by Mark Smiley | Jun 25, 2015 | General Featured
by Mark Smiley
The Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation (originally founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Foundation) came to Denver in the form of CGI America conference at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel from June 8-10 and the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle was in attendance. It was the second consecutive CGI America event in Denver with the annual conference moving to Atlanta next June.
This year’s conference in Denver attracted wide national media attention as the Clinton Foundation has come under attack because of a book titled Clinton Cash by conservative author Peter Schweizer whose criticisms have been expanded upon by various liberal media outlets including The New York Times and The Washington Post. The critical press attention clearly had an effect as attendance was reduced from 1,500 attendees in 2014 to 1,000 this year and the number of financial sponsors reduced from 35 to 13. While President Clinton and Chelsea attended this year, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chose to remain in Washington and work on her presidential campaign.
Enthusiastic Attendees
But the negative media attention concerning the Clinton Foundation did not appear to dim the enthusiasm of those attending this year’s CGI America conference. Very few people from the Cherry Creek Valley were fortunate enough to attend the event as it was restricted to Clinton Foundation members only as well as invited speakers and the press. Membership in the Clinton Foundation is similar to an exclusive country club and by “invitation only,” costing $20,000 annually ($19,000 of which is tax deductible according to the Foundation).
Membership in the Clinton Foundation entitles your organization to one person attending the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) held in New York City every fall. Not just anyone from your organization can attend; you must be a “CEO, chairman or executive director” to be permitted to attend the event in New York. CGI America is one of at least four offshoots of CGI including: CGI Latin America, CGI Middle East and Africa, and CGI University. The CEO restriction was apparently significantly relaxed for the Denver event.
One might ask what an attendee can gain from attending. Gwendolyn Rodriguez of the startup company Venture In Network (VIN), which sets out to increase the success rates of startups, specifically those led by women and minority entrepreneurs, commented: “I would love to leave with part of a team and of course funding is important. I would love to get commitments from people who are passionate about strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Denver’s Scaled Down Occasion
CGI Middle East and Africa held their event in May at a five star resort, the Palmeraie Palace in Marrakesh, Morocco, which includes a championship 18 hole golf course. The event became controversial when it was learned that government controlled phosphate mining company OPC paid the Clinton Foundation $ 1,000,000 to sponsor the event. OPC has been accused of human rights violations by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice among others.
The CGI America event held in Denver was a much more down home event than that held in Morocco. The big, sponsored event in Denver was simply an “evening of science and STEM trivia” coupled with “beer education” sponsored by CA Technologies.
Prince Of Darkness Holds Court
Denver had to pay approximately $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation to hold the event, which was raised by Steve Farber, a principal in the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP. Farber has been called Denver’s “Prince of Darkness” for his behind the scenes manipulations of Denver government. He is considered second only to Oakwood Homes founder Pat Hamill for his control over Denver Mayor Michael Hancock. His firm represented Mayor Hancock in 2011 concerning charges he was a patron of houses of prostitution in Denver, including Denver Players/Denver Sugar. Both Farber and Hamill are important directors of Colorado Concern, an organization of wealthy corporate CEOs who seek to directly influence Colorado politics.
Farber was very much in evidence at the event. His table was front and center and he would stand up to receive visitors dressed to the T in what one attendee called his “Mafia don pinstriped suit.”
Well Run Event
If one thing was abundantly clear it was that the Clinton Foundation knows how to hold a conference with details both large and small attended to with incredible professionalism. If you were not previously aware that the event was being held at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel you would think that the hotel was called the “CGI America.” The signage overlays for the event seemed almost permanent and were ubiquitous.
If you ever looked confused about where you were supposed to go, a friendly volunteer would approach and point you in the right direction. Volunteers were dressed in what one volunteer humorously called their “Jet Blue Flight Attendant uniforms.” They seamlessly directed attendees to empty chairs at the crowded luncheons. The media room was sumptuously laid out for the always ravenous press.
