2025 Winners

2025 Swede Johnson lifetime Achievement Award

Doug Hock, APR 

Doug Hock, APR, worked as a public relations professional in the Denver area for over 30 years. An active member of PRSA Colorado, he was Chapter President in 1998 and later served a two-year term as a chapter delegate to the annual leadership assembly. 

Doug worked in a variety of organizations, providing media relations, internal communications and crisis communications expertise. He also worked on the agency side of the business as an account executive and a freelance consultant. The majority of his career was spent in natural resources, working as media relations counsel and spokesman for Newmont Mining Corporation and EnCana Oil & Gas (USA). In 2012, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award in Public Affairs from the Western Energy Alliance, a trade association of oil and gas exploration and production companies operating in the Western states. 

Outside of his professional work, Doug served as a board member and chair of several area nonprofits, including the Denver Children’s Home, Florence Crittenton Services of Colorado and Metro Caring. 

Doug is a graduate of Drake University with a BA in News/Editorial Journalism. He and his wife, Jenny, have two grown sons and a granddaughter.

2025 SHARON LINHART PUBLIC RELATIONS PERSON OF THE YEAR

Jennifer Quermann | Senior Director of Communications and Marketing, Butterfly Pavilion

Jennifer Quermann is Senior Director of Communications and Marketing at Butterfly Pavilion, the first Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)-accredited nonprofit, standalone invertebrate zoo in the world, where she leads integrated marketing, media relations, and strategic communications efforts that elevate the organization’s mission to protect invertebrates and their ecosystems. Since joining Butterfly Pavilion in 2021, she has cultivated strong relationships with journalists, reporters, producers, and editors across Colorado, securing thousands of media placements annually and helping to position Butterfly Pavilion as a go-to expert on invertebrate science and conservation.

Under her leadership, Butterfly Pavilion garners more than 1,000 media mentions and placements each year, including dozens of live TV segments, feature stories, and podcast guest appearances. Her media results span top-tier regional outlets such as The Denver Post, 5280, 303 Magazine, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and all major local network affiliates (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and CW), effectively amplifying the organization's voice across traditional and digital platforms.  In addition to media relations, Jennifer also leads the marketing team and is responsible for digital strategy, social media, advertising, event promotion, and strategic partnerships.

A seasoned communications strategist with nearly three decades of experience, Jennifer previously held leadership roles at global agencies and consulted for major clients including Visa, Mattel, Levi Strauss, Mars Corporation, the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, AARP, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Norwegian Air International, and Johns Hopkins Medicine. Her expertise spans strategic PR, media relations, branding, advertising, internal communications, crisis response, digital content, and thought leadership campaigns.

Early in her career, Jennifer transitioned from political fundraising into agency work, where she became known for creating and executing integrated marketing campaigns for corporations, nonprofits, associations, and government agencies. She's served as a media spokesperson for global brands and briefed high-ranking military leaders in locations from Germany to Japan.

Originally from Northern California, Jennifer earned her B.A. from the University of Colorado Boulder and was thrilled to return to Colorado permanently in 2021, settling in Westminster. She brings both national experience and local insight to her role, advancing Butterfly Pavilion’s visibility and impact throughout the state and beyond.

2025 JANE DVORAK MENTOR OF THE YEAR

Jason Evans | Communications Manager, FlatironDragados

Jason is a communications manager in the FlatironDragados family of companies, one of North America's largest builders of large civil projects (highways, runways, bridges, dams, rail). Before relocating back to Colorado, he was a producer for CNN in Atlanta for 15 years. A graduate of the University of Denver with longtime roots in our community, he believes Colorado has infinite possibilities for our industry. Jason firmly believes in mentorship, not only as a way to pass along experience to the next generation but as a way for the mentor to remain open to new trends and ways of thinking.

2025 AYERS CHAPTER SERVICE AWARD

Jake Kasowski | FleishmanHillard

Jake Kasowski is a communications professional with more than 10 years of experience in public relations and strategic communications across the technology industry. Currently, he serves as a managing supervisor at FleishmanHillard in the corporate reputation and technology practice, working with Fortune 500 companies in the enterprise and consumer technology sectors. Previously, he has held both in-house and agency roles at companies including ManagedMethods, 10Fold Communications, and Barokas Communications. He holds a bachelor's degree in communication studies from Western Washington University. In his free time, Jake enjoys watching sports, concerts at Red Rocks, and enjoying an IPA at the many breweries across the Denver metro.

