An Iowa grad, Diane moved to Boulder in 1975 to run local AM radio station KADE. Shortly after that, she and husband Bob purchased an FM license, and built it into KBCO, one of the top-rated stations in the Denver market. They sold their interest in both stations in 1990, and helped to found the Walnut Brewery, while Diane earned a Master’s Degree in Art History from CU-Boulder. During this time, they also established the first class of the Boulder COunty “I Have a Dream” Foundation, providing tuition assistance and academic support to low-income and minority students.
Eventually the restaurant group grew to include Rock Bottom, ChopHouse, and Old Chicago. After merging with Gordon Biersch, they were operating ovr 150 restaurants nationwide.
Diane is a huge advocate for higher education, and has served on the University of Colorado Foundation Board of Directors and the Norlin Libraries Board. She has assisted in historic preservation efforts on the CU-Boulder campus, helped establish a scholarship program at CU-Denver, and backed the efforts to create a world-class health facility at the CU Health Sciences Center in Aurora.