Television Interviews
One of the highlights of the conference were the television interviews of former President Bill Clinton by CNN and Bloomberg News on the last day of the event. The CNN interview was for the kickoff of Jake Tapper taking over from Candy Crowley on CNN’s Sunday “State of the Union” show. The print media were escorted to the interview room and given a handout declaring that there was a “news embargo” on the interview and that no one could report on what was said until after airing of interview on Sunday. That proscription was roundly ignored by various members of the press.
The problem for the press was that the interview by Tapper was bland and verging on embarrassing for Tapper. There were no tough questions and no interesting information was obtained in the 20 minute interview. Prior to the taping Tapper gushed over the former President telling him how great he looked and informing him that he didn’t look a day older since he last met him over five years ago. One member of the print media whispered — “Is he planning to ask him out to a prom?”
Immediately after the CNN interview former President Clinton went next door for a live television interview with Betty Liu who was clearly somewhat in awe, but at least was more professional and obtained some interesting information, including that Clinton would probably not do paid speeches for the time his wife was President. “No, I don’t think so…because once you get to be president, then you are just making the daily story,” said Clinton. “I will still give speeches, if I’m asked to do so,” without accepting honoraria for them.”
Clinton went on to say that he believed the Republicans would choose for their candidate whomever they thought was most electable as they always seemed to do. While Ms. Liu would not get an Edward R. Murrow award for courage in journalism for her interview she clearly had a great deal more gumption than a somewhat timid Jake Tapper.
The Clinton Foundation made sure that both television interviews had audiences of Clinton admirers exclusively and who laughed and applauded on cue. If it is charged that the Clintons know how to manipulate the press to their advantage, it was on clear display at CGI America 2015.
Commitments To Action
The stated purpose of CGI America is to bring together leaders from the business, philanthropic, NGO and government sectors to come up with Commitments to Action which are to be “new, specific and measurable” to help the poorest and most vulnerable in America. The fact that CGI does not provide any money whatsoever for the poor and vulnerable but spends all of its money on administrative costs and holding conferences like CGI America Denver has brought CGI under extensive criticism. CGI in turn states that it is not its job to provide money or grants but obtain Commitments for Action from others that come to its conferences.
During the festivities former President Clinton or Chelsea would announce new Commitments to Action, some of which were arranged prior to the conference and some formulated at the conference. He or she would bring on stage the participants in a Commitment for Action for recognition and a photograph with the former president or his daughter. In the June 10 press release from the Clinton Global Initiative Press Office it asserted that CGI America 2015 had resulted in 79 new Commitments to Action which would cause to happen among other things:
- Nearly 210,000 jobs being created or filled
- More than 126,000 girls and women to be positively impacted
- More than $11.3 million of new capital invested or loaned to small and medium-sized enterprises
- More than 111,000 students will gain access to STEM education opportunities
- More than 1.2 million people will receive access to training programs
Former President Clinton personally added that because of the efforts at CGI America 2015, “more than 1.6 million people will be better off.” Some critics denigrated the press release and the President’s remark pointing out that CGI America’s jobs claim alone would constitute approximately 10 percent of all new jobs likely to be created in the United States this year. Other critics noted that the Clinton Foundation had basically made the Clintons extraordinarily financially wealthy while claiming to help the poor, and wondered whether at least some of the participants in the Commitments to Action were going to try, in fact, to emulate the Clinton family model.
But some participants scoffed at the criticisms. Gwendolyn Rodriguez from VIN, who was referenced earlier, found the conference particularly beneficial and was able to obtain commitments and partnerships from high profile attendees. “I learned a lot about the work going on to make our nation greater from the people who lead those efforts,” said Rodriguez. “Together we discussed the challenges and opportunities that exist and what we are going to do about it. I checked off a lot more than the list I came in with, so the conference was worth it for me and I will be excited to do it again next year.”
by Mark Smiley | May 26, 2015 | General Featured
Architect And Friends Of Crestmoor Present
Citizen-Initiated Plans, Design For 2.3 Acre Site
In politics or business, as in sports, a critical strategy for success is the concept of “protecting your home turf.” No one likes being manipulated into making choices that are bad for them or their neighbors. Friends of Crestmoor Park — fighting a developer seeking to build apartments on a 2.3 acre site at Cedar and Monaco — went on the offensive May 6 unveiling their own site plans for the property.
