Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall was the first female vice president to manage major loan and deposit portfolios at Denver's largest bank (early 1970s). She started the nation's first private bank and, after watching other bankers pay her bank $1,000 to spend a day talking with her about her concept of banking, departed the bank to start her own consulting company (charging double the fee per day). Marilyn helped establish private banks at banks of all sizes in every region of the United States. She was a popular speaker in this country, Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland, Australia, and Singapore. She taught at the University of Colorado's American Bankers Association Trust Marketing and Bank Marketing Schools. She wrote hundreds of articles about banking -- and seven books. She was widely quoted in national publications like Time, Forbes, Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, and others. In 1993, disability forced an early retirement and she lives happily on Colorado's West slope.