Wednesday, April 11, 2001

Cocktails with Courtney ~ Boulder

Never mind that Boulder was in the 70's on Monday and then survived a blizzard on Tuesday, our Cocktails with Courtney event on Wednesday still drew about 150 High-Tech Corridor professionals out for networking and cocktails. Sponsored by noteworthy law firm Cooley Godward, Gartner Solista and eBusiness Strategies, many of Boulder's high-tech notables showed up to check out the soiree. Held at the new and trendy Triana's, which is partially owned by Exodus Communications' Vice President Research Niel Robertson, this tapas bar served up delicious oysters on the half shell, calamari and other eclectic Spanish fare as guests enjoyed the complimentary Bombay. Local venture capitalist big-wigs like iBelay's Andre Pettigrew, Boulder Ventures' Kyle Lefkoff, Korn/Ferry's Brad Gray, PriceWaterhouseCoopers' Matt Kosmicki, Vista Ventures' Catharine Merigold, Deloitte & Touche's Jennifer Mackessy and Softbank Venture Capital's Chris Wand came early on. Cooley Godward's Steve Conley and Steven Segal were eloquent hosts, as were Gartner Solista's George Deriso and Sheri Marks. EBusiness Strategies' Ty Bohannan also made a short and sweet speech to guests, encouraging them to get back to the cocktailing.

And as the guests filtered in I saw some regulars like Joe Pezzillo, Giggle with the Girls Inc. VP Denise Soler and 24/7's Mike Rosol who attended last year's event in Denver. ProMotif's John Robinson, Excite@Home's Rob Berman, Global Commerce's Robert Planchard and Creative Assets' Colette Crawford were among the guests who came. Ecrix president Kelly Beavers brought some friends, as did Mark Haeg. And Recess Entertainment founder Kari Nelson, ArtSparks Nancy Noonan-Morrissey and Peak Achievement president Bernice German stopped by to mingle with other high-tech professionals. KWAB radio hosts Larry and Pat Nelson, Boulder County Business Report co-publishers Jerry Lewis and Jeff Schott and eMileHigh's Brad Spirrison were covering the party. TriDigital's Susan Walanski and Courtney Elmendorf, Equus Group's Geoffrey Rugg and NGT's Martin Gitlin were among the other attendees enjoying the evening. Conference attendees like international advisor, adventurer and Havsuden Foundation board member Jean-Jacques de Masterston and Paul Jones stopped by for a quick hello to show their support. Later on I got to hang out and chat with SignalSoft Chip Cathey and DISC VP, Corporate Solutions Tim Klooster chatted it up with lingerers. As the night wore on, it was obvious, we need to do more of these in the hip and happening and beautiful town of Boulder, Colorado!