Legacies of Flood, Peterson endure

Legacies of Flood, Peterson endure

in community, agency they founded

2B The Northern Colorado Business Report Nov. 10-23, 2006

B.D. “Pete” Peterson and J. BarneyFlood, founders of Greeley-based Floodand Peterson Insurance Inc., spent decadesbuilding their company into one of thelargest insurance providers in the region.

The relationships they built — and thecompany that endures — have earned themposthumous honors as winners of theBravo! Entrepreneur Lifetime AchievementAward for 2006.

Peterson and Flood were chosen by arigorous screening process that includedpast winners, the Bravo! EntrepreneurAwards Committee and the Bravo! Entre-preneur Steering Committee.

Their entrepreneurship — they startedthe company with a combined $100 — andvision helped steer the company to becomea major player not only in insurance butalso in community activities and charitablegiving.

[We should note that the rules of Bravo!Entrepreneur allow for posthumous honorsfor the Lifetime Achievement Award if atleast one party to be honored died within thepast 12 months. “Pete” Peterson died in Mayof 2006, while Barney Flood died in 1989.]

You’ll read about the Flood and Peter-son’s decades in business — and those ofour other Bravo! winners — in this specialsection.

Bravo! Entrepreneur is a Northern Col-orado Business Report program conductedin partnership with the Fort Collins AreaChamber of Commerce, the GreeleyChamber of Commerce, the LovelandChamber of Commerce, the Northern Col-orado Economic Development Corp. andUpstate Colorado Economic Development.

Presidents of these organizationsappointed business leaders to the AwardsCommittee, whose work was assisted bydozens of past Bravo! Entrepreneur winners.

This year’s Awards Committee includedRene Clements, formerly with TheClements Co.; Gaye Stockman, LovelandChamber of Commerce; Marsi Liddell,Aims Community College; Tim Dow, TheDow Law Firm; Lucille Mantelli, KodakColorado Division; Ron Schneider, ChaseBank; and retired banker Bob Hessler.

Winners of Bravo! Entrepreneur awardsare chosen from Fort Collins, Greeley,Loveland and Outlying Communities.Additionally, an Emerging EntrepreneurAward, a Lifetime Achievement Award anda Regional Spirit Awards are also presented.

Here’s a rundown of all Bravo! Entrepre-neur winners for 2006:

n Emerging Entrepreneur Award: Kevinand Paul Brinkman, Brinkman PartnersLLC.

n Bravo! Entrepreneur, Fort Collins:Terry Drahota, Drahota Commercial Inc.

n Bravo! Entrepreneur, Greeley: RogerKnoph, Envirotech Services Inc.

n Bravo! Entrepreneur, Loveland: SusanJessup, Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch.

n Bravo! Entrepreneur, Outlying Com-munities: Andrew and Bob Brown, HarshInternational Inc., Eaton.

n Regional Spirit Award: Northern Col-orado Economic Development Corp. andUpstate Colorado Economic Development,for “Premier Colorado” program.

n Lifetime Achievement Awards: B.D.“Pete” Peterson and J. Barney Flood,founders of Greeley-based Flood and Peter-son Insurance Inc.

Thank you to our many event partnersand sponsors, including those chambers ofcommerce and economic-developmentagencies noted above. Thanks to Roadrun-ner Productions, Caldera Creative Services,the Hilton Fort Collins, Mountain Media,Simply Chocolate and to our own Jim Rath,who does such a marvelous job organizingour events.

Lastly, thanks to our many sponsors,including platinum sponsors Bank ofChoice, and Ehrhardt, Keefe, Steiner andHottman. Our reception sponsor was Unit-ed Western Bank; our dinner sponsor wasMcWhinney Enterprises. Gold sponsorsincluded Hewlett-Packard Co., The Execu-tive Center and Palmer Flowers.

We also are grateful to our many tablesponsors.

Finally, we hope you enjoy this specialsection on Bravo! Entrepreneur 2006. We’llsee you next year!

Reception Sponsor

Dinner Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Corporate Table Sponsors

Agilent Technologies; Banner Health; Brinkman Partners; Cache Bank & Trust; Centennial Bank of the West;CSU College of Business; Drahota Commercial; Envirotech Services Inc.; Everitt Companies; e-Women’s Net-

work; Flood & Peterson Insurance; Front Range Community College; Front Range Internet Inc.; Greeley Stam-pede; Harrison Resource Corp.; Hillton Fort Collins; Home State Bank; Information Technology Experts; InVi-ragen LLC; Kodak Colorado Divison; Kroll Factual Data; New Frontier Bank; Shirazi & Associates/Great West

Health Care; Two Talents Venture Management/Holland and Hart; Vaught Frye Architects; Water Valley; WellsFargo Fort Collins; Yard Elves.

Audio/Visual Coordinator: Roadrunner ProductionsFlowers: Palmer Flowers

Event Coordinator: James RathEvent Decor: Caldera Creative Services

Media Sponsors: KUNC & KFKAEntertainment: Colorado State University Department of Music, Theater & Dance.

Platinum Sponsors

Printing Sponsor

NCBR tuxedos provided by

Bravo! Steering CommitteeDave Wolvin, NCEDC; David May, Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce; Gaye Stockman, Loveland Chamber of Commerce;

Larry Burkhardt, Upstate Colorado Economic Development; Sarah MacQuiddy, Greeley Chamber of Commerce

Bravo! Judging CommitteeDavid Thomas, UNC Monfort College of Business; Rene Clements; Bill Ward, Front Range Internet Inc.; David Bethune Jr., QLT USA Inc; Lori

Schlotter, Colorado CustomWare Inc; Marsi Liddell, Aims Community College; De Dahlgren, Bank of Choice; Tim & Sally Warde, Northern ColoradoPaper; Scott Ehrlich, Ehrlich Motors; Mark Kendall, Kendall Printing Co; Bob Everitt, Everitt Cos; Tim Dow, Dow Law Firm; Bob Tointon, Phelps-

Tointon, Inc.; Gaye Stockman, Loveland Chamber of Commerce; Don Abbott, Loveland Chamber of Commerce; Jerry Donnan, Kroll Factual DataInc; Maury Dobbie, MediaTech Productions; Lucille Mantelli, Kodak Colorado Division; Garry Gorsuch, Meadowlark Optics; Paul Pellegrino,

NitaCrisp Crackers; Ron Schneider, Chase; Lynn Settje, Greeley Stampede.

