Business Hall of Fame names 2013 class

LONGMONT – Serial entrepreneurs in retail, natural products, travel and healthy living are among the prominent business leaders who will be inducted into the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame this year.

The Hall of Fame, which is located at the Plaza Conference Center in Longmont, will honor Linda Cain, Tom Chapman, Court Dixon, Scott Nix, Mark Retzloff and Jirka Rysavy. In addition, three members of the prominent Hover family of Longmont – Charles, Katherine and Beatrice – will be inducted posthumously at the induction luncheon, to be held Wednesday, April 24, at the conference center.

Cain serves as chief executive of The Cain Travel Group Inc. in Boulder, which employs 60 people and posted annual sales of $104 million in 2012. The company, which ranks as the 56th-largest travel agency in the United States, provides a full suite of travel-agency services to the corporate, vacation and corporate-meeting markets.

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Chapman is managing partner of First MainStreet Insurance Ltd. in Longmont, a full-service independent insurance agency serving Longmont, the St. Vrain Valley, Boulder County and beyond. The agency has grown from seven to 25 employees under Chapman’s leadership and has been a major contributor to many local charities.

Dixon was a longtime partner and owner of three businesses on the Hill in Boulder: Kinsley & Co., Kinsley Outfitters LLC and An Orvis Shop. Kinsley & Co. was a local, trendsetting haberdashery founded in 1949, providing men’s and women’s clothing. Dixon began working for Kinsley as a salesman and manager in 1982, eventually becoming sole proprietor.

Dixon founded Kinsley Outfitters to demonstrate and sell fly-fishing equipment. An Orvis Shop outfitted clients in casual and travel clothing and accessories.

Nix is owner and president of Nixcavating Inc., a Longmont-based excavating company that he launched in 1982. The company employs 20 to 25 people. Nix got his start at Bradford Construction, founded by his uncle, Jerry Bradford. Nix has donated construction of foundations to many Boulder County nonprofits over the years.

Retzloff is a co-founder and chairman of Alfalfa’s Market Inc., an iconic Boulder-based natural and organic grocer. He also co-founded Aurora Organic Dairy Corp. in 2003, and continues to serve on the company’s board of directors. He also co-founded Horizon Organic Dairy Inc. in the early 1990s and once served as chairman of Rudi’s Organic Bakery Inc.

Rysavy is founder and chairman of Louisville-based Gaiam Inc., a public company offering environmentally friendly, yoga and LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) products. Rysavy is a longtime Boulder County entrepreneur, founding such companies as the Crystal Market, which became the first Wild Oats Market when it was sold. He then took a small office-supply company and built it into Corporate Express, which became one of the few Colorado companies to achieve Fortune 500 status.

Charles and Katherine Hover moved to Colorado from Chicago in the early 1900s, eventually purchasing property on the west edge of Longmont. Charles Hover became a successful farmer and businessman and a member of the chamber of commerce. His wife, Katherine, founded Hover Manor, a retirement community where senior citizens could live in dignity. Beatrice, adopted at age 9 by the Hovers, continued to shepherd her mother’s vision for the retirement community, which continues to thrive.

Among the event’s sponsors are Best Western Plus Hotel and Plaza Conference Center in Longmont, Elevations Credit Union, the Millennium Harvest House hotel in Boulder, the Longmont Times-Call and Boulder Camera, Guaranty Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

Hall of Fame tickets may be purchased for $55 beginning Wednesday, March 13, at www.halloffamebiz.com. Corporate tables and sponsorship opportunities are available. For more information call event manager De Dahlgren at 970-232-3132.