GenXYZ 2022: Alejandra Harvey

This year’s Top 25 Young Professionals vary in their backgrounds and their professional pursuits – they’re leaders in banking, real estate, nonprofits, law, entrepreneurship and architecture, to name just a few. 

Some are lifelong Coloradans who couldn’t conceive of living anywhere else; others are transplants from the East and West coasts or somewhere between. What they have in common is a relentless achiever’s mindset, a can-do spirit and a desire to do good for others as they do well for themselves. 

The winners were chosen from among hundreds of entries by a panel of judges made up of ColoradoBiz magazine’s editorial board and representatives of the business community, including a past Gen XYZ winner. 

Nominees for this 12th annual awards program were judged on professional achievement, community involvement and challenges surmounted, with judges giving weight to each criterion at their own discretion. The panel then convened, and judges each made their cases for their 25 selections. Votes were tallied. Out of that discussion, a “Top 5” of particularly impressive nominees were selected. 

For the judges, assessing the nominations and learning about the career and life pursuits of all the entrants was cause for optimism, as this group of Gen XYZ honorees continues to make its mark.       

Read on to learn more about Alejandra Harvey, CEO of Tendit Group. 

Alejandra Harvey, 36 

CEO, Tendit Group | Denver 

Alejandra Harvey was just 29 when she pivoted from a stellar career in hospital administration to launch American Striping Company with two employees and two refurbished paint trucks. Under Harvey’s leadership, the company saw exponential growth and, within five years, was sold to Tendit Group, a collective of six companies that provides comprehensive paving solutions and external facilities services, for which Alejandra now serves as CEO. 

Harvey knew at a young age she wanted to work with people to bring about change. Starting her career as a patient transporter, she created a system for hospital staff to better communicate with the nurses via walkie-talkies. After receiving her degree in pre-med from Virginia Tech and master’s degree from the Medical College of Virginia, she moved on to hospital operations in Denver, where at the age of 26 she was responsible for overseeing the staffing of 2,000 employees and a $234 million budget.  

Harvey partnered with the Progressive Health Center to add programs that included resilience training, massage, health coaching and acupuncture, free to all employees. With burnout and turnover rampant, the Progressive Health Center was a crucial step to help combat these issues and regain employees’ trust, health and safety. Since the first center was built, six more centers have been implemented across major hospitals in the Denver metro area, helping reduce turnover by 10%.  

Harvey’s leadership and vision are just as evident in her entrepreneurial ventures and civic involvement. She was recently appointed to the board for the Kenneth King Foundation, a private grant-making organization with a mission to create opportunities for Coloradans to achieve self-sufficiency through access to entrepreneurship, meaningful employment, basic needs and an improved quality of life. This is a lifetime appointment, and Harvey is the first Latina female under 40 to be asked to join.