Top Workplaces 2020

The Denver PosT | Sept. 6, 2020

TOP WORKPLACES 2020

A YEAR UNLIKE ANY OTHER

In a year of upheaval, how are Colorado’s best places to work handling the disruptions, and what are their leaders expecting for the future?

Staying alive: Starting a small business is difficult even in the best of circumstances. Page 4

Tech: Despite a global pandemic, Colorado continues to be attractive to tech companies. Page 6

The winners: Read about all the businesses that made The Denver Post’s Top 150 list. Pages 13-31

TOP 150 PLACES TO WORK 2020 PAGE 4 | SMALL BUSINESSES The little guys have to pivot to survive the fallout from the pandemic.

PAGE 6 | SILICON “MOUNTAIN” Colorado has a long history of being a technology hub, and that love affair is expected to continue.

PAGE 8 | THE ECONOMY The state works to bounce back from huge job losses.

PAGE 10 | FEELING ALL RIGHT? Energage has surveyed millions of workers over the years, and they’ve discovered paychecks aren’t what motivate employees the most.

Justyn Brogan, manager of The Capital Grille, checks out the nearly-empty Larimer Square March 24. Hard-hit businesses like restaurants are working diligently to make it through the pandemic. » Page 8 Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post

PAGE 11 | METHODOLOGY

STAFF

How were the top businesses selected? Energage explains the scientific survey process by which nominees become finalists.

WRITER Sara B. Hansen

PAGES 13-19 | BEST SMALL COMPANIES No. 1 This advertising agency doesn’t just help businesses sell their products, they solve problems.

And their name is fun to say.

No. 2 Architect firm Anderson Mason Dale has a culture driven by a collaborative process that promotes creativity and communication.

No. 3 Ave Maria Catholic School is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and it focuses on both the academic and spiritual development of its students.

Nos. 4-65 Read about the rest of the small company winners.

PAGES 20-25 | BEST MIDSIZE COMPANIES No. 1 RE/MAX Professions sells homes, sure, but it also works to support its community.

No. 2 In these troubling times, demand for Custom Made Meals has skyrocketed.

No. 3 Madison & Co. Properties wants everyone involved in a deal — buyers, sellers and its agents — to have a high-quality experience.

Nos. 4-49 Read about the rest of the midsize company winners.

DESIGNER Lauren Fagan

SYSTEMS TJ Hutchinson

CONTACT US

Students do course work at Ave Maria Catholic School in Parker. The school is the No. 3 small company and has been a Top Workplace for eight years. » Page 16 Provided by Ave Maria Catholic School

303-954-1984 dhenderson@denverpost.com

ADVERTISING

Christine Moser 303-954-1133 cmoser@denverpostmedia.com

ONLINE denverpost.com/topworkplaces The Denver PosT

TOP WORKPLACES 2020

Sept. 6, 2020

PAGES 26-31 | BEST LARGE COMPANIES No. 1 Being a digital company gave Salesforce the flexibility to handle the challenges of the pandemic.

No. 2 Edward Jones has been helping its clients build their nest eggs for decades.

No. 3 Encore electric exhibits commitment to safety and quality.

Nos. 4-36 Read about the rest of the large company winners.

PAGE 32 | ALL-TIMERS The exclusive club of businesses that have made The Denver Post’s Top Workplaces list all nine years.

2» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

Custom Made Meals employees pose for a photo during a breast cancer awareness event. » Page 22 Provided by Custom Made Meals

A YEAR UNLIKE ANY OTHER

In a year of upheaval, how are Colorado’s best places to work handling the disruptions, and what are their leaders expecting for the future?

Staying alive: Starting a small business is difficult even in the best of circumstances. Page 4

Tech: Despite a global pandemic, Colorado continues to be attractive to tech companies. Page 6

The winners: Read about all the businesses that made The Denver Post’s Top 150 list. Pages 13-31

ON THE COVER: Top, All Star Cleaning Services in Loveland employs 50 people to service nearly 700 customers. Courtesy of K. Jean Photography. Bottom left, Provided by Booyah Advertising. Bottom middle, Provided by Madison & Co. Properties. Bottom right, DeJuan Clanton, a dean at DSST Middle School, leads a seventh-grade advisory classroom in February. Kathryn Scott, Special to the Denver Post

You’re Gonna

Love It Here Work for a company that offers great benefits and a culture that supports your success — both on the job and beyond.

Why EMC? 401(k) and Pension Plans Competitive Pay and Benefits Flexible Work Arrangements Education Opportunities

Ready to apply? Visit emcins.com/careers to find your dream job.

Denver Branch 5445 DTC Parkway, Suite 320 | Greenwood Village, CO 800-696-2362 | 720-200-3700

©Copyright Employers Mutual Casualty Company 2020. All rights reserved.

Small businesses pivot to survive the fallout from the pandemic

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

Starting a business is hard. Keeping it going can be even more difficult, especially during a pandemic.

Jeff York, associate professor of entrepreneurship and sustainability at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, says it’s crucial for business owners, especially smaller businesses, to realize that most companies fail.

Daniel Nordberg, U.S. Small Business Administration director of the office of Rural Affairs and Regional Administrator in Denver, says roughly 50% of small businesses fail by the end of their fifth year.

Getting started

The trouble starts when many new business owners underestimate the challenges.

“New entrepreneurs often have to be their accountant, public relations manager, marketing team, CEO, frontline staff, tech support and problem solver,” Nordberg says. “Launching a start-up requires a tremendous about of time and capital that can pose challenges to people trying to start an operation on their own. The Small Business Administration exists to come alongside new businesses to provide resources and support whenever possible. The agency provides extensive lending opportunities that make it easier for people to achieve their entrepreneurial dreams and make their business a success long-term.”

York suggests many entrepreneurs are overconfident and fail to be flexible.

“Most successful entrepreneurs pivot pretty significantly from where they started. You need to be able to listen carefully, change and evolve what you offer.”

Adapting to face challenges

One advantage small businesses do have is that they often are more agile and able to respond to changing situations like a pandemic.

“Every industry has felt the effects of COVID19 for the last few months, but the trend that resonates is the grit of entrepreneurs and smallbusiness owners,” Nordberg says.

“Every day, we hear about more businesses that are going above and beyond to continue serving their communities and provide for their employees.”

Many small businesses have suffered because they are service-oriented, York says. “It depends on the type of business. Restaurants, breweries, Pilates or yoga studios that rely on in-person contact are struggling. They can’t do the volume they need to do, and their margins PANDEMIC » 5

4» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

Amidst the coronavirus, restaurants are coming up with creative ways to continue to serve the public including takeout and delivery meals with alcoholic drinks or meal kits.

Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post

Rising to the challenge Many small businesses are run by women or minorities who face additional challenges in establishing their businesses.

The biggest challenge often is getting the funding they need.

Jeff York, associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, says most investors are white males who want to invest with people who are like themselves.

Rachel Carlson, chief executive officer and cofounder of Guild Education, agrees. “We believe talent is equally distributed, but the opportunity is not.”

According to PitchBook and All Raise, in 2018, U.S. female business founders raised 2.2% of the $130 billion total in venture capital money invested.

“There is a lot more work to do to remove existing barriers, and it begins with a more significant commitment from leaders across the board to listen to and bring more diverse voices to the table. A company as a whole is much more reliable when you bring in more diverse views and experiences,” Carlson says.

“I’m proud that Guild has made significant progress toward gender parity, but it’s essential to talk about all versions of seen and unseen diversity. At Guild, we’re intensely focused right

now on improving our racial and ethnic diversity and creating a culture of belonging for all Guiders.”

Guild Education is one of the women and minority companies named to this year’s Top Workplace’s list.

Some of the others: American Financing: A minority-owned, familyowned, national mortgage banker that’s licensed in all 50 states. The company specializes in residential mortgages for purchases and home refinancing.

Cain Travel: One of the largest woman-owned companies in Colorado, has a team that is comprised of 80 percent women. Linda Cain, chief executive officer, is a member of the class of 2013’s Boulder County Business Hall of Fame.

The company is in the top 35 on Travel Weekly’s 2018 Power List relative to our size.

PorchLight Real Estate Group: A 100% femaleowned business, PorchLight has made The Denver Post’s Top Workplaces list for six years in a row and has been recognized as one of the Top Women-Owned Companies by both the Denver Business Journal and ColoradoBiz Magazine. The company headquarters is in the Golden Triangle Neighborhood, and agents operate out of offices in Boulder, Cherry Creek North, the Denver Tech Center and Highlands Square.

PANDEMIC «FROM 4

need to have a chance at thriving, not just surviving in this new economy,” Carlson says.

were already razor-thin.”

But many of those businesses also have been able to pivot. For example, restaurants switched to offering takeout and delivery meals with alcoholic drinks or meal kits; small hardware stores started providing curbside service or delivery, and distilleries started making hand sanitizer.

Colorado’s small businesses received roughly $1 billion in loans through the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program, and that has helped them survive.

“Entrepreneurs are some of the strongest, most resilient people you’ll find,” Nordberg says. “They are stepping up to the challenges presented by COVID-19 and have used SBA assistance programs like the Paycheck Protection Program to implement unique, creative ways to serve their communities.

It’s hard to predict what the rest of the year holds as the optics are continually changing. Still, the SBA will continue working diligently to provide small businesses and future entrepreneurs with the

Smaller businesses will continue to be the backbone of the economy. “Small businesses are absolutely pivotal to each state’s economic prosperity,” Nordberg says.

“In Colorado, for example, 99.5% of businesses are classified as small businesses. These small businesses employ more than 1.1 million Coloradans — that’s more than 48% of the private workforce.

But York suggests business owners will need to continue to rethink

Strength in numbers

Distilleries found a lifeline in selling hand sanitizer. Chet Strange, Special to The Denver Post

resources and support they need.”

Rachel Carlson, chief executive officer and co-founder of Guild Education, one of the women and minority companies named to this year’s Top Workplaces list, said her company is focused on building new solutions to serve the millions of Americans who’ve lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Roughly 80 percent of those workers earn low-income wages, and most don’t have a degree.

“That’s why we launched our latest product, Next Chapter, which is a modern take on outplacement benefits that helps laid-off workers have access to not only the career services but also the job training that they

how they operate.

“If I were starting a restaurant now, rather than in-house dining, maybe I’d look more at starting a home meal catering service that provided more customization,” York says. “That way, people could still feel like they’re getting good, local food without the risk of dining out.”

Entrepreneurs always will need to continue to innovate.

“Because they are embedded in their communities, they are better able to understand what the people in their community need,” York says. “There will be a lot of opportunity coming out of this.”

Grow, thrive, be who you are.

Connect with us. encoreelectric.com | 303.934.1234

Thank you to our employees for making

ICAT a Top Workplace in Colorado — for six years in a row!

Top Workplace in Colorado.

Six years running.

Join our Top Workplace Visit usaajobs.com

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

USAA means United Services Automobile Association and its affiliates. USAA is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and gives consideration for employment to qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Gusto, a tech-powered payroll and benefits company, was among the first San Francisco tech firms to plant a flag in Denver. Its office is in the Tabor Center on the 16th Street Mall. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post

Tech’s industry’s love affair with Colorado expected to continue

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

Despite a global pandemic, Colorado will continue to be attractive to tech companies.

“We can attract talent at levels that other states just can’t,” says Michelle Hadwiger, deputy director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development. “That means companies can find the educated and diversified talent they need here.”

Colorado also is the most similar culturally to the Bay Area, where many tech companies have headquarters. “We share the same fit and active lifestyle and love of the outdoors,” Hadwiger says.

Competing with the big boys

Troy Lerner, chief executive officer of Booyah Advertising, The Denver Post’s No. 1 Top Workplace in the small-size category, could have located his digital advertising firm

6» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

anywhere, says Aubree Cross, head of marketing. But he liked the idea of building a premier agency that could compete with the best of the best in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles in a former cow town, Cross says.

“The big agency Troy worked at before Booyah had an office in Denver. He recalls that his boss there used to laugh off this Denver office, sure there was no business in Denver and baffled as to why the agency would maintain a presence in this city.”