Christopher WoodCo-publisher

The Northern Colorado Business ReportThe Wyoming Business Report

Jeff NuttallCo-publisher

The Northern Colorado Business ReportThe Wyoming Business Report

By Steve PorterThe Business Report

GREELEY — They were two regularguys who loved people and wanted to dotheir best to provide them with the finestinsurance coverage available.

And although both men have passed on,B.D. “Pete” Peterson and J. Barney Flood,founders of Greeley-based Flood and Peter-son Insurance, are the recipients of theNorthern Colorado Business Report’s 2006Bravo! Award for Lifetime Achievementbecause their legacy lives on in a thrivinginsurance business.

Flood and Peterson were Coloradonatives and lifelong friends, attendingschool together and later working togetherat a downtown Greeley drugstore. In 1939,the two pooled $100 and started a businessthat would eventually become one of Col-orado’s largest independent insuranceagencies.

“Barney hired me back in 1977,” recalledRick Jenkins, an executive vice presidentand one of seven partners in the agency. Bythat time, Jenkins said, the founders hadsold the business but both kept a hand in it.

“Both still came in some,” Jenkins said.“That was part of the sale, that they’d stay

involved for some time.”After all, it was their baby, something

they’d nurtured into life in a one-roomoffice with a shared desk and chair and aborrowed typewriter. Their first cash regis-ter was an old cigar box. When World War

II came a few years later,both men served, leavingthe business in the care oftrusted staffers.

After the war againstJapan and Germany wasover, they returned to thebusiness. But they heldno grudges, Jenkins said.

“They were one of thefew insurance agenciesafter WWII that woulddo business with (Japan-ese-Americans), and westill to this day have anumber of Japanese-American clients, espe-cially in agriculture,” hesaid.

The two men gravitat-ed toward their own spe-cialties, Jenkins noted.“Barney was the insur-ance person. Pete was more the bond per-son and very heavily involved in the Col-orado road construction industry,” he said.

Both had a playful spirit and kept a run-ning joke through the years about who lent$50 to the other and was never paid back,Jenkins said. But it was Peterson who trulylit up around people.

“Pete was more the relationship guy,” hesaid. “I don’t think Pete ever met a stranger.He was always in a good mood and neverhad a bad word to say about anyone.”

Over the years, Flood and PetersonInsurance grew to employ more than 120 in

offices in Greeley, Eaton, Denver and FortCollins. The company today is the largestproperty and casualty agency in NorthernColorado.

Pete Peterson died in May of this year atthe age of 90 and Barney Flood passed awayin 1989.

Jenkins said the two company foundersset a tone that continues to inspire its own-ers and employees.

“These guys were relationship builders,and that’s how we’ve done business eversince,” he said. “They believed in doingbusiness with integrity and they taught thatto us but it all started with them.”

Nov. 10-23, 2006 The Northern Colorado Business Report 3B

Flood and Peterson labored out of loveGreeley-based agencyfounders Win Bravo!Lifetime Achievement

Past winners1998 – W.D. Farr, Greeley1999 – Bob Everitt, Fort Collins2000 – Ken Monfort, Greeley2001 – Tom Gleason, Fort Collins2002 – Bob Tointon, Greeley2003 - Kathryn Hach-Darrow, Loveland2004 – Bill Neal and Leo Schuster, Fort Collins and

Loveland2005 – George Hall, Greeley

2006 Bravo! Entrepreneur — Lifetime Achievement

B.D. “Pete” Peterson and J. Barney Flood

FLOOD

PETERSON

“These guys were relationship builders,and that’s how we’vedone business eversince.”

Rick Jenkins, executive vice president, Flood & Peterson

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By Kristen [email protected]

Susan Jessup assumed the role of generalmanager for Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch inLoveland sometime between 20 and 25years ago.

“It was never discussed; it just kind ofevolved,” she explained.

Jessup returned to help her parents atSylvan Dale after the Big Thompson floodin 1976. After a few years her father, Mau-rice Jessup, developed rheumatoid arthritis.As his health gradually declined, Susan Jes-sup picked up more roles at the ranch. Evo-lution, she said, was a term her father useda lot. Maurice Jessup passed away in 1993.

Today, Susan and her brother, David Jes-sup, carry on the family tradition at SylvanDale, having ushered the business throughmany changes and challenges. The ranchcelebrated its 60th anniversary this year,and it will also be able to celebrate SusanJessup as Loveland’s 2006 Bravo! Entrepre-neur.

Susan Jessup’s day usually starts with avisit to her mother, Mayme, who still liveson the ranch. After that she pops by thehorse stables, the cattle pens and the diningroom to check in with the staff.

“The rest of the day pretty much takes

care of itself,” she said, explaining that shedoes what needs doing, depending on theseason.

