Dave Espinosa knows what it’s like to be the first in his family to attend college. He had plenty of support from his family and his professors, and he knew it was that support that led to his success.
So when his Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation Leadership Denver (LD) class decided to plan a day for high school students heading to college and give them the lowdown on things like managing their finances and stress—and send them away with $500 worth of goodies and a refurbished laptop—he was proud to pay it forward.
“It was through the help of many people that I’m able to be where I’m at today,” said Espinosa, a project manager for PCL Construction.
Whether it’s a sense of thanking those who supported them by supporting others or a desire to make a mark in the community, what inspires people to lead is deeply personal. But what may be most universal among Leadership Foundation alumni is the sense of accomplishment in giving back—and the confidence it inspires in them to do even more.
For Kara Penn, mentoring those first generation students on Ready, Set, COllege day was a moving experience.
“You could just see the impact unfolding in the moment and to just be present in that was a real gift,” said Penn, a fellow LD classmate, project co-chair and Mission Spark principal consultant. “I got a little choked up to just see the power and the energy in the room and just see the skip in people’s step as they left.”
Business Altitude caught up with Leadership Foundation alumni to find out what sparked their connection to leadership and what’s driven their community engagement.
For many alumni, their introduction to the Leadership Foundation was the buzz they heard from others who had experienced its programs. And as those people got involved, it’s created a web of civicminded professionals from different industries and sectors across the region.
“For me, Leadership Denver was just this eye-opening expansion of connection—deep, authentic connection—to others with passions and talents and abilities and networks that I just had not touched at all in my little finite world,” Penn said. “So it just blew open this region for me and blew open Denver for me and inspired and energized me to be connected to so many people who care.”
And it’s getting outside of the day-to-day routines of their careers that was most eye-opening, alumni said.
For Jennifer Erixon, that meant connecting with people outside her world of affordable housing. She quickly discovered that people who didn’t work in her area could still play a role in addressing that issue and could become a sounding board for her.
“What Leadership Denver provided me with was a really high-level group of people who I consider to be my thinking partners,” said Erixon, an LD’11 alumna and senior vice president of acquisitions for Alliant Capital.
Those new connections also created new perspective.
“I think the real value of the program is the dialogue you have for the year with the community leaders moving these issues forward,” said Seth Belzley, a corporate and energy attorney with Hogan Lovells and an LD ’14 alumnus.
That dialogue and those connections often continue after participating in a Leadership Foundation program. Belzley saw that overlap as he learned about the National Western Stock Show redevelopment. It sparked a new connection that he wants to make between the Stock Show and a school Belzley is involved with that focuses on early childhood education through museum experiences.
“A big part of being a community leader is just helping to connect the dots,” he said.
Opportunities to hear from people across sectors and making those new connections ultimately help break down barriers and encourage more collaboration, alumni said.
“Because of Leadership Denver and having a broader understanding of the issues that we all face, it’s caused me to be more comprehensive in my approach to my work,” Erixon said.
Seeing that commitment to improving the region flattened any sort of hierarchy—especially when working on service projects—and fostered that team spirit, alumni said.
“It is based upon mutual respect. You have this idea of wanting to move things, wanting to tackle big problems, but then learning that you cannot do that alone and you have to check your ego, you have to work together as a team, you have to play together with the public, private and nonprofit sectors and you have to pull it together,” said Mark Cavanaugh, executive director of Independent Higher Education of Colorado, an LD’15 alumus and Ready, Set, College co-chair. “No one business is going to get this thing done.”
It’s a reflection of how business is done in the Denver metro area, said Dennis Moore, an LD ’10 alumus, Leadership Foundation board member and Denver Broncos vice president of marketing and sales.
“We all roll up our sleeves and get involved,” he said. “It’s just something you do here.”
The 2015 Leadership Denver class is by no means the first or last to create a service project around an issue where there may be a gap or where a specific, local impact can be made. But, once that impact is made, the challenge is figuring out whether it can be replicated or repeated in years
to come.
For the 2012 LD class, hearing about the connection of reading by third grade and high school graduation rates was powerful. So much so that their service project focused on giving 12 summer reading books to students from kindergarten to second grade at Hallett Fundamental Academy through the project they called Read12.
Classmate Marsha Nelson, a participation specialist for the Denver Operation Group of Mortenson Construction also implemented the Read12 program at John Amesse Elementary School. After three years of proramming, the class is working with the Denver Public Schools Foundation to offer the program to corporations interested in working in schools.