Architect Niccolo Casewit of Environment Productions, LLC, presented four alternate designs for the Crestmoor church site at 195 S. Monaco Parkway before a packed community meeting in Fisher Hall at the BMH-BJ Synagogue. Using designs made from Lego pieces flown in from the Billund, Denmark-based construction toy manufacturer’s headquarters, attendees were asked to pick their preference from the different site designs.
Metropolitan Homes, the developer who purchased the site zoned for single-family homes, originally planned to build at least 120 units on the site. Founder Peter Kudla’s latest proposal is for a three-story, 50-unit apartment complex on the northeast part of the church site plus 25 three-story townhomes facing South Locust St. and East Cedar Ave. The zoning he seeks, however, would not limit the number of units. Architect Casewit told the assembled residents that, “the zoning (S-MU3) must be stopped. We think 50 units is maximum for the site.”
Winning Site Design
The winning design chosen by attendees was a single-family model with backyard flats or carriage houses. That site design includes 13 single-family homes, five of which would have carriage houses or backyard flats for a home office or living space for an adult child or parent. The single-family homes with carriage houses would require a zoning change.
The second most popular choice was a site designed with five single-family homes plus a community garden and/or pocket park. A site design with all townhomes that would also require a zoning change was the third most popular. The clear loser was the architect’s large hybrid design that did not win a single first-place vote. It is somewhat similar to what Metropolitan Homes is proposing, showing an apartment complex plus townhomes on the site.
Each of the four models attendees voted on provided a diverse number of units that could fit on the site. The architect actually plotted all the units along with required fire lanes, open space, etc.
Showdown June 8
Friends of Crestmoor Park have shown a willingness to work with Metropolitan Homes and invited them to see the citizen-initiated designs on May 6. However on the same day — possibly under political pressure — the City scheduled a Planning Board hearing for Lowry’s Boulevard One development directly across the street and opposed by Crestmoor. As expected, the Planning Board voted 6 to 0 to approve the project’s proposed zoning changes. Friends of Crestmoor say the project is “inappropriate immediately adjacent to Crestmoor Park.”
Kudla, his lawyers and lobbyists were notably absent at the May 6 Crestmoor meeting. “We wonder why they chose not to come?” asked Friends of Crestmoor volunteer Katie McCrimmon. “Nonetheless, we are still planning to reach out to them to see if they’d like a briefing on the potential designs for the site,” she added. John Fischer of Crestmoor Filing 1, however, has since reported that he was told by a spokesperson for the developer that it doesn’t plan to meet with Crestmoor, “because they don’t plan to make any changes to their proposal.” To that Katie McCrimmon responded, “They keep telling people that they are compromising with the neighbors, but how can you compromise with the community if you refuse to meet with them or even attend a public meeting to which they’ve been invited?”
The final City Council Public Hearing and vote on the Crestmoor project is scheduled for June 8, 5:30 p.m. in Room 451 of the City & County Building, 1437 Bannock St. The last time a vote was scheduled (March) Metropolitan Homes went back to the City and engineered a last-minute delay of that hearing. The City Planning staff, however, did not accept the developer’s proposed waivers and conditions.
by Mark Smiley | Apr 27, 2015 | General Featured
Ben West Takes New York By Storm
He’s Composed 12 Concertos For The NY Philharmonic, Was In Annie On Broadway, Sang And Danced In Macy’s Parade
by Glen Richardson
One of the Cherry Creek Valley’s most promising young composers and musicians is taking New York by storm. Audiences at the prestigious Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center reveled in the latest imaginative composition by Ben West played during three New York Philharmonic concerts — two on March 4 and another on March 5 of this year. Instrumentation for the piece titled Rite of Passage includes two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets and two bassoons. Also two horns, two trumpets, a tuba and timpani (kettledrum) plus strings were incorporated.
