ColoradoBiz articles from February 2009

ColoradoBiz archives from February 2009

Speaker of the house ready for 'legendary' session.(COTE'S)(Terrance Carroll)(Column)
February 1, 2009... Over the past few years, Greenberg Traurig's legislative preview luncheon has become an annual event, where Colorado House and Senate leaders of both parties offer an informal discussion about their priorities. This year, the law firm had...

A dozen great places to play: sizing up corporate event venues.(BETTER CORPORATE TOURNAMENTS)
February 1, 2009... Here's look at costs and amenities offered for corporate events at a dozen courses along the Front Range. A sampling of public, private, semi-private and resort courses is included. Price quotes are for a summer outing and generally include...

Against the wind: corporate golf bookings remain steady despite the recession.(COVER STORY)
February 1, 2009... Dennis Lyon, manager of golf for the city of Aurora, didn't know exactly what to expect when Aurora Golf recently sent out a survey to 25,000 people on its e-mail list, asking them if they planned to play more, less or the same amount of golf...

Colorado charity golf events confirmed for 2009.(Calendar)
February 1, 2009... COLORADO CHARITY golf events CONFIRMED FOR 2009 APRIL 18 P. H. E. F. Hollydot Golf Prim Ivan (719) Golf Course 676-3341 Tournament APRIL 25 4-H ...

We can get it done here: like nowhere else in the world! Let's keep it that way.(MANAGEMENT)
February 1, 2009... The U.S. has the reputation all over the world of being the one place where you can get a sure return on your own hard work. Everyone everywhere knows that if they can get to the U.S., they have a chance to make it big. These days while we are...

A public broadcaster battles the recession and the evolving media world: KBDI channel 12 has embraced the digital era.(GUEST)
February 1, 2009... How does a small nonprofit public broadcaster survive--and thrive--in a down economy? One answer: with a clear sense of purpose, a compelling vision and a comprehensive strategic plan. KBDI was founded by a group of television visionaries....

Federal reserve aims to preserve system, curb pain.(ECONOMIST)
February 1, 2009... What is the Federal Reserve trying to accomplish? To prevent the implosion of the international financial system to lessen the depth and severity of the recession. With a little luck, the first has been accomplished, although things are...

Riding out the recession.(REAL ESTATE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Colorado's resilience in the economic downturn recently caught the attention of the New York Times in a story that used the example of the Spire, a 42-story condo and retail tower under construction in downtown Denver by the Nichols...

Colorado far from tops in conservation.(ENERGY)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Colorado may be embracing a "new energy" economy, but it's still old school when it comes to conservation. The state ranks in the middle of the pack for encouraging energy efficiency, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient...

Cracking down on free trade is where you turn a problem into a disaster.(ON THE RECORD)
February 1, 2009... --Matthew Bishop, New York bureau chief and chief business writer for The Economist. During a talk to the International Business Circle in Denver last month, Bishop voiced concern about the potential for Congress to put the brakes on global...

Craft brewers want to keep 3.2 beer in grocery stores.(RETAIL)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... About the last people you'd expect to be championing 3.2 beer are the ones who make the beer you actually like to drink. But Colorado's 106 licensed craft breweries would be among the losers if lobbyists for grocery and convenience stores can...

By the numbers.(ranking )(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... No. 3--Denver's ranking among the nation's 50 largest metro areas as one of the best places to do business. Criteria included population growth, job growth and unemployment and the number of companies listed among the Fortune 1000, S&P 500 and...

Trends for business in 2009 and beyond: global shifts will cause a new social order to emerge.(Notes from a futurist)
February 1, 2009... In a world in which systems and technologies propel changes at lightning speed, disaster came upon us like a storm, causing our financial systems to collapse. Now we face a future much like that of a damaged ship. We have been torn from our...

Coloradobiz [real estate roundup].
February 1, 2009... METRO DENVER TOTAL PROPERTIES SOLD 2007 VS. 2008 JAN 3,540 -15.6% 2,987 FEB 3,090 -2.9% 3,001 MAR 4,274 -13.2% 3,709 APR 4,399 -3.0% 4,265 MAY 5,081 -8.2% 4,664 JUNE 5,129 -5.5%...

Brighton hopes good trumps bad and ugly: with wind in its sails from Vestas, the city aims to attract more development.(WHO OWNS COLORADO)
February 1, 2009... Brighton either is half-empty or half-full, or both. The half-empty part is so obvious even the city's public relations counsel Ken Parks brings the subject up right off the bat. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Brighton home inventories...

Charlie Woolley: Denver developer has his heart in historic preservation - and ending homelessness.(EXECUTIVE EDGE)
February 1, 2009... On a frigid night in December, Denver developer Charlie Woolley gathered business leaders and commercial real estate colleagues in a LoDo building under renovation to give them a taste of what being homeless is like. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Creating success: preparing for growth and prosperity in the economic recovery.
February 1, 2009... Austrian economist Josef Schumpeter described economic downturns as "a good cold shower for the economic system." The jolt leaves some companies impaired, while others become invigorated. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Economic downturns force...

Tips from the trenches at Capital Connection[TM] deal makers offer M&A expertise for the tough times.
February 1, 2009... The advent of the most difficult deal market in decades has produced unprecedented challenges for deal makers. Pundits, columnists and professional advisers are quick to offer their views, but the deal makers in the trenches have the best...

