Family business has provided opportunities for Windish daughters as leaders

By Travis O. Pryor

Whitney Holtz is in her element when surrounded by RV enthusiasts. What else can you expect from the third-generation president of Windish RV in Denver, who grew up in the family business?

Holtz, however, is her own person, right down to her position in the dealership. She took over as president from her mother Carolyn Windish Irwin who retired in 2021, making her one of the few if not the only women who have taken over leadership of a dealership from a woman.

The dealership was founded in 1965 by her grandfather Dale Windish.

“I just always felt very fortunate to have a strong female role model like my mother,” she said Friday at the Great American RV Show in Denver during Women’s History Month. “We started out as a car dealership and she was the first woman ever to attend the GM Father/Son School where they trained the next generation to run the business.”

But she also has expanded upon the business, becoming president of Airstream of Colorado, Airstream of Utah and Airstream of Wyoming. She also is Colorado’s representative to the RV Dealers Association Board of Directors.

She also has been instrumental in helping establish an RV presence at Littleton, Colo., Public Schools’ EPIC Campus, a high school program that teaches courses aimed at students who are more interested in the trades than pursuing a college degree.

EPIC has been offering RV Technical Institute courses as part of its program to provide career track education for students who might not be interested in or financially able to attend college.

In essence, the campus is a modern-day souped-up version of a vocational technical school, but instead of just teaching skills, it offers education designed to put students into trade jobs or into apprenticeships that will lead to jobs.

Friday morning she led a group of visiting students through the Windish display at the Great American RV Show, which runs through Saturday at the Denver Convention Center.

“That’s probably one of the things I’m most proud of,” she said. “The kids there have a great work ethic and they show up every day. We hired an intern out of the first class and now he’s full time.”