Annual Luncheon

Ace, Icon, Activist: Billie Jean King

As a world champion on the tennis court, a crusader for social justice and women's equality in sports, and a visionary whose legacy is ever-evolving, Billie Jean King has secured her place in history.

She continues to make her mark today with the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative to address diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and as the subject of the 2017 film Battle of the Sexes that starred Academy Award® winner Emma Stone as King. The critically acclaimed film depicted her on- and off-the-court battles with tennis player Bobby Riggs as well as the cultural and social impact of their groundbreaking tennis match.

In 2009, in recognition of her social justice work and her accomplishments in sports, King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Read more

2018 Luncheon Chairs

Helen Gair

During Helen Gair’s 25- year investment banking career she was among a handful of women holding an executive leadership position in the Colorado investment banking community. She began her investment banking career in 1978 with a Denver-based regional investment banking firm. She joined Newman & Associates as an institutional bond salesperson in January 1980. At Newman, Ms. Gair played a key role as head of the firm’s sales and trading group for over 20 years. She served on Newman’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee. During this period Ms. Gair, along with other key principals of the firm, established Newman & Associates as the premier national firm, providing investment banking services in the area of tax-exempt multifamily housing finance. She continued in a leadership position after the firm was acquired by GMAC Commercial Mortgage in 1998.

In 2003, following her investment banking career, Ms. Gair became engaged in addressing the issues of extreme poverty among women in developing countries around the world. Ms. Gair applied her finance knowledge and commitment to empowering the most vulnerable women by serving on the board of the microfinance organization Friendship Bridge. The organization has made loans to tens of thousands of extremely poor women living in rural Guatemala. From 2003-2009 Ms. Gair traveled extensively to Guatemala for Board-related work and introducing major donors to the program.

Ms. Gair became a member of Beyond Our Borders, a group-advised fund of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado in 2008. She has actively participated with this group of approximately 30 philanthropic women to fund grants for organizations whose mission relates to improving the lives of women and girls internationally. She has sponsored grant applicants working in Tanzania, Haiti, and Guatemala. She has also been active on Beyond Our Borders’ gender lens investing committee. Ms. Gair also serves as a member of the investment committee of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado.