Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Tag: genxyz

GenXYZ Nominees Thrive: Brook Eddy (2013) — Where is She Now?

Everyone was right when they predicted bright futures for these executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ten-plus years after ColoradoBiz profiled these Top Young Professionals of Colorado, we revisited several to see where their career paths led them and what they are doing now.

Some are with the same companies; others have moved on to different businesses and new roles.

For some, change was inevitable as their companies were acquired or merged with other entities. For still others, the desire to start something new was irresistible. All are continuing to meet and exceed their own career goals and engage with their communities.

The Gen XYZ Awards are open to those who are under 40 and live and work in Colorado.

Brook Eddy

2013: 39, CEO and Founder, Bhakti Chai

2024: CEO and Founder, Bhakti Chai

One thing that Brook Eddy loves as much as she loves chai is writing. The CEO and founder of Boulder-based Bhakti Chai challenged herself to write a book about her life and her company. She accomplished her goal with months to spare.

“I wanted to publish it before I turned 50,” Eddy says. “It was published in August [2023] and in December I turned 50.” The book, “STEEPED: Adventures Of A Tea Entrepreneur,” is a memoir and travelogue. Eddy describes how she started Bhakti Chai out of her home in the foothills near Boulder, and how she was inspired by her travels to India 20 years ago.

“Every other chapter takes place in India,” Eddy says. “It’s where I learned the definition of bhakti, which is devotion.”

Eddy still travels to India often, including a planned trip to the Jaipur Literature Festival in February to promote her book. “It’s not a ‘10 ways to start a company,’” she says. “But there are some nuggets about building a natural food brand.”

In 2006 Eddy started brewing and selling chai to Boulder area cafes. At that time the establishments were not selling organic and spicy chai, and Bhakti Chai found success in getting the cafes to sell the product for a higher price point than other teas. The company grew, and over the next 15 years launched new products ranging from bottled iced chai to chai ice cream.

For a few years the natural food and beverage industry exploded, Eddy says, because investors were pouring money into businesses. Brands focused on growth over profitability. “A lot of these companies, including us, wanted to have more innovation, better top numbers and grow faster,” she says. “That all costs money.”

New product launches such as sparkling tea were challenging for the small business, as Bhakti Chai didn’t have the resources of large brands to launch and market new items.

“In my book I write a lot about that,” Eddy says. “Retailers only give you a six-month window, and it’s hard to build a following when you have something new and you have to educate consumers.”

A few years ago Eddy stepped away from her company and took a sabbatical. She hired a CEO to take over and traveled for two years.

After visiting Morocco, Bali, Brazil, Bolivia and, of course, India again, she came back to run the company. Then COVID happened, and the business had to streamline and cut costs.

The company transformed from having an in-house tea brewery with 30 employees and tasting events all over the country to four employees and two products, Chai Concentrate Original and Chai Concentrate Unsweetened. These are the two original products that Eddy made in her kitchen years ago. Both have fresh ginger and spices. “It’s still fiery,” she says. “I drink it every day.”

The moves were successful, and today the company is profitable. “We have much better margins,” she says. “It’s been strictly business in the sense of cut costs and be profitable and still make organic fair-trade chai.”

 

Nora Caley is a freelance writer specializing in business and food topics.

GenXYZ Nominees Thrive: Jennifer Chang (2010) — Where is She Now?

Everyone was right when they predicted bright futures for these executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ten-plus years after ColoradoBiz profiled these Top Young Professionals of Colorado, we revisited several to see where their career paths led them and what they are doing now.

Some are with the same companies; others have moved on to different businesses and new roles.

For some, change was inevitable as their companies were acquired or merged with other entities. For still others, the desire to start something new was irresistible. All are continuing to meet and exceed their own career goals and engage with their communities.

The Gen XYZ Awards are open to those who are under 40 and live and work in Colorado.

Jennifer Chang

2010: 29, Federal Account Executive, Global Technology Resources Inc.