2025 JOE FUNETES ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD

Walker Shumock-Bailey | Metro Denver and Marketing Coordinator, A Little Help

Walker is diving into the public relations world with enthusiasm and is grateful to be part of the PRSA Colorado Board as the co-chair of the Communications committee. A proud graduate of the University of Denver, he holds degrees in international studies and strategic communication. He currently works for nonprofit A Little Help, wearing several different hats, including overseeing earned media. In addition to his role at A Little Help, Walker owns SB Communications Ltd., where he supports fellow PR professionals with freelance communications work.

Originally from Auburn, Alabama, he’s a die-hard college sports fan who spends fall Saturdays cheering on his Auburn Tigers—even if that’s meant getting used to disappointment lately. While attending the University of Denver, he was introduced to the 11-time national champion “Kings of College Hockey” and quickly became a devoted DU hockey fan.

Though a Southerner at heart, he’s embraced the Colorado lifestyle. You’ll often find him skiing the Mary Jane side of Winter Park Ski Resort on Saturdays in the winter/spring. When he’s not watching football, basketball, or hockey, he enjoys cooking, spending time with friends, and exploring Colorado by hike or bike.

2025 MEDIA PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR AWARD

Tina Griego | Senior Editor, ProPublica Local Reporting Network

Tina Griego is a senior editor for local news at ProPublica, a national nonprofit newsroom focused on investigative journalism. 

Before joining ProPublica, she was a co-founder and the managing editor of the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab), a coalition of 180 local news outlets that works to strengthen local journalism in our state. 

Tina is a veteran journalist and her reporting in Colorado includes her more-than-a-decade long career as a city columnist for the Denver Post and the late, great Rocky Mountain News. Her reporting also included immersive year-long projects on the Latino dropout rate at a single Denver high school, how immigration impacted a single block in Denver, and the creation and planned dismantling of a public housing project. She has been a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Albuquerque Tribune.

Her work as a columnist and reporter has received dozens of state awards as well as the Best of the West, the National Headliner, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists “Print Journalist of the Year,” and  the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism’s Tobenkin Memorial Award. Tina was also part of the Los Angeles Times’ team that won the 1993 Pulitzer for Spot News Reporting. She is a member of the Scripps Howard and Denver Press Club Hall of Fame.

2025 OUTSTANDING BUSINESS LEADER

Rosalind “Bee” Harris | Publisher, Denver Urban Spectrum

Rosalind J. Harris is best known as the publisher of Denver Urban Spectrum and her years of dedication to the community. 

After working as a freelance graphic designer in the Denver community early in her career, opportunity knocked and she answered it by starting a community publication, Denver Urban Spectrum. Since inception in 1987, she has established the Spectrum as a community fixture while amplifying voices and sharing stories by “Spreading the News about People of Color.”

For three decades, Denver Urban Spectrum has featured stories about important community events with the help of several hundred writers, editors, graphic designers, marketing sales consultants, photographers and distribution clerks. Together, they have given a voice to underrepresented members of Colorado’s communities of color and played a meaningful role in helping to shine the spotlight on people and organizations working to create change and help others. 

Bee has served on several boards as an advisor or director. Among them are the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company, Five Points Business Association, Denver Foundation, Girls Scouts Mile Hi Chapter, Visit Denver, CoLours TV, Art Culture and Film, Coalition Against Global Genocide, and the Colorado Press Association.

Over the years, she has also been recognized for her contributions, trailblazing legacy and her role in highlighting the best of our community through numerous awards, including: the MLK Humanitarian and Social Responsibility Awards; Denver’s 150 “Unsung Heroes” from Mayor John D. Hickenlooper; Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado Black Women for Political Action; and John Parr and Sandy Widener Civic Leadership Award from the Denver Foundation. And most recently, the Five Points Jazz Festival Cultural Award and the B.E.S.T. Success Summit WiLMA award. In 2012, she received a Public Service honorary doctorate degree from the Denver Institute of Urban Studies and Adult College. In 2020, Bee was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame for her activism, advocacy and impact.