“I know it really had a positive impact on the children and families of Hallett, so I’d like to see it in some form move on,” said classmate Tony Price, campus recreation director for Metropolitan State University of Denver.
It’s the same challenge faced by LD ’15, which is in discussions with partner organizations who connected them with the 80 high schoolers who attended Ready, Set, COllege to determine if the program would be a fit for one of them to take on in the future.
“Just starting something up and getting the ideas and the programming is a big lift, but we do think we have a model that can be replicated and sustained,” Penn said.
It was an opportunity to celebrate those students and create a center of support, Cavanaugh said.
“We discovered the need was definitely there,” he said.
After graduating from Leadership Denver in 2011, Denver City Councilman Chris Herndon knew he wanted to create a program that created leadership opportunities for youth. From there the Northeast Denver Leadership Week was born. It started with 10 students and this year has grown to 85 who live or attend school in northeast Denver.
“It has just grown beyond my wildest imagination,” Herndon said.
He modeled the format of the program after LD: every day is themed around a different topic. His goal is to expose students to leadership and career opportunities.
The Leadership Foundation has molded Herndon into the leader he is today, he said, and it also is what confirmed that he would run for office, providing a supportive group in the process.
“I definitely think I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Leadership Denver,” Herndon said.
The programs and projects can often be just the spark, and what alumni do after may be the most telling of the long-term impact of the Leadership Foundation. “It fundamentally made me more curious,” Erixon said. “I think as a leader that is the quality that makes us all better.”
Sara Crocker is the communications manager for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
When you live and work in the Denver metro area—and see the countless economic and cultural accolades roll in for your region—it’s easy to start believing the hype. So just how are we doing, and what are the true selling points, and deal breakers, for companies looking to relocate or grow in metro Denver?
Shining a light on how the region looks outside the state, business leaders heard from eight site selector—those who help companies narrow in and make their picks before they move—as part of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation’s annual Site Selection Conference in September.
We caught up with national site selector Les Cranmer, senior managing director for the commercial real estate advisory group Savills Studley in Philadelphia, to get his perspective on the region.
Business Altitude: We hear more and more from site selectors that the Denver metro area is often on the short-list for companies that are considering expanding or relocating. What is it that makes the region stand out to business leaders?
Les Cranmer: I would respond to that two different ways.
One is the marketing side— and marketing has to do with getting on the radar of business leaders. Are they aware of it? And based on success factors, Denver’s done very well. Colorado as a state, Denver as a large-scale community—not just a city—it’s in the top five. People have heard about it, there’s a buzz about it, so there’s an awareness and a desire to find out more and see if it fits. That’s number one.
Number two is the product itself. What are the attributes? What are the pluses and minuses? And air access is key. This is an area of inward migration and talent—people want to be here ... And all those things are lined up. I think corporations are saying, let’s take a look.
BA: You had a unique view of the region during the Site Selection Conference. What do you think is the best kept secret about the Denver metro area?
Cranmer: It’s leading edge. There’s a coolness factor. That’s really not a location-selection criteria, but in terms of quality of life that’s certainly a factor. This community has come a long way. I have not been out here in about five years, so to see the change is remarkable. To see the infill that’s happened at the old Stapleton Airport, to see the design quality of the housing stock out here and the architecture of the buildings, you come in and you’re very impressed, and it’s a place that you maybe want to move to if not find more about. That came through very clear.
BA: Was there one thing that surprised you the most, having not visited the region for five years?
Cranmer: I would say the size of the community, from the air. You drive the streets, the backroads of the community, you don’t necessarily get a sense of the population. You get up in the air and look over the entire community and it is amazing, the density.
BA: If you could change one thing about the Denver metro area that would make it a better place for doing business, what would it be?
Cranmer: There’s a cost issue associated with Denver. We will look at Denver probably about 10 times a year for clients to see if it makes sense. Most cases, the Denver market falls off the table for reasons that you have no control over—closeness to clients, closeness to suppliers, whatever it may be—and there are other communities that just win out. But for the last few projects, we looked at labor costs and the labor costs in this community had really gotten very high. Even to the point that in the last headquarter relocation project we looked at, we found Chicago to be less costly from a labor standpoint. That surprised us.
And, this is good news, by the way. Everybody in the country would love to be in the position that Denver’s in right now. You’ve got a success factor that’s unbelievable, so these are all good problems that come along with that. But that is something that could possibly retard growth going forward.
BA: After spending time here, what will come to mind when you think of the Denver metro area?
Cranmer: Denver’s part of the new economy. It attracts a certain cohort that’s going to be younger, that’s going to be highly educated, that may be technology focused, advanced thinking focused.
