Unsung Hero Award Winner: Patti Morrow

“If you remember only one thing that I say here today, please remember this: every voice counts.”
– Patti Morrow

As the recipient of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation’s 2014 Unsung Hero Award, Morrow is living proof of her own message. Shortly after Morrow began her second career as an interior designer, the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) launched an effort to require New Hampshire interior designers to have a four-year college degree, an internship, and a license in order to practice interior design. If these requirements had become law, Morrow would have been forced to overcome these expensive, time-consuming hurdles or close her business.

Instead of backing down, Patti chose to fight for her right to earn a living in the field she loved, without unnecessary barriers. She joined forces with the Institute for Justice and worked to organize a grassroots group of interior designers who could speak out against the proposed legislation. Working alongside these partners, Patti defeated the bill.

“I’m not an attorney. I could not imagine myself lobbying or testifying. I never wanted to be a political activist,” she admitted in her acceptance speech. “I’m just an unknown interior designer who could not just sit by idly and let a group of elitist industry insiders use the government to eliminate their competition for their own personal monetary gain.”

Since her victory in New Hampshire, Patti has stayed in the fight, helping interior designers in other states defeat over 150 bills attempting to increase regulation of their industry. But Patti doesn’t seek credit; instead, she tells her story to remind others that anyone can make a difference.

With a willingness to step outside her comfort zone and a deep love for freedom, Patti embodies the courage and leadership that the Unsung Hero recognizes.

“This award honors those individuals who, on their own initiative, using their own time, energy, and money, have fought for freedom in their own communities and beyond,” said Helen Krieble, founder and president of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation. “These are heroes…what they do is an example for all of us.”
Read Patti’s full speech at www.spn.org.

Overton Award Winner: Charles Mitchell

Few people have their footsteps compared to a herd of elephants. Charles Mitchell of the Commonwealth Foundation is one of those memorable few.

“You’ll hear Charles well before you see him,” observed Kristina Anderson, senior policy and director of government affairs at the Commonwealth Foundation. “Sometimes we joke, ‘Is that a herd of elephants, or is that Charles walking down the hall?’ Because he walks with such presence or need.”

As well he should. In his role as executive vice president, Mitchell
shoulders the important purpose of working alongside Matt Brouillette, CEO, to carry out their organization’s mission through its daily operations. No matter how glamorous or thankless the work is, Mitchell does whatever is needed.

“Charles lives the creed that Ronald Reagan had on his desk, saying, ‘There’s no limit to what a man can do or how far he can go is he doesn’t care who gets the credit,’” said David Taylor, executive director of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association.

To honor his outstanding work and character, SPN presented Mitchell with the Overton Award—the first in ten years—at its 22nd Annual Meeting in Denver. Named after Joe Overton, the executive vice president at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy from 1992 until 2003, this award pays tribute to the vision, drive, trustworthiness, and attention to detail that Joe espoused. SPN has revived the award to encourage the same characteristics in the network’s current generation of EVPs, and Mitchell demonstrates that the value and talent of an EVP’s role is indeed alive and well.

According to Brouillette, since Mitchell joined the Foundation in 2010, the organization has “moved from an organization to an operation.”

“We’ve built a permanent freedom infrastructure that is at the beginning stages, but I know with Charles’ strategic mind, his mission, his vision, and his commitment to those things, he’s going to make something that is not only permanent but something that is going to have transformative impact on our state capitol,” said Brouillette.

But if you ask Mitchell, he’ll tell you the organization’s progress can’t be attributed to him alone.

“While this award is for the best EVP, that’s not what I am,” Mitchell insisted in his acceptance speech. “What I am is the most blessed EVP because of the amazing people in Pennsylvania who make our work possible and who we have the privilege of defending.”

Roe Award Winner: Jeff Coors

One of the freedom network’s most defining characteristics is that it has been shaped and supported by humble, hard-working leaders who nurtured a vision of opportunity and prosperity for all Americans. Over the past 23 years, Jeff Coors has been one such servant-leader, quietly and diligently helping to build the network without expecting any credit. His leadership, along with Tom Roe’s, has enabled the network to grow from 12 state think tanks to 65.

This year, SPN was pleased to honor Jeff Coors as the 2014 Roe Award winner at the 22nd Annual Meeting in Denver, CO.

“It is so fitting that we recognize Jeff Coors in Tom Roe’s name,” said SPN president Tracie Sharp, “because he possess the same far-sightedness, the same quiet character, and the same determination. He is a steadfast defender of equal economic opportunity for all.”

Coors was an early leader who shared Tom Roe’s vision of the value that a network of state-based think tanks would create. In 1991, Coors spoke before the Council for National Policy and laid out this vision: “Let’s spend the next twenty years building up strong state organizations. Let’s have them compete in the war of ideas at the state and local level, and we’ll see a turnaround in this country that could never be orchestrated out of Washington.”

In addition to commemorating SPN founder, Thomas A. Roe, Jr., the Roe Award honored Coors’ leadership, innovation, and achievement in carrying out his—and Roe’s—vision of advancing liberty at the state and local level.

“The first meeting we had together in Colorado Springs…was a handful of people, and they met each other for the first time. Tom and I thought it would be really good if state policy people talked to each other, and out of that came SPN,” Coors recalled. “I’m honored to be blessed by this award…and to see all that [the network] is doing for freedom.”