David Duncan grew up in Colorado, part of an oil and gas family that started the Purgatory Ski Area.
But relocating his wineries — Silver Oak Cellars and Twomey Cellars — from California is not an option despite a homesick pull and an appreciation for Colorado’s “less-complicated” business climate that includes what he calls “a proper property tax.”
“You have to be where the fruit is,” said Duncan, one of 2,000 business leaders in Denver last week for the Young Presidents’ Organization global leadership conference at the Colorado Convention Center.
A sampling of the young entrepreneurs — who under YPO rules must be under 45 years old and the chief operator of a company that meets minimum size and revenue requirements — revealed positive perceptions of Colorado.
With a recent spate of corporate-headquarters defections from Colorado, the young executives were asked how they viewed the state’s business climate and what it would take to move their companies here.
“I’m impressed with Denver,” said Brent Johnson, chief executive of Ringland-Johnson Construction, a Rockford, Ill.-based builder and developer. “People here have such a social awareness of ecology. There’s an appreciation of LEED (Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design) construction here, and we do a lot of that.”
Bernie Tenenbaum, who operates several toy companies and online businesses in New Jersey, said a location requires “the right kind of intelligent talent,” and believes that could exist around the Boulder area.
“And who doesn’t love the climate and lifestyle?” Tenenbaum asked.
Frank Baer, who owns an insurance brokerage in West Virginia, said his home state is “last in the nation for all kinds of things,” such as literacy.
Colorado is just the opposite, Baer said. “That makes a difference in the quality of the workforce, and that makes Colorado a positive place for business.”
Baer, like several others queried at the conference, said his corporate roots are where his family is.
Brett Jorgensen of San Diego, who has started and sold several businesses, said he never looked to set up a business here.
“I’d have to get a divorce and get a new wife,” Jorgensen said. “I’m married to a California girl.”
Eric Roudi, who owns an Arizona company that provides facilities services such as landscaping and cleaning, is interested. “Denver is on our radar. We could open a branch office here.”
Dave Maney, founder and publisher of the Lakewood-based economic media firm Economaney, said economic development officials should focus on small entrepreneurial firms where innovation is developed instead of “big, big-headquarter companies.”
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
