M essage from Colorado Business Roundtable's Board Chairman
Dear Colorado Business Roundtable partners, 
I hope this message finds you, your family, and your coworkers healthy and as happy as can be during this truly unprecedented crisis.
 
Over the past few weeks things have changed for the Colorado Business Roundtable (COBRT). Events have been postponed, and meetings are now virtual video calls. In this unpredictable time, I know that both Debbie and Lisa are committed to continuing with the momentum that we had generated at the start of this year.
COBRT is taping prerecorded virtual policy roundtables to be released each week for the next month. The Virtual Roundtable Series consists of six virtual conversations with thought leaders, CEOs, and elected officials featuring topics focusing on our policy priorities with a lens on the current health and economic crisis: Economic Development, Workforce Development, Transportation Funding and Infrastructure, Smart Regulation, Tax Reform and Workforce and Immigration. To view the latest videos click here.

If you indulge a personal perspective, this is one of “those” times that I know that I will ultimately look back on later in life and try to describe the situation and emotions that I have felt during this pandemic. With all my virtual time I have been reflecting on past experiences which included a dad that left to serve during the Vietnam conflict, birth of my children, being on business travel on 9/11, to name a few. My conclusion is that while work is important to provide for ourselves and families, I seriously doubt that I will look back on my life and say, “I wished I had spent more time and effort working!”
 
It is an honor to serve as the Chairman this year, and I would ask that you continue your amazing support to COBRT as we adjust to our new reality.
 
Sincerely,
Dave Eddy 
Chairman of the Board
Colorado Business Roundtable's Board Chairman  
On the re-launch of the Colorado Business Roundtable Podcast, we welcome Dan Nordberg, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Region VIII Administrator based in Denver. In this role he oversees delivery of the agency's small business programs and services in South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Montana.

A Colorado native, Dan shares with us his journey which includes a stint in the Colorado State House of Representatives and sees him currently working with the federal government to support small businesses during this unprecedented time of a global pandemic. Dan discusses the tools and products available to small businesses to assist in weathering the economic turmoil of the Coronavirus. 

The unprecedented events that have transpired in the US over the last two weeks are aimed at saving lives. By taking extreme measures to limit contact between people in hopes of slowing the spread of the COVID-19, there will likely be success in preventing an overwhelming rush of patients in need of ventilators and other treatments that our healthcare system could otherwise not accommodate. Yet, while American states may be successful in slowing the spread of the virus, the US economic system has ground to a near halt and the potential economic and fiscal impacts are just beginning to be understood.

The Colorado Business Roundtable (COBRT) Virtual Roundtable Series will consist of six virtual conversations with thought leaders, CEOs, and elected officials will feature topics focusing on our policy priorities with a lens on the current health and economic crisis: Economic Development, Workforce Development, Transportation Funding and Infrastructure, Smart Regulation, Tax Reform and Workforce and Immigration.

Given the OK to extend their session beyond its previously announced May 6 adjournment, Colorado legislative leaders aren't likely to rush back before early May, giving them time to assess the economy and state's most pressing needs as the coronavirus spread hopefully begins to ebb.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled late Wednesday that during a declared public-health emergency, as the state is in now, the Legislature can pause the clock on its 120-day limit for its annual session and resume it when it returns, counting only days it has been in session. That means that rather than having to rush back and cram its work into a likely short time frame, the General Assembly will have 53 working days to operate whenever it ends the temporary recess it began on March 15.

With the U.S. continuing to battle the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, its largest defense contractor on Friday committed new resources to the fight. Lockheed Martin Corp., the parent company to Jefferson County- based Lockheed Martin Space, pledged $66.5 million "as an initial contribution" to national COVID-19 relief efforts, in addition to other company resources, according to Marillyn Hewson, the company's chairman, president and CEO, in a statement Friday.

Colorado business leaders' confidence has plunged to its lowest point this century, plummeting in an unprecedented way because of the coronavirus crisis and leaving in doubt exactly how quickly the once-booming state economy can recover, according to a survey released Tuesday.

After a several-year period in which business confidence has vacillated,it fell almost in half heading into the second quarter of 2020, from a score of 50.8 three months ago to 29.7 in a survey of some 400 leaders taken between March 1 and 20 by the business research division at the University of Colorado-Boulder Leeds School of Business. A score of 50 in the quarterly Leeds Business Confidence Index indicates a neutral outlook, where anything lower represents decided pessimism.

Congressman Crow had a webinar with Executive Director of the North Metro Denver Small Business Development Center, Angela Atkinson to discuss resources for your small businesses if it'd been affected by coronavirus.

COBRT Podcasts
Stream or Download These Recent Podcasts
The Colorado Business Roundtable (COBRT) is a public policy organization comprised of executives from some of the state’s largest employers working to strengthen Colorado’s economic vitality. COBRT engages with elected leaders, business and nonprofit leaders, and other strategic allies to improve the business climate in our state by unapologetically amplifying the voice of business in all four corners of Colorado. Business is good, and we’re here to tell the story.

COBRT is the state affiliate of the National Business Roundtable. Based in Washington, D.C., the Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies working to promote sound public policy and a thriving U.S. economy.