GenXYZ: Our Top 25 Young Professionals, L to O

Justin Levy, 30

Executive Director, Conscious Alliance

Since taking over as Executive Director of the nonprofit in 2012, Levy has grown the organization’s mission and programming to include emergency food relief, nutrition and exercise education, and youth empowerment. In addition to expanding the “Art That Feeds” food drives that Conscious Alliance is known for, Levy has implemented the Bring Nutrition Home Backpack Program, feeding 250 kids on Pine Ridge Reservation every weekend throughout the school year. He also grew Conscious Alliance’s donations from $747,000 to $1.5 million in just four years.

Peter Melby, 35

President, Greystone Technology

Melby co-founded Greystone at age 20. In the 14 years since, Greystone has averaged 40 percent growth per year and now has 70 employees. Melby makes sure his sales team is also accountable for delivering results, and that model has been game-changing for the IT industry and clients such as the city of Centennial, Breckenridge Brewery, UCHealth, Colorado State University, Mad Greens and Union Station.

Genna Moe, 29

Executive Director, The Art Base

Moe is reinventing and redesigning the Art Base as a creative institution that serves the entire Roaring Fork Valley, bringing art into classrooms and using the work to promote local jobs, tourism and community. Since Moe took her role, programs that were being canceled are now selling out, there are a plethora of new collaborations, and exhibition attendance has doubled.

Jeremy Nicholas, 34

President, First Western Trust DTC

With a 7 ½-year commitment, Nicholas worked his way from a private banker to the president of one of First Western’s most successful offices. As a member of the First Western Way Committee to improve associate engagement, Nicholas successfully grew relationships while supporting his colleagues. As the youngest associate ever to serve as a president at the company, Nicholas manages a team of bankers, lenders, portfolio managers and wealth planners, while also developing business for the office.

Jeremy Ostermiller, 37

CEO and founder, Altitude Digital

Jeremy Ostermiller has never hesitated to get in the game.

“From a young age, playing competitive sports instilled me with a drive to win,” he says. “Then and now, it’s important to be part of a team that helps you push the envelope to innovate and perform.”

Ostermiller started his first business at age 15 with help from his mom — a mail-order rollerblade company. Later, after being denied admission to Colorado State University’s business school due to one pesky calculus grade, he decided to complete his degree in communications. He worked in journalism and event marketing, and finally found himself living with his folks with $500 to his name.

Ostermiller saw a great opportunity within digital advertising, and Altitude Digital was born in 2009. After six years, strategic hires and partnerships, 100,000 hours of ad operations, 100,000 hours of engineering and nearly $15 million invested in the technology, the company recently launched Altitude ARENA® Video Programmatic Platform, a game-changer for the digital advertising marketplace.

Today, the company is one of the world’s largest independent video programmatic platforms for publishers. Ostermiller and his board rejected a $150 million offer last year and opted to continue growing the company after seeing valuations of industry platforms like LiveRail, which sold to Facebook for a reported $500 million. Altitude Digital’s revenue is expected to hit $90 million this year.

Ostermiller says he continues to grow himself as he grows his business.

“As a CEO and founder, learning to be a chameleon and being well-versed in most areas of the business has been the greatest lesson thus far,” he says. “In any given day, I’m learning something new about sales, technology, finance, marketing. It’s vital to any growing business to surround yourself with dynamic and talented people. Biggest takeaway: Don’t be afraid to be an active team player and not just the coach.”

Jeremiah Owen, 38

President & CEO, Vivax Pros

In 2004, Owen started Vivax to raise the bar for customer service in the home-improvement industry. The organization’s core values include integrity, hard work, friendship, accountability, respect, perfection, enthusiasm, growth, service and community. “He created a family company of like-minded badasses who work hard and happily every single day,” says Marni Caicedo, Vivax’s head of recruitment.