Year: 2019
Award: Joan Birkland Leadership Award
Location/Affiliation: Girls on the Run Rockies, Greenwood Village
- Founder, Girls on the Run Rockies
- Non-Profit Works with 6,000 Young Women Annually
Our Leadership Award was recently named for Sportswomen of Colorado co-founder and Colorado Sports Hall of Famer, the legendary Colorado tennis and golf amateur champion, Joan “Joanie” Birkland. Joanie served as Sportswomen’s executive director for 40 years and was the first to win her own Birkland Leadership Award in 2018. That means that our 2019 awardee, Lisa Johnson, is just the second to receive this prestigious honor!
Fifteen years ago, Lisa founded a Girls on the Run non-profit program here in Colorado. Since running was always a valuable part of her life, she wanted to empower young women by sharing the physical and emotional health benefits of her sport with them.
As a result of Lisa’s vision and endless determination to make sure ALL girls have access to the program, Girls on the Run Rockies has introduced the power of running to over 40,000 girls along the Front Range. The after-school program works with over 300 schools and 6,000 young women annually with Lisa Johnson setting the pace. Now that’s empowerment. And, leadership!
