CEO
Leanna Clark is CEO of Girl Scouts of Colorado, the preeminent leadership development organization for girls. GSCO is a statewide nonprofit with 125 full-time employees, more than 22,000 members and 10,000 adults dedicated to building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. As CEO, Clark sets organizational vision and strategy, oversees all operations, and works to expand visibility and create opportunities for strategic partnerships.
Leanna has more than 25 years of business experience, including 12 years as a small business owner of one of Denver's largest marketing and public relations firms, as well as roles in Denver's corporate, foundation and nonprofit communities.
Most recently, Leanna served as Vice Chancellor of University Communications for the University of Colorado Denver. In this role, she served on the senior leadership team of an institution with more than 7,000 employees and 17,000 students, directing strategy and overseeing a team all internal and external communications and marketing as well as spearheading development of key community and business partnerships that advanced the university’s mission.
Before joining CU in 2010, Leanna founded and led PhilanthroTravel, a major division of the international nonprofit Project C.U.R.E. that works in more than 120 countries nationwide. In this capacity, she drove fundraising and designed and led nearly 20 trips to Cuba, Panama, Mexico, and Belize with U.S. business and community leaders, designed to help them experience travel to developing nations in a way that helps them give back.
She also directed communications and led the foundation for IMA Financial Group, one of the nation's leading risk management companies. Previously, as principal and co-owner of marketing PR firm Schenkein, she ran one of the largest agencies in the Rocky Mountain Region, helping client organizations elevate their brands and protect their reputations, on a local, national, and international scale. She began her career as a Denver radio reporter and a TV reporter and anchor for an ABC affiliate in Nebraska.
Leanna currently serves on the boards of directors for the Denver Public Schools Foundation, the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce, Women's Forum of Colorado, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, and the RISE Society. She has served on a variety of other boards, including the Red Cross, Colorado Public Radio, and Public Education and Business Coalition.
Leanna has been recognized One of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Colorado by the Colorado Women's Chamber and has been named a Woman of Distinction by the Girls Scouts of Colorado. She's also been honored twice by the Denver Business Journal as a “PowerBook” award recipient and one of the “Forty Under 40” top young business leaders. She's received national recognition from the Universal Press Syndicate as part of its “Workwise” Awards, honoring innovation and creativity among workplace leaders. In addition, she was named a 'Woman of Achievement' by the Association for Women in Communications.
A Colorado native, she holds a degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
