metro Denver, Boulder, and Broomfield communities. Through our community programs and initiatives, we focus on our three interconnected Community Priorities: giving all children a strong start, supporting education and academic success, and creating economic opportunity for all."

On this episode of The Drop-Off, Christine joins Nichole Riehl to discuss her personal and professional journey that led to her leading Mile High United Way, digs into the work of Mile High United Way, and spends the bulk of the episode talking about their game-changing new project of putting on-site childcare at their Denver office location. She shares insights about duplicative regulatory processes, uncovering gaps in the system, and divulges the deep need for childcare solutions across the region's business community. 

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

In December 2024, EPIC partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation for the National Child Care Innovation Summit. This invite-only event, presented by the David and Laura Merage Foundation, brought together business leaders in Washington, D.C. for an intimate, engaging environment of workshops, panels, and networking—designed to turn inspiration into action in their own communities. 

On this episode of The Drop Off, we’re proud to share “How Providers & Employers Can Build Successful Relationships.” Hosted by Adam Alson of Appleseed Childhood Education, and featuring Ella Zander of Yellow Hen Child Care and Jennifer Knott of Access Early Education Foundation, the conversation sheds light on how to foster dialogue and partnership in each unique business environment. Anecdotes, insights, and useful information abound in this dynamic conversation among three leaders in the field.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

On September 29th EPIC brought together Colorado business leaders across industries to celebrate “Today’s Vision, Tomorrow’s Success” EPIC’s Annual Business Leaders Dinner. The event was a tremendous success with over 220 area business leaders, EPIC members, and partners in attendance. In case you were not able to join, we hosted a robust lineup for our panel portion of the evening and this month’s podcast features key insights and contributions from that conversation. Each of our panelists has a unique position addressing critical issues around early care and education and we deeply appreciate their participation.

Special thanks to all of EPIC’s supporters including Governor Jared Polis, Nicole Brady from 7News, Jon Haubert, Publisher of ColoradoBiz Magazine and our amazing sponsors.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Colin Stewart is the Founder & CEO of STEM Child Care, a facility in Castle Rock, CO dedicated to providing an environment that is both safe and nurturing for children from six weeks to six years old, allowing your child to explore their passions and creativity while cultivating their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills.

On this episode of The Drop Off, Colin joins Nicole Riehl to discuss his unusual journey into creating and developing this facility, the interesting economic realities and challenges of child care facilities, recent policy changes and much more. Colin brings a dynamic perspective, an impressive background, and tremendous insight into everything he throws himself into, and this conversation with Nicole is no exception.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

On September 10th, EPIC brought together Colorado business leaders to celebrate our 15th Annual Business Leaders Dinner in Glendale, CO. This year's event was a terrific success as we welcomed more than 275 business leaders, members and partners. On this episode of The Drop-Off, we welcome you to listen in on Nicole Riehl's Fireside Chat with Aparna Mathur, Senior Manager in Economics at Amazon and former Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School where we discussed. While much of our dinner presentations focused on how to support the workforce of today and tomorrow locally, Nicole's conversation with Aparna dove deep into the national and federal conversation around how to support strong families and children, including tax credits. 

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Nicole interviewed early-childhood champion, Susan Steele, recently-retired President and CEO of the Buell Foundation and EPIC founding board member. Among other things, Susan shares her serendipitous entrance as a leading changemaker for children and families in Colorado and how she learned to meet the pressing needs of the times. Listen as she shares her life experiences, successes, and how "anyone can be an advocate from wherever they sit.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

 

Sue Renner is the Vice President and Executive Director of The David & Laura Merage Foundation which creates opportunities for future generations through venture philanthropy by investing in initiatives, organizations, and ideas that move society toward a more equitable future for all. She recently announced her retirement as Executive Director.

On this episode of The Drop-Off, Sue joins Nicole Riehl to discuss her career, her breakthroughs in early childhood education, the early days of EPIC, Colorado's universal pre-school initiative and much more. Sue is a remarkable leader, a passionate advocate, and an integral cog in EPIC. It's our privilege to share her story in this format.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Geta Asfaw co-leads The Asfaw Family Foundation International (AFFI), a non-profit 501(c)3 organization with his wife Janice. Since the early 1980’s, Geta and Janice have operated their family business in the Denver Metropolitan area as owner/operators of McDonald’s restaurants. Throughout the years they have supported a number of community groups and organizations. To date, the family has served thousands of individuals. Geta is also a founding member of EPIC.