There is a sense of bustle at Sylvan Dale,even on a snowy day in October. Sylvan


2006 Bravo! Entrepreneur — Loveland

Susan Jessup,Sylvan DaleGuest Ranch

FinalistsFinalists for the Loveland Bravo! EntrepreneurAward included:

n Craig Harrison, Harrison Resource Corp./LandVoyage

n Susan Jessup, Sylvan Dale Guest Ranchn Linda Ligon, Interweave Press

Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch — Loveland’s ‘little jewel’Family ranchstays up-to-datefor 60 years

Kristen Bastian, Northern Colorado Business Report

FAMILY TIES — The sister and brother team of Susan and David Jessup gather around their mother, Mayme Jes-sup, under a stained glass created for the ranch by a former employee. Susan Jessup said her mother is “the Jin the heart of our brand.”See LOVELAND, 6B

www.mcwhinney.comAt McWhinney we dream of creating great places for people. What’s your dream? Together we can bring it to life.

Bring Your Dream


Dale hosts various events — weddings, cor-porate retreats and meetings, reunions andother gatherings.

Over the years, the ranch had undergonemany changes. In 1985, the process ofupdating all of the facilities began, and was-n’t complete until the late 1990s with theremodel of the ranch’s main office. Theupdates — the first for the ranch — madethe facility more attractive for companyfunctions and weddings.

When it started, the ranch was littlemore than some rustic cabins used forguests looking for a dude ranch experience.The new facilities included large conferenceand meeting rooms with modern ameni-ties. Many of the buildings have been out-fitted with wireless Internet access — amodification made under the guidance ofDavid Jessup.

Susan Jessup recalls, her eyes a bit misty,the day that the construction companybrought in the heavy equipment to demol-ish the old office and recreation building.She and her mother stood on the deck asthe equipment rolled in, but both had tolook away. It was too sad to watch the oldbuilding — home to so many family andcompany memories — be destroyed. But itwas a sacrifice that needed to be made inorder to move the ranch into the present.

The success of this year is uplifting forSusan Jessup. She said that the last six yearshave been difficult for the ranch, dealingwith a market that had changed, and aneconomy bruised.

Throughout her career at the ranch,Susan Jessup has had to be very open tochange. When the ranch began to strugglefinancially around 2000, she took a look atwhat needed to be done.

“When it’s your home, it’s your life,” shesaid. “I became aware that we had to reallybecome proactive.”

To that end, Sylvan Dale has implement-ed an active marketing program andrecently hired a sales manager to focus onbringing in the clients.

Such changes have been easy, Susan Jes-sup said, because they were all made inorder to maintain the ranch, which is thebiggest goal for the Jessup family.

“My dad used to say this place is like alittle jewel,” she said.

Something of a visionary, Maurice Jes-sup predicted that development wouldspring up all over Loveland. He told hisfamily that Sylvan Dale would remain a get-away from all of that growth.

In that spirit, David Jessup and DavidArmstrong — Susan’s husband — haveworked to make sure that the ranch wouldnot be developed. About two-thirds of Syl-van Dale’s 3,200 acres are now under con-servation easement.

LOVELAND, from 5B

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Do yDo you haou havveewhat it twhat it takakeess??


By Tom [email protected]

His company’s first million-dollar build-ing contract, the Chimney Ridge condo-minium project just a few steps from theSnowflake lift at Breckenridge, forced TerryDrahota to abandon his simple businessplan.

That was in 1979, six years after hefounded Drahota Inc., his first venture aftergraduating from Colorado State Universitywith a degree in finance.

“I had my office in the house and wouldgo and see the accountant at the end of theyear,” Drahota said. “When we got that jobup in the mountains, that changed every-thing. We have progressively, but conserva-tively, grown since then.”

In just the last 15 years, Drahota Inc.’sannual revenue has jumped from $4 millionto $72 million, and employment from 14 to80.

The growth rate and a reputation forquality that Drahota has earned over morethan three decades brings Terry Drahotathis year’s Bravo! Entrepreneur Award forFort Collins.

The Drahota project list, concentratedlargely in Northern Colorado communitiesbut spreading more and more across the

Continental Divide to Steamboat Springs,contains some of the state’s constructionlandmarks. Recent examples include:

n Loveland’s Skyline Center for Health,a $17 million, 80,000-square-foot medicalcomplex on east Eisenhower Boulevard in

Drahota’s construction project list spans prairies, mountainsSteady growth,renowned qualitymark 33 years

Tom Hacker, Northern Colorado Business Report

OWN BOSS — Terry Drahota stands beside a flat-screen television monitor in his southeast Fort Collins offices,where dozens of Drahota Inc. projects flash on the screen.

2006 Bravo! Entrepreneur — Fort Collins

Terry Drahota,Drahota Commercial LLC

FinalistsFinalists for the Fort Collins Bravo! EntrepreneurAward included:

n Terry Drahota, Drahota Commercial LLCn Rayno Seaser, The Egg and In Frank Vaught and Joe Frye,

Vaught Frye Architects

See FORT COLLINS, 10B


By Kristen [email protected]

FORT COLLINS — In the three years it’sbeen in operation, development companyBrinkman Partners LLC has changed inways that set it well apart from competitors.

The company went from a singleBrinkman — Kevin — to two, with theaddition of brother Paul. It migrated froman office in someone’s home to one of FortCollins most elegantly appointed new officebuildings. Annual revenue soared from $2.2million in 2002 to $13.3 in 2005.

And Brinkman Partners is still in the fastlane, with projects set to double in the nextyear and revenues expected to increaseexponentially, as well.

The pattern of growth, and projectionsfor more, make the Brinkman brothers thewinners of the 2006 Bravo! EmergingEntrepreneur Award.

The key to Brinkman Partners’ successlies in the company’s unusual businessmodel.

“It’s a very different company,” remarkedPaul Brinkman. “We wanted to create a cul-ture where you can do different things.”

