Beth Klein
Keri Christiansen
Beth Klein, an attorney known throughout the world for her efforts to stop human trafficking; philanthropist Sue Anschutz-Rodgers; elite athlete Diane VanDeren; and breast cancer survivor Kerri Christiansen are the Denver Rescue Mission’s Women Who’ve Changed the Heart of the City for 2012.
They are to be honored at a tea taking place Sept. 14 at the Brown Palace Hotel. Tickets for the 3 p.m. event can be purchased online.
Continue reading their bios below.
Born and raised in Colorado, Beth Klein graduated summa cum laude and second in her class at Truman University. After receiving a Rotary International scholarship to study in Ireland, Klein continued her education at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, where she was an editor for the Law Review.
After graduation, Klein used her legal expertise to tackle the injustices of human trafficking, representing victims in civil court to recover compensation for the damages they have suffered as a result of their enslavement. Most recently, Klein has taken on cases against military contractors accused of trafficking crimes abroad.
She also wrote Colorado’s anti-human trafficking laws.
Diane VanDeren
Klein and her husband, Judge James C. Klein, are the parents of one son, Connor.
Colorado native Keri Christiansen spent the majority of her career as a talent agent, working on such productions as Die Hard III, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and more than 40 Perry Mason and Father Dowling episodes; she also screened 500-plus candidates for the first season of The Apprentice.
In 2005, Christiansen received the life-changing news that she had breast cancer. Following her diagnosis, she felt compelled to go public with her story in an effort to bring awareness to a disease that crosses all age and socio-economic boundaries.
She has been a spokesperson for Buddy Check 9, a program her sister, 9News anchor Kim Christiansen, brought to KUSA-TV; a chair of the Susan G. Komen Denver Affiliate’s Pink Tie Affair, and honorary chair for AMC Cancer Fund’s Cocktails for a Cure.
Now an executive with The Denver Hospice, Christiansen helps with leadership development, fundraising and the young professionals group, Next Gen. In addition, she is active with the Denver Center Alliance and Fashion Group International, the University of Colorado Buff Club and Pi Beta Phi sorority alumnae.
Sue Anschutz-Rodgers is president, executive director and trustee of the Anschutz Family Foundation, which since 1982 has supported nonprofit organizations in Colorado that help people to help themselves. The foundation has a special interest in nonprofits that focus on the young, elderly and disabled.
A native of Kansas and graduate of the University of Kansas, Anschutz-Rodgers grew up on a ranch, and today owns and operates Crystal River Ranch near Carbondale.
A former Citizen of the West, Anschutz-Rodgers led an effort to develop an agreement known as conservation easement, a provision that sets aside acreage on which development by future owners will be prohibited in exchange for tax incentives and estate-planning benefits. She also helped establish the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT), which works with ranchers and farmers to protect productive agricultural lands and the conservation values they provide.
Anschutz-Rodgers was the first woman to be appointed to the nine-member executive committee of the National Western Stock Show, and serves as first vice president.
Raised in Littleton, Diane Van Deren has excelled as an elite athlete in a variety of disciplines.
As a child, she competed on boys’ baseball teams, showed her horse in local rodeos and won Colorado State Championship titles in both golf and tennis. Although she received college scholarship offers for both basketball and tennis, VanDeren left high school early to play on the European women’s professional tennis tour.
After returning to the United States and earning a degree in speech communications from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, she continued to be a regular on the tennis circuit, traveling around the country and throughout Europe as a sponsored professional player.
During her third pregnancy, VanDeren was diagnosed with epilepsy, which led to 10 years of frightening and debilitating seizures.
She underwent brain surgery to remove part of her right temporal lobe, a procedure that not only gave her with a seizure-free life, but a superhuman endurance that has driven her to win such grueling events as the 2009 Yukon Arctic Ultra, a 430-mile foot race across frozen Canadian wilderness; the 2010 Australia 100K North Face Endurance Race; and the Iditarod Trail Invitational, which she completed despite a fractured ankle.
In 2010, she turned to mountaineering and climbed South America’s tallest peak, Aconcagua. On this expedition, researchers at the famed Mayo Clinic monitored her movements to determine what sets her apart from other athletes.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@denverpost.com and @GetItWrite on Twitter.