2024: Regional Sales Director, U.S. Federal, Cisco Appdynamics

Most people use social media to post fun photos or comment on other people’s posts. When Jennifer Chang was preparing to move from Cisco to another employer a few years ago, she turned to LinkedIn to post a long letter thanking leadership and her team for shaping her into the professional that she had become.

“A coworker made fun of me and said it was ‘War and Peace,’” Chang says. But when she returned to Cisco two years later, her coworkers were thrilled about her return, which she says felt like coming home. “I truly love the people at Cisco. It’s one of the things that makes it so special.”

Chang joined Cisco in 2011, after leaving Global Technology Resources Inc. (GTRI), where she had marketed technology consulting to defense program managers.

At Cisco she started as an individual contributor and was promoted to a leadership role. After a little more than 10 years, she decided she wanted to expand her skill set. An opportunity became available at the web conferencing giant Zoom for Chang to head U.S. state and local government sales. Zoom was founded by a former Cisco employee, and perhaps ironically, has a beautiful office with great snacks and a cool office culture.

Zoom is also a cloud-native company, another feature that was attractive to Chang.

“It was exciting,” she says. “You want to be able to work for a company like that. I felt super grateful for it.”

Later Chang moved to VMware, a company that offers cloud services. Then Broadcom announced its intention to acquire VMware. She sought guidance from one of her mentors, who told her not to let uncertainty of the acquisition dictate her approach to leading her team. “I loved hearing that from him,” she says. “Folks needed reassurance. There was some attrition, but we were able fill those gaps.”

Chang ended up leaving VMware just before the Broadcom acquisition was finalized and re- turned to Cisco. Luckily she had kept the swag she had accumulated over the years, including the Cisco Denver sign that she displays in the background when she participates in Webex by Cisco video conference calls. Also, she has a (faux) furry barbarian helmet that served as the trophy for the Cisco Barbarians Award, a complex competition that involves a system of narratives about teams within the company and employees voting for winners in six worldwide regions.

The win was 2½ years in the making.

“We had to reset expectations, regain trust and talk about solutions rather than products,” Chang explains. “Customers get turned off when you say, ‘I want to sell you this widget.’ Instead, we say, ‘What are your pain points, what are you trying to solve?””

Chang is now the regional sales director for U.S. Federal at Cisco AppDynamics, where she handles government accounts.

In 2014 Chang graduated from Leadership Denver, a program of the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation. The program brings together civic-minded leaders from for-profit, nonprofit, and government entities to come up with solutions for issues facing communities.

Also, Chang served for three years on the executive committee of Minds Matter of Denver, which helps high school students from low-income families get support outside the classroom and build skill sets so they can attend college.

“They start as sophomores and we continue to mentor them in senior year,” she says, “One hundred percent get into college with scholarships. It’s an amazing program.”

In 2020 Chang was named among the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Denver by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She is also on the board for Visit Denver, the nonprofit trade association responsible for marketing metro Denver as a convention and leisure destination.

 

Nora Caley is a freelance writer specializing in business and food topics.

GenXYZ Nominees Thrive: Kishen Mangat (2013) — Where is He Now?

Everyone was right when they predicted bright futures for these executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ten-plus years after ColoradoBiz profiled these Top Young Professionals of Colorado, we revisited several to see where their career paths led them and what they are doing now.

Some are with the same companies; others have moved on to different businesses and new roles.

For some, change was inevitable as their companies were acquired or merged with other entities. For still others, the desire to start something new was irresistible. All are continuing to meet and exceed their own career goals and engage with their communities.

The Gen XYZ Awards are open to those who are under 40 and live and work in Colorado.

Kishen Mangat

2013: 39, Director of Product Management, Cisco Systems

2024: General Partner, Boulder Ventures

Until two years ago, Kishen Mangat was always a founder or an executive. Now he helps other companies grow their businesses. He says he does not miss being an entrepreneur.