But Lerner had the last laugh. The city continues to be a draw for people who want to leave New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.

“Denver continues to lend itself as the perfect home for our agency and the things we value: the friendly, Western attitude; the proximity to nature and recreation; and the relative freedom from the high-octane and (we’d maintain) unnecessary stressors of some of the largest U.S. cities make Denver an ideal lo-

cation for our relationship- and people-focused agency. We’re able to attract employees who are eager to roll up their sleeves and work incredibly hard, but who also value collaborating, delivering top-tier service and not taking themselves too seriously.”

Adding a Denver office

Gary Nafus, senior vice president for enterprise sales at Salesforce, a global leader in customer relationship management software and the No. 1 Top Workplace in the large-size category, says Denver’s home to a diverse slate of industries, including aviation, bioscience, financial services and more.

The city also is an emerging tech hub and was named the No. 10 U.S. city for tech growth and a leading growth market by CBRE in 2019.

“We first set up shop in the region starting in 2013, supporting leading customers including TECH » 7

TECH «FROM 6 the State of Colorado, the City and County of Denver, Ball Corporation, amongst other top organizations,” Nafus says. “Last year, we announced our new home in the heart of the city would serve as a world-class hub for our local metro Denver employees, where we can welcome our customers, partners and the community. Our expansion in Denver reflects the excitement here, and we’re looking forward to continuing to grow in the Mile-High City.”

In addition to Booyah and Salesforce, other tech businesses on this year’s Top Workplaces list include: • Gusto processes tens of billions of dollars of payroll and enables thousands of businesses to provide employee benefits like health insurance and 401(k) retirement plans and 529 college savings plans.

• Keysight delivers breakthrough solutions in electronic design, test, manufacturing and optimization.

• RingCentral is a leading pro-

Colorado’s fit lifestyle and love of the outdoors makes it attractive to companies such as Gusto. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post vider of global enterprise cloud communications, collaboration and contact center solutions. It provides unified voice, video meetings, team messaging, digital customer engagement and integrated contact center solutions.

More tech companies coming to Colorado

Tech companies continue to announce plans to locate in Colorado despite the economic uncer-

tainty caused by COVID-19.

Among the recent developments: Two Denver tech businesses won federal grants to develop new products. Greetly, which provides systems for companies to check-in and track visitors, received $50,000 through the Small Business Innovation Research program to work with the Air Force. Cipher Skin won a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Defense through the SBIR pro-

gram. The company will match the grant and work with the Air Force to explore how the military can use and further develop its technology for civilian use.

Denver-based York Space Systems, a satellite manufacturer and operator, and Metropolitan State University of Denver received a federal contract to more efficiently process and analyze data collected from space.

Marqeta, a global card-issuing platform, picked metro Denver for its second headquarters. The company plans to employ more than 500 people in Colorado over the next eight years. Started in 2010, Marqeta provides a payment card program for clients such as Uber, Square, Instacart and DoorDash.

Global website creation company Wix.com picked Denver for its newest location. The company will start with 200 employees and plans to open its new office this fall. Wix.com has more than 170 million users and employs about 3,200 people across 15 locations worldwide, including its headquarters in Israel and U.S. offices in Miami, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

We “C” strength and compassion in our employees.

We “C” the impact of our work on people receiving mental health and substance use services.

We “C” how you connect with each other with warm hearts.

We “C” how great is is to work at AllHealth Network!

Information and Appointments: (303) 730 8858

Your neighborhood resource for Care. Community. Connection. Conversation.

AllHealthNetwork.org

ParaTM 3 Lightweight

CRAFTED FOR LIFE

®

For more than 40 years Spyderco has been producing knives and sharpeners in Golden, Colorado U.S.A. Earth.

Visit our Spyderco Factory Outlet store in beautiful Golden, CO to see our entire product line and more.

820 Spyderco Way, Golden, CO 800 525 7770 spyderco.com

A bicyclist steers around a homeless man who is trying to stay warm in his sleeping bag in front of Think Tank Tattoo and its boarded up facade along South Broadway on April 14 in Denver. The coronavirus forced many businesses to close for months during the state’s stay-a-home order and rethink how they operate. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post

Colorado works to bounce back from pandemic’s huge job losses

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

Before the pandemic hit, Colorado’s economy was cruising along with a 2.5% unemployment rate.

Two of the state’s top economists predict Colorado will finish the year with about 130,000 fewer jobs than when it started.

“I think job growth will continue through the rest of the year, albeit at a slower pace than we’ve experienced in the past,” says Rich Wobbekind, a senior economist with the Leeds School of Business Research Division at the University of Colorado-Boulder. “I anticipate a long road to recovery.”

Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the business research division at Leeds School of Business, says the hardest hit industries will be tourism, retail, restaurants and health care. Other professions, including engineering, architecture and software development, proved more resilient.

“We’ve seen some bounce back after the spring, but the bigger question is how the economy will perform this fall and winter,” he says.

Signs of recovery

Although COVID-19 hit Colorado tourism hard, some areas have seen a rebound this summer as campgrounds and rentals filled up with people eager to get out and

8» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

have a summer vacation, Lewandowski says.

Some retail locations, like the outlet mall in Castle Rock, have performed better than expected, he adds. “With its open-air environment, the mall appeals to people who were eager to get back outside and have a more normal experience.”

But it’s too early to guess what will happen with the mountain resorts this winter, Lewandowski says. “It all will depend on if the virus resurges and when a vaccine is available.”

Many employers have been able to recall workers, and some have been able to expand.

“Colorado is doing better than the average for the rest of the

country,” Wobbekind says. “But we’re not in the top five for growth like we have been the past few years.”

Diversified economy

Colorado’s economy is a bit more diversified now than it has been in past economic downturns, but the state still relies heavily on energy production.

Colorado is a top 10 energy-producing state for oil and natural gas, but that only accounts for 3% of the state’s gross domestic product, Lewandowski says. Still, the drop in oil prices has hurt the state and especially counties that rely on oil production like Weld LOSSES » 9

LOSSES «FROM 8 County, which produces 90% of the state’s oil.

The good news is some industries are seeing growth, Wobbekind says. “We have grown in sectors that are not being as adversely affected now like biotech and cloud computing.”

And new businesses continue to consider relocating to Colorado.

In June, the Colorado Economic Development Commission awarded $14.8 million in incentives to four companies that could bring 1,217 jobs to the state. Most of those jobs would pay more than $125,000 a year.

Michelle Hadwiger, deputy director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development, said companies in Japan, Korea and Europe, especially in bioscience and manufacturing, also are considering Colorado.

A Car Rally for a People’s Comeback was held May 2 in front of the State Capitol to support essential workers’ rights and to protect them from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Andy Cross, The Denver Post

Need for office space

One of the future’s most significant question marks is what will happen to all the state’s office space.

Many companies announced that employees could continue to work remotely through 2020 and even until the spring or fall of 2021. “We’ve seen a lot of evidence that companies are not rushing back to the office,” Lewandowski says.

Employees have adapted to working from home, and employers have learned they can function efficiently with remote workers.

Gary Nafus, Salesforce senior vice president for enterprise sales, says the workplace of tomorrow looks very different from March’s workplace.

“We are responding to the new

Certain rooms at Lake Steam Baths still remained closed on July 22 in Denver. Lake Steam Baths is a 93-year-old, third-generation business known for a single-gender shvitz on alternating days.

The baths are booking private parties from the same household and are being cleaned and disinfected after each use, but the business is struggling. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post realities of physical distancing and redesigning all our workspaces, including employee working floors, meeting rooms, kitchens and social lounges, coffee bars, building lobbies, eleva-

tor cabs, reception areas and more,” he says.

The COVID-19 pandemic will change the future of work forever, Nafus says. “Nearly 70% of people believe the pandemic will

permanently change the nature of work, and more than 50% say that flexible work locations are very important to them. An alldigital, work-from-anywhere world is becoming the new normal.”

That change may mean a glut of available office space and put more pressure on already struggling retail and restaurant operations in areas like downtown Denver that once were packed with office workers, Lewandowski says. “Can they survive if the workers don’t return?”

As employees continue to work from home, Wobbekind predicts that demand for high-speed internet service will increase in more residential areas.

Changing workforce

The pandemic has created at least one positive change. It’s driving up wages for some workers at businesses like Amazon and Kroger, King Soopers’ parent company.

“Despite the GDP plunging 33%, wages went up in the second quarter,” Wobbekind says. “That could be beneficial for closing the wage gap.”

Many of the industries that have been hardest hit by the pandemic are those with the lowest wages: restaurants, retail, leisure and entertainment.

Both Lewandowski and Wobbekind hope that many unemployed workers can seek new training opportunities that will help them find better-paying jobs as the economy improves.

“There will be a lot of possibilities with new things that open up,” Wobbekind says. “For now, people will have to do the best they can and maybe look at free educational opportunities so they can try to upgrade their skills.

That way, when the time comes, and the bell rings, you’re ready to get going.”

DSF MAKES COLLEGE POSSIBLE FOR THOUSANDS OF DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS GRADUATES EACH YEAR BY PROVIDING THE TOOLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS. COLLEGE. IT’S POSSIBLE. DENVERSCHOLARSHIP.ORG | INFO@DENVERSCHOLARSHIP.ORG

“This recognition is notable because it’s based solely on feedback from our employees and validates our belief that we continue to offer the kind of inclusive and rewarding environment our employees value. I’m proud of our great Tallgrass team.”

William R. Moler, CEO https://www.tallgrassenergy.com/JoinUs.aspx

Here’s what appreciation really means

By Doug Claffey Energage

W

hen it comes to feeling valued at work, what matters most to employees? If you answered “pay,” think again. Research shows pay is low on the list.

Energage has surveyed more than 20 million employees across 60,000 organizations over the past 14 years. We’ve learned that one of the things that matters most to employees — what truly motivates them — is feeling appreciated. Across all U.S. sectors and populations, appreciation ranks among the most important workplace culture drivers.

In our Colorado survey to determine the 2020 Top Workplaces, appreciation rated among the top three factors when employees shared what was most important to them. The others, in order: the

direction of their organization and working to their full potential.

It’s important to note there is no definition for appreciation in our survey. We don’t tell employees how — or in what ways — they should gauge their feelings about it. They use their own definition, and even more, employees know it when they feel it. And they can also readily distinguish between what’s authentic and what’s simply lip service.

Just as there is no single definition of how employees should feel appreciated, there is no single way for organizations to express it. Some use reward and recognition systems. This form of appreciation tends to focus on outcomes, and it’s often linked to financial awards. Other recognition systems are tied to organizational events, such as service anniversaries.

The simplest and sometimes

WAY TO GO! EIGHT YEARS IN A ROW!

To join our talent network text BuildYourself to 51893 Sturgeon Electric Company is an equal opportunity employer

the most effective form of appreciation is giving positive feedback or praise. “Thank you for your effort” or “You’re doing a really good job” goes a long way, whether delivered in person, electronically or in a handwritten note.

Within an organization are different types of appreciation, because each has a unique message and meaning: • Peer to peer: Co-workers thank others either within or outside their own team. This is especially important when teams are geographically dispersed or don’t see each other regularly.

• Manager to employee: Managers are most familiar with their employees’ roles. Employees like to know their manager understands and values their contributions.

• Senior leadership: This level is typically more general, relating to group efforts. But senior lead-

ers can also highlight extraordinary effort. Above all, it demonstrates they see and recognize individual and team contributions.

Appreciation matters because it goes a long way with employees to improve motivation, job satisfaction, self-esteem and retention. Cultivating a culture of appreciation helps employees feel good about the work they do, and it’s the glue that holds teams together.

Doug Claffey is founder of Energage, a Philadelphia-based research and consulting firm that surveyed more than 2 million employees at more than 7,000 organizations in 2019. Energage is The Denver Post’s research partner for Top Workplaces.

Who picks Top Workplaces?

Workers do through a survey

By Bob Helbig Energage

W

ho determines the Top Workplaces? The best judges: the employees who work there.

