Barbara Vidmar

Barbara Vidmar graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing Therapy from Colorado State
University in 1971 and was named Outstanding Alumni from CSU in 1984.

For nine years, Barbara was president of Vidmar Motor Company in Pueblo, and oversaw the day-to-day operations. Beginning in 1998, she became very involved with the American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA), serving as membership chairman, then government relations chairman, and finally as the first woman chairman of the board of directors.

As chairman, Barbara encouraged collaboration within the industry, worked to have an arbitration process instituted for consumers and helped create a reliable database to track repair history on every automobile involved in an accident, including notification by the insurance industry of any title that was branded “scrap” or “flood damaged.”

Other professional accomplishments include serving on the board of directors for the National Automobile Dealers Association Charitable Trust Foundation, and the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association. She was Colorado’s nominee for the 2006 TIME Dealer of the Year — and was only one of two ever to be nominated from Pueblo.

In 2006, Barbara went on to become a member of the Pueblo City Council, then the following year, vice president of the Council. In 2008, she served as its president. In these roles, Barbara was involved with the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation, helped define a mission statement and code of conduct for the Council, coordinated involvement with the Vestas location project and ensured the Pueblo Police and Municipal Court Building construction was on time and under budget.

Barbara’s community involvement is deep and wide and includes organizations such as the Parkview Medical Center Board, United Way President’s Council, Pueblo Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year and the Pueblo Community College Hall of Fame.