Reynolds to be inducted into Colorado Business Hall of Fame

DENVER — Bill Reynolds, who founded Boulder-based W.W.Reynolds Cos. 60 years ago, is among those to be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in January.

The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain announced the names of the 2027 laureates Thursday. The Hall of Fame inducts Colorado’s most-distinguished business leaders from the past and present. The 2027 class includes leaders in a variety of industries, including real estate, food and beverage, financial services and sports technology.

Reynolds, who was honored by BizWest in 2022 as one of 40 iconic leaders who inspired the region’s development, has built more than three million square feet of commercial and residential property across Colorado.

He was born and raised on Mapleton Hill in Boulder and graduated from the University of Colorado in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in business, then joined the U.S. Navy and served aboard the USS Bennington.

He began his career selling real estate in Aspen but returned to Boulder and founded The W.W. Reynolds Cos., a real estate development, leasing and property management firm, in 1966.

In the firm’s early days, Reynolds developed shopping centers and office parks such as the Table Mesa Shopping Center in South Boulder and the Pearl East Business Park along Boulder Creek. More recently, he partnered with fellow developer Jerry Lee to create One Boulder Plaza in downtown Boulder, featuring high-class office space and urban-living residences.

Reynolds owns and manages millions of square feet of office, retail and industrial property and hundreds of apartment units along the Colorado Front Range. He also helped initiate the University of Colorado’s Real Estate Center with graduate and undergraduate programs and as president of the center.

He served on the boards of the Boulder Chamber, Boulder YMCA and the Boulder Community Hospital Foundation. He was the first president of the CU Real Estate Foundation, was vice chair of the Center of the American West, and became a member of the Urban Land Institute in 1977.

Reynolds also served on the boards of multiple private companies, representing the real estate sector and providing general business knowledge.

He and his company have been recognized by the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks, which rebranded July 1 to become the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. Reynolds received NAIOP’s developer of the year and lifetime achievement awards.

A dedicated philanthropist, he established the W.W. Reynolds Foundation, whose vision is to enhance educational opportunities and empower youngsters to pursue a life of meaning by supporting organizations and educators who focus on business and financial literacy.

The other laureates to be inducted are: Luis and Marco Antonio Abarca, founder of Mexican soup and sauce company Ready Foods; Joe Assell, co-founder, president and CEO of GolfTEC, which specializes in golf instruction and club fitting; Robert Cohen, chairman and CEO of IMA Financial Group; and the Lane family, whose Lane Affiliated Cos. grew into the eighth largest Pepsi-Cola bottler in the nation before being sold to the Pepsi Bottling Group in 2008. Today, they run the John and Margot Lane Foundation, which supports innovative initiatives in education, leadership and community development.

Also to be honored as a “pioneer laureate” is Chin Lin Sou, who arrived in San Francisco from southern China in 1855, worked as a gold miner and foreman on the first transcontinental railroad, then moved to Colorado in 1870 and supervised hundreds of placer mines.

The 2027 class will be inducted at the annual Colorado Business Hall of Fame dinner, to be conducted Jan. 28 at the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center. The event is supported by presenting sponsor UMB Bank and reception sponsor IMA Financial.

More information about the event and the Hall of Fame is online at coloradobusinesshalloffame.org.

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