*Jeff’s audio isn't perfect on this episode, but the conversation with Ann is absolutely worth hearing. We’ve fixed the issues for future episodes and we can’t wait to share them with you!
Ann Hutchison is the President & CEO of the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce. Born in Fort Collins, Ann earned her B.A. in Speech Communication/Journalism and Mass Communications from UNC and began her career in Kansas before returning to Fort Collins in 2003.
Throughout her Chamber career, Ann has overseen communications, events, the Talent Initiative, and Leadership Fort Collins while advancing business-friendly policy and community building.
Ann lives in Fort Collins and is an avid supporter of the local Colorado State University sports teams and a variety of other educational and community initiatives.
Community growth and resilience often require long-term vision, collaboration, and intentional leadership. Cities thrive when leaders balance innovation, infrastructure, and inclusivity while fostering connections between business, education, and nonprofits. How can Fort Collins continue to build a thriving future while navigating challenges like affordable housing and shifts in higher education?
According to Ann Hutchison, who serves as President and CEO of the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, the answer lies in creating intentional spaces for dialogue, building partnerships across sectors, and empowering future leaders. Through initiatives like Leadership Fort Collins and sector partnerships, she helps bring diverse stakeholders together to address challenges while fostering a culture of innovation and cooperation. By emphasizing thoughtful decision-making and cross-community collaboration, Hutchison shows how Fort Collins can remain a city of opportunity and vision.
On this episode of The Love FoCo Show, host Jeff Faust welcomes Ann Hutchison for a conversation about her journey from small-town Colorado to leading the Chamber, the importance of leadership development, how business and nonprofits can collaborate, and the pressing challenges of housing and education. She shares lessons from her personal story, examples of civic foresight, and her hopes for Fort Collins’ next 20 years.
Intro: This is the Love Foco Show.
Ann Hutchison: I'll be honest, last five years in our community, we've seen an increase in division isn't the word, but but there is this this kind of collision of viewpoints of the world. And we moved away from civil discourse and really creating spaces for people to have very, very different opinions, but to walk out of a room, still willing to be community members, possibly be friends, And, through things like a pandemic It it feels like the volume got higher on differences versus, community vision. And despite that, I think the great thing is there's just this interesting DNA that pushes that further and further to the edges to make room for this common vision. And at the same time, I get I get anxious about that. I I I really do wanna make sure that we have a community that has thoughtfulness and create spaces for that. Again, beat them up kind of discourse, but then walks out of the room and says, but this is Fort Fort Collins.
Intro: Welcome to the Love Foco Show. Our podcast highlights the incredible people who make Fort Collins the place we're proud to call home. Each week, your host, Jeff Baust, sits down with local leaders, community champions, and change makers to share their stories, what they love about our city, and how they're helping it drive. So whether you're out on the trail, at a brewery, or walking through Old Town, thanks for tuning in.
Jeff Faust: Hey, everyone. Jeff Faust here, your host for the Love Foco Podcast. Every episode, we sit down with business owners, entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, influencers, and other amazing humans who are making a difference in and around Fort Collins. It doesn't matter if they're selling, serving, building, brewing, you name it. We hope that these conversations will inspire you to get involved, share your own story, and make a difference by loving our city one life at a time.
Today, we're sitting down with Ann Hutchison, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce in Fort Collins. She's an incredible leader and just has a way of making you better when you're around her. I'm so excited for you to hear this interview. Her history has shaped her in a way that makes her a great leader for our community today. She knows our city, its strengths and struggles, what faces business leaders in the next five, ten, twenty years and beyond and is doing a great job of building a community of change makers for them to collaborate and sharpen one another.
I can't wait for you to listen to this fantastic interview with Anne Hutchison. Well, Anne, thank you so much for spending time with me today. I've been really excited about this interview because you were the first people that I met when I moved to Fort Collins. And as I got to know you then and as I've just watched you from afar, you're definitely the kind of person we wanna interview for this because you're making a difference in our community, one person, one organization, one business at a time. And so grateful.
And a special thanks because you're an early adopter. Yes.
Ann Hutchison: Happy to be.
Jeff Faust: I mean, an early episode. There's probably six people listening to this. It's my mom, my wife, my kids. I've been so excited that you're here. Awesome.
And, you know, we wanna take a lot of time to get to know you and and let you talk about how you're loving our city, what you love about our city, all those things. But I just I wanna ask everybody this kind of opening question. Like, what is your Fort Collins origin?
Ann Hutchison: Absolutely.
Jeff Faust: I mean, if you Yes. Moved here, transplanted here, or born here, I'd love to just hear some of your background and Yeah. Let me share about that for a while.
Ann Hutchison: Oh, well well, thank you, Jeff. I'm excited to be a part of the conversation today. As far as my origin story goes, I am one of those very few that can claim to be a Fort Collins native.
Jeff Faust: Wow. Awesome.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Yes. My my folks were here in Fort Collins. My dad was had just finished up his master's degree and was working for Colorado State in personnel. My mom was a teacher at Dunn Elementary School, and they decided it was time for a family, and I arrived on the scene.
First born? First born. First born.
Jeff Faust: Natural born leader.
Ann Hutchison: Yeah. All the things. Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So born right here in Fort Collins at Poudre Valley Hospital. Always make the joke that Kevin Unger, who's also a Fort Collins native
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: And runs our health system here in Northern Colorado. I we were born in the same year, and I I gig him regularly that he got to be born in a pretty fantastic birthing room, whereas my mom almost had me in the hallway.
Jeff Faust: So so yes, can claim native status. Awesome.
Ann Hutchison: Although with my dad being in higher education, we didn't stay in Fort Collins very long after I was born. Yep. So I was about a year old when he got a call from a mentor to say, we'd like to open up a community college in Denver.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: And, Ken, that's my dad's name. Yeah. Would you would you come and help me? And my dad said yes. So we moved as a family to Brighton, and my dad helped to create Denver Community College with his mentor.
Really? Yeah. Super cool. I'm I'm so I'm proud of that legacy
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: That my dad was a part of creating those pathways Yeah. For for people that might not have been on a natural pathway to higher ed.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: And so love that. Denver Community College is now gone, and it's really now Metro State, but he was a part of that original vision.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: And then we're living in Denver Brighton, just outside of Denver, and he got a phone call from another mentor to say, Ken
Jeff Faust: He's a sought up guy.
Ann Hutchison: He was he was. The at the time. Exactly. And this mentor was in his hometown and same request. Ken, I'm thinking about starting in community college in your hometown.
Would you come to the Eastern Plains Of Colorado and help me do it? K. And he said yes. Yeah. So we moved to
Jeff Faust: So Denver Metro Area to Eastern Plains. Scott, that's a very different region.
Ann Hutchison: Absolutely. Absolutely. It is bootstrap, agriculture, take care of your community kind of a space.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: So my dad worked along doctor Daddy to start Morgan Community College.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. And How about how old were you when this would all happen?
Ann Hutchison: So I
Jeff Faust: Were you do you have, like, conscious memories of this?