Kevin Brinkman, 28, started the compa-ny in 2003 with a heavy residential focus.For the first two years, he was able to dou-

ble his revenues. Paul Brinkman, 32, decid-ed to hang up his hat as the chief operatingofficer at Neenan Co. in 2005 to join hisbrother.

With both brothers at the helm, thecompany ventured into the commercial realestate world and bigger revenues.

Today, the 16-person staff is capable ofhandling the construction, developmentand real estate services that its clients mightneed. Many companies in the constructionindustry will find partners to deal withsome of the services that Brinkman Part-ners keeps in-house.

This is key, the Brinkmans said, becausemany business people do not have time tocoordinate with several different compa-nies. However, they are careful not tostretch the company’s talent too thin.

Fast-starting Brinkman brothers grow business 6 times in 3 yearsProject diversity,workplace culturedefine young firm

R E P R I N T S :

A POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL!

Oct. 14-27, 2005

Vol. 11, No. 2www.ncbr.com

Boomers, retirees to shape

housing market of the future

Kristen S. Bastian

[email protected]

It is an economic force like none other.

Due to the sheer number of individuals

born between 1946 and 1964, markets and

industries have risen and fallen in the wake of

the aging tidal wave that is the Baby Boomers.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, this age

group made up more than 20 percent of the

nation’s population in 2004.

When the Boomers were born, baby food

companies grew into a thriving industry. Like-

wise, as the Boomers near retirement, a new

lineup of products and services will expand.

Census data show that in 2000 Colorado’s

65-years-and-older population accounted for

9.7 percent of the total population. Estimates

show that by 2025, Colorado’s 65-and-older

crowd will account for 20.1 percent of the

population. Colorado is slated to experience

the third-largest percentage increase in

Boomer-age residents in the U.S. — behind

Oregon and Utah. And the Loveland-Fort

Collins area was named the top spot to rein-

vent your life by AARP Magazine in 2003.

The effect of this growth on Northern Col-

orado became resoundingly clear in local

health care housing markets in 2004.

In 2004, developers brought forth a tidal

wave of proposals for senior housing, inde-

pendent and assisted living alternatives in the

region. By May 2004, five new senior retire-

ment facilities were in various stages of devel-

opment in the region. In addition, a new reha-

bilitation hospital, tailored in part to elderly

patients was launched late in 2004 near the

interchange of U.S. Highway 34 and Interstate

25.The earliest Boomers are beginning to join

the market for retirement housing. Even those

who aren’t in the target demographic for these

facilities are shaping its future.

“Today’s consumers are the ones making

the decisions,” said Yvonne Myers, director of

community relations for Columbine Health

Systems. Columbine operates nine facilities in

Northern Colorado that

include assisted living

centers, independent liv-

ing centers, nursing

homes and home health

services and rehabilitation

services.

Myers explained that

the Boomers are in the

market for such services

for their parents, and they

are discriminating cus-

tomers.“Our market is the 40-

to 60-year-old daughter

or son,” she said, not the

85-year-old potential

Columbine resident.

Today’s adult child

wants the best for his or

her parents, which might

not always reflect on what

the parents would select

for themselves. Boomers’

parents are from a genera-

tion of “when-I-grew-

uppers” and tend to see

little use for towel warm-

ing racks, gyms and Inter-

net access. However, the Boomer children do

see the need, and as such, are defining the way

facilities are built today.

But that doesn’t mean the industry won’t

continue to evolve. Myers guesses that espres-

so machines and weight-lifting equipment will

be standard in the senior housing of the

future.“I think by the time I’m in the nursing

home, massage therapists will be on staff,” she

said.The financial services is also bracing for a

major impact from Boomers.

“There is about to be the biggest intergen-

erational change of wealth in the history of the

world,” said Bud Noffsinger, president of First

Western Trust Bank in Fort Collins. “That’s

why First Western is here.”

First Western

offers trust and bank-

ing services. The

banking services and

some of the trust

services, Noffsinger

said, are geared

toward wealth accu-

mulators such as

entrepreneurs, not

wealth preservers. But

as the Baby Boomers

near retirement they

begin to make the transition from accumula-

tor to preserver. Therefore, services such as

trusts, wealth management and family servic-

es really fit the need for the transition period

that many Baby Boomers are approaching or

experiencing right now.

MY GENERATION —

Retirees, such as these

residents of The Wexford

in Fort Collins, are

affecting industries such

as housing, health care

and banking.

Mishelle Baun,

Northern Colorado

Business Report

TOP 10 NEWS STORIES 1995-2005

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Oct. 14-27, 2005Vol. 11, No. 2www.ncbr.com

Promise of prosperity lured workersto join Northern Colorado communityBy Anne Cumming [email protected]

The promise of jobs and thehope for prosperity brought themat the turn of the 20th century.They were Hispanics worn out byeconomic hardship in New Mexi-co and political upheaval in Mexico.“Work in Colorado,” recruitersfor Northern Colorado farmersand companies shouted frombullhorns as they traveled by trainthrough towns in New Mexicoand Mexico.

Between 1910 and 1930, morethan a million Mexicans arrived inthe United States; 45,000 heededthe call to Colorado. The workthey found was difficult, most of itin the sugar-beet fields, where“stoop laborers” bent over thecrops as they hoed and weeded thecrop by hand.Germans from Russia were thefirst to work in the beet fields, in thelate 1800s. As they made enoughmoney to buy their own land inNorthern Colorado, farmers lookedsouth to recruit new beet-fieldworkers. Mexicans were expected tomigrate north each spring andreturn home each winter.

But many wound up makingNorthern Colorado their home;Weld County counted 20,000Mexican farm workers in resi-dence by 1927, many housed in

adobe “colonias” on land provid-ed by the sugar companies.Eventually these workers start-ed businesses, raising families,becoming active in faith commu-nities and serving in governmentleadership positions. Their storieshave become as much a part ofNorthern Colorado’s fabric as theAnglo settlers who gave names tocities such as Greeley, Lovelandand Fort Collins.