For the ninth year, The Denver Post has partnered with Philadelphia-based Energage to rank Colorado’s Top Workplaces. The process is based on a scientific survey of employees who rate their workplace culture. It also gives company insights about what makes them unique.

“In times of great change, it is more important than ever to maintain a connection among employees,” said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. “When you give your employees a voice, you come together to navigate challenges and shape your path forward based on real-time in-

sights.”

The process began in September 2019, when The Post began news coverage and promotions to welcome people to nominate companies as Top Workplaces.

Energage also reached out to area companies. Throughout the process, 2,291 employers in the state were invited to have their employees take the survey. Any organization was eligible to participate, provided it had at least 50 employees in Colorado. Employers could be public, private, nonprofit or governmental.

There is no cost to enter.

For 2020, a record 240 employers agreed to take the survey.

They employ 97,288 people in Colorado. Of those employees who received questionnaires, 55,212 responded, either on paper or online. For this year’s winners list, 150 Colorado employers

were ranked based on the feedback. The employee engagement survey of 24 questions gathers responses regarding issues relating to workplace culture: • Alignment: where the company is headed, its values, cooperation, effective meetings • Coaching: managers care about concerns, are helpful, encourage employee development • Connection: employees feel appreciated, work is meaningful, working at full potential, clued in to each other • Engagement: productivity, retention, recruiting • Leadership: confidence in company leaders • Performance: execution, open-mindedness, innovation, clued-in leadership • The Basics: pay, benefits, flexibility, training, expectations

Employers that score high enough are recognized as Top Workplaces. Employers are categorized by size, and they are ranked within those size groups, to accurately compare results.

Energage also determines special award winners based on standout scores on specific survey topics.

Did you look over the list and wonder why a particular company was not on it? It might be because it chose not to participate, or because it did not score well enough. Energage occasionally disqualifies employers based on questionable results detected through statistical tests it runs to ensure organizations are accurately administering the survey.

Want your organization to participate in the 2021 program?

Just go to denverpost.com/nominate to submit a nomination.

Founder & Author

Maureen Berkner Boyt Founder

Maureen has spent over 25 years helping organizations grow by creating inclusive workplaces where talented people can thrive. People around the world are using tools and microlearning courses she created to help them rock their moxie. Maureen holds a Masters Degree in Organizational Development and is the author of the 5-book series Rock Your Moxie: Power Moves for Women Leading the Way. Her Disrupt HR Talk, “Hack Your Biased Brain” is one of the most popular talks of the movement.

Mo has lived her life as a doer and a risk-taker, too. She’s ridden camels in the Sahara Desert, jumped in the Fairy Pools on the isle of Skye and completed two 36-hour ultra-team runs. She brings those experiences and approach to her work, getting people to think big, take action and move the dial on driving results for themselves and their teams.

Top small companies SPECIAL AWARDS The Top 150 survey statement is divided into broad categories such as Training and Work/Life Balance.

Energage calculates which company has the highest score in each category. Here are the companies that won special awards and the statement each one scored highest on:

MEANINGFULNESS

Bloom Healthcare My job makes me feel like I am part of something meaningful.

VALUES

Cain Travel Group Inc. This company operates by strong values.

COMMUNICATION

Brothers Plumbing, Heating and Electric I feel well-informed about important decisions at this company.

APPRECIATION

Footers Catering I feel genuinely appreciated at this company.

LEADERSHIP

Troy Lerner, Booyah Advertising There’s a top CEO in each size category. Lerner scored highest among small companies on this statement: I have confidence in the leader of this company.

Strategist Mel Werthmann of Choozle talks with other employees at the Choozle office in Denver in 2019. Choozle, No. 19 on the Top Workplaces 2020 small company list, is a digital advertising and marketing software company. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post file

The small company category is for employers with 149 or fewer local workers. The 65 winners were chosen from a field of 127 entries.

1. Booyah Advertising 2. Anderson Mason Dale Architects 3. Ave Maria Catholic School 4. Live Urban Real Estate 5. West + Main Homes 6. Footers Catering 7. Bloom Healthcare 8. Home Mortgage Alliance LLC 9. Integrity Locums 10. Cain Travel Group Inc. 11. Denver Scholarship Foundation 12. MassMutual Colorado 13. Lokal Homes LLC 14. Visiting Angels of Littleton 15. Done Plumbing & Heating 16. Brothers Plumbing, Heating and Electric 17. All Star Cleaning Services 18. Home Loan & Invetment Co. 19. Choozle 20. Larson Financial Inc. 21. Centro 22. Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors 23. Muller Engineering Co. Inc. 24. Swinerton Builders 25. Spyderco Inc. 26. GoSpotCheck 27. CORE Consultants 28. RevGen Partners 29. Baron Education 30. Cornerstone Apartment Services Inc. 31. NEI Electric Power Engineering Inc. 32. CyberGRX Inc. 33. Professional Assist Corporation 34. Bradsby Group 35. Billtrust 36. Denver Academy 37. Cooper Heating and Cooling Inc. 38. Vivax Pros 39. ANM 40. Primary Residential Mortgage Inc. 41. Galloway & Co. Inc. 42. Drury Hotels Co. LLC 43. Total Quality Logistics 44. Greystone Technology Group Inc. 45. SambaSafety 46. EMC Insurance 47. Pie Insurance Services Inc. 48. BCER Engineering Inc. 49. CCIG 50. Griffis Residential 51. RE/MAX Alliance 52. Electric Tobacconist 53. ECC-Environmental Chemical Corporation 54. Ulteig 55. Enerplus Resources (USA) Corporation 56. AFC Urgent Care Denver 57. Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher LLP 58. Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. 59. Entravision Communications Corporation 60. Turner Construction Co. 61. Advanced Assembly 62. American Indian College Fund 63. Association of periOperative Registered Nurses 64. LT Environmental Inc. 65. Camp Bow Wow (Corporate Division)

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «13

Members of the Booyah Advertising team participate in a group activity. Photos provided by Booyah Advertising

Top ranked Booyah Advertising cuts through the digital clutter 1 | Booyah Advertising Years ranked: 1 Founded: 2001 Headquarters: Denver Employees: 71, with 70 in Colorado Locations: 1 in Colorado

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

Booyah Advertising does more than just help businesses sell their products online. The Denver agency is really in the problem-solving business.

“We relish the challenge that digital presents and thrive most when we’re solving problems for our clients,” says Aubree Cross, Booyah head of marketing.

With its team of 70-plus experts, Booyah builds and optimizes ad campaigns for Google, Facebook and Amazon. It also helps businesses navigate policy and determine the most effective options.

“Digital is a more complicated, fragmented, difficult-to-understand landscape than it’s ever been,” Cross says. “That’s where we are at our best and offer the most value to brands. Through the pandemic, we’ve been in a position to leverage our problem-solving skills and attitude to aid clients in one of their most intense times of need.”

Although Booyah works in TV and print advertising, the agency’s focus is digital.

“In short, digital sells itself.

The spreadsheet does the selling and showcases all the evidence of digital’s impact on brands’ businesses. You pay $1 for a click, and you can be confident that the click a) actually happened and b) led to some further action (or at least visitation) on your website,” Cross says. “We also love that, because of its inherent trackability, there’s nothing subjective about digital. The data is the data. Performance in traditional media relies so much on subjective tastes or whether

14» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

someone likes the aesthetic of the TV or print ad. Digital is the most addressable, defensible, trackable, best media there is, especially now, in the face of historical digital consumption as more and more consumers stay home.”

Booyah offers an appealing work environment and doesn’t have trouble recruiting employees.

“It’s so easy to bring people to Colorado. As soon as they buy a house, we know we have them forever,” Cross says.

The agency is committed to training and offers a robust benefits package.

“We have dedicated directorlevel experts in each of the digital disciplines (search, display, social, organic, Amazon, etc.) whose role is to train and facilitate the growth of our employees. Through in-depth onboarding, regular training sessions, and easy access to reps at Google, Facebook, etc., our employees are set on a path for rap-

id learning and growth,” Cross says.

Company benefits include nocost medical insurance options, free parking and subsidized meal cards from local eateries, plus unlimited paid time off after the first year, flexible working hours, quarterly team events, and a dogfriendly office.

The company also holds an annual Shark Tank-type competition where anyone at the agency can pitch ideas for helping clients or improving the company culture. And Booyah likes to make sure it also has fun with events like an annual ski day, a yearly Rockies baseball outing, Halloween and winter holiday parties, an annual agency kickball tournament, and quarterly team outings like go-kart racing.

Booyah also rewards loyalty with anniversary gifts. For example, after five years with the company, the award is a vacation, complete with air travel and hotel credits, as well as a stipend for meals and activities.

Anderson Mason Dale Architects employees on a job site. Provided by Anderson Mason Dale Architects

AMD Architects uses creativity, collaboration to build the West 2 | Anderson Mason

Dale Architects

Years ranked: 1 Founded: 1978 Headquarters: Denver Employees: 62 in Colorado Locations: 1 in Colorado

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

From its studio in downtown Denver, Anderson Mason Dale Architects creates designs for colleges and universities, schools, libraries, cultural venues, justice facilities and housing.

Its work includes the Denver International Airport Hotel and

Transportation Center, the Science Building on the Auraria campus and Colorado’s Ocean Journey at the Downtown Aquarium.

The firm, which works in the Rocky Mountain West, has received the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Firm Award three times for its “distinguished body of work.”

Anderson Mason Dale was named the 2017 Firm of the Year

by AIA Colorado.

“Our firm’s founder, John Anderson, had a deep commitment to focusing on the places that we all share and that bring us together — schools, colleges, public buildings,” says David Pfeifer, president of Anderson Mason Dale Architects.

“We’re proud to continue that tradition. We feel connected to this place where we live, work and play.”

The company’s culture is driven by a collaborative process that promotes creativity and communication. Although other employers may focus on providing options such as telecommuting, Anderson Mason Dale sees the value of working together in the same space.

Instead, the company works to provide flexible work hours, maternity and paternity leave.

At Anderson Mason Dale, “our greatest asset is our people,” Pfeifer says.

“We work to tailor the workflow so they can get their work done but also manage all of the

other demands in their lives,” he says. “We work to be nimble. We do have working parents, family obligations, difficult commutes.

We have talented employees and we want to hang on to them, so we work to make accommodations.”

The company offers employees health, dental, life insurance and long-term disability premium coverage. It also offers a 401(k) plan with generous matching, plus vacation, sick and holiday pay.

But perhaps its most appealing perk is the opportunity for employees to participate in an overseas retreat every other year by leasing lodging from spring to fall to provide the chance to travel for architectural investigation, reflection and relaxation.

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «15

Ave Maria focuses on academics and spiritual development 3 | Ave Maria

Catholic School Years ranked: 8, 4 consecutive Founded: 2000 Headquarters: Parker Employees: 50 Locations: 1

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

For employees at Ave Maria Catholic School in Parker, it’s no surprise the school is being honored for the eighth year as a Top Workplace.

They know that the teachers, students, parents and staff members make working at Ave Maria special, says Elizabeth Leach, the school’s marketing director.

“There is an undeniable sense of caring and respect for every person who enters through our doors.

Our teachers are committed and dedicated to the education and success of all their students. They

A teacher provides classroom instruction at Ave Maria Catholic School in Parker. Provided by Ave Maria Catholic School chose to work at Ave Maria because they believe in our mission of educating the whole child, and they see that mission come to fruition every day on our campus.”

The school, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020, serves about 500 students in preschool through eighth grade. It focuses on the education and development of the whole person (spiritual, moral, intellectual, physical, social and emotional) to allow

4 | Live Urban Real Estate

Years ranked: 8 | Founded: 2006 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 92 | Locations: 2 Live Urban Real Estate was founded by people who love Denver city living and have their roots firmly planted in the city’s vibrant, urban neighborhoods. The company is ecologically minded and virtually paperless. It also donates a portion of each sale to support local nonprofits chosen by its brokers.

5 | West + Main Homes

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 2017 | Headquarters: Lakewood | Employees: 115, with 113 in Colorado | Locations: 3 in Colorado West + Main is an independently owned and operated boutique real estate company that specializes in residential properties in downtown Denver and Front Range communities.