Ann Hutchison: So I have conscious memories of the move to Fort Morgan is where we started and ended up living in Brush.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: I was four
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: And a half, So I have very vivid memories of packing, moving to the Eastern Plains, having my first kindergarten experience Yes.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: In a different place. So, yes. Yeah. Yeah. So so, yes.
Moved to the Eastern Plains, Colorado, and then that's that's really what my sister and I call home.
Jeff Faust: Sure.
Ann Hutchison: Is Brush, Colorado
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: Just 10 miles down the road from Fort Morgan. And really was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to grow up in Brush. Yeah. It was a
Jeff Faust: What about Brush? Like, what makes you think fondly about that?
Ann Hutchison: Yeah. Small town. Yep. At the time that we were living there, about 5,000 people.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: As I already noted, this rich agricultural heritage, but also this willingness to look ahead. Great downtown. The schools were just vibrant. Athletics was a key part of community. You know, all of the cliche Friday night light stuff.
Jeff Faust: Small town stuff like, like, you know, people's entertainment's kinda surrounded by the school business.
Ann Hutchison: Exactly right. Right. And and it was that small enough town that if you happen to be out doing shenanigans as young people do, your folks knew about it before you
Jeff Faust: got home. Yeah. There's there's less exam challenges. Yeah. Exactly.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of the town I've worked into. So, yeah, I know that too well.
Ann Hutchison: Yeah. And, additionally, it was just a great town to grow up in based on size and scope because my sister and I had the opportunity to do all the things.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: So we we were both we were both athletes. We weren't athletic, but but we were fully invested in athletics.
Jeff Faust: I mean, you would have to tell me that. Yeah. You know, I don't have to brush school, like, records on hand. Damn it. Okay.
So yeah. So, you know, we both played volleyball and basketball from
Ann Hutchison: fifth grade on. We both played softball, but we also then were able to do all of the school kinds of things and both had great opportunities to become scholars. We also then had great opportunities to be involved in music and student council and
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: A small town lets you do all of those things.
Jeff Faust: Liberal arts like, approach to growing up, which is really I think it plants seeds that that, you know, bear a harvest for years to come.
Ann Hutchison: Agreed. Agreed.
Jeff Faust: And it's really interesting because I'm raising kids now on our time. And, like, the the the push for specialization is getting earlier. It's just gonna surprise to me as a parent.
Ann Hutchison: Right.
Jeff Faust: Right. If you sign up for a sport, you're signing up for, like, twelve months of that sport.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Yes.
Jeff Faust: Which is beautiful. It's wonderful. Yes. You're getting really great at that. Yes.
But you do kind of you sometimes miss out on that that broad approach. Yes. Music, epidemics, athletics, even the cross training that comes in multiple sports. Absolutely. Interesting thing that I've been watching in my children.
Ann Hutchison: So Absolutely. Yes. My sister and I were we were fully dedicated on basketball early on.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: Our dad was he he liked basketball, so that was kind of where we grew up. And I can remember seventh grade. My dad said, you really should go out for the volleyball team. Was like, I don't know how to play volleyball. And he's But it'll be good training for
Jeff Faust: you for bat for basketball. Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: Turns out that I loved volleyball more than I loved basketball by the end of my high school career. Yep. So, yeah, there there's just something special about that opportunity.
Jeff Faust: There is. Now your younger sister, how much younger? So, like, did you ever get to play on the same team?
Ann Hutchison: We did. So my sister is two years younger than me. Yeah. And my best friend in the world, by
Jeff Faust: the way.
Ann Hutchison: Oh, that's good. Yeah. We're we're really lucky. And so, yes, we played a lot of summer ball together because if you're gonna go play in Lyman, your sister comes with you, and we all play in the same gym. Yeah.
But then in high school, we also then got to play volleyball and basketball both. We were both on varsity at the same time for both of those sports. So yeah. Yeah. Really something special for
Jeff Faust: sure. And then after high high school, like, did you at that point come back to Fort Collins, or what was your early adult life?
Ann Hutchison: Yes. And how did you
Jeff Faust: And take me on that journey and then land me back in Fort Collins.
Ann Hutchison: Absolutely. So graduated from Brush High School. Didn't know where I wanted to go.
Jeff Faust: NASA. I mean, like, how many people? 50? 100?
Ann Hutchison: There were, 97 of us.
Jeff Faust: 97.
Ann Hutchison: Okay. 97 of us that walked across the stage. Didn't know where I really wanted to go to college. I had big dreams of going to Denver University.
Jeff Faust: Mhmm.
Ann Hutchison: And couldn't quite put together the financial package to do that.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: So I had applied to CSU and UNC as my backup school.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. My
Ann Hutchison: as you heard, my dad has a long legacy at Colorado State. My mom had a legacy at at UNC in Greeley.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: She was a teacher, and so I decided UNC's it. Yeah. Honor mom's legacy. Go to UNC.
Jeff Faust: Family battle and not won this one.
Ann Hutchison: Exactly. Exactly. At the time, right, I probably thought, oh, did I make the right choice? But UNC was a lot like brush in that it was a smaller student body, about 10,000 students on campus at the time. And same experiences brush that I could do a lot of different things.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: I could be a a student scholar. I could be a part of student government. I could have a job. Just enough multiple experiences
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: That I feel like my education was highly rounded, not just by the classroom
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: But by all of those ripple effects throughout throughout my time there. So I was a I was a resident assistant. That was my senior year job. So I was in charge of a building of 40 women that was always interested. Underclassmen.
I Underclassmen. Yes.
Jeff Faust: Exactly. Experiencing life on their own.
Ann Hutchison: Exactly right. Exactly right. So so did that resident assisted work?
Jeff Faust: Were you, like I mean, were you, like, a hard ass, or were you kind of, like, the let's be free? And I was
Ann Hutchison: I was somewhere in between. Okay. Because if you start out let's be free, you can get burned.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: So I probably started more on the here are the rules. Yeah. Then I got a little softer as we went. Okay. Yeah.
So yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Faust: I feel like we could've got a lot. So my college experience was I was a wild man. Oh. Okay. I grew up really wild and crazy.
And then when I went to college, I was like, I can do all the wild and crazy stuff. Now I just have no parental oversight. Yes. So, yeah, we turned we turned my little wing of the dorm into something special, and it seemed like there was always the RA knocking on my door.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. I
Jeff Faust: had to do many hours of community service
Ann Hutchison: Well done.
Jeff Faust: My freshman year at college. And they told me it was for my own good that I was gonna learn lessons from this. And and basically just got better at breaking the doors.
Ann Hutchison: You You learned how to not get caught.
Jeff Faust: That's right. That's right. I was always like an entrepreneur. It just wasn't always good things.
Ann Hutchison: There you go. There you go. Yeah. But, again, lots of life learning there. I was a part of residence life leadership.
So we had a council that was that was elected by students living in the dorms to to run their government. Did that. I also ran for campus wide government, had a year at that student council. And then landed to graduation day. Thought I had done all the right things, did all the good things, and couldn't find a job as I graduated.