Mexican immigration toNorthern Colorado has contin-ued to the present day. Some con-tinue to work in farm fields, butmore are finding higher-payingjobs in the region’s booming oiland gas industry.The Hispanic influence is espe-

cially strong in Greeley, whereU.S. Census figures show Hispan-ics make up about a third of thepopulation and has increased 118percent between 1990 and 2003.In Greeley-Evans School District6, more than half of the studentpopulation is Hispanic. The city’sfew hundred Hispanic-ownedbusinesses include restaurants,insurance agencies, dental andmedical practices, clothing stores,tortilla manufacturers andmechanics, among others.Hispanic newcomers to North-ern Colorado come today not onlyfrom Mexico but also from Centraland South America, also lured bythe promise of jobs and the famil-iarity of family members.

DANCE FEVER —Mexicandancers

celebrateCinco De Mayoduring recentcelebrations

in Greeley.

Photo courtesyCity of Greeley

40 NORTHERN COLORADO ICONS


BRAVO! BROTHERS — Kevin Brinkman, left, and brother Paul, outside their southeast Fort Collins office last sum-mer, are winners of the 2006 Bravo! Emerging Entrepreneur Award.

2006 Bravo! Entrepreneur — Emerging

Brinkman Partners LLC

See EMERGING, 10B


Results matter. United Way of Larimer County is proud to present the 2006 Pacesetter Challenge Award toSample and Bailey, CPAs.

The Northern Colorado Business Report and Hewlett-Packard are proud supporters of United Way.

Fort Collins · 970.407.7000 · Loveland · 970.669.1450 www.uwaylc.org

what matters.™

Thanks to these organizations for participating in the Pacesetter Challenge: Advantage Bank, Ayres Associates, Baker Instruments, City of Fort Collins, Dellenbach Motors, Ed Carroll Motors, Fort Collins Coloradoan, King Soopers, Markley Motors, National Semi-Conductor, Platte River Power Authority, Point Five Windows, Poudre Valley REA, Prudential Rocky Mountain Realtors, Sam's Clubs, Sample and Bailey, Spradley Barr, Target Stores, Town of Berthoud, United Way of Larimer County, United Way of Larimer County Funded Agencies, Wal-Mart Distribution Center, Wal-Mart Stores, and Woodward Industrial Controls.

Thanks in part to the support of Sample and Bailey, CPAs, United Way of Larimer County helps the entire community focus on long-term solutions, such as self-sufficiency, affordable housing, and supporting vulnerable populations, bringing about lasting change in Larimer County. Because that’s what matters.

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THE EXECUTIVE CENTERThe evolution of the workspace.

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By Luanne [email protected]

It started as a small business offering asolution to hold down dust that chokestravelers on rural roads during typically dryspring and summer months.

After nearly two decades of exponentialgrowth, Envirotech Services Inc. is now a$41 million dollar company that offers avariety of products to help mines, govern-ment agencies and municipalities big andsmall maintain and improve roads year-round.

The company founded in 1988 by RogerKnoph grew 50 percent each of the first 10years, leveling off to slower but steadygrowth after that. Envirotech’s success nowearns Knoph the 2006 Bravo! EntrepreneurAward for Greeley.

Headquartered in Greeley with an oper-ations and logistics center in Kersey, thecompany sells its anti-dust, anti-icing andde-icing products nationwide.

Knoph said the company expanded intode-icing products as a way to turn the sea-sonal company into one that could be prof-itable year-round.

A big steppingstone into that side of thebusiness occurred when the ColoradoDepartment of Transportation was recon-

structing I-70 through Glenwood Canyonand frequent snowstorms shut down workfor days at a time.

At the same time, EnviroTech had justcompleted an EPA study that approvedmagnesium chloride use for de-icing andgot the go-ahead to apply it to the canyonhighway. Contractors everywhere tooknote. And it wasn’t long after that munici-palities began requesting liquid de-icer aswell. But growth in that product didn’tgrow dramatically at first, and for a goodreason.

“Nobody had built a spreader for de-icer,” said Knoph, whose company began todo just that. The first year he sold about adozen spreaders and the business took off.“We expanded to do that, but it’s not ourforte.” When other companies started man-ufacturing the spreaders, EnviroTech happi-ly stepped away.

De-icing products have allowed the pub-lic, Knoph said, to be more demanding ofopen roads during inclement conditions.The environmentally friendly productshave also substantially reduced the infa-mous Colorado brown cloud, caused inpart by a gravel/salt de-icing mix, along theFront Range, he said.

“It seems like one of our successes isbringing products to market and educatinghow to use them,” Knopf said.

One product for dust mitigation, forexample, not only tames dusty rural roads,but helps build them up, allowing cities orcounties to grade roads a few times a yearrather than every couple of weeks. The costsavings is huge.

The City of Loveland uses Knopf ’s dust-suppression product on its rural roads inthe summer along with de-icers in the win-

ter.“We have utilized EnviroTech’s ser-

vices and products for 15 years,” saidMick Mercer, public works manger forthe City of Loveland. “We primarily usetheir winter de-icing products — liquid

From dust to ice, Knoph’s Envirotech offers solutionsSmall businessoutgrows Weld,becomes national 2006 Bravo!

Entrepreneur — Greeley

Roger Knoph,Envirotech Services Inc.

Courtesy Enviroteh Services Inc.

ICE MAN — Roger Knoph, here at a training sessionfor his employees, has grown the small business hefounded to mitigate dust problem into a $41 million,nationwide provider of roadway deicing products andequipment.

