Publishers’ Notebook: Entrepreneurs boost the region’s economy

Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Northern Colorado.

From Fort Collins to Greeley, Loveland to Estes Park, Fort Lupton to Wellington, entrepreneurs continue to excel in their endeavors, sparking creativity and generating economic momentum for the region.

This year’s nominees for Bravo! Entrepreneur run the gamut of industries, from high technology to development, retail to restaurateurs, agribusiness to manufacturing. And every nominee displayed the core values of entrepreneurship, including risk taking, overcoming adversity and business success.

They serve as beacons to others, both those engaged in their own entrepreneurial endeavors or just considering a new business venture.

This year’s honorees include:

” Spiro Palmer, Palmer Flowers, Bravo! Entrepreneur, Fort Collins.

” Chad and Troy McWhinney, principals in McWhinney Enterprises, Bravo! Entrepreneur, Loveland.

” Jerry Morgensen, CEO of Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Bravo! Entrepreneur, Greeley.

” Joe and Bob Raith, Morning Fresh Farms, Platteville, Bravo! Entrepreneur, Outlying Communities.

” Tom Gleason, chairman of First National Bank, Bravo! Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award.

” Jeff Whitham, chairman, Encorp Inc. of Windsor, Bravo! Entrepreneur Emerging Entrepreneur Award.

” State Farm Insurance Cos., Greeley, Regional Spirit Award.

This special section also includes write-ups on finalists for these awards, as well as on the dozens of nominees.

What’s the process for Bravo! Entrepreneur? First, Bravo! Entrepreneur is a program of The Northern Colorado Business Report, along with our event partners, the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, the Greeley/Weld Chamber of Commerce, the Greeley/Weld Economic Development Action Partnership, the Loveland Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp.

The president or CEO of each of those organizations serves on the Bravo! Entrepreneur Steering Committee, which is responsible for the overall success of Bravo! Entrepreneur. We also serve on that committee.

These representatives each appoint business leaders to an awards committee, which considers nominations from the public and from the awards committee itself.

This year’s awards committee included Mark Driscoll of First National Bank in Fort Collins; Irene Johnson of Linsco Private Ledger of Loveland; Kelly Peters of the Loveland Center for Business Development; Kevin Schwindt of R.R. Donnelley Norwest of Greeley; David Thomas of the Estes Park Chamber Resort Association; Ted Warner of Connecting Point of Greeley and Rocky Mountain Technology Solutions of Fort Collins; and Marge Yoder of Travel Connection in Fort Collins.

As always, these awards-committee members pored over dozens of write-ups on nominees, giving each careful consideration. We thank them for all their hard work.

Thanks also to the talented folks at Burns Marketing/Communications for their creative assistance on the Bravo! Entrepreneur program, Advanced Media of Windsor for the video, All About Events for assistance in event organization and Balloonz and Bouquets for the floral decorations.

Of course, extra thanks go to the staff of the Business Report, which works so hard on Bravo! Entrepreneur throughout the year, especially to Marketing Manager Jim Rath.

Lastly, special thanks to our many sponsors, including Platinum Sponsors Wells Fargo Banks and Engineering Computer Consultants Inc. Every sponsor played a critical role in the success of Bravo! Entrepreneur.

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