On this episode of The Drop-Off, Geta joins Nicole Riehl to share his remarkable story of emigrating from Ethiopia, what prevented him from returning to his home country for 26 years, how he started his own businesses, and the lessons he's learned along the way. Geta is a thoughtful, community-focused leader who has a stunning track record of success and giving back, and it's our pleasure to feature him on The Drop-Off.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Stacie Packard is President of Delwest Management Corp, a Denver-based real estate development firm focused on creating value within local communities through a unique combination of leadership and partnership. With a portfolio including multi-family rental properties (both luxury and affordable), whole communities of single-family homes, and renovated historical homes and buildings, Delwest is considered by its urban, federal and financial partners to be among the top metro-area real estate development companies.

On this episode of The Drop-Off, Stacie shares her personal and professional journey that involves understanding affordable housing from a multitude of angles. She joins Nicole Riehl to discuss how childcare and affordable housing are interrelated, how her company is working on innovative solutions to these issues, and why the work of EPIC is so vital.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

William Browning is President & CEO of Clayton Early Learning. He passionately leads Clayton’s work to build opportunities for children and families to live to their endless potential. With more than 30 years of distinguished leadership experience in strategic social impact development, program development, fundraising, change management, and business operations, he brings deep connections to the local and national philanthropy communities. Ryan Beiser is Regional President and Head of Corporate Banking for PNC. PNC is constantly innovating to help their clients succeed and to have a big impact in Denver. They provide their customers with new ideas, offer valuable insight and create customized solutions that will help propel a business forward. Ryan is also Chairman of the Board for EPIC. 

On this episode of The Drop Off, William and Ryan join Nicole Riehl to discuss how these two organizations have forged a partnership that marries PNC's deep commitment to the cause of early childhood education with Clayton's innovative and robust model of helping the community meet its need for good options in this space. They discuss the current lay of the land as it pertains to workforce, how programs like these will help to shape the workforce of tomorrow, and much more. 

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Steamboat Ski Resort is passionate about their employees and the community in Routt County. In mid-December EPIC interviewed them on opening day of their new child care facility. Learn how Steamboat “got over their skis” to tackle the problem of a lack of child care along with collaboration from EPIC’s Design Lab and others who contributed to the solution.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

From oral health to universal pre-school, Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation's Adeeb Khan tells EPIC CEO and President, Nicole Riehl, how we all can have positive longterm outcomes by investing in children at an early age. Listen in as Adeeb explains how getting kids “set up on the right track” will help our workforce to be better off in the long run. 

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Ryan Beiser is Regional President and Head of Corporate Banking for PNC. PNC is constantly innovating to help their clients succeed and to have a big impact in Denver. They provide their customers with new ideas, offer valuable insight and create customized solutions that will help propel a business forward. Ryan is also Chairman of the Board for EPIC.

On this episode of The Drop Off, Ryan joins Nicole Riehl to discuss PNC's deep commitment to early childhood education and care, how their philanthropic giving contributes to solving larger systemic problems in society, and how they empower their employees to advocate for the causes they most believe in. He discusses his involvement with EPIC, with other civic organizations, and describes how EPIC is uniquely suited to continue to be at the forefront of many of the state's most important conversations. 

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Linda Weise is the President and CEO of the Colorado Springs Community Cultural Collective, a 501C3 dedicated solely to the preservation and revitalization of the historic Colorado Springs City Auditorium. She is also the Founding CEO of the Colorado Springs Conservatory (CSC). She established the Conservatory in 1994 to bring world-class performing arts education to the region.

On this episode of The Drop-Off, Linda shares her professional journey that took her from performing to business to making the entrepreneurial leap. She joins Nicole Riehl to discuss issues pertinent to the arts and to early childhood, shares how the challenges have changed in the last 30 years, and how she came to be inspired by EPIC to be more involved at the State Capitol. 

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Beth Melton is the founder and principal consultant at Melton Strategic Solutions. Most recently, she served as a full-time local elected official in Routt County, Colorado. Her run for office and her work in office were motivated by a desire to support working families with child care solutions.