West, a Colorado native who won’t turn 15 until this summer, is gaining a larger-than-life persona with his powerhouse pieces of music. As a multi-talented composer and musician he is proving to be a hit with multiple projects in New York and Denver, receiving rave reviews. Notably, in New York he has also appeared in the Camp Broadway production of Annie at the Palace Theatre plus singing and dancing with Kermit the Frog on a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Locally he has played classical guitar with the Mile High Classical Ensemble, saxophone with the Soundhouse Funk Band plus performing as Fritz in the Nutcracker at the Vail Valley Academy.
Ben West had his first chance to participate in the Very Young Composer program at Vail in 2009, wrote Playbill — the New York magazine for theatergoers — of the youngster’s rapid rise as a gifted composer in its March issue. “Six years and 12 compositions later he is passionate about composing for classical and jazz ensembles. Ben is a musician in his own right, with 10 years of classical guitar training and six years of saxophone (Alto, Tenor and Baritone) lessons.” Of the seven young people selected to participate in the 2015 Philharmonic’s Young Composers program, West was the only non-New Yorker to have a composition selected.
Home Playground
The Chronicle first interviewed West after learning he had been asked and written music for none other than world-renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma at the Bravo Music Festival in Vail (Chronicle, Feb. 2014). The youngster, the Chronicle has learned is continuing to make a serious impact as a composer and musician after being invited to an intimate house concert in the Observatory Park neighborhood last month.
The event supporting The Playground’s new music creation and youth composition program included a special performance of West’s composition titled A Light At the End of the Tunnel initially performed by a string quartet of New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera musicians at the New York Chamber Music Festival last September. The piece was performed in the neighborhood concert here by the Playground’s string quartet consisting of Sarah Whitnah and Anna Morris, violin; Don Schumacher, viola and Richard vonFoerster, cello. They are artists-in-residence at DU’s Lamont School of Music, featuring the works of Colorado-based composers. The quartet also played Bela Bartok’s 6th, the final quartet written by Bartok (1939) before fleeing to the U.S. on the eve of World War II.
Conrad Kehn — founder of the DU-based Playground Ensemble — gave a multimedia presentation titled Evolution (Looking for God) during the home concert. Ben West takes private lessons from Kehn focusing on music theory plus classical and jazz composition mechanics. Kehn also happens to be one of two teaching artists for the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program.
Classical & Jazz Man
As a guitar man, West has performed with the Mile High Classical Ensemble plus in multiple Vail and Denver festivals. In Spain he has taken Master Classes with Roland Dyers at the Music Festival in Cardoba that each July becomes “guitar city.” Dyers is known for his extraordinary capacity for improvisation; this is unique among classical guitarists. West has also taken lessons at the Colorado Suzuki Institute and the Denver Suzuki Summit where he has studied with teachers such as Joe Pecoraro, Dave Madsen, Mir Ali, Kevin Hart, Seth Himmelhoch and Andrea Cannon.
West is the proud owner of a custom built Luthier guitar, one of perhaps 50 in Colorado. His grandparents gave the instrument to him as a bar mitzvah gift. A guitar built by a master Luthier can make the instrument feel like an extension of the musician’s hands. The late Jerry Garcia, Phish’s Trey Anastasio and Eric Clapton, play on Luthier instruments that were built for them.
As a jazz saxophonist he has performed with the Colorado Conservancy of the Jazz Arts and the Soundhouse Funk Band. West is a student at Kent Denver School known for its rich offerings in both performing and visual arts. He is a member of the Kent Denver Jazz Band. Downbeat Magazine ranks the R&B Ensemble at Kent the top high school pop, rock and blues band in the nation. Whether it is pieces of music he’s written or performances with or without a guitar or sax in hand, Valley music fans can expect to be treated to the talent of Ben West for years to come.
by Mark Smiley | Mar 27, 2015 | General Featured
by Charles C. Bonniwell
At its early spring meeting held at the Westin Hotel in downtown Denver, The Economic Club of Colorado honored the leaders of three companies known for being outstanding places to work. The Economic Club of Colorado describes itself as the leading forum in the Rocky Mountain West for world leaders in business, government and policy to meet the business leaders of the region.
