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The outpouring of applications for this year’s Top Company awards is a testament to the resilience and adaptability of enterprises that do business in the state. Applications for the 35th annual awards numbered in the hundreds, and it was particularly encouraging to see so many companies rebounding from two years of COVID restrictions, with most posting revenue and employee gains approaching—and in some cases, exceeding—pre-pandemic numbers.
This year’s Top Company winners and finalists represent 13 industry categories, plus a startup category for companies in business less than four years. Entrants were judged on three criteria: outstanding achievement, financial performance and community involvement. The judging panel was made up of ColoradoBiz magazine’s editorial board and two representatives from the business community.
Winner — Bray & Company
Grand Junction
Through four generations and 75-plus years, Bray and Company has serviced the real estate needs of buyers, sellers, investors, landlords, tenants and homebuilders in Western Colorado. The company’s core values of Family, Community and Integrity have been the focus since founders Sherman and Roxie Bray started the business in 1946.
The firm thrived through four local boom/bust cycles – uranium in the 50s, coal in the 60s, oil shale in the 80s, and gas in the 2000s. During the COVID-19 crisis Bray and Company launched the Caring For Our Home Community fund to enable full service dine-in restaurants to provide healthy meals and serve the needs of the community through local nonprofits. In 2020 the company raised and delivered over $60,000 to local restaurants that were hit hard by the pandemic, and in turn they were able to serve over 8,500 meals to those in need.
Bray and Company created a Real Estate program at Colorado Mesa University, offering three different courses modeled after the DU Real Estate Program and taught by agents and staff. Employees also do volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and with Kids Aid, an organization providing food to children in Grand Junction.
New employees go through a “Culture Orientation,” where leadership shares the firm’s history and beliefs. Every quarter the company has a meeting to review the core values and recognize a few staffers who exemplify these values through their actions. Annually the firm recognizes three to five individuals with the Bray Way award.
Finalist — Cresa
Washington, D.C.
Cresa is a global commercial real estate advisory firm that exclusively represents occupiers and specializes in the delivery of fully integrated real estate solutions. Services include transaction management, workplace solutions, project management, consulting, lease administration, technology, investment banking, capital markets and portfolio solutions. In partnership with London-based Knight Frank, Cresa provides service through 16,000 people, across 380 offices in 51 territories.
By concentrating single-mindedly on tenant issues in the commercial real estate industry, Cresa gains both the perspective and the experience to level the playing field in landlord-tenant relations. The integrated services cover every stage of the real estate life cycle, from planning to transaction to implementation. These services drive the tactical execution behind the firm’s strategic thinking, and lead directly to solutions that reduce costs, improve operations, and enhance the performance of clients’ workforces.
In the Denver community, Cresa leadership serves on boards of nonprofits including Kempe Foundation, Denver Children’s Home, Brain Injury Alliance, and others. Cresa’s own 501c3 organization, Cresa Cares, impacts communities across the globe through volunteer initiatives and financial donations. The firm is guided by the principle “Do the Right Thing,” for clients and for employees. To establish the culture within the Denver office, management has an open-door policy, so if employees have an idea, problem or solution, they will always find a listening ear. There are also regularly scheduled happy hours on and off-site, quarterly team-building activities such as go-kart racing, summer barbecues, annual ski trips, and sporting events.
Finalist — Coldwell Banker Realty
Denver
Coldwell Banker Realty in Colorado operates 14 offices with more than 1,200 affiliated agents serving the communities along the Front Range. The Coldwell Banker network has a legacy of success that spans over a century and across the globe.
Coldwell Banker offers several technological innovations to help homeowners list and sell their homes. They get an instant estimate on their home with CB Estimate and compare cost of living city by city with Move Meter. The Seller’s Assurance Program includes access to the services RealSure and RealVitalize. RealSure provides homeowners with the certainty that their home will sell, the opportunity to sell it for the best price, and features to help ensure the purchase of their next home. RealVitalize with Angi (formerly HomeAdvisor) provides home sellers with home improvement resources to prep their home for sale.
Coldwell Banker Realty in Colorado developed an Agent Value Package to ensure agents have the proper tools and resources to best service clients. One program, Listing Concierge, helps agents reach buyers quickly and virtually, with a property video tour, dedicated property website, online advertising, customized email distribution, social media posts and more.
The company holds Soles4Souls shoe drives, collecting about 16,000 shoes annually for those in need in Haiti and Honduras, and sponsors the Coldwell Banker Denver Century Ride, which raises around $20,000 annually for local bike advocacy groups. The company celebrates its “Culture of Awesomeness” at client appreciation events at Colorado Rockies games and other events.