ColoradoBiz articles from June 2007

ColoradoBiz archives from June 2007

We're not ready to close the door on affirmative action.
June 1, 2007... At a Southern college helmed by a black president, students live in lavish dormitories that resemble plantation mansions. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Corinthian columns sculpted from marble flank the doorways. Plush maroon carpeting leads...

Playing the name game: how do you choose a name that projects integrity and quality?(Company overview)
June 1, 2007... Before I started Wiesner Publishing some 26 years ago, I had been through a rough period for a couple of years. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I had helped to build another publishing company and had gotten pushed out. It was one of those...

Avoiding 'bad dinner guests': how to find the right consultant.(Column)
June 1, 2007... It's enough to make business leaders queasy. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You have a critical project that requires outside assistance, but you've heard of consultants who behave like bad dinner guests. They never finish and leave. Or they...

Save a planet? Give me a break.(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Each month when I receive ColoradoBiz it becomes more and more obvious that the writers and editors of this magazine have no clue about business or free market capitalism. Energy conservation and diversification of fuels will and should...

Seeing through the brand games.(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... I cheered out loud and shouted, "See? See? I told you so!" to my wife, who came running in to see what was the matter with me. "Look here," I said, "Jeff Rundles agrees with me about brand names!" (Rundles, "The brand promise: empty," May.)...

Executive edge: Elbra Wedgeworth; Former city councilwoman credited with bringing 2008 Democratic convention to Denver.(attitude at altitude)(Interview)
June 1, 2007... On Jan. 12, Elbra Wedgeworth burst into tears in her District 8 City Council office. The phone had just rung: Denver had landed the 2008 Democratic National Convention. "I just started crying," said Wedgeworth, who has since resigned from...

WhiteDove Herbals takes flight for boomer market: Celestial Seasonings veteran helms alternative medicine company.(Company overview)
June 1, 2007... In business, as in life, there's a time to start something new and a time to say goodbye. Boulder entrepreneur John Hay is attuned to the rhythms of the cycle. Hay, 61, has been a founder or key executive for some of Colorado's most...

FEED Tribes Inc.(Company overview)
June 1, 2007... INITIAL LIGHT BULB: Early last year, Rod Stambaugh decided it was time to leverage his 17 years in the payment industry into a startup that turns mobile phones into credit cards. "The original premise was to enable the mobile phone to...

The language of learning: Fluency Fast accelerates second-language study.
June 1, 2007... "I've only been in this class for three days, and I can speak Spanish." Such comments come surprisingly often to Karen Rowan, director and co-founder of Colorado Springs-based Fluency Fast. Fluency Fast offers about 15 foreign-language...

On the edge: launching a business demands an appetite for risk--a trait some entrepreneurs also exhibit outside the office.
June 1, 2007... Yegor Drozdov possessed an appetite for risk that was evident in his gutsy launch of an Audi-Volkswagon dealership in the Boston area while he was still in his 20s. Born in Russia, Drozdov had moved to the United States when he was 13, and to...

Wild Oats' buyout offset by notable newcomers.
June 1, 2007... Wild Oats' acceptance of a buyout offer by Whole Foods and Western Union's spinoff from First Data were the biggest newsmakers among Colorado's publicly traded companies in the past year. But there were others. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Nuclear reaction to global power: a uranium price spike spurs mining in the Four Corners region.
June 1, 2007... Inspecting his equipment at the mouth of the Pandora Mine on the southern slopes of the La Sal Mountains, Jick Taylor is double checking everything while he waits for the final approval from the Mining Safety and Health Administration to begin...

Pedestrians, pocket parks and power savings: New Urbanist communities are becoming popular in Colorado, but how they are defined differs by project.
June 1, 2007... "New Urbanist Project Construction Starts Soar," enthused the influential New Urban News in 2001. Among the 50 states in the journal's survey, California led the way. But Colorado paced the Rocky Mountain region, with "15 NU communities and...

Mondavi's modern model: the family that operates Charles Krug Winery champions organic farming and considers Colorado a critical market.(Company overview)
June 1, 2007... Napa Valley's oldest winery is putting on a new face. But the changes undertaken at the Charles Krug Winery by one of America's most influential wine families embrace its heritage. Led by Peter Mondavi and his two sons, the Charles Krug...

Neighborhood harvest: embracing local growers, restaurants cut distance from farm to plate.
June 1, 2007... You're starting your dinner at a neighborhood bistro by enjoying a fresh salad. Do you know where those greens came from? Perhaps you're savoring them at The Kitchen, a restaurant in Boulder, where chef/owner Hugo Matheson procures them...

From around the world.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2007... CANOE RIDGE COLUMBIA VALLEY CABERNET -- 2003 Christophe Paubert is the winemaker and obviously has brought his French influence to the wines he is crafting in Washington State. You can taste it. What is "it," you ask? The earth in this...

Business built on a lifestyle.(Big Agnes)(Honey Stinger )(BAP!)
June 1, 2007... Bill Gamber is an outdoorsman and triathlete who lives "off the grid" in a solar-powered house with his wife and two kids outside of Steamboat Springs. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] He also runs three businesses, which would seem to leave...

Flight bikes.(Flight Industries LLC)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Originally from New York, Michael Toth came to Colorado by way of Houston in 2004, in large part due to the mountain-biking culture in the Centennial State. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Texas is not exactly a hotspot for the mountain-biking...

Save Our Soles Socks.(Colorado Knitting Co. LLC)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Five years ago, Steven Tofan was constantly traveling as an independent sales rep for several bike-accessory manufacturers, but two young kids in Denver led him off the road and into the sock business. After a brief, unsuccessful stab at...

Mountain Mirrycle.(colorado cool STUFF)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... The Mirrycle bicycle mirror was a worldwide phenomenon for most of the 1980s. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "It fit right on the brake lever," Mirrycle founder Barry Schacht said. "Then they changed the way brake levers were made"--and sales...

Descente athletic bike shorts.(Axcent Sports LLC)(Descente America)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... A pro bicycle racer in the 1970s and 1980s, Hugh Walton knows what goes into good cycling apparel. It follows that, after 20 years with other top industry brands, he landed the exclusive North American license to Descente--a 70-year-old...

Loyalty for sale.
June 1, 2007... Caught some finely nuanced baseball commentary the other night at Coors Field. It came from a kindly fan next to me who had escorted her grandson to the game. By the second inning, having overheard her (correctly) predict a sacrifice bunt and a...

Just in the niche of time.
June 1, 2007... While working on a marketing project recently, I asked a young woman in my office to help by typing mailing labels. "I don't think I've ever even touched a typewriter," she said. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It was resolved when I realized...