“It’s a young person’s job,” Mangat says. “Your incentives change after you’ve done it.”

Mangat is a general partner at Boulder Ventures, which provides venture capital for IT and biotech companies in Colorado and the mid-Atlantic. Instead of enduring the grind that is the life of the business owner, he gets to select companies to invest in. “I still get a lot of the benefits of being in the entrepreneur and innovation arena,” he says. “But the employees don’t answer to me. They answer to their CEO.”

In 2003 Mangat founded BroadHop, which provided next-generation policy control and service management for carrier networks worldwide. Cisco acquired BroadHop in 2013, and Mangat remained as a vice president and general manager until 2022. “I had a lot to learn about operating at scale,”he says. “All my experience was operational, and being able to steer a much bigger ship was compelling. It significantly added to my experience and the people there were amazing.”

When BroadHop was acquired, Mangat says, it was a $10 million product line. By the time he exited nine years to the day of the Cisco acquisition, BroadHop was a $150 million product line. “The overall business responsibility I had was approaching one billion because of all the product lines,” he says. “I never expected I would have such a rich experience there.”

Before BroadHop, Mangat founded Amigo Systems, which was sold to POST, and he was co-founder of STS Hotel Net, which was sold to CAIS Internet, a KKR Company. “My motivation was always to achieve some level of success that would result in a high degree of freedom in how I spend my time,” he says. “I am a climbing and skiing bum, and I wanted that flexibility.”

At Boulder Ventures, Mangat leads the firm’s enterprise 5G investment strategy. His experience helps him discern which entrepreneurs are truly passionate about their businesses.

“You can just tell when it keeps them awake at night trying to figure out how to get ahead on what they’re doing,” he says. “Little things they say or do kind of register.”

Passion is not enough to make a business succeed, as the business owners also must have skill, ability and intellect. Boulder Ventures invests in Series A technology and life-science companies that have $1 million to $5 million in revenue and are working on scaling up. “The funding amount could be $2 million to $7 million,” Mangat says. “It’s not two guys in their garage with a dog.”

As part of the process, Boulder Ventures partners take the business owners hiking, snowcat skiing or rock climbing, if they are so inclined. Usually the prospects want to participate in these activities, as the personalities of tech company founders often match the traits of outdoor enthusiasts. “I think it’s risk taking and freedom and a characteristic of individualism and wanting to express yourself in a way that’s authentic,” Mangat says.

He explains that there is also a similarity in the trust issue.

When Boulder Ventures invests in companies, it typically aims to exit those companies within 10 years. “So for investors entrusting their capital, the capital is tied up for 10 years,” Mangat says. “It is a trust-based endeavor, and there lies another climbing motif, that someone is holding the rope.”

READ: Exit Planning — Study Shows Most Colorado Business Owners Are Not Ready to Sell Their Businesses

The climbing theme continues in Mangat’s community work. He is on the board of directors for Access Fund, a national advocacy organization that works for sustainable access and conservation of the climbing environment. “We work with land managers to make sure the crags are taken care of and accessible,” he says.

 

Nora Caley is a freelance writer specializing in business and food topics.

GenXYZ Nominees Thrive: Brandy Bertram (2013) — Where is She Now?

Everyone was right when they predicted bright futures for these executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ten-plus years after ColoradoBiz profiled these Top Young Professionals of Colorado, we revisited several to see where their career paths led them and what they are doing now.

Some are with the same companies; others have moved on to different businesses and new roles.

For some, change was inevitable as their companies were acquired or merged with other entities. For still others, the desire to start something new was irresistible. All are continuing to meet and exceed their own career goals and engage with their communities.

The Gen XYZ Awards are open to those who are under 40 and live and work in Colorado.

Brandy Bertram

2013: 36, Executive Director, YouthBiz

2024: Principal, Great Big Good

People generally want to do good, but Brandy Bertram has made it the focus of her career.