West + Main has two innovative storefront locations in Applewood and RiNo.

6 | Footers Catering

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1981 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 51 | Locations: 1 Footers Catering is a second-generation family-owned business that caters more than 600 full-service events and feeds more than 75,000

16» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

each student to achieve full potential through Catholic teaching, challenging academics and strong community involvement.

One of the school’s most significant challenges this year has been adapting to keep faculty members and students safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The administration at Ave Maria has been working all summer long to create contingency plans for several possible scenarios for

guests each year. For more than 38 years, Footers has prepared all of its menus on-site to provide the highest quality possible.

7 | Bloom Healthcare

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2003 | Headquarters: Wheat Ridge | Employees: 62, with 61 in Colorado | Locations: 2 in Colorado Bloom Healthcare’s team of providers delivers coordinated, hands-on care in assisted-living communities and private homes so it can help patients age in place. The company works to significantly reduce the risk seniors will need emergency room or inpatient care.

8 | Home Mortgage Alliance LLC

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 2014 Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 71, with 65 in Colorado | Locations: 23 in Colorado Home Mortgage Alliance started as a joint venture between Stearns Home Loans and RE/MAX Alliance and has grown to be a top mortgage lender in the Denver area.

9 | Integrity Locums

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2012 | Headquarters: Centennial | Employees: 68 | Locations: 1 Integrity Locums, a firm that recruits and temporarily places physicians, was established

a safe return to school this fall,” Leach says. “It has been an exhaustive process.”

The school consulted with TriCounty Health and community physicians and followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations to create guidelines to allow on-campus classes and a full-time distance learning option before the new school year started in August.

“We’ve made improvements to our facilities, such as hands-free amenities, air purification systems and enhanced cleaning services and times,” Leach says.

Teachers participated in creating the policies, she said. “Our highest priority is the health and safety of our teachers and students,” Leach said.

“We wanted to make sure that they felt comfortable and safe to return to school if they chose too.

In addition to the enhancements to our facilities ... we’ve increased the PPE options for our teachers to utilize throughout the school year.”

in 2012. Founders Tim and Lacey Devereux started the agency after establishing Integrity Healthcare, a permanent physician recruitment firm.

10 | Cain Travel Group Inc.

Years ranked: 4, 3 consecutive | Founded: 1975 | Headquarters: Boulder | Employees: 74, with 54 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Cain Travel is a full-service travel agency focused on corporate and group travel management. With a team that’s 80 percent women, Cain Travel is proud to be one of the largest woman-owned companies in Colorado.

11 | Denver Scholarship Foundation

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 2006 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 59, with 57 in Colorado | Locations: 1 Denver Scholarship Foundation provides the tools, knowledge and financial resources to empower Denver Public Schools students to attend post-secondary institutions of higher education. The foundation partners with 31 colleges in Colorado including technical and community colleges, as well as traditional fouryear colleges and universities. Since 2006, the foundation has awarded $38 million in scholarships.

12 | MassMutual Colorado

Years ranked: 6 | Founded: 1887 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 79 | Locations: 1 MassMutual Colorado uses a coordinated approach to assist clients with their personal financial, estate planning and business continuity strategies. The company is committed to the communities it serves and in the past year has donated more than $7 million annually through its local and national programs.

13 | Lokal Homes LLC

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2012 | Headquarters: Englewood | Employees: 63 | Locations: 1 Lokal Homes builds in urban-suburban communities and takes pride in building structurally-sound homes backed by Three Peaks Warranty. The company focuses on providing the perfect mix of personalization without making building a home overwhelming.

14 | Visiting Angels of Littleton

Years ranked: 9 | Founded: 2004 | Headquarters: Littleton | Employees: 119 | Locations: 1 Visiting Angels of Littleton provides in-home services to allow elderly adults to remain safe and comfortable in their own homes. Services include help with bathing, dressing, medication reminders, protective oversight, Alzheimer’s/Dementia care, transportation, meal preparation and companionship.

15 | Done Plumbing & Heating

Years ranked: 7 | Founded: 1999 | Headquarters: Aurora | Employees: 57 | Locations: 1 Done Plumbing & Heating provides plumbing, drain cleaning, heating and air conditioning services for residential and commercial properties in the Denver metro area.

16

| Brothers Plumbing, Heating and Electric

Years ranked: 4 | Founded: 1980 | Headquarters: Thornton | Employees: 75 | Locations: 1 The plumbers, HVAC technicians and electricians at Brothers Plumbing, Heating and Electric have provided service for more than 30 years. The company provides services from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and doesn’t charge overtime fees.

17 | All Star Cleaning Services

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2006 | Headquarters: Fort Collins | Employees: 52, with 50 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado All Star Cleaning Services offers environmentally-friendly house cleaning services. The company provides free cleaning services to women actively going through cancer treatments through its affiliation with Cleaning for a Reason. It also donates cleaning services to the Fort Collins Cat Rescue and Voices Carry Child Advocacy Center.

18 | Home Loan & Investment Co.

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1897 | Headquarters: Grand Junction | Employees: 58 | Locations: 2 Home Loan Insurance is an independent

insurance agency that provides business, home, auto, life, and health insurance. Home Loan State Bank is a full-service commercial bank.

19 | Choozle

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 2012 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 54 | Locations: 1 Choozle provides a digital advertising software platform that powers advertising campaigns across display, video, mobile and other mediums. Designed for advertising agencies and marketing departments, Choozle combines multiple digital advertising tools, a demandside platform, a data management platform and smart tag management into a single platform.

20 | Larson Financial Inc.

Years ranked: 9 | Founded: 2005 | Headquarters: Westminster | Employees: 76, with 73 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Larson Financial is a family-owned and operated tax resolution firm. Established by brothers Jack and Ron Larson, the firm has helped more than 10,000 individuals and businesses in all 50 states resolve their tax liabilities.

21 | Centro

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2001 | Headquarters: Chicago | Employees: 701, with 77 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Centro provides software for digital advertisers through Basis, the industry’s most powerful and comprehensive automated digital media management platform. Basis enables marketers to plan, buy, analyze and streamline campaigns for programmatic, direct, search and social.

22 | Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors

Years ranked: 3, 2 consecutive | Founded: 2006 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 61 | Locations: 1 Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors is a full-service commercial real estate brokerage firm that focuses on delivering innovative real estate solutions that are client-centric and relationship-focused.

Muller Engineering Company 23 | Inc.

Years ranked: 4 | Founded: 1980 | Headquarters: Lakewood | Employees: 121 | Locations: 1 An employee-owned civil engineering consulting firm, Muller Engineering Company, Inc. specializes in the planning and design of transportation facilities, water resources projects, stormwater and flood control management, and water and wastewater utilities.

24 | Swinerton Builders

Years ranked: 6 | Founded: 1888 | Headquarters: Arvada | Employees: 1,200, with 126 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Swinerton Builders is an employee-owned general contractor. In the Denver metro area, the company built the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences, One Lincoln Park, campus projects for AMG National Trust Bank and Ter-

umo and office environments for Fidelity Investments, UBS Financial, Google and Kaiser Permanente. Swinerton also built schools for Denver Public Schools and parking structures for RTD.

25 | Spyderco Inc.

Years ranked: 7 | Founded: 1976 | Headquarters: Golden | Employees: 132, with 128 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Spyderco started as a family-run business that operated from the back of a bread truck and has evolved to become a worldwide leader in the cutlery industry.

26 | GoSpotCheck

Years ranked: 4 | Founded: 2011 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 125 | Locations: 1 GoSpotCheck sells software used for tracking sales and inventory to help companies increase sales and reduce labor and expenses to improve profitability. The company supports more than 200 brands in 70 countries.

27 | CORE Consultants

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 2014 | Headquarters: Littleton | Employees: 60 | Locations: 2 CORE Consultants offers civil engineering, natural resources, land surveying and development services in the land development, energy and public sectors throughout Colorado and the West. CORE is passionate about supporting the community through organizations like Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, STEMblazers, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver and ElevateHER.

28 | RevGen Partners

Years ranked: 4, 3 consecutive | Founded: 2008 | Headquarters: Centennial | Employees: 111, with 101 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado RevGen Partners is a business and technology consulting firm that helps clients by providing consulting services that span analytics and insights, customer experience and digital enablement. Twice a year, RevGenerosity petitions employees for nominations of nonprofit organizations that address issues related to education, poverty and disadvantaged, at-risk youth. In 2019, the company helped support the Colorado Chamber Orchestra Elementary Instrumental Music program, Dress for Success Denver, Girls on the Run of the Rockies, There with Care, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado and the Wild Bear Mountain Ecology Center.

29 | Baron Education

Years ranked: 4 | Founded: 2008 | Headquarters: Lakewood | Employees: 190, with 82 in Colorado | Locations: 13 in Colorado Baron Education is the parent company of DriveSafe Driving Schools, the largest driving school in Colorado. The company’s Drive Safe for Life System is designed to help students master the rules of the road and develop sound driving skills, so they can gain the confidence to be responsible drivers.

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «17

Apartment 30 | Cornerstone Services Inc. Years ranked: 4 | Founded: 1998 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 98, with 96 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Cornerstone is a third-party property management company that serves both the owners of the buildings it manages and the residents who live there. The company works to make the buildings more energy-efficient and ensure residents feel safe in their homes.

mate their accounts receivable operations.

36 | Denver Academy

Years ranked: 6, 4 consecutive | Founded: 1972 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 114 | Locations: 1 Denver Academy is an independent co-ed day school for students in grades 1-12. The academy is among the top schools in the nation that specialize in supporting diverse learners, including those with dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and executive functioning disorder.

Electric Power Engineering 31 | NEI Cooper Heating and Cooling Inc. 37 | Inc.

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1982 | Headquarters: Lakewood | Employees: 79, with 71 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado NEI Electric Power Engineering provides power system engineering services for all aspects of power systems engineering. NEI specializes in substation design, transmission and distribution line design and system commissioning.

32 | CyberGRX Inc.

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2015 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 101, with 71 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado CyberGRX operates the world’s largest cyber risk exchange platform, which gives its customers access to the cyber risk data of critical vendors, advanced analytics that prioritize mitigation efforts and fact-based insights. CyberGRX provides its clients with the tools they need to efficiently manage, monitor and mitigate risk.

33 | Professional Assist Corporation

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1996 | Headquarters: Golden | Employees: 55, with 54 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Professional Assist Corporation is a suite of membership associations that serve more than 90,000 members working in spa, salon and wellness professions. In addition to liability insurance, PAC provides continuing education, practice-building guidance and legislative support.

34 | Bradsby Group

Years ranked: 7, 4 consecutive | Founded: 2004 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 106, with 96 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado| Bradsby Group is a premier recruiting firm servicing the accounting, health care, construction, engineering, energy, industrial, technology, legal, supply chain and the financial and cannabis markets. The employee-owned company’s name was inspired by the engraving on a Louisville Slugger baseball bat that was manufactured by a company named Hillerich and Bradsby.

35 | Billtrust

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2001 | Headquarters: Lawrenceville, N.J. | Employees: 550, with 137 in Colorado | Locations: 2 in Colorado As the leading provider of order-to-cash solutions, Billtrust has always focused on making it easier for companies to get paid. The company’s cloud-based platform lets businesses auto-

18» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1978 | Headquarters: Broomfield | Employees: 120 | Locations: 2 Cooper Heating and Cooling is a full-service HVAC company that offers installation, repair, maintenance and replacement services. Cooper was the first company in Colorado to seal duct joints with a putty-like paste to prevent air leakage. The technique is now an industry standard.

38 | Vivax Pros

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 2004 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 140 | Locations: 1 Vivax Pros protects and beautifies homes by offering exterior and interior painting and siding and gutter installation. The Vivax office includes a CrossFit gym and the company offers three daily CrossFit classes and twiceweekly boxing classes for free.