See GREELEY, 10B

FinalistsFinalists for the Outlying Areas Bravo! Entrepre-neur Awards included:

n Roger Knoph, Envirotech Services Inc.n Powell Prothe, Vintage Corp.n Larry Seastrom, New Frontier Bank

Loveland;n The Collindale Golf Course Club-

house, the runner-up for a top nationalaward for golf clubhouse construction anda project that gives visitors to Fort Collins’slargest municipal golf course a “countryclub” feel;

n The Highmark retail-and-condo-minium project in the heart of Steamboat’sski village, a $20 million project that dom-inates the skyline of the resort community.

In progress are about $25 million in pro-jects at the development known as 2534, thesoutheast quadrant of Interstate 25 and U.S.Highway 34 in Johnstown, including theBank of Colorado Plaza, a four-story,50,000-square-foot office building.

And breaking ground this spring —pending completion of a finance package— is the Penny Flats office, retail and con-dominium project on Mason Street indowntown Fort Collins that will put 147residential units and 30,000 square feet ofcommercial space on the market.

Drahota’s personal style, formed partlyby the fact that he has no idea what it is liketo work for someone else, keeps him busierthan most construction executives.

“The devil is in the details in this busi-ness, and you’ve got to keep your eyes on it,”he said. “Delegation is a difficult thing forme, but I know I have to be able to do that.I feel like I’ve got to keep track of things,but I also know that I’ve got really goodpeople here and that I can depend on

them.”Legions of admirers in the real estate and

development community include ByronCollins, with whom Drahota has collabo-rated on a long list of Fort Collins projects.Drahota in the next few weeks will breakground on the Harmony Center in Tim-nath, the entrance signature for the Harmo-ny golf and residential project that opensnext year and will house the Colorado StateUniversity golf program in addition to newoffices for Collins’ development company.

“It’s pretty comforting to deal with a guywho stands behind his work and his word,”Collins said of Drahota. “One of the thingsthat draws us to Terry is his integrity. It’ssomething you don’t find, to that degree,just anywhere.”


FORT COLLINS, from 7B

“It’s pretty comfortingto deal with a guy whostands behind his workand his word,”Byron Collins,Fort Collins real estate developer

“We don’t want to be everything toeveryone,” Kevin Brinkman said. “We wantto focus on our core business.”

The company is typically working onsome stage of 10 to 15 deals at any giventime. In addition to acquiring land, build-ing and finding tenants, Brinkman Part-ners also tries to help ease the risk for itsclients. The company has been part-owneron several of its projects in order to light-en the financial burden.

But success isn’t all about businessmodels and great service. It helps to havestrong ties in the community.

The Brinkman brothers grew up in FortCollins, and they both traveled and livedelsewhere after graduating high school. Butwhen it came to establishing roots, theyfound themselves back in the “Choice City.”

“I think we’re definitely both Coloradoguys,” Kevin Brinkman said.

The Brinkmans have been able to lever-age their commitment and knowledge ofthe community to attract business andretain it.

“We’ve had the luxury of being born andraised here,” Kevin Brinkman said.

Aside from a few mountain properties,all of Brinkman Partners projects are inNorthern Colorado.

“We have no aspirations to work out ofstate or in southern Colorado,” PaulBrinkman said.

The company is definitely keeping busyright in the region. It has a lot of projects inthe pipeline now that promise to keep thestaff occupied for a while. Because the com-pany has so much going on and is so young,Kevin Brinkman likes the idea of beingnamed the 2006 Emerging Entrepreneur.

“I don’t think we’ve emerged yet,” heexplained.

EMERGING, from 8B

and granular.”EnviroTech “seems to always be on the

cutting edge of the latest developments inthat field,” Mercer said. “They have trueexperts on staff and are quick to respond torequests for information or to show up onsite to show us how to use the productsmore effectively.”

Departments of transportationthroughout the United States are the largestcustomers for EnviroTech, followed by

cities, mines and counties. Competition islimited, but is present. Cargill and DowChemical are the largest in the industry,with several small companies that providesimilar services, but only in a single state orsmall region.

Knoph said EnviroTech will continue togrow, but at a steady rate, not like the hugegrowth in the company’s first decade.“Some of our greatest success is the peoplein the company who help us grow. We’remuch larger than I expected to be upfront.When we started, we didn’t have majorgoals.”

GREELEY, from 9B

Authentic Belgian Chocolates

& Other Tempting Delights

Exclusive in Fort CollinsArtisanal Belgian Chocolates

Sugar Free selectionHigh Quality American Candies

Great Holiday Gift IdeasCustom Bussiness Gifts and Baskets

Personalized Wedding Favors

Harmony Marketplace-238 E. Harmony Road D-10 Fort Collins 970-226-8770 - [email protected]

1307 E. Prospect Road,

Fort Collins, Colorado(on Prospect just east of Lemay)224-CLUB(2582)

OTHER AMENITIES INCLUDE:

• 25 meter indoor pool

• Outdoor pool & cabana

• Basketball gym

• Racquetball/handball

• Squash

• Supervised child care

• Cardio Theater

• Aerobics studio

• Restaurant & bar

• Steam rooms

• Physical Therapy

• Whirlpool & sauna

• Senior programs

• Youth activities

• Massage therapy

• Cycle Reebok

the Complete Sports Club

NOINITIATION

FEES!

NOINITIATION

FEES!

“We don’t want to beeverything to every-one. We want to focuson our core business.”Kevin Brinkman, co-ownerBrinkman Partners LLC



EATON — Weld County residents withvery long memories would tell us that BudHarsh was a tough act to follow.

But his successors in business, the familythat bought Eaton-based Harsh Interna-tional Inc. from Harsh’s widow in 1986,have measured up in spades.

