Patricia Crown (PC), PhD
Advisory Board Chair
Patricia Crown (PC), PhD, graduated from Colorado College with a major in elementary education. She completed her MA in Guidance & Counseling and PhD in Counseling Psychology at the University of Denver. Dr. Crown remained in the Denver area after finishing her education to start a family and establish her own psychotherapy practice, where she worked for a number of years before switching gears to dedicate herself fully to her personal and family philanthropy.听PC听provided her professional expertise and strong personal interest in mental health, social and emotional wellness, and education to her work on multiple boards and at her family鈥檚 Chicago-based foundation, where she served for more than a decade on Crown Family Philanthropies鈥� Health and Human Services and Global Health Committees and continues to serve on the Global Health and Violence Prevention Committees.
PC听established the transformative endowment for the Crown Institute to underscore the importance of an enduring commitment to Colorado communities and the value of research in developing solutions to challenges facing children, youth, families and schools. She and her family honor their mother, Rene虂e Crown, and her lifelong dedication to serving others through the naming of the institute.听PC听said she wanted to make an impact on the children of Colorado given her lifelong connection to the state and听her specific dream that all children and young people grow up knowing three things: 鈥淚鈥檓 okay, I鈥檓 not alone, and I can access the help I need.鈥� This vision is the heart of the work of the Crown Institute.
Pictured: PC Crown听(L) and Rene虂e Crown (R)
听
Daniel听Conroy, BA
Advisory Board Vice-Chair
Danny Conroy is a social entrepreneur who has worked with adolescents, young adults and their families for the past 25 years. Danny graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a bachelor of arts in humanities. He is the co-founder and owner of in Boulder Colorado and the founder of the CU Boulder Collegiate Recovery Center.听 He also is the CEO of . He is a regular participant and conference moderator for the university鈥檚 annual Conference on World Affairs. He helped create the Cocoon Program for chronically ill children at Children鈥檚 Hospital in Denver. He volunteers his time with Horizons Elementary School, Boulder County YMCA and several other human services agencies on the Colorado Front Range.
听
听
听
Jeremy May
Board Member
Jeremy is Founder and CEO of Paralel Technologies. 听Jeremy graduated from the University of Colorado with a BS in Accounting from the Leeds School of Business before joining Deloitte where he earned his CPA. 听Prior to founding Paralel, Jeremy was President of ALPS Fund Services and ALPS Distributors.听 Jeremy serves as an independent director on a number of investment company boards including Russell Funds. Passionate about philanthropy, Jeremy currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the University of Colorado Foundation and as a Trustee of the A.V. Hunter Trust, the oldest private foundation in Colorado.听
Millie Wright
Board Member
Millie Wright is a mother, lover of nature, gardener, yoga practitioner, and mindfulness meditation teacher. Millie has been meditating for 27 years. She was inspired to learn meditation after going through a period of time dealing with some challenges and life changes, which left her feeling anxious and at times ungrounded. She first learned Transcendental meditation and gradually felt a sense of calm, clarity, and ease in her daily life. During the next 23 years, Millie attended many retreats and workshops on different forms of meditation and in 2012 started focusing more on Insight meditation.
Millie is a graduate of the听2-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification听Program, an intensive training program of the Awareness Training Institute at the听University of California Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, led by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. Her core teachers are Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, and听Rick Hanson, although, she draw on the great knowledge of many other teachers today - Jon Kabat-Zinn, Sharon Salzberg, Kristin Neff, Joseph Goldstein, and听Dr. Daniel Siegel.
Millie is a firm believer that the practice of mindfulness has the potential to bring about a more peaceful coexistence in our world today. She believes meditation opens the way to a better knowing of our true nature and creates a foundation for thriving throughout life with all its many challenges and beauty.
听
Phil DiStefano
Board Member
Chancellor Emeritus Phil DiStefano has spent his entire professional career as a leader within the CU Boulder community, serving as an educator, dean, provost and chancellor.
A first-generation college graduate, DiStefano joined the campus in 1974 as an assistant professor in the School of Education. He currently serves as the Quigg and Virginia S. Newton Endowed Chair in Leadership, overseeing CU Boulder鈥檚 prestigious leadership programs as the Senior Executive Director of the Center for Leadership.
A resident of Boulder for more than 40 years, DiStefano has been active in local, regional and national organizations, including leadership roles within the Association of American Universities, NCAA and Pac-12 athletic conference. He serves on the Boulder Community Health Board of Directors and maintains close connections with numerous other civic organizations, including many where he has held leadership and advisory positions in the past. He holds degrees from The Ohio State University and West Virginia University.
DiStefano is committed to making CU Boulder a nationally recognized institution that shapes tomorrow鈥檚 leaders and has a positive impact on humanity. He is a proud supporter of Buffs athletics, a champion of democracy, and a believer in the value of town-gown partnerships.
He and his wife, Yvonne, have three daughters and two grandchildren.