ARCHIVED  October 31, 2003

Publishers’ Notebook: Bravo! Entrepreneur highlights success

Glorious things can happen in all walks of life, and business is no exception.

Bravo! Entrepreneur, our entrepreneur awards program, highlights the glorious activities of Northern Colorado’s entrepreneurs. Winners are chosen from Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland and Outlying Communities. Additionally, a Lifetime Achievement Award, Emerging Entrepreneur Award and Regional Spirit Award are presented.

Nominees for Bravo! Entrepreneur can hail from any industry, from agribusiness to manufacturing, high technology to development, retail to restaurateurs. Nominees displayed the core values of entrepreneurship, including risk-taking, overcoming adversity and business success.

These entrepreneurs serve as beacons to others dreaming of their own future endeavors.

This year’s Bravo! Entrepreneur honorees include:

  • Bill Ward, Front Range Internet Inc., Bravo! Entrepreneur, Fort Collins.
  • Ervin Weinmeister, Super Vacuum Manufacturing Co., Bravo! Entrepreneur, Loveland.
  • Tom Roche, Roche Constructors Inc., Bravo! Entrepreneur, Greeley.
  • Tom Gray, Gray Oil Co. Inc., Fort Lupton, Bravo! Entrepreneur, Outlying Communities.
  • Kathryn Hach-Darrow, Hach Co., Bravo! Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • Tom and Kristi Johnson, Bingham Hill Cheese Co., Fort Collins, Bravo! Entrepreneur Emerging Entrepreneur Award.
  • The Bohemian Foundation, Regional Spirit Award.

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

    SPONSORED CONTENT

    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 Dave Clarkson, Clarkson Land and Lifestyle Homes, Greeley; Ted Warner, Connecting Point, Greeley; Rene Clements, The Clements Co., Fort Collins; Kelly Peters, Loveland Center for Business Development, Loveland; Ron Schneider, Bank One, Loveland; Tim Dow, Dow Law Firm, Fort Collins; and Lucille Mantelli, Kodak Colorado Division, Windsor.

    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 work on the Bravo! Entrepreneur theme concept, Advanced Media of Fort Collins for the video, Caldera Creative Services for the décor, and MediaTech Productions for audio-visual coordination.

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

    Lastly, special thanks to our many sponsors, including Platinum Sponsors First National Bank/Union Colony Bank; Qwest and Connecting Point of Greeley. Our reception sponsor was Flood and Peterson Insurance Inc. Our program sponsor was First Class Direct Inc., and our media sponsor was KUNC 91.5 FM. Our dinner sponsor was Centerra/McWhinney Enterprises. Gold Sponsors included Eastman Kodak Co., Everitt Commercial Partners, Front Range Real Estate Consultants Inc., Palmer Flowers, Phelps-Tointon Inc., Pratt and Vision Graphics Inc. Thanks as well to our many Silver Sponsors. Each sponsor played a critical role in the success of Bravo! Entrepreneur.

  • Glorious things can happen in all walks of life, and business is no exception.

    Bravo! Entrepreneur, our entrepreneur awards program, highlights the glorious activities of Northern Colorado’s entrepreneurs. Winners are chosen from Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland and Outlying Communities. Additionally, a Lifetime Achievement Award, Emerging Entrepreneur Award and Regional Spirit Award are presented.

    Nominees for Bravo! Entrepreneur can hail from any industry, from agribusiness to manufacturing, high technology to development, retail to restaurateurs. Nominees displayed the core values of entrepreneurship, including risk-taking, overcoming adversity and business success.

    These entrepreneurs serve as beacons to others dreaming of their own future endeavors.

    This year’s Bravo! Entrepreneur…

    Christopher Wood
    Christopher Wood is editor and publisher of BizWest, a regional business journal covering Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties. Wood co-founded the Northern Colorado Business Report in 1995 and served as publisher of the Boulder County Business Report until the two publications were merged to form BizWest in 2014. From 1990 to 1995, Wood served as reporter and managing editor of the Denver Business Journal. He is a Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. He has won numerous awards from the Colorado Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.
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