ACG keynote speakers.
February 1, 2009... Jack Uldrich Futurist sees big changes coming in small packages Jack Uldrich is a futurist and an optimist. This means he recognizes the lining of silver shot through our decidedly cloudy present. "Recessionary times can actually...

Mild-mannered tenacity and a voice for corporate women: Sherry Law: ACG member of the year.
February 1, 2009... Sherry Law has been named ACG-Denver Member of the Year, not saint of the year or even superstar of the year. But sometimes it's hard for her fellow members to remember that. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] That's because they are not just...

Dynamic Materials sees BOOM times ahead: Corporate Growth Award winner likes to blow things up.
February 1, 2009... Dynamic Materials has been blowing things up for 40 years and has dominated the explosive welding market for much of that span. The history of this year's ACG-Denver Corporate Growth Award winner is interesting and fun--it included the...

Emerging Growth Award winner finds niche in higher ed: education sales management has been growing 40 percent a year for the past five years.
February 1, 2009... Rick Fort began his career with NASA, and if life had come out differently he might have been remembered as the man who brought quality circles to Kennedy Space Center. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Instead, in the early 1990s, Fort wearied...

Building your business with a beat: Jazzercise founder and CEO Judi Sheppard Missett to present keynote at March 11 women in corporate growth breakfast.
February 1, 2009... There are three things you need to pay attention to if you want to grow your business: passion, change and mind-body connection. This trilogy has certainly worked for Judi Sheppard Missett, who has grown Jazzercise from zero to $95 million....

Sailing through the wreckage: ACG sponsors Holme Roberts & Owen LLP, Grant Thornton offer advice for thriving during a downturn.(Association for Corporate Growth)
February 1, 2009... If turning the giant U.S. economy around is akin to maneuvering an ocean liner, then turning today's economy around might be more like moving a ship trapped in ice. Credit markets, capital formation, credit instruments, hiring, liquidity,...

Work in progress: Barack Obama aims to boost the economy with public-works jobs, infrastructure spending and investments in education and energy. Will Colorado fare as well as it did under FDR?(COVER STORY)
February 1, 2009... As he begins his presidency, Barack Obama faces the bleakest economic landscape since the country entrusted Franklin Delano Roosevelt to rebuild the nation from the fiscal train wreck that ended the Roaring Twenties. As the Obama administration...

Business braces for Obama tax changes: changes not likely for six months to a year; meanwhile, uncertainty prevails.(TAX GUIDE)
February 1, 2009... Barack Obama was lucky enough to be elected president and unlucky enough to be elected president in the midst of a nasty economic crisis. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Under normal economic conditions - we forgive you if you can't recall what...

A toast to Colfax: family-owned Argonaut is latest 'Main Street' zoning gem.(FAMILY-OWNED COMPANIES)(Statistical table)(Company rankings)
February 1, 2009... THE 15-FOOT CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE trucked in from Las Vegas is an immediate attention-getter, a landmark for the new Argonaut Wine & Liquor store on East Colfax Avenue and Clarkson Street. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] But to anyone connected with...

MBA students vie for best business plan.(SMALL)(Master of business administration degree)
February 1, 2009... With $5,000 in prizes up for grabs, four teams of second-year MBA students squared off in mid-January to see who could write the best business plan and present it most convincingly, as if to a panel of venture capitalists. In fact, the...

Company.(TECH-STARTUP)(Coldqanta Inc.)
February 1, 2009... COLDQUANTA INC. INITIAL LIGHT BULB: A fellow at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, a collaboration of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, Dana Z. Anderson worked with the 1995...

Belle Baby Carriers.(COLORADO COOL STUFF)
February 1, 2009... Seth Murray was working on a master's in engineering management at CU-Boulder and came up with a business plan for a baby-carrier manufacturer for a class project. "I just kept at it after the class," says Murray, a veteran of the outdoor...

Body Bar Flex.(COLORADO COOL STUFF)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Founded in 1987, the Body Bar has evolved from Steve Kelly's off-season secret as an Olympic kayaker and personal trainer, to the industry standard for group exercise at health clubs nationwide. Now the company is focusing on the international...

OtterBox.(COLORADO COOL STUFF)(Curt Richardson)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... OtterBox CEO and founder Curt Richardson started making "waterproof and crushproof" boxes for outdoor enthusiasts in 1996, but a different market--techies--soon took over. "We've really focused specifically on handheld devices," he says....

Vodka 14.(COLORADO COOL STUFF)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Five years ago, Matthew Baris was hosting his friend Jon Weiss, a graphic designer visiting from New York. "I was forcing a lot of local microbrews on him," Baris says. "A few days later, he said, 'I'm sick of beer--who makes the local...

Shananomics 101.(SPORTS)(Mike Shanahan)
February 1, 2009... When Mike Shanahan got fired, the virtual water cooler got fired up. Mine certainly did. Yours too, I suspect. Here's the blow-by-blow of what happened in a 15-minute period on Wednesday, Dec. 31: * A colleague shouted out the news...

Cheap is nice but unsustainable.(RUNDLES)
February 1, 2009... We couldn't believe it. My wife and I did grocery shopping sometime over the holiday period and spent a considerable sum, and Safeway offered us an extraordinary discount on gasoline as a way of saying Thank You! We took the van down...