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ACE is “a model for the nation” says Mitt Romney

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

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Mitt Romney speaking to 1,000 guests at the ACE luncheon

Today, close to 1,000 business leaders met in downtown Denver to celebrate ACE’s 10th anniversary and hear from former Governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who called ACE “a model for the nation.”

“What you’ve accomplished here … is really a remarkable thing,” Romney continued. “I believe you’re going to find in this country more and more people who stand up to the forces that oppose choices in our schools, and recognize that choice and competition is good for our kids, and kids should come first.”

“These principles of choice and competition are making a difference, and they will make a difference across the entire nation. It’s a job we’ve got to get done.”

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Students for ACE partner school Excel Institute perform the national anthem.

ACE founder Alex Cranberg also addressed the audience, as did former Governor Bill Owens and Chairman of the Board Ralph Nagel.

But despite the influential business leaders who spoke, it was a college student who stole the show. Richard Vidal is a former ACE scholar who will graduate from Colorado School of Mines this December with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Business/Economics.

ACE Alumnus Richard Vidal

ACE Alumnus Richard Vidal

Richard was several years behind grade level before he entered his ACE private middle school. Through hard work and a safe and structured environment, Richard built an academic foundation that has led to his current - and future - success. He credits those tough years working to catch up with his classmates as motivation for his success in college.

Soon Richard will realize his dream of working in the oil and gas industry, as he already has job offers from Shell, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil.

“Your support of me was not wasted,” Richard told the 1,000 attentive guests. “And it is not wasted on the hundreds of other ACE kids.”

Richard will serve as the Chairman of the ACE Alumni Board that will seek to identify other successful former ACE scholars and get them more engaged in the mission and vision of ACE.

“Today there are thousands of children who are several years behind grade level, just like I was. Please take a chance on them, like you once took a chance on me.”

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ACE Welcomes Mitt Romney to Denver!

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

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ACE has lots to celebrate during its Tenth Anniversary this year, and we can think of no better way than with a special luncheon with former Governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney!

Governor Romney is a great advocate of school choice, and we are honored to have him join us for this one-time luncheon in support of ACE.


This luncheon is proudly brought to you by the Luncheon Host Committee and presented by our generous sponsors:


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ACE 10th Anniversary Spring Luncheon with

Governor Mitt Romney

Thursday, May 27, 2010

12 PM - 1:30 PM

Denver Marriott City Center

To RSVP visit www.acescholarships.org/romney

There is a cost to attend; visit our online registration page for details


Like us, Governor Romney recognizes the social and economic benefits to improving graduation rates and producing a well-educated workforce. He knows that our financial well being tomorrow depends on the quality of our education system today.


So please consider joining us for what should be an exciting celebration. This will be a unique opportunity to hear one of our nation’s leading policy experts discuss the critical issue of reforming our public school system so every child has access to a quality school.


Attendees will receive a complimentary, autographed copy of Governor Romney’s new book just released today, “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.”


We look forward to seeing you as we celebrate ten years of providing hope to at-risk children!

Seating is limited for this one-time event, so please visit our online registration page at

www.acescholarships.org/romney; all proceeds benefit ACE, a 501(c)(3), and donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed under the law.

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ACE 10th Anniversary Spring Luncheon Host Committee

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Luncheon Host Committee

ACE Board of Trustees

William Armstrong, Chairman, Cherry Creek Mortgage Company

Don Bailey, Chairman & CEO, Triton Investment Company

Kendall Bailey, Arby’s/ The Bailey Company

Bill Bergner, President, Berco Resources, LLC

Richard N. Brown, Denver

George Caulkins III, Greendeck Capital

Jay Cleary, Principal, Financial Designs, Ltd.

Terry Considine, Chairman & CEO, AIMCO

Alex Cranberg, Chairman, Aspect Energy

Peter Dea, President & CEO, Cirque Resources

Steven Farber, President and Founding Partner, Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck

John Fox, Chairman, MWHC Holding Inc.

Mike Fries, President  & CEO, Liberty Global

Steve Friess, Friess, Inc.