It was bright smack dab in the middle of a recession and despite following all the rules. Right? Right. I can find a job.
Jeff Faust: The long resume. It sounds like you had a ton of activity.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Exactly.
Jeff Faust: And that transition I mean, I I talked to a lot of high school students transitioning into work or into college. The The transition after college is a hard one.
Ann Hutchison: It's a really hard one.
Jeff Faust: It's hard community wise, relationally, emotionally Exactly. Financially. Know all these different things. And then you're thrown into a world where you're not surrounded by, you know, a dorm of people going exactly through the same things the same time. So it's tough it can be a lonely transition.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Yes. And so I I stayed on campus for the summer because I had a a few other jobs on campus and thought, okay. I'm gonna find something. And then came to August I still didn't have a job.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: So I moved home.
Jeff Faust: Boomerang back.
Ann Hutchison: Oh, it was tough. No. You weren't early adopters.
Jeff Faust: Right. This is how it was that. It was a
Ann Hutchison: Before it was cool. So, yeah, moved home, which was hard. You know, found a job being a waitress while I'm sending out I'm, of course, ancient. So this was back in the day when you sent letters in the mail to hundreds of people hoping that you'd get a phone call.
Jeff Faust: Right.
Ann Hutchison: Approaching along October, I still don't have a job. And my mom put in front of me an application for a job in Kansas. Wow. And it was for an extension agent with Kansas State University but housed in Garden City, Kansas.
Jeff Faust: Okay. I Had you ever been? Like, had you ever been east of the border of Colorado?
Ann Hutchison: Oh, yes. I mean, we we had family in Iowa and other things, but I'd never been to Southwest Kansas. Ames.
Jeff Faust: Ames, Iowa. Okay. So I grew up in Mason City Court, like, like an hour north of there. Nice. Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: We've we've got some family
Jeff Faust: back. Place to be from. I'm glad I'm out here.
Ann Hutchison: That's what I keep hearing. So yeah. So she pushes the application in front of me and says, you will apply for this job. And I said, no. That's not what I wanna do.
I want to be a big ad exec in Chicago or a flight attendant or something much bigger than that. Yeah. She said, no. You will apply or you won't be fed and you can find your own place to live.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: So I filled out the application. Yes. Yes, please. And thought, okay. I've bought two more months to really find the job I want.
About a week after I had mailed the application, I get a phone call, Ann we'd love for you to come to Garden City, Kansas for an interview.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: And I'm thinking, oh, okay. So I say yes. Drive myself all the way to Garden City, Kansas. It's about six hours from Brush. We're all the way down in the Yeah.
Jeff Faust: You're all
Ann Hutchison: the very Southwest corner of the state. Go through the interview. It was lovely. It was fine. But I also quickly looked around and said, oh, this is not where I'm going to be. Driving home. Again, this is pre electronic boom era. So no cell phone.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: The interview committee called my home. My father answered the phone. They offered my dad the job, and he said yes.
Jeff Faust: That is a twist. I was not expecting that. So by the time you, like, filled your car up with gas, you stopped halfway, you get home Yeah. He's like, congratulations, Anne.
Ann Hutchison: Yes.
Jeff Faust: We have accepted the position on your behalf.
Ann Hutchison: Exactly. And I started bawling immediately. Yeah. It was not it it was not the path that I had built in my mind. It wasn't what I was gonna do.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. Expectations were not…
Ann Hutchison: Yes. So after I got through first upheaval, I said, alright. I will I'll move, and I will do this for a year.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: And then I will come back to Colorado and do the things I'm supposed to do. Moved all the way down to Southwest Kansas. Garden turns out to be a a beautiful, beautiful community in a beautiful part of the state. It it's very different than other parts of the state. And a lot like my hometown
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: Agricultural roots.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: There are more cattle than there are human beings. There's a community of about 40,000 people.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: And That's
Jeff Faust: big city living if you're coming from. From brush.
Ann Hutchison: But from Greeley, it was a downgrade. Right. And it turns out I loved it.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: It was the exact right job for me out of school. I ended up being, as I described, teacher without a classroom.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: So I'm working with kids and families in school settings to help them learn about agriculture and all the parts of the system that make agriculture work. I'm also then working with families as they have experiences for their kids to also learn about agriculture, economics, home home living, etcetera. I'm I'm getting paid to load kids up in a van, take them to a camping experience, do all the super fun things at camp, and bring them home safely. Yep. A 22 year old, it was like, I had no idea.
Yeah. This was exactly the perfect place for me.
Jeff Faust: Right.
Ann Hutchison: So love the job.
Jeff Faust: Or and, like, one of the things that I keep hearing just consistently, one, in your family system somewhere, your your dad or something, like, there's some kind of display of leadership that you're picking up from him. Even if it's just intuitively or subconsciously, I mean
Ann Hutchison: Agreed.
Jeff Faust: The man's getting recruited to help lead and start these things. So it's forming leadership, entrepreneurship in him that you're probably gleaning from. Mhmm. And then even from an early age, I'm hearing this repeated theme of, like, you you just are able to wear a lot of hats. Yes.
And Yes. And it's deeply connected to relationships. I mean, these small town communities build relationships with you in a different kind of way. But you're you have a liberal arts kind of approach to your education Right. And athletics and academics.
And now you're in this role Yes. Where you're still you're relating with people a lot. You're creating experiences. You're you're creating an interconnection of of, you know, business and ag and family life. I mean, that's that has to play a part into the woman and the leader that you are today.
Ann Hutchison: And, yes, yes, agreed, agreed. Garden City offered me the opportunity to show up and become even more so the human I am today. Right? I mean…
Jeff Faust: And it's so interesting because those early Yeah. Experiences, when you're in them, you don't always recognize how they're shaping. Exactly. You know, if you can tell Anne for, you know, from that 22 year old, like, take full advantage of it.
Ann Hutchison: For sure.
Jeff Faust: Experience this fully or, you know Yes. I mean, those things, those Yeah. They're like early formative years. Absolutely. As a as a young person growing up, but also in those early career stages, they just they're like incredibly important.
Ann Hutchison: They are. They are. And if I reflect back on 22 year old Anne who, while I grew up in an ag town, we were, we were a city family. Right? We were the townies.
And suddenly, I'm in Southwest Kansas. I'm one of my first real days on the job, it's a day where kids and their families are delivering cattle, so Yeah. Steers and cows…
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: To a feed yard because they're gonna be a part of a learning process where they they've picked an animal. They're checking them in to be a part of this group of cattle that are going to get fed and eventually processed for food for all of us to eat. Yeah. So I'm wearing my tennis shoes and my jeans. It's 20 below. Cattle are rolling out of these trucks and going through the gates, and we're weighing them. And, you know, I I don't drink coffee, but it I'm drinking coffee because it's freezing.
Jeff Faust: Yes.
Ann Hutchison: And I'm this new chicky hanging out with these crotchety old cattlemen and the grit, the determination, the willingness to show up. Yeah. Definitely Yeah. A moment where I reflect back and think, thank goodness. Yeah.
