DENVER -

Nancy Fitzgerald, co-founder and chief executive officer of iLendingDIRECT Auto Refinancing, recently was named one of the 2020 Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

The award, now in its eighth year, has recognized more than 200 women who excel in leadership, mentoring and philanthropy in Denver and the surrounding areas. This year, Fitzgerald was honored along with 24 other influential female leaders in Colorado.

Fitzgerald brought her two children, ages 9 and 12, to the award ceremony.

“As a single mother and an entrepreneur, you have to make sacrifices to succeed. It’s important to me that my children understand that my achievements aren’t possible without their love and support,” Fitzgerald said in a news release. “I want my daughter to see herself in each of those women on stage and raise my son as a strong supporter of women in business.”

Fitzgerald unexpectedly became CEO in 2014 when her husband and co-founder of iLendingDIRECT, Patrick, passed away after a cycling accident. Since then, she led the company to placement on the 2016 Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies and expanded the business to include innovative new verticals.

Fitzgerald was among the Women in Remarketing honorees in 2016 highlighted by Auto Remarketing and Insights Success Magazine’s 30 Most Influential Women in Business. She also led her company to be awarded the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Ethics in Business in 2018 and was a nominee for the 2019 Denver Business Journal’s Outstanding Women in Business.