Whether she’s helping youth develop entrepreneurial skills or helping nonprofits fundraise, Bertram is driven by her curiosity and by her desire to create, foster and facilitate good. Her firm, Great Big Good, works with mission-driven leaders to help them engage and grow the resources they need.

Bertram launched Great Big Good after she left YouthBiz, where she had been executive director. YouthBiz helps young people learn entrepreneurial skills so they can advance their social and economic prosperity.

She began working at the nonprofit in 2012. “YouthBiz was in many ways the realization of all my career dreams to that point,” she says. “It was the ultimate platform to build and scale entrepreneurship programming for young people, especially kids that were systematically underestimated and undervalued.”

She left YouthBiz in 2014 and began what she calls “pretty intense reflection” to find what mission-driven work she could do next. She reached out to her network, and those relationships led her to Colorado Open Lands, a statewide land conservation organization, where she became director of philanthropy.

“I got to develop new skills and expertise, especially in fundraising, and invested heavily in my own leadership development,” Bertram says. “I created new skills and relationships that continue to shape my work today.”

As if a career as a social impact leader is not enough, she also volunteers with the Colorado Planned Giving Roundtable, which she joined in 2014 in support of her work at Colorado Open Lands.

Today, she is the chair of the board of directors and last year was awarded volunteer of the year. The award was based on her work presenting educational sessions, chairing the programming committee and updating the CPGR’s Non-Discrimination Policy, an important element in the group’s, and Bertram’s, commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

Great Big Good is Bertram’s second consulting business. Prior to joining YouthBiz, she had a consulting practice called Meaningful Monday, which specialized in entrepreneurship and financial education curriculum development and training.

“I still do that work from time to time,” she says. “One of my favorite moments of 2023 was two weeks in Northern Uganda working with facilitators on livelihoods development training and coaching for refugee women.”

Today her work as principal with Great Big Good is guided by her curiosity and her core value of contribution. The firm’s clientele includes four conservation organizations, and Bertram helps them improve their fundraising strategy, planning, staffing and execution.

Another client, Change Please, trains and employs people experiencing homelessness as baristas. The organization sells coffee online and in cafés around the world, and directs profits from its coffee sales to wages, training, housing, therapy and other services.

Bertram dedicates much of her time to the expansion of this social enterprise-driven solution to homelessness. “We’re launching a full-scale training academy, café and retail presence here in the Denver metro area thanks to this community’s belief in the power of people, their love of socially minded businesses and their desire to make a positive impact at every opportunity,” she says.

The café, scheduled to open this winter, will be located in the Fitzsimons redevelopment in Aurora.

In many ways, she says, the opening is a full-circle moment. “I’m returning to the world of building better futures through the social entrepreneurship, much like YouthBiz.”

 

Nora Caley is a freelance writer specializing in business and food topics.

GenXYZ Nominees Thrive: Rob Carpenter (2013) — Where is He Now?

Everyone was right when they predicted bright futures for these executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ten-plus years after ColoradoBiz profiled these Top Young Professionals of Colorado, we revisited several to see where their career paths led them and what they are doing now.

Some are with the same companies; others have moved on to different businesses and new roles.

For some, change was inevitable as their companies were acquired or merged with other entities. For still others, the desire to start something new was irresistible. All are continuing to meet and exceed their own career goals and engage with their communities.

The Gen XYZ Awards are open to those who are under 40 and live and work in Colorado.

Rob Carpenter

2013: 28,CEO and Co-Founder, Appit Ventures

2024: General Partner, Frost River Capital

A serial entrepreneur, Rob Carpenter thinks his passion for starting and growing companies might have been predestined.

“I grew up with my dad building cars, boats, airplanes,” Carpenter says. “It’s something genetic in our last name.”

Instead of building modes of transportation, Carpenter has built technology companies. In 2012, he co-founded AppIt, which helps develop apps for small businesses. During the seven-plus years he was with the Denver-based software development company, he developed more than 330 software applications, including iPhone apps.

