The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain, Inc. are pleased to announce the 2020 inductees into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame, representing Colorado’s most distinguished business leaders from the past and present:
- Jay Cimino
- Frank Edbrooke
- Gerald Gallegos
- Larry Kendall
- Charles, Greg and Kent Stevinson
- Judith Wagner
These laureates, selected for their enduring and innovative professional contributions to Colorado, inspirational and ethical acumen and philanthropic endeavors, will be inducted at the 31st annual Colorado Business Hall of Fame dinner on Jan. 23, 2020, presented by UMB Bank, at the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center. Former 9News anchor Gregg Moss will emcee the evening’s program.
The event is generously sponsored by UMB Bank. For details about this event or to purchase a table or tickets, please visit coloradobusinesshalloffame.org.
2020 Colorado Business Hall of Fame Laureates
Jay Cimino
Beginning with his role as general manager in 1975, Jay Cimino climbed his way through the ranks of Phil Long Dealerships before entering his current role as president and CEO. The strength of the company in such a competitive industry is the result of its ongoing pledge to Jay’s overall vision of commitment to the community, quality customer service, and exceptional value.
Jay believes that almost everything that is important in life comes in fives, both personally and professionally. He calls this “The Five Ps.” He says, “It starts with people—people with integrity and knowledge who have great passion and focus. You can have the best people, but without process, it will break down. That equals the product—I am the product, the sum total of these Ps. The fifth P is profit and it represents the individual. I am filled with happiness, focused on the importance of life, making things happen, striving for success every day by overcoming challenges, looking for opportunities, and being the best I can be while helping others be the best they can be.”
Jay applied this philosophy throughout his career, and today the Phil Long enterprise consists of 14 dealerships, Mt. Carmel Wellness and Community Center, Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center, AdPro Advertising, and Kip Hampden Real Estate.
Love for his hometown of Trinidad inspired him to open a Phil Long Toyota in the city, establish the Trinidad Community Foundation, create the Jay Cimino Champion Scholarship Fund for Holy Trinity Academy students, and grant land for a new visitor center and retail shopping space. His current redevelopment efforts are breathing new life into Trinidad.
Jay enjoyed a loving relationship with his wife Emily for 56 years. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Denver.
Frank Edbrooke
Frank Edbrooke shaped the architectural development of downtown Denver in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He designed notable Denver buildings such as the Brown Palace Hotel, Oxford Hotel, Loretto Heights Academy, Temple Emanuel, Denver Dry Goods Company building, and the state capitol. He also designed schools and churches, as well as numerous residential works. His final building was the Colorado State Museum.
Frank’s exposure to architecture began when his English-born father rebuilt many of the structures after the infamous 1871 Chicago fire. After seven years of work in Chicago, Frank designed depots and hotels for the Union Pacific Railroad. He came to Denver in 1879 to supervise the construction of the Tabor Block at 16th and Larimer streets and the Tabor Grand Opera House at 16th and Curtis streets for his architect brother, Willoughby Edbrooke.
Frank’s moral compass drove his personal and professional life. He wrote in his 1919 autobiography: “My guiding star through life has been truth and honesty in all things.” He participated in several civic organizations such as the Denver Club and the Colorado Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, for which he was a founding member. He left a philanthropic legacy by including several charities in his will, including the Ladies Relief Society of Denver, Colorado Masons Benevolent Fund Association, Denver Orphans Home Association, Denver Florence Crittendon Home, Sunshine Rescue Mission, Brotherly Relief Colony, Woman’s Club of Denver, Trinity United Methodist Church, and the Colorado Prison Association.
His final resting place is in Denver’s Fairmount Cemetery in a mausoleum he designed for himself.
Gerald Gallegos
Gerald Gallegos came from pioneer families in the San Luis Valley and grew up in Minturn. As a teen, Gerald was one of Colorado’s top heavyweight wrestlers and an exceptional pitcher. He worked all throughout his teenage years in construction, retail, and pumping gas.
With only a cement mixing truck and the help of his brothers, Gerald founded his own company, Gallegos Masonry, in 1970. From its origins in Vail, the company expanded to Aspen, Telluride, and Denver, as well as other resort towns across the West. Gallegos was instrumental in building Beaver Creek, where the company’s stonework decorates nearly every building.
Gerald was a visionary, not only building beautiful developments and area attractions, but also through his involvement in Colorado communities. Gerald was founding director and board chair of The Youth Foundation and sat on other area boards like the Vail Valley Foundation, Building Stone Institute, the Heuga Center, and the El Pomar Foundation. He also helped establish Roundup River Ranch, a camp for kids with serious illnesses.
While he was shy of talking about his community involvement and charitable contributions, he was proud of the development of Chatfield Corners in Gypsum, which offered affordable first preference housing to teachers, firefighters, law enforcement, and city employees.
Gerald valued honesty, respect, and trust. He was proud of his business and proud of the people who worked there. He understood that if people had jobs and could provide for their families, they had stability and made good employees. Prior to the recession in 2008, Gerald employed 800 people.
Gerald passed away in 2010, but his legacy and impact lives on. In 2012 his company completed the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center, and in 2013 the company completed the Kansas State University Bill Snyder Family Stadium expansion.
