Area entrepreneurs honored at Bravo! awards

Seven Northern Colorado business leaders were recognized for their successes at the 2014 Northern Colorado Business Report’s Bravo! Entrepreneur Awards Tuesday night.

The event at the Embassy Suites in Loveland marked the 15th Bravo! awards held since 1998.

“The celebration and fostering of entrepreneurs is vital to the overall success of the free-enterprise system,” Business Report Publisher Jeff Nuttall said. “That’s why we feel it’s important to recognize some of the more outstanding examples of entrepreneurship in the market.”

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Doug and Connie Dohn, owners of Dohn Construction Inc., won the Fort Collins Entrepreneur Award. Dohn was founded in Fort Collins more than 20 years ago and has completed projects in Fort Collins, Loveland, Boulder and southern Wyoming.

This year’s Loveland Entrepreneur Award went to Joe and JB Kellogg, the father-and-son team who founded Madwire Media. Their company was launched in 2009 and has taken off, adding 150 employees in five years.

Bob Ghent of Ghent Chevrolet Cadillac won the Greeley Entrepreneur Award. Ghent is the third-generation owner of the car dealership, growing the business by about 20 percent in the years following the recession.

Ed Holloway and Bill Scaff, co-CEOs of Synergy Resources, were recognized with the Outlying Communities Entrepreneur Award. Synergy operates 280 wells in the Wattenburg Field, riding the oil boom to an $189 million capital expenditure program on tap in 2014.

The Regional Spirit Award was given to the American Red Cross. Larimer County has become a hotbed for federally declared disasters in recent years, according to Erin Mounsey, executive director of the Northern Colorado chapter of the Red Cross. The organization has played a key role in helping the region recover from these disasters.

Green Ride Colorado founders Ray Schofield and Bob Flynn won the Emerging Entrepreneur Award. Green Ride began service in May 2009 and employs 90 people, transporting riders to and from Denver International Airport.

Dick Boettcher, former owner of Professional Finance Co., won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Boettcher purchased Professional Finance Co. in 1954 and owned it until 1993, when he sold it to his son-in-law Mike Shoop. In that time, the company grew from 35 employees to 150.

Boettcher has also helped facilitate a long list of community service projects, including procuring $6 million for the Monfort Children’s Clinic in Greeley.