Interview conducted and condensed by Sara Crocker, communications manager for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
Growing the Denver metro area’s educated workforce and supporting initiatives that will shape the business community and the region were top priorities shared by leaders of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce at its 131st Annual Meeting this afternoon.
“Our state is the envy of the nation—we have a thriving economy, an educated and healthy workforce and collaboration that just won't stop,” said Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kelly Brough. “Yet, we are also at a point in our history where we face great opportunity to build for the future. And, instead of defending our strong work to date, we’re putting all of us back in the driver’s seat, as our Chair (Bob Hottman) said, to play offense on the investments we know our state needs to make both short term and long term.”
Chamber board of directors Chair Bob Hottman accepted the gavel from outgoing Chair Bob Deibel and shared the Chamber’s position on five issues voters will weigh in on at the November polls:
“The common theme that you’re going to always find with your Chamber and where we go forward is we want to make sure that we’re helping all of you and your businesses create an environment and a climate where your businesses can thrive,” Hottman said. “Because we know when we have a thriving business economy … we have a thriving community.”
See what the Chamber accomplished in the past year by watching the video below, or visit 2015.denverchamber.org. Want to see more of the conversation? Check out @denchamber and #dmcc2015.
Ned Minor Receives Del Hock Lifetime Achievement Award
The Chamber also honored a member who has made a significant impact on the business community during his career, recognizing Ned Minor with the Del Hock Lifetime Achievement Award. Minor, president of Minor & Brown.
“None of us would be here but for the great example of my dear friend Del Hock,” Minor said. “You were a role model, you were an inspiration to me personally … You always reached out to the next generation of leaders.”
New Board Members Welcomed
The Chamber also welcomed new members of its board of directors, who include:
Click here to view the full list of the Chamber’s board of directors.
Sara Crocker is the communications manager for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
You can’t live in Colorado without knowing that water is an important—if unpredictable—resource. In fact, a study from Protect the Flows estimated the Colorado River’s economic impact on the six states and seven Southern California counties that draw water from the river at $1.4 trillion a year.
Throughout history, the water that flows from the headwaters of our state’s mountains has united and divided the state. After all, tens of millions of people, billions of dollars of agricultural production and an enormous amount of economic activity from California to the are all dependent on rivers born in the mountains of Colorado.
At the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation’s Fall Forum on Sept. 2, you can get up to speed on this issue with an exclusive screening of The Great Divide by Denver-based, Emmy-award winning Havey Productions and a panel discussion with experts who eat, breathe and drink (pun intended) water issues.
Check out the trailer for the film, and then register for the Fall Form.
Danielle Mellema is a communications and marketing specialist.
[Photo by Don Graham]
You may have noticed some changes at the Chamber over the past year as we've updated our space in and out. And, it’s totally changing the way we work.
Watch now to find out more about our new space.
And, come see it for yourself during our business hours at 1445 Market St. in Denver.
What drives the entrepreneurial spirit? Hundreds of small business owners heard from entrepreneurs born in three different generations in February about their approach to launching and running a successful business and get an update on what's in store for small business owners in 2015 at State of Small Business.
Millennial and Love Grown Foods founder Maddy D’Amato, Gen Xer and NIMBL CTO and co-founder Michael Pytel and baby boomer and Dazbog Coffee Company President and CEO Leonid Yuffa shared their insights into starting a business and how their birthday may have impacted their business.
Watch now to hear more about the state of small business in Colorado and how each generation is shaping Colorado's small business community.
Want to learn more? Read about what drives entrepreneurs, and find out whether that drive changes if they're a millennial, Gen Xer or baby boomer.
Loved what you saw? For more information about the video producer, Elevation Digital Media, visit elevationdigitalmedia.com or email the team at info@elevationdigitalmedia.com.
Sara Crocker is the communications manager for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
It is an extraordinary accomplishment to overcome obstacles in life and find great success. It is even more extraordinary to use that success to help others find opportunities too.
Marco Campos is the managing principal of Campos EPC - an engineering company working with pipeline operations.
You'll often see students spending the day in his beautiful office in Denver.
As of 2014, Marco Campos has reached more than 350 underrepresented minority and women students through his contribution to STEM education.
Marco Campos says he is equally passionate about growing his business through his leadership and growing the next generation of leaders.
Congratulations to our 9NEWS Leader of the Year, Marco Campos!
Watch Cheryl's feature on Marco in the video here.
By: Cheryl Preheim, KUSA
