Panelists
Mario Carerra | Steven W. Farber | Ding-Wen Hsu | Lisa Schomp

Moderator
Mike Cote

Mario Carrera
Vice President and General Manager
Entravision Communications Corporation

Mario M. Carrera is a senior executive in media sales and online, radio and television station management, with deep roots in the formulation of strategic plans and objectives. With over two decades of experience, Mr. Carrera has held positions at Univision Communications, Fox Television Group, Paxson Communications, Harriscope and LBI Media.   His success in broadcast media is directly attributed to his belief that the main purpose of online, radio and television station properties is to enhance the lives and economic well being of the respective audiences through education, information and entertainment. 

In addition to his twenty-four year career in media, Mr. Carrera is active in a variety of community service organizations.  As a member of the Denver community, Mr. Carrera currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Denver Area Council Boy Scouts of America, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Denver Union Station Project Authority, and is the incoming 2010 Chair for the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Carrera is a graduate of Harvard University with a B.A. in Sociology including film, communications and Latin American Studies. He studied at El Colegio de Mexico and attended professional development programs offered through the University of California Los Angeles and the Kellogg School of Business NAB Executive Development Program at Northwestern University. 

Steven W. Farber
President and Founding Partner
Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber & Schreck

President and founding partner of Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber & Schreck, Mr. Farber's practice encompasses corporate and partnership business transactions, public and private business transactions, acquisitions and mergers, real estate, business and contract transactions.

Mr. Farber's experience includes the representation of the ASCENT Corporation, former owner of the Denver Nuggets NBA franchise and the Colorado Avalanche NHL franchise, in connection with the Pepsi Center. In addition, Mr. Farber represented the Denver Broncos on the new football stadium. Mr. Farber currently represents ISC Corporation on its interest in bringing a NASCAR race to Colorado.

Mr. Farber is actively involved in many political, charitable, and community causes. He served as co-chair and a member of the executive committee of the Host Committee for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, is on the board of directors for the University of Colorado Hospital Foundation and is a former commissioner on the CU Blue Ribbon Commission on Diversity. From 1992 until 1996, he served as a commissioner of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. He was chairman of former Colorado
Governor Roy Romer's successful gubernatorial campaigns and was a member of the Site Advisory Committee for the 2000 Democratic National Convention. He serves as cochairman for former Governor Bill Owens’s College for Colorado.

Mr. Farber is immediate past chairman of the executive committee of Colorado Concern and immediate past chairman of the board of trustees of the Rose Community Foundation. He is a member of the board of trustees for the Anti-Defamation League, Children's Diabetes Foundation, Race to Erase M.S. Foundation, the Children's Hospital Foundation, Denver Metro Chamber Foundation and the University of Denver. Further, he is a board member for Citywide Banks. Mr. Farber is also a fellow of the College of
Law Practice Management and a fellow of the Colorado and American Bar Foundations. Mr. Farber was appointed in 2003 by then Colorado Governor Bill Owens as a member of the Commission of Civil Service Reform.

Mr. Farber's past community involvement includes serving as chairman of the board of trustees of The Rose Health Care Systems, parent company of The Rose Medical Center, and chairman of The Rose Medical Center. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Allied Jewish Federation, functioning as campaign chairman in 1984 and 1985 and president in 1986. He served on the board of directors for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Denver Metro Chamber Foundation from 1997 to 2003.
In 2004, Mr. Farber received the Del Hock Lifetime Achievement Award from the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. In 2007, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Private Practice from the University of Colorado School of Law. He is also the 2007 recipient of the Barbara Davis High Hopes Award in recognition for his many contributions to the community and the Children's Diabetes Foundation. In 2008, he was named Businessperson of the Year by the Rocky Mountain News.

Ding-Wen Hsu
Co-owner and President
Pacific Western Technologies Ltd.

Pacific Western Technologies Ltd. (PWT) is an engineering consulting company headquartered in Denver, Colorado.  PWT was established in 1987 to provide technical support services in the areas of information technology, environmental management, geospatial solutions, and facility management. PWT has been recognized by its customers, business partners, and employees as one of the best small businesses in Colorado. Recently, PWT received the 2009 SBA Region 8 Prime Contractor award.

Mrs. Hsu received an Executive M.B.A. from the University of Colorado in Denver, and B.A. from Providence College in Taiwan. Ms. Hsu is a national fellow of Asian Pacific American Women’s Leadership Institute, a national organization that provides intensive training for female community leaders. She is also the co-founder of International Multi-Cultural Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes understanding and interaction among various cultures.