Since then, Andrew Brown, sons Boband Jim and daughter Micki have built theprecision manufacturing business into a$27 million business with a reach that spansfrom Europe to Asia.

Their success, measured by more thanjust revenue numbers, earns AndrewBrown, now chairman of Harsh, andBob Brown, the company’s president,the 2006 Bravo! Entrepreneur Award forNorthern Colorado’s outlying commu-nities.

Success is gauged also by the contri-butions Harsh has made to its NorthWeld County community, especially inthe form of high-paying manufactur-ing jobs in a region where agricultureis the economic mainstay. Harsh’sworkforce has more than doubled,from 40 to 89, under the Browns’ man-agement.

Success also shows up in the way$10.5 million in capital investment dur-ing the past 20 years have diversifiedHarsh’s product lines, expanded its mar-

‘Mid-tech’ Harsh uplifts northern Weld economyBy any measure,company’s ownersare Bravo!-worthy


FinalistsFinalists for the Outlying Areas Bravo! Entrepre-neur Awards included:

n Andy Brown and Bob Brown, Harsh International Inc.

n Martin Lind, Trollco Inc./Water Valleyn Chauncey and Christy Taylor, Johnson's Corner

2006 Bravo! Entrepreneur — Outlying communities

Andy Brown andBob Brown, HarshInternational Inc.

BIG MACHINE — Family members who have built Harsh International Inc. into a global manufacturing business,from left Bob Brown, sister Micki Tracy, and father Andy Brown, stand with a truck equipped with Harsh’s spe-cialized mixing apparatus, a mainstay of the company’s product line.

See OUTLYING, 13B


On an Oct. 25 plane trip back fromAtlanta, the chief execs of Northern Col-orado’s two top economic developmentagencies tallied the results of their business-recruiting trip to the deep Southeast.

Larry Burkhardt, president of Greeley-based Upstate Colorado EconomicDevelopment, and David Wolven, inter-im president of the Northern ColoradoEconomic Development Corp., had justmade their national debut in the name oftheir new marketing umbrella, “PremierColorado.”

Their three-day mission: To jointly pro-mote the region covered by their two orga-nizations at a meeting of companies inter-ested in shopping their plans for businessexpansions or relocation.

“I think we came away with about sixgood prospects,” Burkhardt said. “Peoplewill be coming out here, one in Decem-ber, another in February, to take a closerlook, and others are interested in cominghere.”

The successful premier of PremierColorado, and the vision of members ofboth organizations that made it possible,earns it the Bravo! Entrepreneur Region-

al Spirit Award.The two groups that adopted Premier

Colorado as a marketing moniker have ahistory that is marked more by compe-tition than collaboration. Upstate Col-orado’s predecessor, going by theunwieldy name Greeley-Weld Economic

Development Action Partnership,angled for many of the same prospectsthat it’s counterpart in Larimer Countysought.

Economic development reaches higher plateau‘Premier Colorado’a natural for Bravo!regional spirit honor


2006 Bravo! Entrepreneur — Regional Spirit

Premier Colorado

Past winners2005 — New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins2004 — Monfort Family Foundation, Eaton2003 — The Bohemian Foundation, Fort Collins2002 — Long’s Peak Council of the Boy Scouts2001 — State Farm Insurance Co., Greeley/Evans2000 — Greeley Independence Stampede,

Greeley1999 — Eastman Kodak Co. (Kodak Colorado

Division), Windsor1998 — Hewlett Packard Co., Fort Collins

See REGIONAL SPIRIT, 13B


The competitive history goes way, wayback — back to the 1970s when the twocounties fought over the Anheuser-Buschbrewery that is now a rock-solid employerin Fort Collins.

At that time, three economic develop-ment agencies — one each for Greeley, FortCollins and Loveland — were competingfor prospects to bring jobs to their respec-tive spheres. The 2001 merger of the FortCollins and Loveland economic develop-ment groups to form the NCEDC estab-lished the county line, rather than cityboundaries, as the demarcation for com-peting interests.

The emergence of Premier Col-orado, a name that Burkhardt canclaim credit for, came in 2005 with theagreement of board members fromUpstate Colorado and Northern Col-orado Economic Development Corp. tocontribute jointly to a regional brand-ing campaign.

“I think Premier Colorado is a greatmarketing tool,” said Jeff Bedingfield, aGreeley lawyer and Upstate Coloradoboard member who was among dele-gates from each group that authorizedspending money jointly on the cam-paign. “It’s a first step in what I hopewill be a broader movement towardcooperation.”

The October trip to Georgia could bearfruit that neither organization, separately,could hope to claim. Major food processingcompanies, for example, latched onto thePremier Colorado label that links majorregional distribution networks with agri-cultural centers in ways few other regionscan match.

“We were perceived very positively, Ithink,” Burkhardt said. “We were able tocreate the perception in their minds of aunified region.”

Board members of the two organiza-tions that worked on the regional brandingcampaign that resulted in Premier Col-orado said that while the name is worthtaking on the road again as an identity for aunited Larimer and Weld county region,the two entities would be wise to continuetheir separate roles.

Realizing that, the two groups havedrafted a code of ethics, a one-page docu-ment that is intended to prevent one entityfrom sabotaging the efforts of the other inrecruiting employers.

“We each have our good points tosell,” Bedingfield said. “I would hopethat these regional communities wouldbe competing. But just because you’recompeting doesn’t mean you have to getstupid.”

REGIONAL SPIRIT, from 12B

kets and made it a virtually recession-proof business.

When the Browns took over, the manu-facturing plant on Oak Avenue in centralEaton was limited mainly to producing thehydraulic hoists that Bud Harsh invented inthe late 1940s.

Today robotic welders, precision lasersand high-tech water-jet cutting tools turnraw steel into a line of products that extendsthe Harsh hoist line into other diversedirections.

