Meet Kathy Loo
Philanthropist for the arts, nature and education
After serving as President of the Junior League and a director of the International Association of Junior Leagues, Kathy began her career in politics. She sat on the city council board for six years and served on the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.
Kathy has been involved with the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo since 1969 when she founded the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Auxiliary — serving on the Board of Trustees from 1980-1990. As President, she directed the search for a new director and was instrumental in the design and implementation of a new master plan for the Zoo. She directed its first multi-million dollar campaign to renovate the Zoo. Kathy is presently an honorary trustee and was honorary chairman of the $11 million campaign for the award-winning African Rift Valley exhibit that opened in May 2003. She is the only honorary trustee and continues to be a strong supporter and advisor to the Zoo.
She has served on numerous boards including the Pikes Peak Community Foundation, the Colorado Springs Symphony, the El Pomar Awards of Excellence Committee, Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Board and the Colorado Women’s Forum where she served as President. She is a founding member and honorary trustee of the Colorado Women’s Foundation.
Kathy renovated a grain elevator in Red Lodge Montana which now houses The Hawkeye Center, a commercial office building. In 2004 the renovation team received an award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She has also developed Aspen Ridge Ranch, an equestrian residential property in Red Lodge, Montana. She is Executive Vice President of High Valley Group, a family investment company and is presently working on a project to bring affordable housing to downtown Colorado Springs.
Kathy served ten years on the Board of Trustees of the Colorado Chapter of The Nature Conservancy where served as chair. She also co-Chaired their Heart of the West Campaign and Countdown Colorado, to preserve much of Colorado’s land, water and forests and received the TNC Phil James Award for outstanding service.
She co-chaired a capital campaign to renovate and expand the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and then led a transition team to guide the institution forward. She is presently assisting the Colorado Springs Conservatory in raising funds to purchase their building and create a stable base for their programs. She has served as President of two homeowners associations- the Count Pourtales Association in Colorado Springs and The Compound Association in Santa Fe, NM.
Kathy and eight other women leaders founded Artemis, a group that offers opportunities for women to network and make positive change in our community. She is a member of the Broadmoor Garden Club, the Broadmoor Community Church and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumnae Association.
Kathy has received numerous awards — the most recent being the Outstanding Community Citizen from the El Pomar Foundation. She has received the state Philanthropist of the Year Award, the Stu Dodge Award from the Palmer Land Trust, the Outstanding Donor award from Partners in Philanthropy, Leadership Pikes Peak’s Outstanding Trustee Award, the Karen Posehll Unstoppable Woman Award, the Red Cross Hometown Heroes Humanitarian Award and the Community Service Award from the Girl Scouts Wagon Wheel Council.
Her interests include piano, French horn and music composition. She has produced two CDs of her compositions – Crystal Canyon and Leda and the Swan and played French horn in the New Horizons Band. In 2011 and 2012 she and a friend produced “Bending Towards the Light – a Jazz Nativity”. She also enjoys hiking, biking, travel, weaving, painting, cooking, her children and grandchildren and her husband, Jim Raughton.