Carpenter sold AppIt Ventures in 2019. He launched another company, Valyant AI, which automates fast food orders in the drive-through, using conversational AI.

He was inspired by his concern that AI, the way it was being leveraged by large corporations, would result in lost jobs and bigger wealth inequity.

“I decided to do something by starting a company and try to be part of the wave versus being left behind,” he says.

What he found, he says, is AI has the ability to do some things, but not replace all workers.

“I think it’s really overhyped and overblown as far as true capabilities,” he says. “They refer to it as solving the blank page problem. You are trying to write and you could be looking at a blank page, and ChatGPT can start you out, but it really takes a human to give it true value and make it interesting.”

READ: AI Content and Human-Generated Copy — A Winning Combination for Social Media Marketing

Carpenter eventually transitioned out of Valyant AI, stepping down as CEO in 2023. He almost thought about getting a job, but as a longtime entrepreneur, he appreciated the level of freedom that owning a company gave him.

Still, he wanted something different from the constant slog of starting a company. He had become interested in search funds, and the concept of entrepreneurship through acquisition, or ETA. When he ran Valyant AI, he had raised $18 million in venture capital and private equity, so he recognized the importance of funding.

“What I had done with Applt and Valyant was start something from scratch, taking something that was purely an idea in my head,” Carpenter says. “With an ETA you are buying an existing business that has a market fit, customers, good insight into growth. You are solving a different problem set.”

Earlier this year he launched his current company, Frost River Capital, which is focused on acquiring one company with $200,000 to $500,000 in EBITDA. After less than three weeks, Carpenter wrote his first offer on a company that he wanted to invest in.

“I’m pretty happy with that pace,” he says. “I am looking at all different kinds of businesses across the spectrum. It won’t be as cutting-edge as Valyant but that’s OK because I’ll be able to be home evenings.”

Frost River Capital has specific acquisition criteria. While it’s hard to say no to people who are working hard and trying to do their best for the new businesses, he says it’s important not to be a people pleaser. “You have a responsibility to investors, to employees, and to the community, so if you are not running the business efficiently, you let everybody down,” he says.

He adds that the No. 1 predictor of success is if the entrepreneur had previously started a business where they earned $1 million in revenue or sold the company for $1 million.

As an investor, Carpenter thinks it is crucial to do as much research as possible. “It takes a lot of reading to educate yourself on individuals, markets and trends,” he says. “At some point when you consume enough information, you see where trends and opportunities meet up.”

 

Nora Caley is a freelance writer specializing in business and food topics.

GenXYZ Nominees Thrive: Amanda Adams (2012) — Where is She Now?

Everyone was right when they predicted bright futures for these executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ten-plus years after ColoradoBiz profiled these Top Young Professionals of Colorado, we revisited several to see where their career paths led them and what they are doing now.

Some are with the same companies; others have moved on to different businesses and new roles.

For some, change was inevitable as their companies were acquired or merged with other entities. For still others, the desire to start something new was irresistible. All are continuing to meet and exceed their own career goals and engage with their communities.

The Gen XYZ Awards are open to those who are under 40 and live and work in Colorado.

Amanda Adams

2012: 29, Senior Geological Engineer, MWH Global

2024: Principal, Business Center Operations Lender, Mining, Minerals and Metals, Stantec

An expert in mining, water and tailing storage dams, Amanda Adams found she is also adept at another important skill, which is adapting to change.

In 2016 Adams was a senior geological engineer at the water and natural resources rm MWH Global when it was acquired by global design and consulting firm Stantec.

“I was very nervous,” says Adams, who had joined MWH Global in 2008. “It was a little bit of a change.”

Broom eld-based MWH Global focused on water and natural resources projects around the world. Canada-based Stantec offers engineering, architecture and project management, also around the world. At the time of the acquisition, MWH Global was employee-owned and had 7,000 employees, while the publicly traded Stantec had 15,000 employees.

