THRIVERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of the Classical Academy
BETSY BROWN is Co-Founder of The Classical Academy, the largest Colorado charter school with over 3,500 students k-12. She then became the Director of Character and Culture for this school, which has been rated as the top high school in Colorado. Betsy specialized in developing character curriculum for students and teachers, overseeing mentorship programs, and creating a healthy culture for students and teachers using a positive psychology framework. Formerly, Betsy was a therapist in private practice, and has expertise in how to create healthy and positive team dynamics.
Betsy graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University with a degree in English, and then from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a M.Ed. in counseling. Through the years, Betsy has completed conflict resolution and mediation training from the Colorado Bar Association, Restorative Justice training through the RJ Council of Colorado, The Science of Happiness course through Berkley's Greater Good Science center, Birkman assessment certification, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training, Myers-Briggs certification, StrengthsFinder, and is in the process of completing yoga teacher certification through Yogafit.
Vance has over 30 years of experience as a high-tech entrepreneur, lawyer, and CEO. Currently Vance is co-founder and an executive elder at Thrivers Leadership Institute (thrivers.com). Vance also is the Executive Director at Exponential Impact, an incubator and accelerator in Colorado Springs with a mission to develop "the best entrepreneurs humanly possible." (exponentialimpact.com)
Until Nov. of 2020 Vance was the CEO of the National Cybersecurity Center (NCC). Founded in 2016 by then Governor John Hickenlooper, the NCC is a cybersecurity think-tank that is getting global recognition for its thought leadership. Vance also is co-founder of The Classical Academy, the largest K-12 charter school in Colorado.
Vance was co-founder and CEO of Cherwell Software from its inception in 2004 until 2017. In 2014 Cherwell was tied with LinkedIn as one of the fastest growing companies in North America by Deloitte's Fast 500. In 2015 Cherwell was Colorado's software company of the year and was sold in 2021. Formerly, Vance was CEO of GoldMine Software, which was rated as one of the top 100 software companies in the US. Vance's first software company he co-founded was Buildsoft, which was rated by Builder Magazine as the top software company in the country for integrated construction management. Through the years, Vance has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from firms such as Insight Partners and KKR.
In 2009 Vance was given the Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award by Wake Forest University. In 2013 Vance was Entrepreneur of the Year for Colorado Springs. Additionally, Vance was named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2014 Award Winner in technology for a 3-state region. Vance then served as an EY national judge for 3 years in the technology category. Vance also was named one of the "100 most intriguing entrepreneurs" by Goldman Sachs in 2017. In 2018, Vance was named the "Business Citizen of the Year" in Colorado Springs.
Excerpt of Vance Brown at the 2018 National Cyber Symposium. Vance is a seasoned speaker and enjoys the topic of mind, body, and spirit in the workplace.