Right?
Jeff Faust: Well, and there's Yeah. So there's a richness to that that I think we don't we're not always aware of. No. You know, you just get get fixed in your little community. You're not always aware how the rest of the nation is working working Yeah.
How our lives are even interconnected in ways that we're we're not aware of. So that's yeah. That's really sweet. That's a Yeah. It would have been fun to see that since, know, I'm a little attended shoes Yeah.
Drinking the the cold drinking the pretty work for the Absolutely.
Ann Hutchison: Because I was freezing. Yeah. So yeah. So so I ended up loving Garden City, Kansas. Really found my roots there.
Worked for extension. Again, I worked partially for the county as well as K State. I had five years under my belt. I had really kinda grown in the position and knew I needed to make a choice. Either I go back to school and get a master's degree and keep doing this kind of work, extension work, or I jumped to something else.
Yeah. K State said, well, we'll pay for your master's degree and give you a year to do it, but that will then cost you five more years of your life.
Jeff Faust: Okay. Sure.
Ann Hutchison: And, again, as a bleary-eyed 25 year old, it's like five more years. I don't know if I can. That's right. So I I said no to the master's degree and ended up leaving extension to work for an accounting firm as their marketing coordinator.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: So it was their first professional development job that they had within that organization.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: It was a regional firm, so they had a lot of ties back to cattle and agriculture. They were also doing a lot of audit work for government, etcetera.
Jeff Faust: I'm trying to imagine an accounting firm hiring a marketer.
Ann Hutchison: Like Yes.
Jeff Faust: You know? I mean, It was it was it was do, but
Ann Hutchison: They absolutely do.
Jeff Faust: They're probably you know, if you're great at spreadsheets, you're not always great at messaging. So I
Ann Hutchison: don't know why that would be Exactly. Yes. Yes.
Jeff Faust: It's just an interesting match.
Ann Hutchison: Oh, it it was, and I I so appreciated Lewis, Hooper, and Dick was the name of the firm. I appreciated that they took a risk on me. I took a risk on them, and we we brought in some interesting business
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: Because of it. And and the other cool thing was as an extension agent, was doing a lot of leadership development in kids and adults. I was able to continue to do that work with the partners and the staff at the accounting firm. As you described, accountants have a tendency to look at their own shoes. Yeah.
You meet a really extroverted accountant if they'll look at your shoes.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: No problem. But I was able to to to coach and work one on one with those various staff members to build their own personal marketing plan, personal growth plan to then eventually result in business that came into the firm. So loved that work. Did it for six years. If my mom wouldn't have gotten sick and passed away, I would still be in Garden City, Kansas.
Jeff Faust: Oh, really? Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: Yeah.
Jeff Faust: So that sounds like a story in and of itself.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Yes.
Jeff Faust: And then she were she was in Colorado when
Ann Hutchison: got She was in Colorado when she got sick. Actually, my parents had moved back to Fort Collins.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: So they had left Brush, came back to Fort Collins. My dad had achieved his dream goal of owning his own business. He worked for a lot of other businesses throughout his time, and he he had always dreamt of owning his own business. So our family had purchased Vern's Liquor out in Laporte.
Jeff Faust: Oh, sweet.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. That was nice. Yes. And and so they were living here in Fort Collins. They owned Vern's Liquor.
And along about six months into owning Verne's liquor, my mom was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, stage four. So all the all all the we got we got to experience all the things. And so for eighteen months, I did the back and forth.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: My sister was fortunately here in Fort Collins as well by then. And so I came back as often as I could to support. But
Jeff Faust: That's a hard journey.
Ann Hutchison: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of books on tape in the car. Lots of Thursday night at 5:00, drive as fast as you can. Come all the way. So Yep. Yeah. So
Jeff Faust: that windshield time. I mean, it has a way of making you process things, but it's even analogous of just I mean, mean, I I imagine trying to experience your life a little bit just to talk about, but, like, even driving here with anticipation to see your family, but then having to drive home, consistently saying goodbye.
Ann Hutchison: Exactly right.
Jeff Faust: Until the next time. And that's that's hard.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Yes. It was. So so thankful that I could do that.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: Not every employer would have said yes. Right. So yeah. So we, so we made it through, made it to the endpoint, and, again, looked around and said, If my father ends up on a similar path, there's no way I could do that twice. Yeah.
Yeah. Just as a human.
Jeff Faust: Right.
Ann Hutchison: So I started my journey to try to come home to Colorado.
Jeff Faust: K.
Ann Hutchison: I wasn't even looking at Fort Collins. I really thought, oh, if I could just get to Denver.
Jeff Faust: If I Cut the commute
Ann Hutchison: Exactly. Exactly. By complete happenstance, my dad took my sister and I to a CSU bowl game after my mom had passed to kinda say thank you.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: So we go to the bowl game. Rams get beat terribly. It's really kind of sad.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. And
Ann Hutchison: we go to a bowl game with the idea of you go somewhere sunny and warm, and it's great. No. No. We we go to Memphis, and it's raining, and it's snowing, and our plane gets delayed all
Jeff Faust: Mid to late December.
Ann Hutchison: It is.
Jeff Faust: It's the
Ann Hutchison: end of yes. Yeah. So my original plan was we fly back. I jump in the car, and I run right home to to Kansas. Because of the weather, we got delayed, and I had to spend the night in Fort Collins before the night went home the next day.
I'm up that morning. I'm reading the newspaper, eating some breakfast, and there's a job at the Fort Collins area chamber.
Jeff Faust: No kidding.
Ann Hutchison: And I'm like, this could maybe be me.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: So I cut it out. I take it home. Apply right away.
Jeff Faust: Do have do have computers where you can apply now?
Ann Hutchison: I do have computers now. Yes. Exactly. I'm I'm not typewritering. I am computering.
And it turns out that was the only day that they listed that position. It wasn't on their website. It wasn't anywhere else.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: So I send in the application thinking, well, maybe. And, like, a week later, they call and say, would you come back to Fort Collins and have an interview? Wow. And so I said, well, of course, I will. Yeah.
And two hours later, they offered me the position. Like Yeah. Like, on the spot. Exactly.
Jeff Faust: So you got to accept your dad and
Ann Hutchison: even Yes. He didn't even have to accept on my behalf. I got to do it myself. So yeah. And then two weeks later, I'd packed up all of my things, and I'd moved back to Fort Collins and started working at the chamber.
Jeff Faust: Wow.
Ann Hutchison: Yeah. It's crazy. It's a it's a job that I don't even have at the chamber anymore.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: And it was what was funny is it was more of my job as an extension than anything else I'd done because it was a it was being a herder of cats. Yeah. It was policy committee coordinator.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: My job was to take any of the committees of the chamber and keep them moving forward on their work.
Yeah. And I also got to program leadership for Collins.
Jeff Faust: Wow.
Ann Hutchison: And it was the leadership piece that made me say yes.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: Turns out it was the policy and the relationship piece that kept me here.
Jeff Faust: Mhmm.
