2018 Speakers & Performers

Eduardo “Bijoux” Barbosa was born in Sao Paulo-Brazil where he studied music theory and electric bass with Prof. Nadir Dos Santos. In Brazil he played with pop bands and Jazz Fusion oriented bands. He then moved to Caracas- Venezuela in 1991 where he worked with many well known artists. Besides studying Latin music, Bijoux also started his doublebass studies in Venezuela. He then moved to Denver-Colorado-USA in 1997 where besides...

Called “the lyrical genius of the trumpet' by the Chicago Tribune, Brad Goode is a trumpeter, bassist, drummer who has recorded on more than 100 jazz albums. Originally from Chicago, he has performed worldwide as a soloist and as a member of groups led by Jazz legends Eddie Harris, Jack DeJohnette, Curtis Fuller, Ira Sullivan and others. Brad is recognized as a master teacher of trumpet technique, and makes frequent...

Micklina Kenyi fled her homeland of South Sudan during the genocide that has claimed the lives of over 2 million people. She came to the United States as a refugee in 2003 and founded a non-profit organization (The Community of South Sudanese and American Women: CSSAW) with the mission of resettling young women from South Sudan to the United States and empowering them through education. All of the women supported...

Hadley Heath Manning is director of policy at Independent Women's Forum and Independent Women’s Voice and a Senior Fellow at the Steamboat Institute. Hadley has testified before Congress and state legislatures on various policy issues. She appears frequently in radio and TV outlets across the country and is a regular guest on the Fox Business Network. Her work has been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes,...

Mike Marlier is in his 27th year as the director of drum set studies at Lamont School of Music. He started playing drums at the age of five, and hasn't stopped. A lifetime in music was established from the day he was born, as he was immersed in the jazz records his father played both at home and on the radio station where he worked. Growing up in Sandusky, Ohio,...

Jeffrey S. Zax is a professor specializing in labor economics, public economics, and urban economics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Among his published papers are articles on the relationship between IQ, schooling and adult income; the effects of residential segregation on black economic welfare; the economic consequences of competition among local governments; the estimation of voting behavior; and microeconomic activity in China. Themes in his current work include the...