At The Community Foundation’s Legacy Society awards presentation tonight, Nancy Stevens will be presented the 2015 Stan Black Award.
Says Stevens, Chairman at First Western Trust: “A bank only does as well as the community it serves. It follows that being involved to the benefit of your community also benefits the bank.”
Nominated for the award by Francie Anhut – with letters of support from Libby Cook and Joanie Knudson of Philanthropiece, eTown’s Nick Forester and Ron Secrist, former president of the Boulder Community Health Foundation – Stevens has consistently and generously offered her volunteer time, treasure and talent in serving Boulder County nonprofits.
“I never really thought about it,” says Stevens, who moved to Boulder in 1990, previously calling Pittsburgh and Denver home. “During these past 25 years in Boulder, giving back is just something I do – for selfish reasons, really. In a small community like ours, it’s the best way to meet interesting, fascinating people. Whatever I’ve done to give back, I feel like I’ve gotten far more out of it, personally.”
Stevens has served on a wide variety of boards, including active involvement with the Rocky Mountain Vipassana Association (RMVA). Indeed, the RMVA – dedicated to providing non-sectarian meditation retreats – will receive a grant of $1,000 as part of Stevens’ award. Pat Calhoun, co-founder of WhiteWave Foods, estimates that Stevens’ contributions to Vipassana have inspired more than 3,000 individuals and fueled RMVA’s significant growth.
“I got involved in meditation after my divorce,” Stevens explains. “I found that meditation was a tool to calm my mind. And as your mind gets calmer, the natural desire to be of greater service to others comes to the forefront.
“You begin to look at the things that are most satisfying in your life. Inevitably, what you do for others ends up being what’s most meaningful.”
Criteria for the Stan Black Award include the length of involvement with charitable organizations in Boulder County, the breadth of that involvement among various organizations, and the involvement with more than money. From her first board service at eTown more than 20 years ago to her current leadership on the board of the Boulder Community Hospital Foundation, Stevens has quietly, thoughtfully and effectively served and led more than a dozen nonprofit boards in our community.
Like Stan Black – a now-retired partner at Hutchinson Black and Cook, LLC – Stevens has distinguished herself by how she leverages her professional capabilities with her personal commitment, knowledge and connections. Says Vermillion CEO Bob Morehouse, who served with Stevens on the board of The Community Foundation: “Nancy has that rare combination of fundamental competence and expertise in the business world, and total connection and empathy in the nonprofit world. Throughout her work in financial services, she has constantly looked for ways to connect her clients to the causes they care about.”
In the mid-90s, when Stevens chaired the Impact on Education board, she structured the organization’s first endowment and re-wrote the bylaws to incorporate investment policy. Other nonprofits that have benefitted from Steven’s altruistic spirit include the Silicon Flatirons Entrepreneurship Initiative, the Boulder Chamber’s Esprit Entrepreneur program, Blue Sky Bridge, the Boulder Rotary Foundation and the Boulder International Film Festival.
As Secrist sums it up, “No task is too small for Nancy. Despite a very hectic and demand-filled executive position, she readily accepts volunteer challenges and carries them out with zeal.”
Congratulations, Nancy!