Ann Hutchison: And yeah. And now twenty-three years later for a job that I thought, oh, I'll do it for a year.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: Turns out I love this work. Oh, love this work.
Jeff Faust: Thank you so much for sharing that. Yeah. You know, just just taking us on a little bit of a journey with your family. Absolutely. Because I know losing your parents hard and that time where you're able to log key hours is so meaningful.
Yes. Yes. And so yeah. Thank you. Appreciate you sharing that with us.
And now, like you said, you're here. Yes. And you had mentioned something about Leadership Fort Collins.
Ann Hutchison: Yes.
Jeff Faust: Right before we started this interview, told you I walked past, I think, room where I got interviewed Yes. For leadership Fort Collins. Right. I'd love to talk about that for just a minute because it was so meaningful for me. I mean, if you just go back seven or eight years, my family moved here kind of sight unseen.
And when we had, like, quick forty eight hour interview, fell in love with the city.
Ann Hutchison: Yes.
Jeff Faust: We're driving back we came from Kansas City, so we're driving back through Nebraska at two in the morning. I was like, if they offer the job, we need to we need to take it.
Ann Hutchison: Good for you. Good for you.
Jeff Faust: What we're supposed to be. Yes. And so sure enough, they did, but we came here. And just the nature of my personality and and what I do in town as a pastor is like, I I've never really felt responsible to just one church, but I really want to be responsible to a city.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Yes.
Jeff Faust: And so someone had said, you should apply for leadership Fort Collins. And I looked at it. Said, this is exactly what I I wanna learn about the challenges. I wanna learn about the blessings. I wanna think about year one, but but ten years, twenty years from now.
Yeah. Because we were really intending to raise our family and and make a life of of our entire community, you know, here. So once a month for a whole day, I got to spend time with you Yes. I don't know, thirty, forty other incredible Yes. Leaders
Ann Hutchison: Thirty, yes.
Jeff Faust: From the city who had the same heart to learn about this community, ways we can give back and help the city thrive. Yes. It was an incredible experience. You've done such a good job with that. And and I know it's a team effort.
Ann Hutchison: It is.
Jeff Faust: I'm just here with you now. It's just to say thank you.
Ann Hutchison: Oh, thank you.
Jeff Faust: And I I look back at that so fondly because we we did. We got to have real conversations about, like, talent acquisition. Guess, you know, in the Midwest, talent acquisition isn't as difficult as it is here. Right. Because cost of living is so much lower than, water rights and and the mental health state of kind of the entire Colorado.
Yes.
Ann Hutchison: How we're
Jeff Faust: gonna deal with that?
Ann Hutchison: How Exactly.
Jeff Faust: So many good topics. I I would love for you to to maybe share just a little bit about Leadership for Collins. What would you wanna say about that?
Ann Hutchison: Yeah. So so Leadership Fort Collins was a program started at the chamber in the early eighties. And in the early eighties, there was this trend across the country where chambers were identifying that they hadn't necessarily built future leaders. And so Fort Collins was one of those communities and said, you know, we need to provide an opportunity for people to learn about our community early in their careers in order to then help them see themselves in these important leadership positions moving forward.
And so, thank goodness for the for the group of community members that said this is something that's important here.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: I inherited the program about twenty years later. And, unfortunately, the program was kind of starting to fall on some harder times. Okay. They were slots. And so they were functioning with a program of 20 or 22 people.
Yep. And, again, I I was just so fortunate to get to inherit the program and and I think breathe new life into it. I mean, we just we just did interviews for the program last week, and we had 80 applicants for 30 spots.
Jeff Faust: Wow, that's awesome.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Very proud of that. And proud that I got to work alongside other leaders in the community to to really regrow the program back to this space. As you described it
Jeff Faust: It felt like it was a thriving part of the city when I when I was and and if you're listening to this, I mean, keep your eye on Leadership Fort Collins because you gotta sign up for that and be around it. Yes. I yeah.
Ann Hutchison: And and and as we like to remind people, even though it's called Leadership Fort Collins, we're not talking about, you know, making your public speaking skills stronger.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: We're really taking a day a month for nine months to expose leaders at various stages in their life. They might be brand new as you were to Fort Collins. Might have been here for fifty years.
Jeff Faust: Right.
Ann Hutchison: Maybe they're brand new as a manager or they're a frontline person. Maybe they're in government. Maybe they're in private business. We really try to build a class participation that looks a lot like our community. So all kinds of walks of life, all kinds of backgrounds.
And then we're we're spending a day diving deep on a topic that we know makes community great. We spend a day on education, a day on government, a day on state government, really understanding how that system works and how it complements. Yes. Remember
Jeff Faust: World-class infrastructure. being behind the scenes just thinking, wow. This like, they've really put a ton of intentionality
Ann Hutchison: Yes.
Jeff Faust: Behind making this city great. Like, it didn't just happen.
Ann Hutchison: It didn't happen. Yeah. Exactly.
Jeff Faust: Incredible theaters Yes. Making this thing work together. Absolutely. Yeah. I was really impressed.
Ann Hutchison: Well, thank you. And so so nine months of experience with 30 people having the same experience with the idea of, when you're finished, hopefully you see your spot in the future of the community Yeah. And can inspire that, but you're also more educated and ready to lead in different ways.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. Well, I mean, just think every year you're graduating. What you would want in a community, that's real owners and their sphere of influence, what however large or small it is.
Ann Hutchison: Exactly right.
Jeff Faust: Because Excity is made up of so many different entities, so many different organizations, so many different people Yes. That you're gonna need all kinds of people with hands on deck making this thing work. I have to imagine your leadership leadership Fort Collins and and the chamber, is a big part of making this city what we love.
Ann Hutchison: We are we and I am incredibly fortunate to have a front row seat in creating the future. Yeah. It it really is it's pretty powerful. It's exciting. It's very humbling every day.
Jeff Faust: Well, love that phrase create in the future. I've you've lived in a few different cities. I won't let I don't I won't make you say anything about the cities you've lived in, so you just keep them in a very honorable position. Yes. But I can tell you the cities I've lived in, I have not seen as much, like, futuristic intentionality Yes.
In other municipalities I've been a part of Sure. As I see in Fort Collins. Yes. Yes. And that's, you know, amazing.
Leaders, culture plays a big part in that. Yes.
Ann Hutchison: I think University.
Jeff Faust: University. Right? You Yes. You can't it's pretty hard to run a university if you're only thinking about the next twelve months.
Ann Hutchison: Correct. Right. I mean Absolutely. Like, naturally.
Jeff Faust: Trickling into the community across the board. I've just been so I mean, one of the first things I went to was maybe, like, the city plan it was a city plan Yes. Night or something like talking all come but they were talking I mean, a little bit of that night was the next twelve months. Right. Most of it is Ten years from now,
Ann Hutchison: twenty years from
Jeff Faust: Absolutely. Years from now. This is what we hope to see. Yes. And I thought, man, this is I feel good about this.
