Past Speakers

Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson is in his 22nd year as the “Voice of the Buffs” handling play-by-play duties for all University of Colorado football and basketball broadcasts as well as hosting the Buffaloes Primetime weekly radio and television shows. Previously, Johnson was the Sports Director of Denver radio station, KOA, Newsradio. He also does television and radio work for various national and regional networks in the Rocky Mountain Region and across the country.

Prior to coming to Colorado, Johnson spent three years as the “Voice of the Orange” for Syracuse University football and men’s basketball. He was at the microphone when former Denver Nugget, Carmelo Anthony, led the Orange to the 2003 National Championship. In addition to his game broadcast duties, Johnson also hosted the weekly Jim Boeheim and Paul Pasqualoni call in shows, Syracuse Sidelines television show and served as the ISP-SU Radio Network affiliate liaison. He also was a frequent speaker and emcee for numerous local charitable, civic group and Rotary Club functions.

Before his time in Syracuse he was the Sports Director for WJBC radio in Bloomington, IL and play-by-play announcer for four years at Illinois State University and earned three Silver Dome Awards for best play-by play broadcast in the state of Illinois.

Johnson also worked two years announcing for the University of North Dakota football and basketball programs and was a talk show host and play-by-play announcer for three years at WASK-AM and WKOA-FM in Lafayette, Ind.

Although, his vocation as sportscaster reflects a life-long love of sports; 25 years ago Johnson was called to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to various churches, men’s groups and conferences throughout the region. His message has been to encourage men to live lives of integrity, commitment, and responsibility.

Johnson also is heavily involved in numerous charity and community organizations serving as an emcee and guest speaker. In recent years he has been a guest-host on numerous Christian television shows on the Daystar and Trinity Broadcasting networks. He frequently serves as guest speaker at various men’s groups and churches.

In 2015 Johnson became the President of the Evergreen Rodeo Association in Evergreen, Colorado serving a one year term. His involvement in rodeo, continues a life-long love of horses and the Western way-of-life. When not working or speaking, Johnson enjoys spending time with his family, team roping, riding his horses and hunting & fly fishing.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from North Dakota in 1992.

Jerry Schemmel is a Radio Announcer for the Colorado Rockies, a position he has held for 13 seasons.  He was the broadcast voice of the Denver Nuggets for 18 seasons, from 1992 to 2010, also working both radio and television. Prior to the Nuggets, he spent two seasons as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Schemmel is the author of the book, Chosen To Live, which chronicles his survival of the crash of United Airlines Flight 232 in Sioux City, IA in 1989 and its subsequent effects on his life.

Schemmel twice rode a bicycle across the United States, as a fundraiser for two Denver area charities. Then, in June of 2015, he successfully completed the Race Across America, as part of a two man cycling relay team, covering 3,000 miles in seven and a half days, to win the overall two person relay division. A documentary about the effort, called Godspeed, was released in the fall of 2016. In September, 2017, Schemmel set the age group record in the Race Across Colorado, a 468 mile bicycle ride from the Utah border to the Kansas border.

Schemmel earned a law degree in 1985 from Washburn University, after receiving his undergraduate degree from the school in 1982. He also played baseball at Washburn and later was an assistant coach at the school for three years. Schemmel grew up in Madison, SD and now resides in Denver, CO. He has two adult children, Maggie and Ryan, and three grandchildren.

Ron Dunn

Ron is a seasoned business leader and author. Following a successful career in sales and executive management, Ron founded a growing, national flooring company with licensed stores throughout the US and he remains actively involved as CEO. He is author of the book, Unfinished Business, an end-of-life family planning resource.

Ron graduated with a BA from Trinity University in Deerfield, Illinois and in 2010 was honored as their Alumnus of the Year.

He and his wife Sandy have been married for 46 years. They have two married children, three grandchildren and reside in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Ron’s story will be both informative and inspirational.

As President and COO, Edward M. Kobel leads DeBartolo Development’s investment strategy, execution and capitalization. Backed by the DeBartolo family and major capital commitments he secured, DeBartolo Development has underwritten a real estate pipeline of over $4.6 billion since 2003. Prior to overseeing DeBartolo Development, Ed was a partner at Fortis Advisors in Scottsdale, an affiliate company of DeBartolo Property Group, where he managed more than $600 million in real estate projects. Before joining Fortis, he founded Trinity Development with offices in Colorado Springs, Denver, Phoenix and Chicago. Trinity Development was primarily engaged in new retail development as well as value-added shopping center renovation and completed over $300 million in retail development. Throughout his professional career, Ed has devoted his time and leadership to multiple non-profit organizations and was awarded the Outstanding Professional and Community Citizenship award from Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.