Mrs. Hsu, a native of Taiwan, has been very active in the Asian Pacific American communities in Denver since she moved to Colorado in 1978.  To celebrate the diverse Asian Pacific American culture in Colorado, she founded the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival in 2001. The festival has become the largest Asian Pacific American annual event in the Rocky Mountain region.  She also serves on the board of Asian Pacific Development Center, a community-based organization that serves the needs of Asian Pacific American residents throughout Colorado.

Lisa Schomp
President and CEO
Ralph Schomp Automotive

Denver native, Lisa J. Schomp, is the third-generation owner and president of Ralph Schomp Automotive, founded by her maternal grandfather, Roy Weaver in 1941.  Weaver established Arapahoe Motors on South Broadway in Englewood and launched a Denver automobile empire that featured Oldsmobiles and would eventually include son-in-law, Ralph Schomp. Schomp purchased Arapahoe Motors in Englewood in 1955, which over the years became Ralph Schomp Inc. and in the ‘80’s, moved to its current location in Littleton. 

Born in 1952, the fourth of Ralph and Kay Schomp’s six daughters, Lisa began her first job at Schomp in 1972.  From the beginning, odds were against Lisa embarking upon a career in the car business, much less rising to the top of the profession.  Fortunately, Lisa had a very strong sense of self, thanks in large part to her mother, Katherine (Kay), who taught her to have strong convictions and opinions.  A community activist, Kay served on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education for 10 years, fought for desegregation and the advancement of women, and helped found the Denver School of the Arts.

Skeptical that Lisa could make it in the male-dominated auto industry, Ralph insisted she learn the business from the ground up.  Lisa began her career as a “coffee greeter girl”, and after working her way through virtually all departments at Schomp, she ultimately earned her father’s approval.  She and her husband, Mark Wallace, took over the dealership prior to Ralph’s death in 1988 -- Lisa as president, and Mark as general manager.  They completed a formal buyout in 1996.

Uncomfortable with the high-pressure sales tactics used by many auto dealers, in 1993 Lisa introduced her “One Price, No Hassle” business philosophy to the Denver market.  She changed the car-buying experience into an enjoyable one based on honesty, dignity and respect for both customers and sales consultants alike.  With “One Price”, there’s no stressful haggling over new and used car prices -- all vehicles have a pre-determined and highly competitive purchase price; the customer is never charged over MSRP; and salespeople are salaried, not driven by commission sales.

Today, Ralph Schomp Automotive is comprised of its corporate headquarters in Littleton--the home of the Rocky Mountain region’s #1-selling Honda franchise and Colorado’s exclusive MINI franchise; Fay Myers Motor Cycle World in Greenwood Village; and the new Schomp BMW in Highlands Ranch – the #1-selling BMW franchise in the region. 

The year 2008 presented Lisa Schomp with the biggest challenge of her automotive career -- opening a “green”, state-of-the-art, $22 million, 86,000-square-foot BMW showroom at Lucent Boulevard and C-470 in Highlands Ranch at the height of one of this country’s most serious economic downturns.  It’s the largest BMW dealership between Arizona and Texas, and one of the15 largest in the nation.

Some skeptics questioned her judgment, but Lisa is candid about why she built the new showroom: “BMW told us five years ago that we had to move, so we started looking for land…and found a perfect location right on the freeway on C-470”.  Lisa shifted her company into high gear, stating “You can’t really control what life throws at you.  You have to use it to become better...it’s what family businesses are about:  commitment to your family, to your business, to your community.”

Ralph Schomp Automotive is consistently ranked the “Top Woman-Owned Business in Colorado” by Colorado Biz and The Denver Business Journal’.  

Mike Cote—Panel Moderator
Editor
Colorado Business Magazine

Mike Cote is the editor of ColoradoBiz, the only monthly statewide business publication in Colorado. ColoradoBiz publishes in-depth stories about the issues, people and trends affecting Colorado businesses and publishes exclusive online articles, columns, videos and podcasts at cobizmag.com.

Cote joined the magazine in February 2007, after nine years with the Daily Camera in Boulder, where he served as business editor and city editor respectively. He also teaches reporting and editing in the journalism school at the University of Colorado.

Cote previously spent a decade working for newspapers in Florida as a reporter and editor.