Like, they're I'm surrounded by real leaders.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. And there's just something in the DNA of Fort Collins. If I had to create the exact recipe, I don't know if I could get there. But there is this certainly that Midwestern attitude of let's take care of each other Mhmm. Which I which, again, I appreciate and I love.
But there's also this, “And we can always be better.”
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: And we can do things with intentionality. Yeah. And so so I looked back at moments in Fort Collins history where leaders really have had that fifty year vision.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: I understand you interviewed Wade Troxell earlier today, and he does a great job of reminding us of that moment.
Jeff Faust: He has stories for days.
Ann Hutchison: Yeah. Exactly. But he but he reflects on that moment when the city council said, you know, all these electrical lines up in the sky, that's not very that's not very helpful to a community. They're ugly. They break.
What if we put all of those underground? Yeah. And so a city council, seven elected human beings look around the room and say, yep. We're gonna make that pledge, and we're gonna start that journey to underground all of our power lines. And today Yeah.
Most reliable energy source in the world. Yeah. 99.99999, they go off to, like, 12 digits Yeah. For a failure. Beautiful city.
Right? And we removed all of this visual
Jeff Faust: When I here for a while, and you forget Yeah. That's, like, actually not there.
Ann Hutchison: Until you go to an And then you drag
Jeff Faust: and you're like Yes. Oh, I know. There's shoes hanging through the lines. Fort Collins is nice.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. As well, though, that step and that vision also created this this deep down infrastructure that leveraged innovation for the future. Yep.
Because they had those lines underground, we were one of the first communities to be able to take a leap step ahead when it comes to connectivity for Internet, for for other resources. Yeah. Really just powerful. And how that happened?
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: Right? I wish I could go back in time to really meet those leaders that sat around the table and said, yep. This is exactly what we should do.
Jeff Faust: Decisions that that I'm not even sure they probably were fully aware of the implications I don't think so.
Ann Hutchison: Years down the road Exactly.
Jeff Faust: As of how tech advances and things. But the foresight Yes. To make some of those early on Yes. It's setting setting this community up for success for you. And and I think my hope I I imagine this is your hope too that we're making decisions today Yes.
That will impact the next generation Right. Yes. And beyond. And, man, that is that's a pretty sweet legacy to be a part of. For sure.
I'm curious if, you know, we talked about kind of this innovation. This is in the ground. Of course, the the deep connection and relationship. Just to reflect back to you, by the way, this all seem this seems to be like a perfect job for you because it seemed like you have all of these things in your background and you sharpened them through your early career and now you're getting to see more the fruition of that. Absolutely.
But culturally in Fort Collins, what would you say what are some of the early stages of where that came from? University town, corporation, things like that?
Ann Hutchison: I think so. I think so. Yeah. As as I think about legacy, I also think about the decision that city leaders made all the way back when we decided to have a university in Fort Collins.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: There were two options on the table. We could have a state prison Okay. Or we could have a state university. Yes.
Jeff Faust: I've gotta dig into that.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. You absolutely should. It's fascinating. And so the leaders of the day said, well, you know, a prison that would mean kinda some consistency, some stability.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: But to be able to be a place where we're creating the future
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: With kids from across at the time. I think it was across Colorado, but nonetheless Yep. And leaders said, no. We're going to dedicate this land to a university, not a prison. Yep.
And so I think I do think
Jeff Faust: a big deal.
Ann Hutchison: It's a big deal. And I and I think I think that grounding in university on top of just this grit and determination of our early founders. I I love the stories of Auntie Stone and really kind of the godmother of Fort Collins
Jeff Faust: Oh, yeah.
Ann Hutchison: Who, you know, fought came with her husband to homestead in Colorado. He died quickly. She was on her own, and she was the first business owner in Fort Collins. She had the first hotel in Fort Collins. She created the, right? I mean, she's milling flour to sell to
Jeff Faust: years ago. Mean, she did because, you know, female leadership and female ownership at that point was probably more unique than it. I mean
Ann Hutchison: Very unique. Incredible. Yeah. First first schoolroom, I mean, just all of those things. And, again, as a female in the in the early eighteen hundreds in Colorado when you know?
Jeff Faust: Oh, it's still the wild wild West.
Ann Hutchison: Very much the wild wild West. Again, I I'm so appreciative that that's part of our heritage, part of our history. I think those two things collided really do serve as this interesting foundation Yeah. To create who we are today.
Jeff Faust: Well, I in my line of work, so by by by day, I'm a pastor and I love, you know, all things nonprofit and all things community. So I'm kind of doing this off to the side. But one of the things I talk a lot about when I'm pastoring people and counseling them is Yeah. Hey, we we kind of are a a sum of a whole bunch of different things and and I happen to believe that God can intervene in someone's life Sure. Set them on a path.
But when you think about your family life, when you think about your history, when you think about some of the things that were just, like, placed in your life, like, we are those things have a way of shaping us.
Ann Hutchison: Absolutely.
Jeff Faust: It's a really interesting thought to think about that with a city and a culture too. Yes. So we are today a summary or sum of a lot of decisions we had no, you know, choice in making. They were there before we were around.
Yes. And yet that thread is still weaved in the fabric of who we are. It's a community and a culture that's being played out. We gotta get to attach ourselves to that Yes. And hopefully further it along.
I mean, that I think that's really Yes. Yes.
Ann Hutchison: And I'll be honest. The last five years in our community, we we've seen an increase in division isn't the word, but but there is this this kind of collision of viewpoints of the world.
Jeff Faust: Okay. Yeah. And Wait. You mean, like, after COVID and a bunch of other societal things?
Ann Hutchison: For sure. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
It got really messy.
Jeff Faust: It got messy.
Ann Hutchison: Right? And we and we moved away from civil discourse and really creating spaces for people to have very, very different opinions
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: But to walk out of a room, still willing to be community members Yep. Possibly be friends, possibly be a part of a a greater solution.
Jeff Faust: Wonderful breweries together.
Ann Hutchison: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And through things like a pandemic Yeah. It it feels like the volume got higher on differences versus community vision.
And despite that, I think the great thing is there's just this interesting DNA that pushes that further and further to the edges to make room for this common vision.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: And at the same time, I get I get anxious about that. I really do wanna make sure that we have a community that has thoughtfulness and create spaces for that, again, beat them up kind of discourse. Yep. But then walks out of the room and says, but this is for Fort Collins.
Jeff Faust: Yes.
Ann Hutchison: And and so I I get a little bit anxious about that. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. And it's interesting too. I mean, watching, course, of what comes, but just even the nation with that with that undercurrent of anxiety kind of gets higher and higher and higher, it's harder for, you know, reasonable men and women to disagree, you know, strongly about a point and still be friends.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. Yes.
Jeff Faust: But, yeah, it's worth it's worth fighting
Ann Hutchison: for. It is. It is. And for it. I know maybe one of your future questions is what what is what is your what is your give back?
What what is your love for this community? And hopefully, I'm in that space of really encouraging that thoughtfulness. Yeah. Really encouraging. Yes.
Knock down, drag out conversations, but always with the point of how do we make our community better? How how how do we set the stage for the future, not just this moment in time?
