Merle Chambers

Merle Catherine Chambers (born 1946) is an American lawyer, business executive, and philanthropist. She was founder and CEO of Axem Resources, a private oil and gas exploration and production company, from 1980 to 1997, and since 1997 is the president and CEO of Leith Ventures, a private investment firm. She chairs the Merle Chambers Fund (formerly Chambers Family Fund), which supports equity, democracy and women's economic security. She is a political contributor in Colorado, focusing on Democratic and women candidates. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004, the Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2010.

Early life and education Chambers was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Jerry G. Chambers and Evelyn Hemmings Chambers. She graduated from the North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka in 1964.

She earned her B.A. in political science at the University of California, Berkeley in 1968, where she was a student protester in free speech and civil rights demonstrations. Historically, the foundation also supported early education. The fund established women's foundations in Wyoming and Montana in 1999 and in Oklahoma in 2003. Chambers was a significant donor for the establishment of the Merle Catherine Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women at the University of Denver. which features the Merle Chambers and Hugh Grant Modern Gallery; the Colorado Ballet; the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, to which the fund gave $2 million to Denver Arts & Venues toward the opening of the Chambers Grant Salon; the Clyfford Still Museum; and Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art. Merle's vision and financial support, both individually and through Chambers Fund, was instrumental to the development of Kirkland Museum's collection over the years. In 2018, the building housing the museum opened in the Golden Triangle neighborhood. The original studio building was relocated to the new location at 1201 Bannock Street in Denver, a move championed by Merle.

In 2020, Merle Chambers launched Chambers Initiative. Merle Chambers and Merle Chambers Fund partnered in this broader philanthropic endeavor in the areas of social justice, democracy, and women's economic security. The Initiative also closed at the end of 2024, in alignment with Merle's retirement. In 2015 Chambers and her (then) husband Hugh A. Grant co-hosted one fundraiser to benefit Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

A 2014, a Rocky Mountain News report identified Chambers as one of Colorado's top 10 political contributors between 2011 and 2013, with $430,260 in contributions.

During the 2024 elections, Chambers donated $200,000 to support Colorado Amendment 79, a measure to ensure abortion access in the state.

Affiliations and memberships Chambers was the first woman to be inducted into the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States. and the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2010. and was the 2017 Denver Stories honoree of the Curious Theatre Company. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. appointed Merle to the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts in 2022.

Personal life Chambers is divorced from Hugh A. Grant, founding director and curator of the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art in Denver.

Chambers is the third woman to have reached both the North and South Poles by plane.