After nearly 35 years as chairman of the board and 50 years working in leadership positions at El Pomar Foundation, Bill Hybl has stepped down from the top seat, according to the private foundation.

In relinquishing the role as of Jan. 1, Hybl, removes himself from strategic operations but will remain as a trustee on the 14-member board, said El Pomar President and CEO Kyle Hybl, who also is a trustee of the board.

“Fortunately, he remains a member of the board so we may benefit from his institutional knowledge and wisdom,” Kyle Hybl said Thursday about his father.

Bill Hybl also will continue to be involved in El Pomar Foundation’s regional partnerships program and other charitable works in the community.

The new board chairman is Dave Palenchar, an Air Force veteran and former chief operating officer for El Pomar Foundation.

Palenchar said in a statement he was “humbled” to be elected to “follow in such remarkable footsteps.”

Nechie Hall, founder of Vladimir Jones advertising agency, is a vice chair, along with Thayer Tutt, who’s also the organization’s chief investment officer.

Bill Hybl said he’s confident the foundation’s governance is in good hands, as he moves away from leadership and into an advisory role.

Colorado Springs philanthropists Julie and Spencer Penrose founded the grantmaking organization in December 1937.

Its mission is the same now as then: “to enhance, encourage and promote the future and current well-being of the people of Colorado.”

The board has been planning for the change in leadership, Kyle Hybl said.

“Organizationally, this is a natural evolution of the foundation, and for the last couple of years certainly the leadership of the board has been working toward what does leadership transition look like,” he said.

Board members reviewed guiding documents in moving away from a long-serving chair to ensure the foundation “continues to honor the legacy and intent of our founders,” Kyle Hybl said.

“We look to their life and times to help inform the grantmaking to make them proud of what we’re doing today,” he said.

Spencer Penrose made his fortune from gold mining, ore milling and real estate.

The couple’s legacy projects in Colorado Springs include building the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, The Broadmoor hotel, the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, the Pikes Peak Highway and founding the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and the Glockner-Penrose Hospital, now Penrose-St. Francis Health Services.

“We have that history of what they did and focused on while they were alive, so we can see those efforts and organizations they felt most passionate about,” Kyle Hybl said.

Spencer Penrose died in 1939 and Julie Penrose in 1956.

Over the past 86 years, El Pomar Foundation, named after the apple orchard of the Penroses’ home adjacent to The Broadmoor, has allocated nearly $750 million in charitable contributions, according to spokeswoman Erin Hannan.

In 2023, 1,900 grants and other charitable donations, such as unsolicited emergency funding for communities, totaling $25 million were disbursed to organizations and communities with a focus on arts and culture, civic and community initiatives, education, health and human services, and emergency needs, she said.

Prominent requests statewide are for financial assistance with creating more affordable and attainable housing, addressing mental health issues, attaining economic stability and building resilience in communities, Kyle Hybl said.

“We saw in 2023 inflationary pressures, a decrease in philanthropic giving and fading-out of federal dollars that came with COVID, which has led to stress for many nonprofit organizations across the state,” he said.

Bill Hybl has had a varied career. The Pueblo native served in the Army during the Vietnam War and became an attorney in private practice, then worked as assistant attorney in the District Attorney’s Office.

He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1972 but left in 1973 to become vice president of The Broadmoor Hotel and executive director of the El Pomar Foundation. 

In 2001, Bill Hybl was appointed as the U.S. representative to the United Nations General Assembly. He worked as the CEO of El Pomar for 46 years and has been involved with many charitable projects.

He won a lifetime achievement award from the city of Colorado Springs in 2020.

Bill Hybl

Courtesy photo