Jeff Faust: Well, let's talk a little bit about that. Yeah. Because it is something that I'd I'd love to ask you about. You know? I I think I I read earlier this week, there are some, I think, 3,000 different nonprofits in the greater Fort Collins.
I mean, it's it's a hotbed for
Ann Hutchison: Yes.
Jeff Faust: I think entrepreneurship and and and So nonprofit space too. And there's some disposable income out there that people can leverage for nonprofit space, so that that helps as well. Yes. But how are how are you finding yourself in those spaces? Right.
And and what are you doing to give back to love the city that we've all come to love?
Ann Hutchison: Yes.
Jeff Faust: Maybe share a specific event or a specific organization or program that you you kind of have your eyes on and say, hey. This this could be a a space or a thing that can make a real Right.
Ann Hutchison: Yeah. And for me, it really is this this channel that we call the Fort Collins area chamber.
Jeff Faust: Okay.
Ann Hutchison: And providing space within our organization for viewpoints and service areas across the community. We have almost a 120 of those 3,000 nonprofits Yep. That have said, I believe in what the chamber's doing, and I wanna be connected directly to business. So they they voluntarily have become a part of our organization. They're paying annual dues to have that access to leadership programming, advocacy, business connections, and more.
Yep. And I'm I'm really proud of that being a sizable part of our membership. Yeah. It's not necessarily the case across the country.
Jeff Faust: I was gonna say, is that it feels like it's a unique space.
Ann Hutchison: It is. It is.
Jeff Faust: Nonprofit, for profit overlap in terms of a community health is incredible.
Ann Hutchison: Oh, it it's it's brilliant for both sides of the equation in in so many ways. So so I'm really proud of the fact that we do have a number of not for profits that have seen the value of chamber membership. And as a result, we've leaned in to make sure that we're providing leadership for not only our members, but for our larger nonprofit community. And as an organization, we've leaned into this concept that we call sector partnerships. It's it's this idea of you bring a sector together, maybe it's manufacturing, maybe it's construction, maybe it's nonprofits.
You have them all look themselves in the eye and say, these are our pain points. And you're not sharing state secrets, but you're sharing those, I'm having trouble hiring people, or I'm having trouble training people, or, ma'am, our budget's on the edge. Right? So so really being honest about the pain points that they're experiencing, it's identifying common pain points, and then it's asking that industry, are you willing to work together to make change? Yep.
And we as a as a support organization facilitate that, but we also stay very much in the background where we're listening. We're not directing. We're listening. And then once those pain points have been identified, pathways out of those, we then can fully activate to support those business members, nonprofits or businesses too.
Jeff Faust: Right.
Ann Hutchison: Support those business members in continuing to do that work to move the dial.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: And we're one of the few areas of the country that have said this can work with nonprofits.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: And I'm really excited to see where we can take it. Yep. And, again, providing that space for nonprofits to see themselves as a business, for them to identify how they can be the very best business they can.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: And realizing that at the end of that, there's this give back to community. It's pretty I
Jeff Faust: don't know if you've ever you know, this might be news to you. I'm sure you're very well aware of this, but it's a little sarcasm in my voice because just as businesses can feel a little competitive or Yes. You know, we need this many people through the doors or we need, you know, we need this many people to sit at our tables Right. Or buy this much coffee or whatever it is. Nonprofits Oh, yes.
We can struggle with the same kind of competitiveness. Absolutely. And, man, when you are creating space where people can share together Yes. Learn from one another Yes. But also just build what we're talking about a lot of times, you know, relationship and community and support that actually a rising tide lifts all boats.
If we can do that, that proximity really begins to eliminate some of that kind of inter-competitiveness and challenge between the two.
Ann Hutchison: And again, we're, I think, at an interesting moment in time where we've got this federal chaos. Is funding coming? Is it not? Is it gonna be the same? Right.
We have a similar kind of chaos at the state level. Again, is state money coming? Is it not? Are we gonna continue to fund these kinds of solutions and communities? Which has left nonprofits a little dazed.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: And I think the good news is we've created enough spaces for community to come together to see future visions and build relationships. They can take advantage of this moment in time that for many others would be terrifying to really look each other in the eye and say, you know what? I I'm doing horse rescue. You're doing horse rescue. Maybe we shouldn't have two organizations doing horse rescue.
Instead, we can come together and and do horse rescue together.
Jeff Faust: Right.
Ann Hutchison: And so it's been interesting how in this last year, there have been more of those thoughtful conversations, and I think it's a direct result of again, we've provided spaces for people to build relationships, to think bigger Yeah. To really identify how they how they can get better. Yeah. And so what otherwise would be a crisis moment is actually this beautiful opportunity moment to be able to say, and together, we can we can
Jeff Faust: Well, you'll just can move the dial. So much more. You know? And we've talked a little bit about this even before the interview, but what we're trying to do with Love Foco is essentially create this collaboration together amongst nonprofits because it turns out we're all doing great things.
Ann Hutchison: Yes.
Jeff Faust: So we can do them together. You just do what you do best. Yes. We'll just do it together. Exactly right.
And and other other entities have figured this out. Yes. So like in the healthcare space Right. Instance, integrated medicine is a real thing.
Ann Hutchison: It's a very real thing.
Jeff Faust: Usually, one thing leads to another thing which leads to another thing and there's a chain reaction.
Ann Hutchison: Exactly. Right.
Jeff Faust: So let's work together to solve this. Right.
Ann Hutchison: Right.
Jeff Faust: And gosh, I I mean, you know, I've been in the nonprofit space a long time. Yeah. I know what my giftings are. Like, I wouldn't have been a good account. I wouldn't have, like,
Ann Hutchison: give you for a spreadsheet.
Jeff Faust: If you need a meeting with a spreadsheet, I'm already out. So but the world needs spreadsheet people. Yes. And I I think nonprofit leaders, even just being shared space with other nonprofit, but also for profit, for businesses.
Ann Hutchison: Correct. Yes.
Jeff Faust: We can glean a lot because there's quite the business side that we have to be aware of, and we have to run a tight ship and be very good stewards of the federal, state, private grant, whatever funding is coming.
Ann Hutchison: Right.
Jeff Faust: Those are precious dollars in the not part of the world, so we better know how to Yes. Use those.
Ann Hutchison: Agreed. Agreed.
Jeff Faust: The mission and things.
Ann Hutchison: So Wholeheartedly agree.
Jeff Faust: Well, I I I mean, we could spend a lot of time Yeah. Together. I've I've already taken a lot of your time. I just have one kind of last question. Okay.
I'm just curious because you get to know so many different people Yeah. So many different leaders, but you also are probably very aware of what's happening in the city. Yes. And that ten, twenty, thirty year kind of plan. So I'm I'm curious if if you could talk a little bit about what you see in the five, ten, twenty year plan that that could be a challenge that maybe someone listening is like, you know what?
I think I I think I wanna step into that space.
Ann Hutchison: Yeah. What are
Jeff Faust: some of those unique challenge it's a great city.
Ann Hutchison: Amazing city.
