Overview

Top of the Rockies Scenic and Historic Byway (Top of the Rockies) was approved to participate in the Reimagine Industry Associations Program by the Colorado Tourism Office in October 2022. 

The purpose of Top of the Rockies is to provide recreational, educational, and economic benefits to Coloradans and visitors by designating, interpreting, protecting, and promoting Top of the Rockies and its gateway communities. Top of the Rockies was designated as a State Scenic and Historic Byway by the Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways Commission in 1993. Its status was expanded in 1998 when the U.S. Secretary of Transportation designated it as a National Scenic Byway, making it one of the 13 America’s Byways in Colorado. Top of the Rockies is also a Colorado Electric Byway and offers fast charging stations in Aspen, Leadville, and Minturn.

Top of the Rockies was paired with Kathleen Pittman, a CRAFT Mentor with experience in travel and tourism focused on economic development, organizational strategy, governance, and management, to deliver 75 hours of consulting to conduct the activities listed below.

The purpose of this Reimagine Industry Associations Mentor project was to reestablish a governance structure for Top of the Rockies that provides sufficient capacity, effective systems, and an achievable workload for management of the byway and its assets. 

Project objectives included: 

• identify the individuals who will govern Top of the Rockies, and their roles and responsibilities
• develop a management framework for Top of the Rockies based on a stakeholder engagement process
• identify short- and medium-term actions for advancing the work of the byway over the next ten years

Top of the Rockies achieved the following results with its Reimagine Industry Associations Mentor:

• stakeholder list and position descriptions identifying the individuals to govern Top of the Rockies, representing the constituent communities along the byway, and their roles and responsibilities    
• management structure for Top of the Rockies, based on completion of a stakeholder engagement process
• short-term (2023-2024) work plan and high-level outline of medium-term (2023-2033) revised priority actions 

“The Reimagine Industries Program was comprehensive, and we got excellent support from the CTO. Our mentor went above and beyond to ensure our team had everything we needed to succeed moving forward.”

— Adam Ducharme, Top of the Rockies

About Reimagine Industry Associations Program

The Reimagine Industry Associations Program supports Colorado tourism industry associations to foster long-term resilience. Awarded industry associations receive 75 hours of consulting and a $10,000 creative asset production shoot from the Colorado Tourism Office.