Stantec has acquired dozens of companies since 2000, and now has more than 28,000 employees in 400-plus locations worldwide, according to its website.

Much of the MWH Global team remained and consolidated with a Stantec group to become one U.S. mining team. The group provides services from beginning to end, including exploration, environmental permitting, water management, waste management, operations and mine closure.

READ: Inside the Colorado Mining Industry — Impact of Broken Regulations for US

One of Adams’ areas of expertise is the intersection of mining and water, notably the storage of tailings, the waste materials left over after minerals are extracted. One of her big past projects extended more than eight years working on two tailing storage dams at the Cerro Verde Mine in Arequipa, Peru.

Along with all the other changes, Adams’ role shifted from a technical one that focuses on projects to one that focuses on her team. About two years ago she took a position as a business center operations leader. She handles operations, collaborates with human resources, communicates with finance and legal, and manages a team.

“It’s a totally different set of responsibilities than I had before,” she says. “I enjoy it. I am a pretty extroverted engineer.”

Managing a new team is exciting, Adams says, as they tackle various challenges together, from meeting budget goals to maintaining quality and safety on projects. There is currently much competition for top talent, and the company has been successful at keeping the team intact and evolving into a better and stronger group.

Still involved in volunteer work, Adams is a past president of the Denver chapter of Women in Mining. That organization has changed too, Adams says, shifting its focus from public outreach to school-age children, such as at Girl Scouts Day at Dinosaur Ridge, to a focus on women’s professional development in mining careers.

“If you look at the history, for a long time it was called Women in Mining, but it was women sort of affiliated with mining,” she says. “They were not directly involved in technical roles, and now so much of our membership is women in technical roles.”

Stantec, incidentally, became a corporate member of WIM at the Ruby level — a level of giving that is higher than Emerald but lower than Silver — in 2023.

WIM hosts conferences and offers short courses on leadership and other topics. “I was lucky when I did find opportunities to get involved in things I was interested in,” Adams says. “MWH Global and Stantec were always supportive of me in professional societies, and my work in professional societies helped me grow my network.”

Adams, who graduated from Colorado School of Mines with a bachelor of science degree in geological engineering, advises junior members of her Stantec team to do what she calls the extracurriculars.

“You need to be talking to potential clients or someone who could potentially be on your team,” she says. “If I only spoke with Stantec people I wouldn’t be where I am today. I had to build my connections, build my brand. It takes time, like another part-time job.”

 

Nora Caley is a freelance writer specializing in business and food topics.

GenXYZ Nominees Thrive: Karl Falk (2008) — Where is He Now?

Everyone was right when they predicted bright futures for these executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ten-plus years after ColoradoBiz profiled these Top Young Professionals of Colorado, we revisited several to see where their career paths led them and what they are doing now.

Some are with the same companies; others have moved on to different businesses and new roles.

For some, change was inevitable as their companies were acquired or merged with other entities. For still others, the desire to start something new was irresistible. All are continuing to meet and exceed their own career goals and engage with their communities.

The Gen XYZ Awards are open to those who are under 40 and live and work in Colorado.

Karl Falk

2012: 37, President and CEO, Summit Mitigation Services

2024: Founder and CEO, Botdoc

When Karl Falk was helping negotiate real estate short sales with his company, Summit Mitigation Services (SMS), he kept facing delays. So he did what anyone would do: He started another company.

“I am a process guy, and it was frustrating,” says Falk, who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and served as an officer for six years. “It took forever, but it wasn’t because of us. We were very on top of compiling information and getting it to lenders.”

Launched in 2010, SMS worked with underwater borrowers, title companies and lenders to negotiate short sales, which occur when the lender agrees to let the borrower sell the home for less than the amount they owe on the mortgage. The short sale is a way to avoid foreclosure.

