Boulder chamber honors 5 women at luncheon; Gralapp to receive lifetime achievement award

BOULDER — The Boulder Chamber of Commerce will recognize five women who have contributed their time and resources to Boulder County.

Marcelee Gralapp, Gale Dunlap, Jane McConnell, Dee Perry and Anne Tapp will be honored at the 8th annual Women Who Light Up the Community awards luncheon Wednesday, Sept. 17.

Gralapp is being honored with a lifetime achievement award for her 43 years of service in helping expand and develop the Boulder Public Library system. Under Gralapp’s direction the Boulder Public Library has become a four-branch institution with a multimillion-dollar budget.

SPONSORED CONTENT

How Platte River Power Authority is accelerating its energy transition

Platte River Power Authority, the community-owned wholesale electricity provider for Northern Colorado, has a history of bold initiatives.

Gralapp has received the Governor’s Award, a Lifetime Achievement award from the Colorado Library Association, was named Woman of the Year by the Boulder Business Professional Women, received a Spunky Woman Award in 2001 and was given a Pacesetter award for arts and entertainment from the Daily Camera earlier this year.

Gralapp retired in March but plans to remain politically active and involved in Boulder County.

Dunlap has worked as a consultant for the Dawson School, the Women’s Health Center and has served as chairwoman of Boulder’s Human Services Coalition and chairwoman of the awards committee for the chamber’s Esprit Entrepreneur program. She volunteers at the Humane Society and at Cedar House, a halfway house in Boulder’s mental health system.

McConnell is president of the board of directors of the Emergency Family Assistance Association. Her professional background includes stints as publisher at Women’s Sports & Fitness magazine and Mothering Magazine. She also co-authored the book “Natural Family Living.”

Perry worked for Kraft Foods, Arthur Young, Celestial Seasonings, PrairieTek, NBI and McData Corp. before retiring from the corporate life. She now is focusing on volunteering for leadership roles with Boulder and Fairview high schools, Hospice Care of Boulder and Broomfield Counties and the I Have A Dream Foundation.

Tapp is executive director of the Boulder County Safehouse. Under her leadership, the safe house has grown beyond the emergency shelter to include a 24-hour crisis hotline and advocate response team, legal advocacy work, children services and transitional services.

Title sponsor for the luncheon is Roche Colorado. Other sponsors are Boulder Vision Center, Dietze & Davis, Waddell & Reed, Personalized Management Services, Copper Mountain and Winter Park resorts, and Caplan and Earnest.

Register for the luncheon at the Boulder Chamber of Commerce Web site, www.boulderchamber.com. Tickets are $35 for members and $45 for nonmembers.