Charlie Gallagher, Chairman & CEO, Gallagher Enterprises

Francisco Garcia, Founder & CEO, Garcia International

Caleb Gates, Retired V.P. & Principal, Denver Investment Advisors

Henry Gordon, President, Strata Capital

John Ikard, President & CEO, FirstBank

Bud Isaacs, Chairman, RIM Operating

Mike Kennedy, President, Kennedy Real Estate Investments

Don Law, President, Prima Exploration

John Leede, Manager-Exploration, Leede Operating Company

Dick Lewis, Chairman & CEO, Avant Premium Water

Scott Lowery, Chairman, CEO & President, Collect America

Tom Marsh, Executive Vice President, Lockheed Martin Space Systems

Anne McCarthy, Executive Vice President, Western Union

Ed McVaney, Retired President & Founder, J.D. Edwards

Julie Mork, Managing Director, ECA Foundation

Jim Mulvihill, Principal, Black Creek Capital

Ralph Nagel, President, Top Rock LLC and Chairman of ACE Board of Trustees

Michael W. O’Shaughnessy, President, Lario Oil & Gas Company

Jack Overstreet, President, Legacy Energy

Bill Owens, Colorado Governor 1999-2007

Roger Parker

Tom Petrie, Vice Chairman, Executive Client Coverage Group, Merrill Lynch Petrie

Jim Piccone, President, Resolute Natural Resources

Paul Rady, Chairman & CEO, Antero Resources Corporation

Ben Rainey, President & CEO, The Pando Group

Walter Rakowich, CEO, ProLogis

Scott Reiman, President, Hexagon Investments

Blair Richardson, Partner, Bow River Capital

Dick Robinson, Co-Chairman, Robinson Dairy

Jeff Ross, President and CEO, Ross Aviation

Dick Saunders, Chairman & Treasurer, Saunders Construction Company

Rick Schmitz, Partner, SKS Ventures, LLC

Vince Schmitz, Chairman, Citywide Banks

Scot Sellers, CEO, Archstone-Smith

Mark Sexton, CEO, Evergreen Energy, Inc.

Eric Sipf, Chairman, Imerica

Chris Smith, President, Cochlear Americas

George Solich, President, Cordillera Energy Partners, LLC

Dell Van Gilder, President, Van Gilder  Insurance Corp.

Luis Villarreal, President, Save Our Youth

Bonnie Vivian, Retired President & CEO, Denver Biomedical

Jim Wallace, Partner, BWAB Exploration

Eric Weissmann, Managing Director, Kachi Partners

Peter Wells, Chairman, Wells Property Holdings

Scot Wetzel, Chairman, United Western Bank

Pat Wiesner, President, Wiesner Publishing

Wayne Williamson, Partner, Plexus Capital

Don Wolf, CEO, Quantum Resources, LLC

Earl Wright, President & CEO, AMG National Trust Bank

ACE Board of Advisors

Ben Addoms, President, Quintess

Robert Attai, Partner, Husch Blackwell Sanders, LLP

Brad Billingsley, Partner, Lockton Companies

Tony Bolazina, President, Northern Trust Bank

Lindsay Brown, Vice President, Jones Lang LaSalle

Judy Cain, Partner, EKS&H

Blake Carlson, Partner, Carlson Associates

Melissa Corrado-Harrison, First Vice President, Merrill Lynch

Michael Davis, Associate, Greenberg Traurig

Debbie Donner, President, Han Chaparral

Rick Eldridge, President and CEO, Intuitive Insurance Corporation

Nate Ford, Partner, Faegre & Benson, LLP

Eric Holt, Managing Director, Bessemer Trust

Mike Hommel, Owner, Designs by Sundown

Patrick Johnson, President, SimonDavis, Inc.

Hendrik Jordaan, Partner, Holme Roberts & Owen, LLP

Brian Jumps, Partner, Kamlet Reichert, LLP

Randy Kenworthy, Managing Partner, Caddis Capital

Kurt Kittleson, President, Concord Energy

David Livingston, President, United Western Bank

Bruce MacDonald, President, MacDonald Hardwood Floors

Tate McCoy, Executive Vice President, Lockton Companies

Bryan Miller, Vice President, InnerWorkings

Tim Miller, CEO, Synergy Services Inc.