Specialized, truck-mounted mixers andspreaders for feed, fertilizers and other agri-cultural products make up about half ofHarsh’s business.

To describe the manufacturing process,

Bob Brown has had to coin a new term.“We’re mid-tech,” Brown said. “Some of

the equipment we have on line is the verylatest available. But our products remainpretty basic.”

Customers, some of whom have depend-ed on Harsh’s precision equipment forlonger than the Browns have operated thecompany, endorse its products without hes-itation.

“We’ve been doing business with Harshsince well before my time,” said Carl Maxey,general manager of Fort Collins-basedMaxey Cos., a dealer in specialized truckbeds and trailers. “Structurally, they’re thebest. They’ve also kept their prices compet-itive.”

That’s not easy during a time when theprice of Harsh’s main raw material — steel— has gone through three years of double-

digit price increases. Despite the soaringsteel costs, Harsh has not raised its productprices since September 2004.

“We don’t hear so much from our cus-tomers about that as we do from our com-petitors,” Bob Brown said. “They want toknow how we do it.”

Despite a four-fold increase in annualrevenue and the doubling of the company’sworkforce, Harsh is better-known in theworld outside its Weld County home thanin this region. A Canadian customer, with16 years of experience with Harsh, sums upthe reasons.

“They’re a huge, very well-hiddensecret,” said Jim Courtney, co-owner ofCourtney-Berg Industries Ltd. of Linden,Alberta, Canada. “They’re way under theradar. They’re not self-promoters. They’redoers.”

OUTLYING, from 11B

“They’re way underthe radar. They’re notself-promoters.They’re doers.”

Jim Courtney, co-owner Courtney-Berg Industries Ltd.


Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards past winners

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

1998 – W.D. Farr, Greeley1999 – Bob Everitt, Fort Collins2000 – Ken Monfort, Greeley2001 – Tom Gleason, Fort Collins2002 – Bob Tointon, Greeley2003 - Kathryn Hach-Darrow, Loveland2004 – Bill Neal and Leo Schuster, Fort Collins

and Loveland2005 – George Hall, Greeley

FORT COLLINS

1998 - Kent and Gloria Sampson, Value PlasticsInc.

1999 – Doug Schatz, Advanced Energy Industries Inc.

2000 – Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch, New Belgium Brewing Co.

2001 – Spiro Palmer, Palmer Flowers2002 – David and Jim Neenan, The Neenan Co.2003 - Bill Ward, Front Range Internet Inc.2004 – David Bethune, Atrix

Laboratories Inc.2005 – Lori Schlotter, Colorado CustomWare Inc.

GREELEY

1998 – Darrell McAllister, 1st Choice Bank1999 – John Todd, Toddy’s grocery stores2000 – Bill Farr, Centennial Bank of the West2001 – Jerry Morgensen, Hensel Phelps

Construction Co.2002 – Ruben and Scott Ehrlich, Ehrlich Motors2003 – Tom Roche, Roche Constructors Inc.2004 - Tim and Sally Warde, Northern

Colorado Paper2005 - Mark Kendall, Kendall Printing Co.

LOVELAND

1998 – Tom Schultz, Group Publishing1999 - Dave Duke, Duke

Communications International2000 - Bill Beierwaltes, Colorado

Memory Systems2001 – Chad and Troy McWhinney, McWhinney

Enterprises Inc.2002 – Jack Devereaux, Home State Bank2003 – Erv Weinmeister, Super Vacuum Manu-

facturing2004 - Mark Burke, Burke Cleaners and Mister

Neat’s Formalwear2005 - Jerry Donnan, Factual Data Corp.

OUTLYING COMMUNITIES

1998 – Bill Coleman, Colorado Greenhouse Holdings Inc., Fort Lupton

1999 – Louis Lucio, Armadillo restaurants, LaSalle

2000 – Max, Bob and Dean Walker, Walker Manufacturing, Timnath

2001 – Joe and Bob Raith, Morning Fresh Farms,Platteville

2002 – Izzy Salazar, TSN Inc., Frederick2003 – Tom Gray, Gray Oil Co.,

Fort Lupton2004 – Mark Hopkins, Peak Industries, Frederick2005 – Tom Baur and Garry Gorsuch,

Meadowlark Optics., Frederick

EMERGING ENTREPRENEUR*

2000 – Tim Gan, Open LCR, Fort Collins2001 – Jeff Whitham, Encorp Inc., Windsor2002 – Maury Dobbie, MediaTech

Productions, Fort Collins2003 – Tom and Kristi Johnson,

Bingham Hill Cheese Co., Fort Collins2004 - Bruce Golden, Bernard E. Rollin & Ralph

V. Switzer Jr., Optibrand Ltd. LLC, Fort Collins2005 - Paul and Nenita Pellegrino, NitaCrisp, Fort

Collins

REGIONAL SPIRIT

1998 – Hewlett-Packard Co., Fort Collins1999 - Eastman Kodak Co., Kodak

Colorado Division, Windsor2000 - Greeley Stampede2001 - State Farm Insurance Cos.,

Greeley2002 – Longs Peak Council, Boy Scouts of

America, Greeley2003 – Bohemian Foundation, Fort Collins2004 – Monfort Family Foundation, Eaton2005 – New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins

*Bravo! Award for Emerging Entrepreneur was introduced in 2000

~Tiffany Burns President

Thank you for choosing Impressions Management to “market your solutions”.

Congratulations on another successful year!

impressions management

Call Impressions Management to see how your business can benefit from

innovative marketing solutions!

970.581.5358 [email protected]

Lori Schlotter 2005 Bravo! Fort Collins Winner

President—Colorado CustomWare, Inc.

141 S. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524970.221.5400 • www.ncbr.com

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