Denver Executives Share Their Most Pivotal Career Moments

Julie Winslow, Vice President Branch Manager for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

In 2009, I made a career change from a sales manager in logistics, talking about moving ocean containers around the world, to a financial consultant. I was looking for a career where I could make a direct and significant impact for my clients. I focused on helping women understand the world of finance and empowering them to make positive changes to improve their lives.

At a Metropolitan State University of Denver alumni event in 2010, I was sharing my passion for empowering women and was offered an opportunity to design and teach my own class through the Institute of Women's Studies and Services. This was one of the best experiences of my life. There is a huge gap in education and partnering with MSU Denver gave me the ability to reach hundreds of women and give them the tools, knowledge and resources to make profound positive changes to assist them on the road to financial freedom.

This experience also led to me looking for a company to match my passion, which I found in Charles Schwab. It has been incredible to work for organizations that share my passion for financial education and providing resources for investors of all levels.

Maritza Dominguez Braswell Partner at Fox Rothschild, LLP

A pivotal moment in my career came during our representation of the Lehman Brothers Estate in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. A group of plaintiffs claimed Lehman owed them a collective $12 billion related to allegedly toxic mortgages.

After we argued successfully that a loan-by-loan review was the only way to accurately value claims across hundreds of residential mortgage-backed securities trusts, I worked with my colleague Michael Rollin, to oversee the creation and operation of a technology-enabled, detailed review of tens of thousands of individual mortgages. It was the first time a law firm had undertaken the type of large-scale loan review ordinarily left to underwriters, making the matter truly groundbreaking.

Moreover, to lead a team of dozens of lawyers through the review, and then play a lead role in the next phase of the case a 9-week trial in the Southern District of New York was personally gratifying. I was the only lead lawyer of color, and the only lead female at counsel table during trial. We secured a victory for our client, and I achieved a personal victory navigating a male-dominated environment in a multi-billion-dollar Wall Street case.

Diane Eichler, President and Founder of Decibel Blue & Decibel Green Creative Marketing & PR

I spent the first half of my career as a senior account executive and director of client services for several branding, marketing, and design agencies. My clients during that time included Toyota Motor Sales, The Black Eyed Peas, Herman Miller and Apple. In 2005, my husband and I started Decibel Blue in Phoenix, and we managed to survive those crazy economic years ahead of us.

A turning point for me came in 2013. That's when we opened our office in Denver and moved here, full-time, shortly after. While reaching into the Denver market was certainly strategic, our real motivation was our desire to spend the next portion of our journey in this amazing city. So often in life you end up living someplace because of a job, family or some obligation out of your control, but we seized the opportunity to live exactly where we wanted.

Since then, our agency has grown in both markets, and we couldn't be happier exploring the mountains and living life to the fullest in beautiful Colorado.

Gretchen Rosenberg President and CEO of Kentwood Real Estate

In 1996 I became a single mom to an 18-month-old son. I had been working with my ex-husband?s family in advertising, and obviously needed to move on. I asked myself, "What can I do that combines my business background and my interest in architecture and design, with flexibility, so I can spend time with my son on my terms (like being a parent volunteer) and also have the ability to make a good living?"

Real Estate seemed the natural fit. I started in sales and 10 years later became a selling manager of one of our three Kentwood brokerage offices. Then, 11 years after that, I stepped up into the CEO role.