39 | ANM

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1994 | Headquarters: Albuquerque, N.M. | Employees: 240, with 60 in Colorado | Locations: 2 in Colorado ANM is one of the fastest-IT consulting services in the U.S. The company designs and implements IT solutions from industry-leading technology providers including Cisco, Pure Storage, AWS, VMware, Splunk, Cohesity and F5. The company’s specialties include designing, developing and deploying solutions for enterprise networking, data center and cloud, collaboration, security, audiovisual and Salesforce.

Residential 40 | Primary Mortgage Inc.

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1998 | Headquarters: Salt Lake City | Employees: 1,710 with 60 in Colorado | Locations: 10 in Colorado Primary Residential Mortgage works to simplify the home-buying process for both firsttime and experienced homeowners. The company leverages its access to multiple loan programs and its in-house lending system to provide better loan rates.

41 | Galloway & Company Inc.

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 1982 | Headquarters: Greenwood Village | Employees: 158, with 144 in Colorado | Locations: 3 in Colorado Based in the Denver Tech Center, Galloway & Company provides planning, architecture and engineering services for projects that range

from half-acre pad sites to master-planned communities.

42 | Drury Hotels Company LLC

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 1973 | Headquarters: St. Louis | Employees: 5,500, 143 in Colorado | Locations: 4 in Colorado Drury Hotels Company was founded in 1973 by the Drury family and the company’s goal hasn’t changed — to provide clean rooms, friendly service and honest value to each guest, each and every day. The company operates more than 150 hotels in 25 states under the Drury Inn & Suites, Drury Plaza Hotel, Pear Tree Inn by Drury brands.

43 | Total Quality Logistics

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1997 | Headquarters: Cincinnati | Employees: 5,500, with 95 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Total Quality Logistics is the second-largest freight brokerage firm in the nation with 57 offices in 26 states. The company works with a network of more than 85,000 carriers to create greater supply-chain efficiencies for customers.

Technology Group 44 | Greystone Inc.

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 2001 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 91, 89 in Colorado | Locations: 3 in Colorado Greystone Technology Group provides information technology services including managed service, supplemental service, on-demand service, cybersecurity assessments, consulting and management, website and app development and end-user training.

45 | SambaSafety

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1998 | Headquarters: Greenwood Village | Employees: 150, 100 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado SambaSafety is the industry leader in cloudbased driver risk management software. SambaSafety helps companies identify their high risk driving populations to make roads safer for everyone.

46 | EMC Insurance

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1911 | Headquarters: Des Moines, Iowa | Employees: 2,540, with 54 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Employers Mutual Casualty Company is licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and provides property and casualty insurance products and services throughout the United States.

47 | Pie Insurance Services Inc.

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2017 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 138, with 114 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Pie Insurance provides workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses in 34 states and the District of Columbia. The company also works with local, regional and national insurance agencies to provide coverage to their clients.

48 | BCER Engineering Inc.

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1994 | Headquarters: Arvada | Employees: 90, with 76 in Colorado | Locations: 2 in Colorado BCER provides engineering design services to architects, contractors and building owners.

The company’s notable projects include the Denver International Airport Westin Hotel, the new campus for UC Health at Fitzsimons, the Wellington Webb Office Building, Denver Botanic Gardens Science Pyramid, U.S. Olympic Museum and the CU Williams Village Housing Campus.

49 | CCIG

Years ranked: 5, 4 consecutive | Founded: 1985 | Headquarters: Englewood | Employees: 94, with 93 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado CCIG is recognized as one of Colorado’s leading insurance brokerages and provides property, casualty and life insurance to clients throughout the region. The company also provides benefits and risk management services for businesses.

50 | Griffis Residential

Years ranked: 6, 4 consecutive | Founded: 1985 | Headquarters: Greenwood Village | Employees: 237, with 134 in Colorado | Locations: 12 in Colorado Griffis Residential owns and manages highquality apartment communities in premier locations including Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 1985 by Ian Griffis when he was still in college.

51 | RE/MAX Alliance

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1984 | Headquarters: Arvada | Employees: 87 | Locations: 24 RE/MAX Alliance is Colorado’s largest privately-owned real estate company. It has 20 offices along the Front Range, including the entire Denver metro area. Its agents are committed to giving customers an excellent experience whether they are buying their first home, selling their house or working with a commercial property

52 | Electric Tobacconist

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2015 | Headquarters: Boulder | Employees: 76 | Locations: 1 The Electric Tobacconist is a one-stop shop for e-cigarette and vaping supplies. The company’s name pays homage to its British roots.

53 | ECC-Environmental Chemical Corporation

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1985 | Headquarters: Burlingame, Calif. | Employees: 360, with 53 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado ECC was founded to provide clients with comprehensive environmental remediation and engineering services. The company has expanded its core capabilities to include construction, design-build, energy and munitions response services.

54 | Ulteig

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1944 | Headquarters: Fargo, N.D. | Employees: 560, with 128 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Ulteig has more than 70 years of experience in the engineering design industry and provides its expertise in a variety of infrastructure sectors including power, renewables, transportation and communications.

Resources (USA) 55 | Enerplus Corporation

Years ranked: 4, 3 consecutive | Founded: 1986 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 370, 100 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Enerplus is an independent North American exploration and production company focused on developing high-quality assets through a disciplined, returns-based capital program.

56 | AFC Urgent Care Denver

Years named: 2 | Founded: 2013 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 51, with 50 in Colorado | Locations: 5 in Colorado AFC Urgent Care Denver offers fast and comprehensive urgent medical care daily at four walk-in Denver-area clinics.

Graham Milstein & 57 | Foster Calisher LLP

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1999 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 56, with 55 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher offers services across a diverse range of legal specialties including appellate, bankruptcy, business, construction, employment, estate and tax planning, licensing, land use and real estate and criminal defense.

58 | Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc.

Years ranked: 4 | Founded: 1927 | Headquarters: St. Paul, Minn. | Employees: 647, with 76 in Colorado | Locations: 2 in Colorado Short Elliott Hendrickson is an employeeowned engineering firm. Its services include civil, environmental, transportation, drinking water, wastewater, and structural engineering; funding acquisition; planning and landscape design; and architectural design; surveying, and technology and geographical information system services.

Entravision Communications 59 | Corporation

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1995 | Headquarters: Santa Monica, Calif. | Employees: 1,194, with 52 in Colorado | Locations: 3 in Colorado Entravision Communications Corporation is a leading global media company that reaches and engages U.S. Latinos, as well as consumers in Mexico and other markets in Latin America.

Entravision has 55 primary television stations and is the largest affiliate group of both the Univision and UniMás television networks.

Entravision also owns and operates 49 primarily Spanish-language radio stations.

Construction 60 | Turner Company Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 1902 | Headquarters: New York | Employees: 10,439, with 129 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Turner Construction Company has a staff of almost 10,000 employees and completes $15 billion of construction on 1,500 projects each year.

61 | Advanced Assembly

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2004 | Headquarters: Aurora | Employees: 107 | Locations: 1 Advanced Assembly offers quick turn printed circuit board assembly service. The company has assembled more than 40,000 designs in the past decade.

62 | American Indian College Fund

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1989 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 58 | Locations: 1 The American Indian College Fund raises money and provides scholarships to help American Indians achieve their higher education and career objectives.

of periOperative 63 | Association Registered Nurses (AORN)

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1949 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 162, with 141 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado AORN is a national, non-profit membership association that represents the interests of more than 160,000 perioperative nurses nationwide by providing nursing education, standards, and practice resources, including the peer-reviewed, monthly publication AORN Journal. AORN’s 40,000 registered nurse members, who manage, teach and practice perioperative nursing, are enrolled in nursing education or are engaged in perioperative research.

64 | LT Environmental Inc.

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 1992 | Headquarters: Arvada | Employees: 139, with 111 in Colorado | Locations: 3 in Colorado LT Environmental is an environmental and engineering consulting firm specializing in managing risk for contaminated properties and sensitive areas. Since 1992, LTE has earned the trust and respect of clients from a diverse range of industries including oil and gas, real estate development, manufacturing and transportation in both the public and private sectors.

Camp Bow Wow (Corporate 65 | Division)

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2000 | Headquarters: Westminster | Employees: 60, with 59 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Camp Bow Wow is North America’s largest pet care franchise. The $100-million-dollar-plus company has 160 franchise locations and dogs visited a Camp Bow Wow location more than three million times a year.

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «19

Top midsize companies SPECIAL AWARDS The Top 150 survey statement is divided into broad categories such as Training and Work/Life Balance. Energage calculates which company has the highest score in each category. Here are the midsize companies that won special awards and the statement each one scored highest on:

MANAGERS

Power Home Remodeling Group My manager helps me learn and grow.

My manager makes it easier to do my job well.

My manager cares about my concerns.

NEW IDEAS

Madison & Co. Properties New ideas are encouraged at this company.

TRAINING

Visiting Angels of Denver I get the formal training I want for my career.

LEADERSHIP

Dale Easdon, Custom Made Meals I have confidence in the leader of this company.

Employees work at the dispatch center at Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric in 2019.

RJ Sangosti, Denver Post file

20 TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

The midsize company category is for employers with 150 to 499 employees in the region. The 49 winners were chosen from a field of 74 entries.

1. RE/MAX Professionals 2. Custom Made Meals 3. Madison & Co. Properties 4. Visiting Angels of Denver 5. Power Home Remodeling Group 6. Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric 7. Brown and Caldwell 8. Cornerstone Home Lending 9. ezCater 10. Fransen Pittman General Contractors 11. Donor Alliance Inc. 12. Stryker Corp.

13. Ping Identity Corp.

14. Renewal by Andersen 15. 8z Real Estate 16. GSA Region 8 17. Extraction Oil & Gas Inc. 18. Weifield Group Contracting 19. Conga 20. Physician Health Partners 21. Delta Dental of Colorado 22. Burns & McDonnell 23. Risas Dental Management LLC 24. Encompass Health 25. Guild Education 26. Slalom Consulting 27. LONG Building Technologies 28. Adolfson & Peterson Construction 29. AllHealth Network 30. SEMA Construction Inc. 31. Aimco 32. Personal Capital 33. New York Life Insurance Co. 34. Syncroness Inc. 35. Coalfire Systems Inc. 36. OpenTable 37. ICAT 38. The MITRE Corp.

39. Workplace ELEMENTS 40. Lohmiller & Co. dba Carrier West 41. PorchLight Real Estate Group 42. SpotX 43. Wireless Vision 44. Tallgrass Energy 45. Mortenson Construction 46. Haselden Construction 47. Security Service Federal Credit Union 48. Xactly Corp.

49. General Air Service & Supply

“It’s critical to provide a strong presence online, and that’s very difficult for a seller to do without a Realtor,” said Brad Whitehouse, owner of RE/MAX Professionals. Provided by RE/MAX Professionals

RE/MAX Professionals helps buyers, sellers navigate deals 1 | RE/MAX Professionals Years ranked: 2 Founded: 1982 Headquarters: Lakewood Employees: 456 Locations: 9

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

When Colorado shut down in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brad Whitehouse, owner of RE/MAX Professionals, predicted little change for the state’s housing market.

Even if a lot of people decided to sell their homes, the market would continue to be a sellers’ market. “What we’ve seen in previous uncertain times is people

pull out for a 35- to 40-day period, and then they get back into the market. We may see a slow second quarter, but then we’ll see a strong following quarter.”

He was right.

After a brief dip when real estate agents faced limits showing houses and some people pulled their homes off the market, Colorado’s real estate sales quickly rebounded. Homebuyers in metro Denver closed on 5,581 homes and condos in June while putting an additional 7,676 under contract, according to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. June closures rose nearly 60% over May and were down only 4.1% from June 2019.

“For years we’ve had a massive influx of people relocating from out of state,” Whitehouse says.

“We also see a significant number

of Coloradans relocating to the Denver area. I don’t anticipate a shift in either of those trends.”

He does anticipate technology will continue to be important in real estate. “It’s critical to provide a strong presence online, and that’s very difficult for a seller to do without a Realtor. We provide that type of technology and service to help position the seller and give consumers a complete look at what’s available.”

As consumers have become more tech-savvy, they do more research online before they look at any houses.

“But they still need a full-time, trusted advocate who can help them navigate all of this information,” he says.

