About
Wendy Lea
Wendy Lea is a leading expert in digital innovation strategy and ecosystem development. As a leader-practitioner serving in CEO, board advisor, and strategist roles, she advises national and state governments, public-private partnerships, and global enterprises on economic growth through small-business resilience and innovation. Recognized for work across industries and regions, Wendy is a maximalist who creates vibrant startup innovation ecosystems that grow city, regional, and state economies.
Wendy is an advisory board member serving the Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE) and an advisory council member on the National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE)—a federal committee tasked with developing strategies that strengthen America’s ability to compete as the world’s leading startup nation and as the world’s leading innovator in critical emerging technologies. An active mentor and advisor for tech accelerators, Wendy leverages a global network of entrepreneurs to catalyze economic resilience.
As CEO of Energize Colorado, Wendy mobilizes resources and relief for small businesses, nonprofits, and individuals recovering from the economic impact of COVID-19. She leads a team of inspired innovators from Colorado’s private, public, nonprofit, and academic communities to revive and invigorate Colorado’s economy.
Wendy also serves on the Danaher Water Innovation and Technology Board, the P&G Ventures Advisory Board, and select venture-backed startup boards. Wendy provides corporate innovation subject matter expertise to Techstars’s ecosystem development partnership with the Country of Taiwan. She also serves university innovation and entrepreneurship programs, including Miami University’s John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship and the University of Colorado Boulder’s Engineering and Applied Science Advisory Board.
Wendy was named a “Woman of Influence” in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Recently she was honored with the Signal Excellence Award in 2018 by Procter & Gamble and the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business Distinguished Service Award.
Wendy is a graduate of the University of Mississippi in Business Administration and has lived and worked around the world. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.