Whole Foods CEO part of Conscious Capitalism kick-off

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey and Professor Raj Sisodia will highlight a business leadership conference set Oct. 25 to 28 at the Doerr Hosier Center on the Aspen Meadows campus.

The event is presented by the Aspen nonprofit Lead with Love, which also is behind that week's debut of the Roaring Fork Valley's first chapter of Conscious Capitalism.

"Conscious Capitalism is rooted in purpose, culture, leadership and the power of honoring every person in the business chain from employees, to customers, to suppliers," said Gina Murdock, founder of Lead with Love. "It is such an honor to launch this local chapter with leading national business moguls and four local Aspen businesses."

The Conscious Capitalism launch is set for 1 to 6 p.m. Oct. 26. Mackey and Sisodia are scheduled to attend the ceremony, as well as Lead with Love and Carbondale businesses Koru (construction company), Forum Phi Architects and COVENTURE (a new co-working/business accelerator space). Cost to attend the launch is $200.

Tickets are on sale at http://www.ileadwith lovesummit.org. Passes vary from one day to all four days; transferable and nonprofit passes also are available.

Aspen lodges hold strong in September

There wasn't exactly a September swoon for Aspen lodges, which were nearly 70 percent full that month.

The monthly Rocky Mountain Lodging Report, which was released last week, showed that Aspen hotels and inns has an occupancy rate of 69.9 percent. That was tops among the state's resort towns, which had an overall rate of 58.7 percent. Steamboat Springs had the second-highest occupancy rate, 67.3 percent, among resort towns last month.

Aspen lodges once again charged the highest room rates among all Colorado towns and cities — $245.30 per night in September.

From January through September, Aspen lodges charged guests at average of $506.99 per day, also the highest in Colorado. Next in the state was Vail, with an average rate of $334.88 for the first nine months of the year. The state average for the same time period was $160.12.

The Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association commissions the report.