And that’s what RE/MAX Professionals offers with 450 licensed agents operating out of nine loca-

tions in the Denver area.

The company works to support the community by offering appreciation events and its annual Concert in the Park in Highlands Ranch.

RE/MAX Professionals also operates the nonprofit Professionals Miracles Foundation, which provides grants to help children in the metro area who have been diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses or chronic medical conditions, or those who have been injured in accidents.

Despite the virus and economic upheaval it has caused, Whitehouse remains optimistic about Colorado’s future.

“We’re in a healthy position,” he says. “We could double our inventory and still be in a healthy position. There’s still lots of room to grow.”

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «21

Aura Quintero, left, and Marisela Soto making samples at Custom Made Meals LLC in 2019. Joe Amon, Denver Post file

Custom Made Meals feeds the nation with oven-ready entrees 2 | Custom Made Meals Years ranked: 2 Founded: 2009 Headquarters: Denver Employees: 328 Locations: 1

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, business was booming for Denver-based Custom Made Meals.

But once people went into lockdown, demand skyrocketed for the company’s big, hearty meals such as chicken parmesan, maple waffle chicken, stuffed chicken breasts and stuffed pork chops.

“It’s been growing like wildfire,” says Sean Saunders, chief fi-

nancial officer and chief administrative officer. “Business increased by 35% from 2018 to 2019, and we are on track to climb another 35% or more this year.”

Custom Made Meals prepares fresh, oven-ready entrees and appetizers for more than 15,000 grocery stores in 48 states, including significant grocers such as King Soopers, Kroger, Publix, Target and Food Lion.

The company runs a seven-day operation and is continually looking to bring on new workers.

Dale Easdon, president and chief executive officer, says to be successful, it’s crucial for Custom Made to have a high-performing team and to take care of its employees.

“We know it’s tough work,” Easdon says. “They are working in a cold environment, so we need to provide them with the right cloth-

22» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

ing and training. We celebrate the wins with them and work to keep them motivated. That’s what we do.”

The company also works to avoid a top-down management style.

“We lead from the floor, not the office,” Easdon says.

“The management team spends a lot of time making sure our employees have the tools they need to do the job.”

Katie Prekel, vice president for human resources, says the company also works to reward its employees. Custom Made Meals serves employees monthly luncheons and provides special meals for people who work on holidays.

Because the company’s employees are diverse, management works to cultivate a climate of respect and inclusivity. Many em-

ployees speak Spanish, so company leaders took Spanish classes to improve communication, Prekel says.

Despite the increased demand for its meals, Custom Made has had no issues getting the supplies it needs.

“Just like we work to communicate with our employees, we also work to communicate with our supply chain,” Easdon says. “We pride ourselves on being a partner of choice, and our suppliers know we are working together to get products on store shelves.”

Because the company already followed many health and protocols to manufacture food, such as face and head coverings, it needed to make only a few additional changes to keep employees healthy, such as adding more distance between workers and adding flexible shifts.

4 | Visiting Angels of Denver

Years ranked: 7, 5 consecutive | Founded: 2008 | Headquarters: Wheat Ridge | Employees: 160 | Locations: 3 Visiting Angels of Denver provides supportive home care services for seniors and adults that allow them to safely stay in their homes and provide peace of mind to their families.

5 | Power Home Remodeling Group

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 1992 | Headquarters: Chester, Pa. | Employees: 2,600, with 165 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Power a full-service, sustainable exterior home remodeler, provides energy-serving solutions with its product line of windows, siding, roofing, doors, solar roofing panels and attic insulation.

Plumbing Heating & 6 | Applewood Electric

Madison & Co. Properties is the No. 3 midsize business.

Provided by Madison & Co. Properties

Providing agent support is key to success 3 | Madison & Co. Properties Years ranked: 7 Founded: 2008 Headquarters: Denver Employees: 161 Locations: 6

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

Sometimes buying a house is like looking for a needle in a haystack. You know what you want, but finding it among all the straw can be frustrating.

That’s why buyers need the agents at a boutique real estate firm such as Madison & Co. Properties.

The company, which is named for the street where its founders, Todd Narlinger and Michael Turra, had their first investment property, has six offices in the Denver area. Madison & Co. Properties is committed to providing a high-quality experience for buyers, sellers and its agents.

“Our company prides itself on providing a collaborative team environment with an extensive mentoring program that provides structured training, professional coaching, business plan-

ning and a boutique culture that celebrates young professionals as well as embraces family lifestyles,” says Shannon Cruz, director of agent development and operations.

When Cruz joined the company in October, she was impressed by the culture.

“Madison really hits a home run on that end,” she said. “There’s a lot of collaboration. No one is afraid they will say too much. No one is too good to train another broker or give them advice. We’re all in this together to provide the best possible service.”

To do that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has worked to be flexible and recognize that its brokers now have additional demands on their time.

“Everything just shut down. We had brokers who all of a sudden had to also become school teachers,” she said. “We recognized that and are working to adjust to a new way of living and working.”

The company’s brokers also work together to discuss new initiatives and create new processes.

“We want to make sure we’re always in front of the game and provide the very best in technology, support and training,” Cruz said.

Years ranked: 7, 4 consecutive | Founded: 1973 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 165 | Locations: 1 Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric, which is known for its bright orange trucks, is one of Colorado’s only familyowned plumbing, heating, drain cleaning, cooling and electrical repair companies.

7 | Brown and Caldwell

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1947 | Headquarters: Walnut Creek, Calif. | Employees: 1,753, with 163 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Brown and Caldwell’s two founders had the vision to create a full-service environmental engineering and construction firm. The company works to safeguard water, maintain infrastructure and restore habitats to help communities thrive.

8 | Cornerstone Home Lending

Years ranked: 7 | Founded: 1988 | Headquarters: Houston | Employees: 1,575, with 226 in Colorado | Locations: 53 in Colorado With more than 80 offices in 18 states, Cornerstone Home Lending is a full-service residential mortgage banker. Cornerstone’s home loan transactions are handled in house to ensure the company meets its agreed-upon closing date.

9 | ezCater

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 2007 | Headquarters: Boston | Employees: 884, with 234 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Connecting businesses with more than 70,000 caterers and restaurants across the U.S., ezCater makes it easy to order food online for occasions from office lunches to offsite client meetings. The company offers a curated list of the best business caterers for 22,743 cities and towns across the United States.

Fransen Pittman General 10 |Contractors

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 1994 | Headquarters: Englewood | Employees: 187 | Locations: 2 Fransen Pittman is a premier Colorado-based construction company that specializes in buildings that transform communities and the lives of the people working, learning and living in them. The company participates in the Environmental Leadership Program for Colorado and was the only construction company to receive the Silver Environment Leader award.

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «23

11 | Donor Alliance Inc.

Years ranked: 6, 5 consecutive | Founded: 1985 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 152, with 150 in Colorado | Locations: 4 Donor Alliance is the organ and tissue procurement agency for Colorado and most of Wyoming. The not-for-profit organization serves nearly a million residents and more than 110 hospitals.

12 | Stryker Corporation

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1941 | Headquarters: Kalamazoo, Mich. | Employees: 33,000, with 305 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Stryker is one of the world’s leading medical technology companies and offers innovative products and services that help improve patient and hospital outcomes.

13 | Ping Identity Corp.

Years ranked: 6, 3 consecutive | Founded: 2002 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 938, with 376 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Ping Identity provides cloud identity security solutions to more than 800 of the world’s largest companies, government organizations and cloud businesses. Ping Identity’s services allow more than 42 members of the Fortune 100 to secure the information of hundreds of millions of employees, customers and partners.

14 | Renewal by Andersen

Years ranked: 6 | Founded: 2011 | Headquarters: Smithfield, R.I. | Employees: 1,200, 294 in Colorado | Locations: 5 in Colorado Renewal by Andersen serves more than 100 markets in the United States and has become one of the largest window replacement window companies in the country since opening its first store in Minnesota in 1995. The company has installed nearly 3 million windows.

15 | 8z Real Estate

Years ranked: 6 | Founded: 2009 | Headquarters: Boulder | Employees: 190, 187 in Colorado | Locations: 15 in Colorado The company was formed in a cramped Boulder office with the revolutionary notion that the real estate experience was broken and needed to be fixed for consumers and agents.

With 15 offices and more than 150 agents throughout Colorado, 8z Real Estate provides in-house mortgage, title, rentals and insurance services.

16 | GSA Region 8

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1949 | Headquarters: Washington, D.C. | Employees: 11,000, with 354 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado GSA Region 8 works strategically to spur economic development in the communities it serves. The agency awarded nearly $80 million in contracts to small businesses in fiscal year 2019.

17 | Extraction Oil & Gas Inc.

Years ranked: 4 | Founded: 2013 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 324, 320 in Colorado

24» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

| Locations: 2 in Colorado Extraction Oil & Gas is a Denver-based domestic exploration and production company that uses the latest in energy development technology and focuses primarily on developing oil and natural gas resources in the DenverJulesburg Basin.

18 | Weifield Group Contracting

Years ranked: 9 | Founded: 2002 | Headquarters: Centennial | Employees: 541, with 465 in Colorado | Locations: 2 in Colorado Weifield Group Contracting, a national leader in cutting-edge electrical construction, builds energy-efficient buildings in Colorado, Texas and Wyoming.

19 | Conga

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 2006 | Headquarters: Broomfield | Employees: 515, with 280 in Colorado | Locations: 1 Conga, which is the top paid application on the Salesforce App Exchange, has spent more than a decade creating products that simplify and automate data, documents, contracts and reporting. One of the founders came up with the company’s name because its products work like a conga line.

20 | Physician Health Partners

Years ranked: 8, 4 consecutive | Founded: 1996 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 242, with 238 in Colorado | Locations: 2 Physician Health Partners works with PHPprime and Colorado Community Health Alliance to provide health care to more than 500,000 Coloradans in Denver and Colorado Springs.

21 | Delta Dental of Colorado

Years ranked: 1 | Founded:1968 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 194 | Locations: 1 Delta Dental of Colorado helps its customers create healthy smiles by providing dental care benefits to 1.4 million customers.

22 | Burns & McDonnell

Years ranked: 9 | Founded: 1898 | Headquarters: Kansas City, Mo. | Employees: 7,580, with 254 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Burns & McDonnell is an employee-owned company with more than 7,500 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists and consultants. It provides design and engineering services in a variety of industries ranging from telecommunications and transportation to municipal, military and manufacturing.

23 | Risas Dental Management LLC

Years ranked: 3, 2 consecutive | Founded: 2011 | Headquarters: Phoenix | Employees: 720, with 206 in Colorado | Locations: 7 in Colorado Risas Dental focuses on providing quality, affordable dental care and braces.

24 | Encompass Health

Years ranked: 7, 3 consecutive | Founded: 1998 | Headquarters: Dallas | Employees: 12,500, with 279 in Colorado | Locations: 7 in Colorado

Encompass Health is one of the country’s largest Medicare-certified home health and hospice service providers in the nation. The company provides skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and additional services from more than 300 branch offices.

25 | Guild Education

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2015 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 406, with 404 in Colorado | Locations: 1 Guild Education works with leading employers including Walmart, The Walt Disney Company, Lowe’s, Chipotle and Discover to build strategic higher-education programs for their employees. Its programs help adult learners with programs including high school completion, trade programs and associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

26 | Slalom Consulting

Years ranked: 9 | Founded: 2001 | Headquarters: Seattle | Employees: 7,800, with 324 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Slalom is a business and technology consulting firm focused on strategy, technology and business transformation. The company has strong partnerships with more than 200 leading technology providers including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Salesforce and Tableau.

27 | LONG Building Technologies

Years ranked: 6 | Founded: 1965 | Headquarters: Littleton | Employees: 440, with 251 in Colorado | Locations: 4 in Colorado LONG Building uses building technology services to make commercial, institutional and industrial facilities of all types and sizes automated, efficient, green and safe.

| Adolfson & Peterson 28 Construction

Years ranked: 4, 3 consecutive | Founded: 1946 | Headquarters: Minneapolis | Employees: 709, with 315 in Colorado | Locations: 1 Adolfson & Peterson Construction is a family-owned company that offers preconstruction and construction services to the commercial, education, health care, hospitality, industrial, multifamily, municipal, recreation and senior living industries.

