Central Park Celebrates International Women’s Day by Honoring Inspiring Women Who Are Helping Define the Community...
Mercy Wright: Assistant Project Manager for Mortenson Construction
Mercy Wright started working on the Central Park project when she was a 17 year old high school intern at Mortenson Construction, aspiring to have a career building parks and open space in Denver. After graduating she transitioned into an administrative role and has risen the ranks at Mortenson– ascending to the Assistant Project Manager. She is largely responsible for helping build many of Central Park’s impressive public and private parks throughout the community as well as the parks around the pools.
“My favorite part of being a part of the Central Park community is bringing to life so many open space projects and making this development unique and a national stand-out. I love taking areas that people avoided and making them useful and beautiful.”
Mercy Wright has played an integral role bringing to life some of Central Park’s most notable lifestyle amenities that make the community so robust. She is an effective project leader and problem-solver, and will continue to create valuable recreational and open spaces as the community completes its build-out.
Katy Dunn: In House Counsel for Brookfield Properties
Katy Dunn is in-house counsel for Brookfield Properties Development, and advises on mixed-use redevelopment projects across the United States. Since October of 2003, she has been focused on the Central Park redevelopment at the former Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado.
“From a professional standpoint I’m most proud of the work I’ve done with so many different stakeholders, both public and private, to balance all the competing interests that naturally exist in a project of this scale,” said Dunn. “ But what makes me happiest is seeing families living and playing in the neighborhood, riding bikes to school, or sledding at the parks, or getting hot chocolate at a coffee shop after an afternoon at the playground. That’s incredibly rewarding.”
Katy was born and raised in Laramie, Wyoming and is a graduate of the University of Oregon where she received her B.A. degree in Journalism in 1993. She worked in the legal department of Genentech, Inc., a large biotechnology company centered in the Bay Area, before attending law school at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, receiving her Juris Doctor degree in 2000. During law school, she interned at Pacific Gas & Electric and the San Francisco Superior Court, and worked in the Hastings Civil Justice Clinic Transactional Law program. She moved back to the Rocky Mountains, and worked at a small law firm for three years before joining Forest City Stapleton, Inc.
Barbara Neal: Public Art Consultant for Central Park
Barbara Neal has been a part of the Central Park community since its earliest days as it was transforming from a deserted airport to a master planned community. A bond was passed by the City of Denver to create the vision for the community, and in 2003 Barbara was selected to be the Public Art Consultant for the Master Plan of the Central Park Community (Stapleton at the time). With the guidance of a Public Art Advisory Committee and the involvement of many members of this new community, the Public Art Master Plan helped fulfill the specified goals of the Stapleton Development Plan (aka “The Green Book”) to enhance the aesthetic potential of redeveloped sites, current and future, and to respond to community needs and expectations.
The goal of the then Stapleton Public Art Program was to acquire a broad collection of unique public art for the new community that demonstrates the highest levels of artistic accomplishment, engages residents and neighbors and creates a positive identity that promotes the quality of life for people living in or visiting this community. With approval of the Public Art Master Plan by the Park Creek Metropolitan District and Denver Urban Renewal Authority in 2005, Barbara began to implement this plan.
“We identified potential sites, recruited community members, artists and other key interests to serve on selection committees to recommend proposed artwork for the neighborhoods as they developed.” The first artwork to be commissioned, The Eye and the Horizon (After Monet) was installed in the median at the intersection of East 29th Avenue and Xenia Street in 2006. She managed or assisted in selection and installation of several of Denver’s public art projects at Fire Station #26, the Sam Gary Branch of the Denver Public Library, and in Conservatory Green. Balloon Man Running at the Central Park Station is another project she facilitated for RTD. Public art installations now range from Central Park Boulevard and Montview Boulevard on the south to the new North End Park bordering the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge on the north. She will be involved in installing the last public art project, Open House, in the Prickly Plume Park at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Moline Street later this spring.
“It’s been a real pleasure to work with Central Park residents, contractors, architects, developers and others dedicated to the success of this new community,” said Neal. “It has been a privilege to work with the many people involved in the development of Central Park and especially with the residents in the neighborhoods where public art has been commissioned and installed. Together, we have strived to select, commission and install artwork that will enhance its environment and be welcomed by its neighbors.
This public art collection gives a distinctive quality to the neighborhoods and to Central Park as a community.
Lauren Casteel: CEO of Women’s Foundation of Colorado
Lauren Y. Casteel is a long time Central Park resident and a trailblazer for all women. Currently, the CEO of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado (WFCO), Casteel is the first person in the state to lead three foundations, and she possesses more than 20 years of philanthropic leadership in Denver and throughout Colorado—having won numerous accolades, including an induction into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
“I am not exceptional and much of my learning comes from my mistakes,” said Casteel. “I have been given opportunities by people along the way who made it possible for me to become who I am today and reach my fullest potential. It is my passion to do the same for others because I believe everyone–regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, gender or socioeconomic status– should be celebrated for the individual gifts they offer the world.”
State Senator Angela Williams
Senator Angela Willians is a Central Park resident and the current Colorado State Senator representing Senate District 33. Regarded as a leader who gets things done, Williams puts Coloradans first, working collaboratively on both sides of the aisle in a persistent effort to prioritize consensus on complex issues. Williams is known as the Democrat Business Champion of the Colorado General Assembly. Williams’s primary focus is to open up the lines of communication between government and the private sector.
As one of the few women of color serving in the Colorado legislature, promoting legislation that advances equality for all is important to Williams. She serves on the Senate Business, Labor, and Technology Committee as well as the Joint Technology Committee. She was recently elected Chairwoman of the Colorado Black Democratic Legislative Caucus. Senator Angela Williams has been a resident since 2006.
“Colorado has one of the fastest growing economies in the country,” Rep. Williams said. “I enjoy working with business and labor leaders to continue creating good paying jobs and growing small businesses in the state. Central park is a welcoming place to do business and represents the perfect community for people to both live and work—which is what drew me to it almost 10 years ago.”
On this International Women’s Day, Central Park says thank you to all of the women of the community who have helped make it the diverse, inclusive and phenomenal place it has become over the last two decades.