In his free time, Gerald enjoyed attending Broncos, Avalanche, and Rockies games with his wife Suzanne and children.
Larry Kendall
Larry Kendall has been a leader of the real estate industry for 45 years. He is a founding partner of The Group, Inc. which has regularly been nationally recognized as one of the best run and most productive real estate companies in the United States in market share, per agent sales volume, and business innovation. Additionally, Larry is a co-creator of the Ninja Selling System, used by more than 80,000 real estate and other sales professionals worldwide. His book, Ninja Selling: Subtle Skills. Big Results. was an Amazon best seller and number one new release in its first week. It received the Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal as the best new sales book for 2018.
Larry describes himself as a connector, and he has harnessed this quality to improve Colorado communities. Larry served as chair of the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce, helping to double the organization’s membership, pay off debts, and raise funds that saved the Fort Collins Chamber from financial turmoil. He secured more than $2 million in donations, as well as in-kind donations that enabled Respite Care, a nonprofit day care for special needs children, to quickly move to an adequately-sized facility so they could serve more children from both Fort Collins and Loveland.
Larry holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Kansas State University. He and his wife Pat have a passion for the outdoors, running marathons, hiking, skiing, golfing, and bicycling all over the world together. They have been married for 51 years. Larry says their philosophy has always been to “Live Simple. Think Big. Make a Difference.”
Charles, Greg, and Kent Stevinson
Charles Stevinson, known by his associates and friends as Chuck, envisioned a community where one could live, work, and recreate without ever having to use a car, and in the late 1960s, he began to slowly assemble land that, decades later, would become Denver West. Denver West’s transformation over nearly 50 years into a commercial, research, automotive, retail, residential, and recreational hub has been synonymous with the name Stevinson.
After spending his early professional years working at his parents’ automobile and electrical trade school, selling used cars, and ultimately owning a Chevrolet/Cadillac dealership in the farming community of Warrensburg, Missouri, Chuck moved with his wife Patricia to Colorado in 1962. That year, he opened a Chevrolet dealership at 13th and Ford streets in Golden, and his slogan, “the only Chevrolet dealership on Ford Street,” would become famous in the Denver area.
After Chuck was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1980s, his sons Greg and Kent assumed the chief executive responsibilities for the real estate and automobile holdings, respectively. Expanding on Chuck’s vision for a low-rise, beautifully landscaped office park, Greg has been instrumental in the creation of over five million square feet of mixed-use office space, interconnected retail districts, residential communities, and recreational areas with an emphasis on open space, trails, public art, and pedestrian use. As the president of Stevinson Automotive, Inc., Kent has led the expansion of the Stevinson automotive business into one of the largest in Colorado. He oversaw the acquisition of Lexus, and Stevinson became the first dealership in Colorado to offer the vehicles.
Following his cancer diagnosis, Chuck was instrumental in the exploration of alternative cancer and immunological treatments, co-founding several medical research organizations and one of Denver’s largest blood laboratories.
Greg served on the Jefferson County Open Space Advisory Committee, chairing the successful grassroots effort to issue revenue bonds to finance accelerated acquisition of open space. Additionally, Greg is the former chairman of the board of Craig Hospital, served on the board of trustees of the Midwest Research Institute, is a former member of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, and has been a board member of the Colorado Baseball Stadium District, the West Chamber of Commerce, the Jefferson Economic Council, the Red Rocks Community College Foundation, and the Citizens Advisory Board for St. Anthony Hospital.
Kent was the 2006 recipient of the Bill Daniels Award for ethical business and community leadership, was a founder of the Denver Active 20/30 Children’s Charities, is a trustee of the National Western Stock show, is a member of the Business Advisory Committee for the Fourth Infantry Division at Fort Carson, a member of the Colorado State Fair Foundation Board of Directors, and is active in the Denver Rescue Mission, the Wounded Warrior Foundation, the Colorado Westernaires, the Fort Carson Soldier For Life Transition Assistance Program, and The Action Center.
Chuck was the father of nine children, all of whom have played a role in the family business at one point during their professional careers.
Judith Wagner
Judith Wagner actively changed the financial landscape in Colorado. She entered the investment business in the mid-1960s, at a time when there were significant barriers for women to be accepted as skilled workers in the investment and finance industry. She began her own investment management company, Wagner Investment Management, Inc. in 1975. It was the first woman-owned investment firm in Colorado. Judith’s primary focus was educating women to manage their own investments, as women in the United States had just recently obtained independent access to banking and investment services for the first time. She additionally elevated the status of women in politics by providing financial support and the strategic advice they needed to be successful.
Judith was the first female President of the Chartered Financial Analysts Society of Colorado, one of the founders of the Women’s Bank of Denver, and a co-founder of the first university-based institution for women’s health research in the United States, The Center for Women’s Health Research at the University of Colorado. Additionally, she served as treasurer of the Boettcher Foundation, chair of JustQuitable Bankshares, president of the Denver Rotary Foundation, chair of The Colorado Trust, president of Graland Country Day School, president of Big Sisters of Colorado, and president of the Women’s Forum of Colorado.
Judith describes herself as persistent, which speaks to her philosophy adapted from Winston Churchill, “Never, never, never give up.” She holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in History from the University of Washington and a graduate degree from the New York Institute of Finance. She and her late husband Joseph have six children.