Bob Yates
- Former Member, Boulder City Council
After working 25 years as a lawyer and a telecommunications company senior executive, I was privileged to have the opportunity to retire from paid work in 2011 so that I could serve the Boulder community. Those community service opportunities have been rich and varied, including serving on the boards and in leadership positions for Boulder Community Hospital; All Roads Homeless Shelter; the Museum of Boulder; Downtown Boulder Foundation; Boulder Convention & Visitors Bureau; Boulder Housing Partners; Colorado Chautauqua Association; Dairy Arts Center; the CU Center for Leadership; the Conference on World Affairs; and Boulder's Parks & Recreation Advisory Board.
I served for eight years on the Boulder City Council, including as Mayor Pro Tem. I serve on the public policy committees for the Boulder Chamber and the Downtown Boulder Partnership. I sometimes teach as an adjunct professor at the CU Law School, and I read to kindergarteners through the YWCA Reading to End Racism program.
Nearly 8,000 people subscribe to my monthly newsletter, The Boulder Bulletin, which has celebrated the Boulder community since 2016.
My advice to students is...
Every morning when you put on your socks and shoes, ask yourself: "Am I happy? Am I serving others? If I died today, would people say that I positively affected their lives?" Then at night, as you lay your head on your pillow, reflect on whether you spent the day wisely. If you don't like the answers to those questions, do something different. As Dr. Seuss advised, "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."