The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum rolled out the red carpet last night to honor young professionals at the fifth annual Mayor’s Young Leader awards.

Mayor John Suthers recognized individuals in five categories for making extraordinary efforts in their fields and having a positive impact on the Springs community. 

“The quality of work presented by this year’s Mayor’s Young Leader Award finalists was exceptional,” Suthers said. “I am consistently pleased with the young professionals who are serving Colorado Springs across all industries and am grateful for their contributions to our city. The 2018 winners are fantastic representatives of Olympic City USA, and I look forward to following their future success.”

The 2018 winners are:

Sports and Wellness: Ian Ratz. The assistant director of student success for the UCCS College of Business, Ratz works in the sport management program. Under his guidance, program applications have increased from 259 to 637, with enrollments growing by 75 percent, concurrent with some of the most rigorous admission standards of any undergraduate program at UCCS. He has overseen 350 student internships with 115 sport organizations. He teaches a sport science class and has helped graduates secure good jobs within the highly competitive sports industry...