Kevin Mitchell, Partner, RedCloud Capital, Inc.

Marcus Mollmann, Owner, New West Investments

Todd Neugebauer, Partner, CHx Capital, LLC

Rick O’Donnell, President, Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence

David Puchi, Managing Director, Baceline Investments

Tim Schafer, Principal, Schafer Thomas, P.C.

Joseph Smith, Partner, Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott, LLP

Jerry Sommer

Josh Stewart, CEO, X Jet

Shawn Stigler, Partner, Stigler, Wussow & Braverman Ltd.

Mike Ward, Owner, Mike Ward Infiniti

Eric Wolf, Partner, Bow River Capital

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Betsy DeVos

Monday, February 1st, 2010

ACE was proud to host Betsy DeVos for a special businesswomen’s luncheon on February 1, 2010 at the Denver Country Club.

A special thanks to the Host Committee and our Luncheon Sponsor A. Line Boutique.

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Host Committee

Betty Arkell, Kendall Bailey, Judy Cain, Cathy Carpenter Dea, Debbie Donner, Sidney Gates, Emily Keimig, Laurie Leprino, Michelle Livingston, Anne McCarthy, Susan Morrice, Heather Mulvihill, Diane Padalino, Laurie Richardson, Jeanne Saunders, Janice Sinden, Michelle St. Pierre, Jennie Virgilio, Bonnie Vivian, Kristi Wells, Krista Wolf


Betsy DeVos

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As a leader in both the political arena and the national school reform movement for over two decades, Betsy DeVos combines a passion for equal opportunity in education with significant political experience.

As a board member of the Advocates for School Choice, a national advocacy organization for the school choice movement, and as a board member of the Education Freedom Fund, a Michigan-based scholarship organization she has led with her husband, Betsy has devoted significant time and energy to ensuring that children from disadvantaged families have educational options and hope for a brighter future.

She was also instrumental in bringing about the emergence of political action on behalf of school choice when, in 2001, she founded the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP), a Michigan-based political action committee which was the precursor to All Children Matter and which led the fight to build a bi-partisan coalition of supporters for charter schools in Michigan’s legislature.

Betsy has been deeply committed to working with both Democrats and Republicans to ensure that every child has equal access to a quality education. Betsy’s vision for All Children Matter is to continue building and expanding a bi-partisan political coalition that advances education reform and equal opportunities in education for all children.

Experienced in the private sector, Betsy DeVos is Chairman of The Windquest Group, a privately held small business founded in 1989.

Betsy is also very active in the community and currently serves on a number of national and local boards, including the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Kids Hope USA, The Acton Institute, and Compass Arts.

A graduate of Holland Christian High School, Betsy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Political Science from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Betsy and her husband, Dick, have four children, aged 25 to 16.  They reside in Ada, Michigan.

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Spreading His Wings

Friday, December 11th, 2009

The Denver Nuggets’ soaring star, Chris “Birdman” Andersen continues his work giving back to the Denver community.

ACE will be at the Nuggets home game vs. the Phoenix Suns tomorrow night and will be presented with a check from Birdman and the Arby’s Foundation that will directly assist more low-income children.

A HUGE thank you to Birdman, his agent Mark Bryant, and Geoff and Kendall Bailey from Arby’s.

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ACE Family Night

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Children and parents lined up early to explore the museum.

Children and parents lined up early to explore the museum.

On Tuesday evening ACE once again held its Family Night at the Museum of Nature and Science. A very special thank you to the museum for opening their doors to our children free of charge.

Close to 600 students, with their brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends came out on a cold and rainy night to receive another year’s tuition at a quality private school.

All told, ACE allocated $1.6 million that evening.

Kids and parents spent a few minutes composing thank you notes before exploring the museum. One such note from a 2nd grader (so excuse the grammar) had a simple, yet, in many ways, a perfect, message:

“Thank you for my gift that allows me to attend school, and for that I thank you.”

Another parent closed her letter with this heartfelt message:

“I wish I could give you a part of my heart so that you could truly know the impact that your gift has had on our family. I just thank you so very much!”