READ: Debt-Free Real Estate Investing — Is it Possible, and Should You Strive for It?

One challenge was that borrowers often neglected to submit documentation. They perceived no benefit in communicating with the lender and did not want to log in to the loan servicer’s website and figure out the whole two-step verification process.

“Our clients said, ‘We need to collect documents from the consumer, but they won’t talk to us because we’re suing them,’” Falk says. “They work off free Wi-Fi at McDonald’s on their phones.”

The other challenge was that once the consumer sent in the documentation, it went into what Falk says was a black hole. It would take six to eight months to process the information, and during that time, the buyer of the property would lose interest and move on.

Falk attended real estate and finance conferences and spoke with representatives from banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions, and attended sessions about bank automation, data analytics and digitalization that was revolutionizing banking and other industries.

“I had that realization at a real estate conference in New York City,” Falk says. “They were saying, ‘At what point does buying a house become like buying a latte?’ and I said, ‘At what point is doing a short sale like buying a latte?’”

In 2014 Falk launched ShortSave Inc., which digitized the loan mitigation process, making it easier for the consumer to provide information. The process is designed to be simple and intuitive and asks the borrower questions so they can self-select answers and submit error-free paperwork.

The ease of the solution was the key to its success.

“Convenience is a more powerful selling point than price,” Falk says. “If you take the most challenged consumer, they want the least amount of friction, and you have to create processes and steps that are very basic and simple.”

Secure digital transport is crucial for many industries, not just loan mitigation. Falk found that there were opportunities to expand the business to other industries, and launched Botdoc.

The company offers a patented technology that allows companies to exchange confidential information on an encrypted channel. Consumers can submit documents, signatures and payments without having to download an app, log in to yet another website, come up with a new password, and other minor inconveniences.

While companies have long used online file-sharing sites, Botdoc uses bankgrade encryption standards, which are the most secure. Botdoc signed on large clients such as the financial adviser Edward Jones, as well as health-care and automotive companies.

Since short sales were on the decline and the focus was now on software, Falk closed Summit Mitigation Services. Many of the contractors for that company transitioned to ShortSave, which still exists, and to Botdoc.

Today the company has 22 workers, many of whom worked from home even before the pandemic made that mainstream. The company plans to move into office space in Monument soon.

Falk volunteers with Pathway to the Rockies Council of the Boy Scouts of America, where he is chair of the board.

 

Nora Caley is a freelance writer specializing in business and food topics.

GenXYZ 2023 — Taylor Rosty

They’re uncommon achievers, whether as entrepreneurs, CEOs, nonprofit leaders, visionaries critical to their companies’ success or, in some cases, all of those roles. This year’s Top 25 Young Professionals figure to continue making a difference professionally and in their communities for years to come.

Read on to learn about the 2023 Top 25 Young Professionals and to see the list of this year’s top 50 finalists.

READ: GenXYZ 2023 — Top 25

Taylor Rosty, 28

CEO, Lasso Digital | Denver

In three years, Taylor Rosty has transformed a small, two-person healthcare marketing agency into a 12-person communications, marketing and fundraising consultancy aimed at helping nonprofits further their missions. Rosty led the agency through a rebrand and restructuring. Under her leadership, Lasso Digital has become one of the only firms in Colorado that combines a full-service marketing agency with a full-service fundraising strategy.

Rosty has secured large contracts, including an extensive two-year contract with the Wyoming Department of Education and a statewide advertising contract with Connect for Health, Colorado’s healthcare marketplace. She has crafted a company culture that allowed the company to retain 100% of its team during the Great Resignation, motivating her team to perform while celebrating them as human beings. She has been running the company while being a first-time mom. Most of Lasso’s growth occurred while Rosty was working from home with her newborn, who made appearances on Zoom calls.