Jeff Faust: Every city, particularly as it grows, this is gonna have new challenges or smaller challenges and get bigger.
Ann Hutchison: Yes.
Jeff Faust: And so what's some of that space that someone who's maybe innovative, entrepreneurial, or or possibly back could say, I think I could do something about that. Yeah. What we would choose?
Ann Hutchison: What's space is? The things that keep me up at night as I think about the future of our community, start with housing.
Jeff Faust: Mhmm.
Ann Hutchison: We Fort Collins is a community not like any anywhere else. Everywhere is experiencing this housing pain. To the point I actually label it as a housing crisis in Fort Collins. We've made it incredibly challenging for for anyone to create housing solutions, whether that's, again, a home builder or it's all the way over to housing catalyst creating affordable housing, we've made it really challenging. And part of that ends up have making a very beautiful community.
But
Jeff Faust: Yeah. The things that we love about it also
Ann Hutchison: Are are are also the limiters. Exactly right. So so housing availability is highly concerning to me. And and it's one of those crisis moments that it's really hard to say, this is a silver bullet. Yep.
It's gonna take a lot of little tiny BB changes. Right? I mean, you shoot the gun, the BBs fly everywhere.
Jeff Faust: Well, those are the those are the Kansas. So
Ann Hutchison: so housing housing makes me I I I feel like I'm an a fortunate leader in that I can oftentimes take a conversation or take an issue, and I can see it an easy through through point. Yep. That that's a skill set that I've built over time, and I'm very proud of. With housing
Jeff Faust: It's a tough one.
Ann Hutchison: There is no easy through point.
Jeff Faust: I was reading some research about, like, local economies and things like that. Sure. And it's kind of the argument I was trying to persuade you on was when your social servants are having a hard time to have housing in the city where they serve Yes. When teachers can't afford a house in the city where they teach Exactly. That now you're getting to a tipping point.
Ann Hutchison: Yes. How can Things break.
Jeff Faust: Intercept that. What can we do?
Ann Hutchison: Exactly right.
Jeff Faust: And you're right. That is a complex pro we figured out if it was easy.
Ann Hutchison: Absolutely. I'm still waiting for that rock star entrepreneur super scientist to walk in and say, well, of course, here's the easy answer and we we build a thousand homes overnight. Yeah. But that's not the case. So so for me, I'm anxious about that, I'm also hopeful about it.
There you know, government's now at the table. Not for profits are at the table. Businesses at the table, all working together to try to to move our trajectory, to to find the next solution. So I think a lot about that as I think about the future of Fort Collins. I also think about our university.
As you and I have talked about, being a university town is foundational to the amazing community we are today, and that service model is changing.
Jeff Faust: It is. The landscape is It's moving quickly.
Ann Hutchison: It is. And as again, as a community leader, just think about we have fewer and fewer human beings that are that are just in general being around.
Jeff Faust: Yep. Yep.
Ann Hutchison: And if there are fewer human beings, that means there's fewer future students.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: I think we're starting to see some generational questioning of, is there value in me picking up my life Yeah. Plopping it in this place. I call Fort Collins for four years. Yep. I get this rich wraparound education as and you and I both share.
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: So important to who we are today, but there there's some questioning about that by by this next generation.
Jeff Faust: Yep. And the cost of living in housing doesn't help you that much.
Ann Hutchison: Exactly right. Exactly right. And with some of this federal chaos, we're also impacting that scientist that came to Colorado State Yep. Thirty years ago and is creating the next greatest solution. If they don't have funding, how can they then inspire the next scientist to come along?
Mean, there's just this incredibly fuzzy, messy, gooey space around higher ed that I have great hope for. I have great great celebration of, and it's also this messy space of I don't think there's any easy answers.
Jeff Faust: Yeah. We have
Ann Hutchison: to keep our eye on that ball.
Jeff Faust: Yep.
Ann Hutchison: We really do have to think ahead to how we keep a university here, how we have it continue to thrive, how we really do lean into it as an economic driver for us.
Jeff Faust: Well, mean, to loop back to one of our early parts of this conversation, it is part of who our community is. Yes. So because of that, we we all got to inherit the the blessings of it. Yes. Seems worth fighting for.
Exactly. I'm forward to future solutions in that space. Yeah. You know, I I mean, again, just saying it's it's interesting and impressive to me to hear your life story, how it's kind of playing into where you're at now, what you're able to give back to our community. Sure.
And even these challenges, the ability to build relationships and keep people in the same room, know, it's gonna take a lot of really bright and innovative minds to kind of solve some of this. And and you might be the right person to do that, just gathering community and and being very relatable.
Ann Hutchison: Well, and, you know, housing struggling messy, university struggling messy. And at the same time, there's this beautiful wraparound in Fort Collins, which is, can-do let's move ahead vision by business. Yeah. Which I I I just I feel so fortunate that every single day I get to celebrate the business leaders
Jeff Faust: Yeah.
Ann Hutchison: That have invested in this community that are willing to take on those challenges like housing, like the future of the university, the future of nonprofits, the future of community. Yeah. So if if I can be a little part of leveraging the amazingness of the human beings that are a part of our business community Yep. In service to all of those other things, I'm pretty lucky. Yeah.
Jeff Faust: I I would love to spend time with some of those leaders and get to know them and what they're doing in the community as well. But, of course, very thankful for you.
Ann Hutchison: Thank you.
Jeff Faust: I'd love to have more conversation. I I feel like we're just scratching the surface of what you know Yes. And where you can point people. But let me just say thank you again for the time. It this been well spent for me.
I mean, selfishly, I I I felt encouraged and excited about our community. If you're a listener, we'll put all the links that you need to know. Well, whether it's the chamber or leadership for calls, all that stuff, we'll put that in there. And then if you know people that we should interview, we'd love to hear from you. So let us know who those folks are.
Ann again, a pleasure. Thank you so much. One quick last question for you. Oh. You know a lot of businesses, five seconds or less, what's a really exciting new place I should go and eat at?
Ann Hutchison: Oh, I'm gonna give you an old place. It's not a new place. Charcoal Broiler on Mulberry.
Jeff Faust: at least twice a week.
Ann Hutchison: Pull in.
Jeff Faust: Yes.
Ann Hutchison: Pull in. Long time part of our community, a hand cut steaks, third generation is running the business.
Jeff Faust: Sounds like someone Yes. I need to go.
Ann Hutchison: You do. Yes.
Jeff Faust: Yes. Experience charcoal. Yes.
Ann Hutchison: Just say yes.
Jeff Faust: Okay. I will. I commit to you that I will be eating there soon.
Ann Hutchison: Excellent.
Jeff Faust: And thank you so much. And, man, this has been a pleasure. Thanks again.
Intro: Thanks for listening to the Love Foco Show. If today's conversation inspired you, share it with a friend who loves Fort Collins as much as you do. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and leave us a review. It helps more people discover us. To learn more about Love Foco and find opportunities for loving our city one life at a time, visit lovefoco.com.
For now, keep loving Fort Collins well.