29 | AllHealth Network

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1955 | Headquarters: Englewood | Employees: 421 | Locations: 13 AllHealth Network provides behavioral health care to more than 17,000 children, adults and older adults, families and couples.

Its services include counseling, psychiatry, crisis services, substance abuse treatment, an adult acute treatment unit, services offered to the criminal justice system, vocational and social rehabilitation, school-based services and an on-site pharmacy.

30 | SEMA Construction Inc.

Years named: 3 | Founded: 1991 | Headquarters: Centennial | Employees: 550, with 351 in Colorado | Locations: 1 SEMA Construction is a full-service contractor that provides civil and industrial construction services. Approximately 80 percent of its business comes from government contracts awarded through a competitive bid process.

31 | Aimco

Years ranked: 8 | Founded: 1994 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 972, with 306 in Colorado | Locations: 10 in Colorado Aimco is a Real Estate Investment Trust headquartered in Denver that is one of the largest owners and operators of apartment properties in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

32 | Personal Capital

Years ranked: 6 | Founded: 2009 | Headquarters: San Carlos, Calif. | Employees: 386, with 165 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Personal Capital is an industry-leading digital wealth management company that manages more than $12 billion of assets.

33 | New York Life Insurance Co.

Years ranked: 8 | Founded: 1845 | Headquarters: New York | Employees: 11,388, with 202 in Colorado | Locations: 4 The Colorado general office is committed to helping its customers build, protect and preserve wealth by analyzing their clients’ insurance and financial needs.

34 | Syncroness Inc.

Years ranked: 3, 2 consecutive | Founded: 1998 | Headquarters: Westminster | Employees: 154 | Locations: 1 Syncroness is a full-service engineering company that provides technical product development and engineering work packages for companies and organizations in the United States and internationally.

35 | Coalfire Systems Inc.

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 2001 | Headquarters: Westminster | Employees: 729, with 209 in Colorado | Locations: 2 in Colorado Coalfire is a cybersecurity consulting firm that works with its clients to manage risk and avert cybersecurity threats.

36 | OpenTable

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1998 | Headquarters: San Francisco | Employees: 1,200, with 258 in Colorado | Locations: 2 in Colorado OpenTable is the world’s leading online restaurant reservations service and works with more than 54,000 restaurants in 20 countries.

The company leverages data to provide personalized restaurant recommendations.

37 | ICAT

Years ranked: 6 | Founded: 1998 | Headquarters:

Broomfield | Employees: 216, with 187 in Colorado | Locations: 1 ICAT provides catastrophe insurance coverage to business owners and homeowners in hurricane- and earthquake-exposed areas of the United States.

38 | The MITRE Corporation

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1958 | Headquarters: Bedford, Mass. | Employees: 8,695, with 219 | Locations: 1 in Colorado MITRE manages federally funded research and development centers that support several U.S. government agencies. The company provided the technical know-how to pioneer the nation’s first air defense and air traffic control systems.

39 | Workplace Elements

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2008 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 152 | Locations: 2 Workplace ELEMENTS sells office furniture and fixtures, and designs workplaces that foster collaboration, communication and productivity.

40| Lohmiller and Co.

Years ranked: 6, 4 consecutive | Founded: 1990 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 190 | Locations: 4 Lohmiller and Co., which does business as Carrier West, is an independently owned wholesale distributor of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, parts and supplies. The company primarily distributes Carrier products in Colorado and Wyoming.

41| PorchLight Real Estate Group

Years ranked: 7 | Founded: 2005 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 207 | Locations: 5 PorchLight Real Estate Group offers concierge-style real estate services in the Denver area and Boulder. A 100% women-owned business, PorchLight has received numerous accolades. In addition to being named to The Denver Post’s Top Workplaces list for seven years in a row and it has been recognized as one of the Top Women-Owned Companies by the Denver Business Journal and ColoradoBiz Magazine.

42 | SpotX

Years ranked: 6, 1 consecutive | Founded: 2007 | Headquarters: Broomfield | Employees: 487, with 278 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado SpotX is a global video ad serving platform that provides digital media owners with the ability to monetize content with video advertising on desktop, mobile and connected devices.

43 | Wireless Vision

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2004 | Headquarters: Bloomfield Hills, Mich. | Employees: 3,410, with 156 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Wireless Vision, which operates more than 650 T-Mobile-branded retail stores nationwide, is the largest T-Mobile exclusive partner in the United States.

44 | Tallgrass Energy

Years ranked: 5 | Founded: 2012 | Headquarters: Lakewood | Employees: 807, with 371 in Colorado | Locations: 14 in Colorado Tallgrass Energy transports crude oil and natural gas from the Rocky Mountains, Upper Midwest and Appalachian regions. The company owns and operates more than 8,300 miles of natural gas pipeline, more than 850 miles of crude pipeline and more than 300 miles of water pipeline across the United States.

45 | Mortenson Construction

Years ranked: 6, 4 consecutive | Founded: 1954 | Headquarters: Minneapolis | Employees: 4,500, with 368 | Locations: 1 in Colorado Mortenson Construction was named the 18th Top Contractor of the Top 400 contractors in the U.S. by Engineering News-Record. Mortenson has built some of Denver’s most iconic projects, including the Denver International Airport Hotel and Transit Center, Coors Field, the Pepsi Center, the Denver Art Museum and the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center.

46 | Haselden Construction

Years ranked: 5 | Founded: 1973 | Headquarters: Centennial | Employees: 415, with 409 in Colorado | Locations: 3 in Colorado Haselden Construction is a top general contractor on the Front Range that has provided exceptional, client-centric construction services in Colorado, Wyoming and the Western United States. The company provides general contracting, construction management, designbuild, turnkey development and preconstruction services.

Security Service Federal 47 | Credit Union

Years ranked: 3, 1 consecutive | Founded: 1956 | Headquarters: San Antonio | Employees: 1,736, with 292 in Colorado | Locations: 17 in Colorado Security Service Federal Credit Union is one of the nation’s top 10 credit unions. It has more than $9.5 billion of assets and 774,000 members in Texas, Colorado and Utah.

48 | Xactly Corporation

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 2005 | Headquarters: San Jose, Calif. | Employees: 600, with 245 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Xactly delivers a scalable, cloud-based enterprise platform for sales organizations, including setting sales quotas, planning territories, managing incentive compensation and predictive analytics.

49 | General Air Service & Supply

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1969 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 188, with 184 in Colorado | Locations: 9 in Colorado General Air Service & Supply is a third-generation, family-owned business and the largest independent gas and welding supplier in Colorado.

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «25

Top large companies SPECIAL AWARDS The Top 150 survey statement is divided into broad categories such as Training and Work/Life Balance. Energage calculates which company has the highest score in each category.

Here are the large companies that won special awards and the statement each one scored highest on:

DIRECTION

RingCentral I believe this company is going in the right direction.

DOERS

Edward Jones At this company, we do things efficiently and well.

WORK/LIFE FLEXIBILITY

Pinnacol Assurance I have the flexibility I need to balance my work and personal life.

BENEFITS

Zillow Group My benefits package is good compared to others in this industry.

CLUED IN SENIOR MANAGEMENT

Salesforce

Senior managers understand what is really happening at this company.

LEADERSHIP

Willis Wiedel Encore Electric Inc. I have confidence in the leader of this company.

Rose Medical Center is No. 19 on The Denver Post’s Top Workplaces 2020 list for large companies. Kathryn Scott, Special to The Denver Post

26» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

The large company category is for employers with 500 or more employees in the region.

The 36 winners were chosen from a field of 40 entries.

1. Salesforce 2. Edward Jones 3. Encore Electric Inc. 4. Progressive Insurance 5. Breckenridge Grand Vacations 6. RingCentral 7. Zillow Group 8. Keysight Technologies 9. Pinnacol Assurance 10. Gusto 11. Booz Allen Hamilton 12. Craig Hospital 13. Greystar 14. Fidelity Investments 15. OnDeck Capital Inc. 16. Charles Schwab & Co. 17. Saunders Construction Inc. 18. Accenture 19. Rose Medical Center 20. FirstBank 21. American Financing 22. USAA 23. Clinica Campesina/Family Health Services 24. Bright Horizons Family Solutions 25. Martin Marietta Materials 26. Mental Health Center of Denver 27. Jefferson Center for Mental Health 28. DaVita Inc. 29. Sturgeon Electric Company Inc. 30. CACI International Inc. 31. UCHealth 32. Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply 33. Vivage Senior Living 34. Nelnet Inc. 35. DSST Public Schools 36. Nutrien/Nutrien Ag Solutions

Salesforce innovates to help companies manage challenges 1 | Salesforce Years ranked: 1 Founded: 1999 Headquarters: San Francisco Employees: 40,000, with 508 in Colorado Locations: 2 in Colorado

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

Salesforce is the global leader in customer relationship management software and creates digital products to help companies connect with their customers.

Because it is a digital company, Salesforce could pivot quickly to handle the challenges posed by COVID-19, says Gary Nafus, senior vice president, enterprise sales.

“While all businesses are in uncharted territory, Salesforce was built to handle moments like this,” Nafus says. “Our employees trust us to take care of them. And we know in doing so, they’ll be better able to take care of our customers and help them be successful in this unprecedented time.”

The majority of the company’s offices remain closed, and employees can work from home at least through the end of the year.

To help other companies, Salesforce published guiding principles to show how it is preparing to return to the workplace.

Salesforce also will continue to innovate to provide the best products and services, Nafus says.

“Innovation is one of our core values, and it’s more important than ever as we all completely reimagine the way businesses operate. Thinking differently is in our DNA,” he says.

For example, Salesforce and a team of trusted experts developed an essential set of tools to help businesses address the pandemic.

In March, the company launched Salesforce Care, a suite of free rapid response solutions to help health care providers, small businesses and other customers navigate the initial crisis.

Salesforce employees pose with Gov. Jared Polis. To help customers with the coronavirus, the company launched Work.com, a suite of apps that brings together contact tracing, shift scheduling and workforce triage. Photos provided by Salesforce

Salesforce employees have donated more than 4 million hours of volunteer time since the company was founded in 2009.

In May, Salesforce launched Work.com, a suite of apps that brings together contact tracing, shift scheduling and workforce triage. It also provides expert advice, content, data and new products that can be delivered rapidly and configured easily. Since Work.com launched, thousands of businesses and agencies across the public and private sectors, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, United Way, Pacific Life, Samsung and BMW, have used the new apps.

The company also has reconsidered the benefits and programs employees need now with

the uncertainty about school closures and the disruptions to child care.

To help combat this, Salesforce: • Extended family care leave, so parents are eligible for an additional six weeks of paid time off.

• Increased backup child care offerings so that employees can get reimbursed up to $100 per day for five days each month through the summer.

• Allowed parents and guardians to work from home until school resumes, even if that date extends beyond when the company’s offices reopen.

• Introduced Salesforce Adven-

turers Club, a week-long, virtual program that includes story time with executives, baking lessons, coding for kids, arts and crafts how-tos, equality sessions, yoga classes, dance parties and more.

Sessions are offered in different time zones so kids can participate from anywhere in the world.

When the company held its first club meeting in July, nearly 5,000 kids participated.

Salesforce also will continue to focus on giving back to the community. Every employee gets seven days of paid time off to volunteer and can match charitable contributions up to $5,000 per year. Salesforce’s top 100 volunteers can get $10,000 grants to give to the nonprofit of their choice. Since the company was founded in 2009, its employees have donated more than 4 million hours of volunteer time.

“Giving back has been part of our DNA since day one, when we established the 1-1-1 philanthropic model that contributes 1% of employee time, product and resources back into the community,” Nafus says. “For us, it’s not about pingpong tables and snacks; it’s about meaningful work, purpose, and belonging, which we cultivate through our giving-back efforts.”