The three featured panelists were: Monty Moran, co-CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, a Denver-based fast food chain with over 1,783 restaurants worldwide; David Palmer, Denver Managing Shareholder of the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLC which has 1,800 lawyers and governmental affairs professionals worldwide; and Paul Purcell, Chairman and CEO of financial services firm RW Baird, which has over 100 offices on three continents including one in Cherry Creek.
What was extraordinary concerning the panel was that the businesses in their respective industries they lead are generally known for low employee morale. Large law firms and financial service companies provide high pay but often have difficult and highly stressful work environments. Fast food restaurants in turn are known at the local level for low pay and minimum career advancement opportunities.
Palmer, who has worked as an attorney in Denver for various prestigious firms his entire professional career, emphasized that Greenberg Traurig seeks to create an atmosphere where all different types of individuals can thrive and noted that his Miami-based firm was founded on diversity and diversity is imprinted in its corporate DNA.
Moran shared that when he became co-CEO only a relatively small number of individuals who worked in a local restaurant were ever promoted to lead manager. Over time he created a policy that requires 100 percent of the local managers be hired from within so that the employees have a stake in their own future. Under the designated restaurateur program hourly crew members can become managers earning over $100,000 a year. He emphasized that simply doing your job well was not enough and Chipotle only promoted individuals who also made everyone around them better.
RW Baird, which has offices in Colorado in Cherry Creek (Denver) and Boulder, was ranked fifth in the entire country in Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in line with such nationally known firms such as Google and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Paul Purcell has headed up the company for over 21 years.
The investment advisor firm has $120 billion in client assets and Purcell is quoted in Fortune as attributing its success to one rule: “no a**holes.” That is perhaps a highly unusual rule for a company in an industry that is known for having a very high percentage of the same.
In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle Purcell expanded on why such a rule was so critical to Baird’s success. “You want your advisors concentrating on helping their clients become financially better off and not fighting and backstabbing each other. At Baird our only real product is our employees. Trust is everything in our business and very few people actually want to trust an ‘a**hole’ nor should they.”
Baird was founded in 1919 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is privately owned. Approximately two-thirds of its associates are shareholders in the company. Due to conservative investing policies and little or no debt Baird weathered the disastrous 2008 financial downturn in remarkably good shape and has grown significantly over the last five to seven years with many of its competitors downsizing or going out of business.
Purcell at age 67 has not slowed down one iota but has begun the process of gradually handing over the reins of the company to his designated successor, Steve Booth, whom he named company president at the beginning of last year.
Baird’s mission statement totals one sentence: “To provide the best financial advice and service to our clients and be the best place to work for our associates.” It is unique for an investment advisor firm to have as one of its two principle goals being “the best place to work for our associates.” However, Baird apparently takes its mission statement very seriously as evidenced by the fact that the firm was rated by Fortune magazine to be in the top five companies in the entire country to work for. Locally Baird appears to be also making a major impact and was voted this year by the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce to be the “Business of the Year” highlighted by the firm’s Palm Group in the private wealth management field.
For Purcell, building and preserving a unique corporate culture at RW Baird has been a driving desire and goal. Purcell was a once proud partner in the investment firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co. In the 1980s he watched as that company’s corporate culture changed after its acquisition of General Electric in 1986. The culminating event occurred in 1987 when its star banker Marty Siegel became the center of the Ivan Boesky scandal and the firm paying $26 million in fines as part of settlement with then-U.S. attorney Rudy Giuliani. Purcell left the firm when he felt he could not save it from itself.
“Once you have watched something special be destroyed and lost, you treasure it all the more. You also realize that your goal is never totally achieved. What you have built can be wasted in a relatively short period of time unless you remain aware and appreciative of what you have and ever vigilant not to let it diminish,” Purcell noted.
Purcell is also very much a believer in the parable from Luke that “for unto whomever much is given, of him shall much be required.” He is a major contributor to charities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in Chicago, Illinois, where he resides. He sits on a myriad eleemosynary boards from Discovery World to the United Performing Arts Fund. Purcell requires that wherever the company does business it gives back to the community in a major and important fashion.
