Six senior managers will run call-center company Alpine Access while the Golden company looks for a new leader after chief executive Garth Howard, 51, died unexpectedly Tuesday.
Howard was exercising at his home gym when he died, Alpine Access spokeswoman Stefanie Jones said.
“He was very young, very healthy,” Jones said. “He was a runner and very active, so it’s just devastating, as you can imagine, for everybody.”
Managers spent a day calling investors, workers and key clients to tell them the news and reassure them that the privately held company is doing fine, said Jeff Bennis, a board member. Alpine’s 7,500 call- center employees, almost of all of whom work from home, were informed by e-mail.
The company has been viewed as an industry innovator since its founding in 1998 for using home- based employees who are connected by Internet and the telephone.
Clients include Office Depot, J. Crew, 1-800-Flowers and the Internal Revenue Service.
Alpine Access is seen by others in the industry as a closely knit company that has grown rapidly, said Kelly Zunker, president of Denver Telecom Professionals, a trade industry group.
“We’re going to miss him terribly,” Bennis said of Howard. “But the fact is, where a year or two ago there could have been trouble for the company, now we’re in a position where we will weather the storm and continue on the path of growth and good things.”
The company recorded $25 million to $30 million in sales last year, Bennis said. It projects growth of 50 percent to 75 percent in the next year, he said.
Most companies don’t write plans for succession to deal with unexpected events such as a death, but they should, said Sue Wyman, president of Jivaro Group, a Denver executive- search firm.
“None of us likes to look at our own mortality,” Wyman said. “It had to be a tremendous shock, but they’re a great company with a strong foundation. I think they’ll be able to recover.”
Alpine has no formal succession plan, but its management team is strong, Bennis said.
Howard was president and general manager of TeleTech Holdings in Denver before joining Alpine in October. He had nearly 25 years of management experience in Internet and technology companies, and had previously worked for Fidelity Investments and American Express, among other companies, Alpine said in a statement.
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