For community work, Rosty is vice president of the board of directors for Project Safeguard, a Denver nonprofit helping survivors of gender-based violence (sexual assault, stalking, domestic violence) access critical legal resources. She graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor of science in economics with a focus in marketing, and is an alumni interviewer for the University of Pennsylvania.

Motivated to serve people, Rosty serves nonprofits through her work at Lasso and leads the firm with a spirit of servant leadership and humility that allows her team to feel seen and heard.

GenXYZ 2023 — Terence Rogers

They’re uncommon achievers, whether as entrepreneurs, CEOs, nonprofit leaders, visionaries critical to their companies’ success or, in some cases, all of those roles. This year’s Top 25 Young Professionals figure to continue making a difference professionally and in their communities for years to come.

Read on to learn about the 2023 Top 25 Young Professionals and to see the list of this year’s top 50 finalists.

READ: GenXYZ 2023 — Top 25

Terence Rogers, 33

Chef/Owner, Sullivan Scrap Kitchen | Denver

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, U.S. restaurants generate an estimated 22 to 33 billion pounds of food waste each year. Chef Terence Rogers wants to change that, and his restaurant, Sullivan Scrap Kitchen, has sustainability in food, staff and community as the core of its mission. Rogers reduces food waste by finding creative ways to utilize ingredients and repurpose items before they end up in compost.

Rogers is also the chef and owner of TBD Foods, a premier farm-to-table catering company. Having both businesses operate out of the same building allows for full cross-utilization of ingredients. He focuses on local sources for all ingredients for the restaurant and catering company and works with local farms, ranches, mills, cheese purveyors, honey suppliers and more. 

He started TBD Foods in 2014 out of his apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts, hosting pop-up dinners. He moved to Denver in 2016 and continued hosting pop-up dinners and catering small events. In the winter of 2019 he opened Lil Scrap Kitchen as a pop-up sandwich restaurant out of his commissary one day a week to sell items that were “waste” from catering events. From there Sullivan Scrap Kitchen opened during the pandemic in July 2020. 

In the summer of 2022, Rogers changed the concept of Sullivan Scrap Kitchen from sandwiches and burgers to a plant-focused, small-plates menu that changes throughout the year. Sullivan Scrap Kitchen offers discounts to the teachers and administrators at the school next door, Denver Center for 21st Century Learning.

GenXYZ 2023 — Kellan Moore

They’re uncommon achievers, whether as entrepreneurs, CEOs, nonprofit leaders, visionaries critical to their companies’ success or, in some cases, all of those roles. This year’s Top 25 Young Professionals figure to continue making a difference professionally and in their communities for years to come.

Read on to learn about the 2023 Top 25 Young Professionals and to see the list of this year’s top 50 finalists.

READ: GenXYZ 2023 — Top 25

Kellan Moore, 36

President/Owner, Lind’s Plumbing and Heating | Fort Collins

Since taking over Lind’s Plumbing and Heating after the death of its owner in 2018, Kellan Moore has grown revenues by more than $5 million per year. In fact, 2022 was Lind’s best year with more than $30 million in revenue. Moore continues to be inventive in expanding the contractors the company does business with, and he has found ways to keep costs low to grow profits while growing the business as well. Lind’s, founded in 1984, is a full-service plumbing and heating contractor and does residential and commercial projects. 

During the pandemic, Moore expanded the company both in revenues and personnel. A graduate of Colorado State University with a bachelor’s degree in construction management, Moore takes pride and ownership of not only the company’s performance but also of its employees. He strives for financial success and growth. He continues to promote internal growth of employees with company-provided training and testing.

Moore is active in many children’s outreach charities, such as Child Safe, Hearts and Hands, United Way and Colorado Youth Outdoors, giving more than $200,000 since he started at Lind’s. For the past four years, he has organized a donation drive with Lind’s employees, vendors and partners for the Kissmas Wishes program. In 2021, Lind’s packed more than 10 company vehicles full of donated items for this cause. His passion to help underprivileged children in Northern Colorado has driven these activities.