Regarding RW Baird’s plans in Colorado, Purcell sees the Denver/Boulder market as one of the true hubs for the company in the western United States along with Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and San Francisco, California. He also notes that some of the company’s top talent is joining the Cherry Creek office for many of differing reasons. Purcell concluded that Baird’s Cherry Creek office is growing at an extraordinary rate. But growth in and of itself has never been a goal of Baird, according to Purcell. Rather as the mission statement states it is “to provide the best financial advice and service to our clients” and those are not simply words but a true calling as is RW Baird’s commitment to its employees.
by Mark Smiley | Feb 27, 2015 | General Featured
Patsy Brown Takes The Reins
by Charles C. Bonniwell
The 114-year-old University Club of Denver elected its first female president Patsy Brown, a broker associate with Kentwood Real Estate-Cherry Creek. Founded in 1891, the Club was based on the Athenaeum Club in London and the University Club of New York and required having a degree from a university, college or similar institution of higher learning which was not common in the 19th century. Of course, there have always been exceptions.
One of its earliest members was Henry Wolcott who helped found the Denver Club and the Denver Country Club. He was one of the most powerful businessmen and politicians in Colorado in the 1890s but never even graduated from high school. An honorary degree from a local college was arranged to meet the degree requirement.
The Club’s present home at 1673 Sherman Street is a neo-classical mansion that was built in 1895 in what was then a residential neighborhood of Capitol Hill. Major additions were added in 1923, 1957 and 1980. Today it is part of upper downtown abutting the towering Lincoln Center Office Building. The mansion has eight banquet rooms including the famous College Room ballroom designed by Temple Buell with stained glass windows containing painted glass medallions of college shields. The facilities make it a unique destination for weddings, holiday parties, dinners and other events.
The mansion also contains a fitness area, billiard tables as well as singles and doubles squash courts along with a reading library. Members also have access to over 100 reciprocal clubs both in the United States and abroad.
The University Club of Denver is probably best known for its annual Twelfth Night celebration going back over 100 years. The event is often attended by many of Colorado’s best known politicians. The musical revue lampoons the top events and individuals both locally and nationally.
Brown’s election to the Club’s presidency represents the culmination of over a
half century battle over female membership. The University Club was founded as an all male institution and seen in part like a fraternity for adult men. The concept of accepting female members was first raised in the early 1940s when World War II cut membership by two-thirds.
By the late 1980s, based on a United States Supreme Court ruling, the government of the City and County of Denver threatened to revoke city licenses, including the Club’s liquor license, unless women were admitted and the dispute made the local news. After various votes which failed to amend the bylaws to admit women, a vote of 374 to 26 was taken to approve the change in the membership requirements from “a man” to “a person” effective January 1, 1991.
The Club just established a new membership category for individuals who have been members for 50 years or more and there are 25 such individuals. Today approximately 25 percent of the members are female along with, of course, wives of male members.
One of those longtime members stated, “Having a coed club is neither better nor worse than an all male one, just different. For me some of the camaraderie and uproarious fun has been lost but there has been a great civilizing effect by mixing the sexes in membership and that makes going to the club on an everyday basis far more enjoyable.”
The new president joined the University Club in 2004. A Denver native, she went to Kent School for Girls after attending Morey Middle School and then on to the University of Colorado at Boulder. She married and moved to the small town of Eldora, Illinois, where her husband was a bank president and she taught at local public and private schools which she thoroughly enjoyed. Moving back to Colorado at the start of the century she decided to go into the real estate field.
As president of the University Club, she notes that one of her main goals is to get the word out about the Club so that it isn’t necessarily the best kept secret in Denver. She loves showing off the Club to people who may have never heard about it. When she asks members what they like best about the University Club they note it is a place for friends to meet and socialize. They tell her that it is a chance to mix and mingle with distinguished individuals from all different fields of endeavor and all different ages. She adds that the Club seems to attract by nature individuals who are witty and fun.
Individuals interested in inquiring about possible membership in the University Club can go to the Club’s website www. uclubdenver.org.
by Mark Smiley | Feb 2, 2015 | General Featured
by Mark Smiley
It seems every company with an Internet connection claims they can build a website or help with search engine optimization (SEO). Few actually do it for a living or do it correctly and proficiently. One company that has built a reputation as one of the leading SEO companies in the state is Volume Nine. Situated in the middle of the Denver/Glendale area, Volume Nine has been providing search engine optimization services in the valley since 2006. They operate from an eighth floor suite just off of Colorado Boulevard and Mexico.
