Awards April 12, 2013

Frances Draper, Richard Polk and Blake Jones were honored by the Boulder Chamber for their leadership and innovation. More than 300 executives, entrepreneurs and professionals attended the chamber’s annual fundraiser, Celebration of Leadership, on April 4 at the Millennium Harvest House Boulder. Draper, the University of Colorado-Boulder’s vice chancellor for strategic relations, received the Virginia Patterson Business Person of the Year Award for her leadership as executive director of the Boulder Economic Council and for strengthening ties between the business community and CU. Polk, owner of the Pedestrian Shop Inc. in downtown Boulder, received the Franny Reich Local Business Hero Award for his “legacy of business leadership and commitment to supporting the community.” Jones, chief executive of Namaste Solar Electric Inc., received the Business Innovator of the Year award for his pioneering efforts to bring solar energy into the mainstream.

The University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office and CU-Boulder’s Deming Center for Entrepreneurship presented awards to researchers and one business during the annual Entrepreneurship Under the Microscope event. This year’s award winners were Xuedong Liu, Inventor of the Year, CU-Boulder; Moncef Krarti, New Inventor of the Year, CU-Boulder; Douglas Seals, New Inventor of the Year, CU-Boulder; LineRate Systems Inc., Company of the Year. Louisville. Tom Cathey, professor emeritus, electrical, computer and energy engineering, was inducted into the Pinnacles of Inventorship, an all-star group recognizing continuous commitment to best practices in technology transfer. Cathey was a co-founder of CU startup CDM Optics, which was acquired by OmniVision in 2005.

Michael Drapkin, an intellectual property attorney at Holland & Hart LLP in Boulder, received a Distinguished Service Medal for his work forming the Colorado Intellectual Property American Inn of Court and his efforts in bringing a satellite branch of the United States Patent Office to Colorado. The medal was awarded March 22 by the Hon. Richard Linn of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a ceremony in New York. The Colorado IP American Inn of Court promotes the guiding principles of the American Inns of Court, which mentors young lawyers in intellectual property law, and to promote diversity within the intellectual property community in Colorado.

Dr. Sharad Rajpal, a neurosurgeon and spine specialist for Boulder Neurosurgical and Spine Associates, was recognized as one of America’s Most Compassionate Doctors in 2012. The honor is part of the Patients’ Choice recognition program, where patients rate and vote for their favorite doctors based on bedside manner, doctor-patient face time, followup care, ease of appointment setting and courtesy of office staff.

David Sinkey, president and managing director of Louisville-based Boulder Creek Builders, was selected by Professional Builder Magazine as one of the nation’s top “40 Under 40” award recipients in the homebuilding industry. Nominees are evaluated based on their leadership skills, inventiveness, people skills, client relations, dedication, community outreach, personal integrity, technical skills and industry/association involvement.

Boulder-based Matrix Gardens received two Excellence in Landscape awards from the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado: a Sustainable Landscaping Award for the Holitza residence in Lafayette and a Design/Build Award for the Novak residence in Longmont.

Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) was honored as Service Provider of the Year at the 2013 Network Computing Awards in London. The awards, voted on by Network Computing’s readers, recognize companies and solutions that have been most impressive in helping organizations maximize use of their networks. The award given to Level 3 recognizes all-around excellence and leadership in the service-provider sector.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research, based in Boulder, took top honors in the 2013 Green Enterprise IT Awards for the center’s NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center. NCAR won first place in the Facility Design Implementation category for its sustainable approach in designing and building the center. The awards, given by the Uptime Institute, showcase organizations for pioneering projects and innovations that significantly improve energy productivity and resource use in information technology.

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