She had tears in her eyes as she wrote those words. In fact, we saw many tears throughout the night, as well as lots of smiles, hugs and handshakes.

We all lead very busy lives. And it’s easy to become consumed with the details. We’re the same at ACE - sometimes becoming so focused on the details of an event, our fundraising efforts, or our graduation rate, that we forget the big picture.

Our Family Night is the Big Picture - children of every age, race, ethnicity and income level being treated equally and receiving another year’s tuition at a quality school; parents thankful in the knowledge that their child will be in a safe and structured learning environment for another year.

That’s why we do what we do.

Below is one thank you note in particular, from a mother who wasn’t sure if the private school where she was sending her son, Anthony, was having an impact. The boy’s father didn’t have a college degree, and so he didn’t think he needed one either. But one day it clicked. Anthony is now earning A’s and B’s and has set the goal of graduating from college. This mother wept when her son told her he’s decided to pursue a college education. “You have changed his future,” she wrote.

And that’s what it’s all about.
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Kids took a few minutes to say thank you.

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A Parent Says, “Thank You!”

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

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New ACE Video

Friday, August 28th, 2009

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ACE premiered its new ACE video last night. The video, Last Best Hope, chronicles the lives of several young inner-city students, who were each given a new opportunity through an ACE scholarship.

It’s a powerful and moving tribute to the determination that these kids show each and every day. It will be ten minutes well spent watching this incredible film.

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Meet Pablo

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Meet other kids like Pablo here.

Pablo.

We’d like to introduce you to Pablo, an energetic and bright six year old who says he likes his private ACE school because “it’s fun.” Actually, you can see it in his eyes – the fun just exudes from this kid.

Pablo tells us his mom sent him to this neighborhood ACE private school because “she heard it was good.” Pablo likes special study topics “because it’s fun.” He especially likes the field trips his class takes; you guessed it, “because of the fun.”

Yet when we asked this boy who seems to like everything what the very best thing about his school might be, Pablo quickly answered, “The kids!”

That tells us something about the discipline and balance at school when education is such a positive experience both academically and socially.

Meet more kids like Pablo here.

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Mayor Booker on the Challenge of our Generation

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker joined ACE supporters in Denver today to talk about education reform and how providing educational equality to all children must become the defining issue of this generation.

We have not been called to the “blood-soaked beaches of Normandy,” or to register voters in the segregated South, but, Booker said, “our generation’s epitaph, a century from now,” could be that we provided every child with the opportunity to attend a quality school, obtain a quality education, and put them on the path to a successful life.

Booker talks before a packed audience of ACE supporters

Booker spoke passionately about the challenge of this generation to provide every child with equal access to a quality education.

“We can make this happen not in 25 or 15 years, but sooner than we think, if we show the courage our ancestors did,” Booker said.

More than 300 ACE supporters packed the X-Jet hanger at Centennial Airport early on a Monday morning to hear from the Mayor, who has quickly risen to national prominence within the Democratic Party for his passionate and eloquent defense of educational equality in the country.

ACE trustee Steve Farber set the tone for the event in his opening remarks. “I am a Democrat. I’ve raised money for Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party.

“And yet I sit on the ACE Board which is predominantly Republican and our keynote speaker today is a Democratic politician from the East Coast. He speaks today about an issue that is not always popular within his own Party.

“The point is that this is no longer a partisan issue. It affects each and every one of us, regardless of our political views,” Farber said.

Alex Cranberg with Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Newark Mayor Cory Booker

Alex Cranberg with Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Newark Mayor Cory Booker

Farber was joined at the podium by ACE founder Alex Cranberg who introduced Mayor Booker to an audience that included Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper as well as business leaders and ACE trustees Charlie Gallagher and John Saeman.

ACE was founded to provide low-income children with equal educational opportunities through privately-funded scholarships. Since 2000, ACE has provided more than 6,000 scholarships totalling over $13M. ACE seeks to exert pressure on the educational bureaucracy to initiate long-lasting and meaningful reform.

The educational status quo is “unacceptable…an affront to the dignity of people…” said Booker.


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