Volume Nine was founded by Chuck Aikens, an Internet marketing guru. When he’s not at the office, you’ll probably find him taking in a ball game ranging from the Nuggets and the Rockies, to his son’s traveling baseball team. Aikens usually has a home improvement project or two going on as well, and his favorite vacation spot is anywhere with a beach and a beverage.
The company was actually started in Aikens’ unfinished basement using credit cards and home equity to get the business up and running. Today, Volume Nine is the largest SEO company in Colorado with over 120 clients. Search Engine Optimization is a term most people are familiar with but most don’t understand completely. SEO is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s “natural” or unpaid (“organic”) search results. Many companies claim to be able to help customers rise in their “Google rankings” but few actually deliver solid results.
Upon graduating from Metro State in Denver, Aikens started his Internet marketing career in 1996 when he taught himself programming and began building websites to generate real estate and mortgage leads. One of his initial creations was one of the first mortgage aggregator websites at www.mortgage101.com which ranked number one for mortgages on Google for over 10 years.
Their first SEO consulting job was a project done for Booyah Advertising in late 2005 as an independent contractor. Now, they have over 120 clients which include notables such as Breckenridge-Wynkoop, Inc., Smashburger, Vail Resorts, Old Navy, Brakes Plus, Qdoba, and Burger King.
During the company’s early years, growth was fueled by specific innovations. One of these innovations was the development of an internal SEO Management Tool in 2008 called Eduki. Long before the Raven Tools or enterprise tools such as Conductor or Bright Edge became commonplace, Volume Nine was able to spend less time on reporting and more time doing SEO for their clients.
Volume Nine also built a robust system that allowed them to write articles, do press releases, submit social bookmarks, and build microsites without being spammy or using automated tools. This system was the cornerstone of their operations until early 2012. In 2012, after being in business for six years and seeing their business model and services offered expand, Volume Nine decided to expand their service offering by acquiring Findability Group which specialized in PPC Management as well as social media and website development. Volume Nine went from 15 to 25 employees overnight.
During the middle of 2013, Volume Nine found themselves growing to 40 employees and retained almost 150 clients, but had the normal growing pains including ensuring that all of the new and old hires were productive and enthusiastic. Aikens along with key members of his team, including Natalie Henley, Vice President of Marketing, sat down and began to change the culture of the company to fit a larger organization.
“It is never easy,” said Henley. “Some of our original employees didn’t want to work for a larger organization and we understood that so we had to reach out and find individuals who would be happy in the organization we had become.”
Of course some of the original employees enjoyed the challenge that growth brought to the company including Barbara Dittert, Content Coordinator. “I look forward to getting things done. I feel happy. I enjoy the challenge of coming to work every day,” said Dittert. “There were efforts to give everyone the freedom to speak their mind. There is more openness and the culture is different. People are happier and there is more laughter.”
Some new policies in place now include unlimited personal time off, more employee recognition including dinners and night stays in the mountains, two days per week of working remotely, health benefits which were not offered previously, and a social team with a budget for employee events. The changes have paid off but Aikens admits they still have a ways to go. “We made a conscious decision to trust our employees and now I feel we have a more team oriented environment,” said Aikens.
Volume Nine has a collaborative process that starts with an initial meeting to go over the potential client’s needs. If a company is looking for a team of experts to help generate the organic traffic needed to grow the business, Volume Nine may be a good match. Once a company decides to be a client, Volume Nine works to achieve the rankings, traffic, leads or sales goals set as a team to make an impact on the business.
Competition is fierce with companies such as Inflow in Denver who is like minded and similar in size. The biggest competition for Volume Nine are companies deciding to manage SEO on their own. But, with the packages that Volume Nine has put together and the team on board to work with clients, Volume Nine is positioned to grow even more. For more information on Volume Nine, visit www.v9seo.com or call 303-997-2000.