She is a part of the EPIC team and she joins our Nicole Riehl on this episode of The Drop Off to discuss her career journey, what she learned in her time as an elected official, and the policy priorities to embolden the workforce of today, and develop the talent of tomorrow. 

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

In late November, EPIC hosted Chris Thomas, President and CEO of Community Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado, and Tawny Espinosa, Community Hospital’s Vice President of Business Development.     A lack of accessible and affordable childcare was identified as a community need in Mesa County, and to help address this issue, Community Hospital recently broke ground on “Adventure Academy,” a new, onsite early child care and early education facility.    EPIC President and CEO, Nicole Riehl, has been fortunate to get to know Chris, Tawny, and their team through their participation in EPIC’s Employer Based Child Care Design Lab. Learn more about Community Hospital and “Adventure Academy” here.   This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

With 40 years of executive leadership in medical device and health care services, David Perez serves as an independent board member of EPIC and advisor to several corporations and non-profit organizations. His expertise encompasses growing highly regulated global businesses organically through R&D and innovation and inorganically through M&A, leading within a variety of foreign, public and private equity ownership structures, strategic planning, culture and talent development, succession planning, enterprise risk management, operations, compliance, and corporate governance.

On this episode of The Drop-Off, David joins Nicole Riehl to discuss his incredible career, why and how he became a self-described "professional board member" and the importance of public policy. This episode touches on everything from healthcare to child care to the generational impact of crafting good public policy. David has remarkable command of a variety of subjects and this conversation flies by. 

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

On October 4, EPIC brought together Colorado business leaders across industries to celebrate “Today’s Vision, Tomorrow’s Success” EPIC’s 14th Annual Business Leaders Dinner. The event was a tremendous success with over 220 area business leaders, EPIC members, and partners in attendance. In case you were not able to join, part of the evening featured a Fireside Chat with Natriece Bryant, Director of State Property for the Colorado Department of Personnel and Administraion and Elliot Haspel, Director, Climate and Young Children at Capita. They brought unique perspectives on early care and education solutions at the local, state and national level. 

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

David Merage is the co-founder of Chef America, a national frozen food manufacturer known for inventing and marketing Hot Pockets©, Lean Pockets©, and Croissant Pockets©, and Consolidated Investment Group. He is also one of the founding members of Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC). On the debut episode of The Drop Off, he shares the many insights he's acquired as one of the country's most successful and influential entrepreneurs including the importance of surrounding oneself with incredible people, why he doesn't focus on the negative, and the upside of businesses investing in child care. He relates an epiphany he had while talking to one of his team members that led to his continued advocacy of ensuring every worker in America has access to high-quality, affordable child care.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

This month we met with Lisa Steven, Founder and Executive Director of Hope House Colorado and EPIC Executive Member. Hope House serves over 250 teen moms teaching how to achieve personal and economic self-sufficiency. Lisa explains that, “we don’t know where we would be without EPIC” and the opportunity to be a Project of Promise has been critical to remove the barriers and challenges of child care.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

In December 2024, EPIC partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation for the National Child Care Innovation Summit. This invite-only event, presented by the David and Laura Merage Foundation, brought together business leaders in Washington, D.C. for an intimate, engaging environment of workshops, panels, and networking—designed to turn inspiration into action in their own communities. 

On this episode of The Drop Off, we’re proud to share “Paying Dividends: Employer Investments & Community Impacts.” Hosted by Aaron Merchen of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and featuring Kathy Szenda Wilson and Maria Ortiz Borden of Pulse, Ananda Sweet of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber, and David Duro of the Treasure Valley Family YMCA,” this conversation highlights how investments in child care benefit both the business community, and the community at-large.

This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe. 

Brad Busse, President of Busse Ventures, was there for the founding of EPIC. In this episode of The Drop-Off, Brad gives everyone a behind-the-scenes look at the formation of EPIC and how a group of powerful, like-minded business leaders came together when they saw that child-care supply was a major challenge. In his estimation, it is imperative the business community support early childhood education not only for the benefit of all Colorado families, but to "home-grow as many well-balanced employees as possible.” In this conversation, Brad joins our Host, President and CEO of EPIC, Nicole Riehl to discuss the early days of EPIC, stresses the importance of early childhood education, celebrates the organization's many accomplishments, and looks to the future.    This episode is available on podcatchers everywhere and the EPIC website. Please rate, review and subscribe.