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «27

Edward Jones: Providing expertise to build financial plans 2 | Edward Jones Years ranked: 8 Founded: 1922 Headquarters: St. Louis Employees: 47,317, with 855 in Colorado Locations: 373 in Colorado

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

Edward Jones financial advisers have one goal: to make a positive difference for their clients.

“Regardless of what happens with COVID-19 and the challenges it presents now, and in the months ahead, it’s important to have financial goals,” says Todd Young, Edward Jones financial adviser and regional leader for 60 branch offices in the Denver area.

“People are still building plans to send their kids to college. They are still preparing for retirement,” Young says. “It’s critical to be able to work with someone one on one who will take the time to understand what you need and help you build strategies to meet your goals. You need someone who can help you navigate the next days and the months ahead.”

Young knows his clients, especially those who may be retired or are nearing retirement, are especially nervous about the future.

That’s why he and his associates have been proactive about reaching out to clients to let them know there’s a plan that’s appropriate for them.

Edward Jones, founded in 1922, has 373 locations in Colorado. In addition to working to help its clients, Edward Jones also works to support the communities it serves. Volunteerism is a vital component of the firm’s culture.

“We all feel very fortunate that we get to do what we do, so we contribute our time to giving back,” Young says.

Edward Jones raised more than $3.3 million in 2018 for the Alzheimer’s Association annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s. As a presenting sponsor for the event, the company’s total contribution

The annual appreciation dinner for branch office administrators in a Denver metropolitan region.

Photos provided by Edward Jones

topped $6 million. In Colorado, the company organized 39 Walks to End Alzheimer’s that drew 314 participants and raised more than $56,000.

Looking to the future, Edward Jones plans to continue recruiting more high-caliber financial advisers and will continue its Goodknight mentorship programs to ensure new associates are successful. The company devotes 24% of net profits annually — $229 million in 2018 — to profit sharing for associates who have been employed six months or more and work at least 20 hours a week.

“Our philosophy is we work together, we share our financial rewards, and that brings out the best in everyone,” Young says. “That’s something that personally I cherish.”

28» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

One of the 41 teams across Colorado, this one from Colorado Springs, participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.

Encore Electric did work on Colorado State University’s new stadium in Fort Collins.

Provided by Ellen Jaskol, Encore Electric

Encore Electric exhibits commitment to safety, quality 3 | Encore Electric Inc. Years ranked: 2 Founded: 2003 Headquarters: Lakewood Employees: 856, with 770 in Colorado Locations: 1 in Colorado

By Sara B. Hansen Special to The Denver Post

The award-winning team at Encore Electric loves a challenge.

“The more complex it is, the better we are,” says Meg VanderLaan, Encore Electric chief marketing officer. “We excel at the projects that are complicated and highly technical like hospitals, universities, data centers, office structures and museums.”

The company wins awards for safety and quality. In April, En-

core Electric won a 2020 Associated General Contractors Construction Risk Partners Build America Award in the category of Specialty Contractor for their work on the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center. In 2019, Encore Electric was named the Construction Safety Excellence Award Grand Award winner by the AGC and Willis Towers Watson. Encore Electric was honored for its safety record and safety culture and was considered the “safest company in the nation.”

“We’ve always had a strong safety culture,” VanderLaan says.

That’s one of the reasons why our employees stay with us.”

Encore Electric also has been honored with the 2019 Colorado Apprentice Award for Outstanding Employer from the Business Experiential-Learning Commission, the Colorado Department of

Labor and Employment, the Colorado Department of Higher Education and the Colorado Workforce Development Council. The award recognized five Colorado employers for their apprenticeship programs and efforts to further awareness.

The company recognizes the need to not only train the technicians of the future but also to recruit them. That’s why Encore Electric has created the “Exit the Room, Enter a Career,” mobile escape room. The mobile lab allows students to learn about electrical design technology, how electricity works, and what it’s like to be an electrician. The company takes the mobile lab to middle and high schools to spark an interest in a career as an electrician or in technology solutions, VanderLaan says.

Since launching the lab in August 2019, it made 150 stops before

the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily halted its use, VanderLaan says.

In addition to focusing on quality work and safety, Encore Electric also commits to charitable giving.

The company holds an annual Encore Gives! Day in which employees give up a Saturday and bring friends and family to volunteer at events such as trail restorations, river cleanups, and yard maintenance for nonprofit organizations in Glenwood Springs, Eagle, Denver, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. Team members also volunteered to do park maintenance north of Cheyenne. More than 75 employees volunteered last fall.

“We believe that we belong in the communities where we live and work,” VanderLaan says.

“And we want to contribute to that community.”

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «29

4 | Progressive Insurance

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 1937 | Headquarters: Mayfield Village, Ohio | Employees: 39,966, with 2,483 in Colorado | Locations: 4 in Colorado Progressive was the first auto insurance group to launch a website, the first publicly held company to report results monthly and the first insurance company to offer pet injury coverage.

5 | Breckenridge Grand Vacations

Years ranked: 6 | Founded: 1985 | Headquarters: Breckenridge | Employees: 630 | Locations: 1 Breckenridge Grand Vacations is a familyowned company that builds, sells and manages fractional resorts in Breckenridge.

6 | RingCentral

Years ranked: 6, 4 consecutive | Founded: 2003 | Headquarters: Belmont, Calif. | Employees: 4,048, with 616 in Colorado | Locations: 2 in Colorado Description: RingCentral empowers employees to work better together from any location using its unified voice, video meetings, team messaging, digital customer engagement and integrated contact center solutions.

7 | Zillow Group

Years ranked: 4 | Founded: 2006 | Headquarters: Seattle | Employees: 5,200, with 506 in Colorado | Locations: 3 in Colorado Zillow Group is an online database of real estate and home-related companies that focus on all stages of the home lifecycle: renting, buying, selling, financing and home improvement.

8 | Keysight Technologies

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 2014 | Headquarters: Santa Rosa, Calif. | Employees: 13,480, with 896 in Colorado | Locations: 3 in Colorado Keysight manufactures equipment and software to design, test, manufacture and optimize electronics technology.

9 | Pinnacol Assurance

Years ranked: 4 | Founded: 1915 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 656 | Locations: 1 Pinnacol Assurance provides workers compensation protection to 57,000 Colorado employers and their employees.

10 | Gusto

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 2011 | Headquarters: San Francisco | Employees: 700, with 693 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Gusto processes tens of billions of dollars of payroll and enables thousands of businesses to provide employee benefits, including health insurance, retirement plans and college savings plans.

11 | Booz Allen Hamilton

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1914 | Headquarters: McLean, Va. | Employees: 27,000 with 611 in Colorado | Locations: 2 Booz Allen Hamilton is a consulting firm with experts in analytics, digital, engineering

30» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

Employees work the front desk at the Grand Colorado on Peak Eight resort managed by Breckenridge Grand Vacations in 2018. Andy Cross, Denver Post file and cybersecurity that helps clients choose the right strategy and technology to realize their vision.

12 | Craig Hospital

Years ranked: 7 | Founded: 1907 | Headquarters: Englewood | Employees: 1,056 | Locations: 1 Craig Hospital is a nonprofit rehabilitation and research hospital that exclusively specializes in the neurorehabilitation and research of patients with spinal cord and brain injuries.

13 | Greystar

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1993 | Headquarters: Greenwood Village | Employees: 14,800, including 688 in Colorado | Locations: 85 in Colorado Greystar provides property management services for residential housing, apartment homes, furnished corporate housing and mixed-use properties that incorporate retail space.

14 | Fidelity Investments

Years ranked: 4, 2 consecutive | Founded: 1946 | Headquarters: Boston | Employees: 40,000, with 900 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Fidelity offers financial and retirement planning services and was one of the first U.S. companies to provide student loan repayment assistance to employees. More than 330 Colorado employees have saved $1.3 million since the program started in 2016.

15 | OnDeck Capital Inc.

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2007 | Headquarters: New York | Employees: 736, with 576 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado OnDeck has issued more than $12 billion in loans to more than 100,000 small businesses in more than 700 industries since the company was founded.

16 | Charles Schwab & Co.

Years ranked: 8 | Founded: 1971 | Headquarters: San Francisco | Employees: 19,500, with 4,136 in Colorado | Locations: 8 in Colorado Charles Schwab offers a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisers.

17 | Saunders Construction Inc.

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 1972 | Headquarters: Englewood | Employees: 539 | Locations: 3 Saunders Construction is one of Colorado’s largest construction contractors and provides design-build, public-private partnership and commercial real estate development services.

18 | Accenture

Years ranked: 4, 3 consecutive | Founded: 1951 | Headquarters: Philadelphia | Employees: 15,000, including 1,056 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado Accenture provides professional services in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations.

19 | Rose Medical Center

Years ranked: 6 | Founded: 1948 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 1,200 with 1,110 in Colorado | Locations: 1 Rose Medical Center is a leader in comprehensive women’s health, surgical and endoscopy services, heart and vascular, orthopedics and spine surgery, total joint replacement, bariatrics and sports, internal and aesthetic medicine. It was the first Denver hospital to allow Jewish, African-American and female physicians to practice medicine.

20 | FirstBank

Knickknacks sit on a desk at Progressive Insurance’s Colorado Springs office in 2019.

Years ranked: 9 | Founded: 1963 | Headquarters: Lakewood | Employees: 3,011, including 2,829 in Colorado | Locations: 110 in Colorado Colorado’s largest locally owned bank offers retail banking and financing solutions to consumers and businesses.

AAron Ontiveroz, Denver Post file

21 | American Financing

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 2001 | Headquarters: Aurora | Employees: 533 | Locations: 1 American Financing is a family-owned, minority-owned mortgage banker licensed in all 50 states that specializes in residential mortgages and home refinancing.

22 | USAA

Years named: 6 | Founded: 1922 | Headquarters: San Antonio | Employees: 34,850, with 1,910 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado USAA is a diversified financial services group originally formed by a group of Army officers who wanted to self-insure each other and formed the United States Army Automobile Association. USAA has since expanded to offer banking and insurance services to past and present members of the Armed Services.

23

| Clinica Campesina/Family Health Services

Years ranked: 8, 5 consecutive | Founded: 1977 | Headquarters: Lafayette | Employees: 659, with 625 in Colorado | Locations: 5 in Colorado Clinica plays a critical role in providing primary health care services to low-income and/ or uninsured Colorado residents.

Bright Horizons Family 24 | Solutions

Years ranked: 7 | Founded: 1986 | Headquarters: Watertown, Mass. | Employees: 32,388, with 818 in Colorado | Locations: 8 in Colorado Bright Horizons operates more than 1,000 child care centers worldwide and partners with more than 1,100 leading employers across nearly every industry.

25 | Martin Marietta Materials

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 1993 | Headquarters: Raleigh, N.C. | Employees: 9,000, with 1,366 in Colorado | Locations: 50 in Colorado Martin Marietta, the largest underground miner of limestone in the U.S., is a leading supplier of building materials, including aggregates, cement, ready mix concrete and asphalt.

Health Center 26 | ofMental Denver

Years ranked: 8 | Founded: 1989 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 818 | Locations: 32 The Mental Health Center of Denver serves people with mental illness, trauma and co-occurring substance abuse disorders. The center provides a walk-in clinic and respite care as part of a statewide network of mental health,

substance use and emotional crisis help.

Jefferson Center For 27 | Mental Health

Years ranked: 8 | Founded: 1958 | Headquarters: Wheat Ridge | Employees: 620 | Locations: 18 The Jefferson Center has served as a nonprofit, community-focused mental health care and substance use treatment provider for more than 60 years. The center is part of the statewide mental health crisis system.

28 | DaVita Inc.

Years ranked: 8, 2 consecutive | Founded: 1999 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 60,000, with 2,735 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado DaVita provides kidney dialysis services through more than 3,000 outpatient dialysis centers in the United States and other countries.

Electric Company 29 | Sturgeon Inc.

Years ranked: 8 | Founded: 1912 | Headquarters: Henderson | Employees: 1200, with 908 in Colorado | Locations: 6 in Colorado Sturgeon Electric Company provides commercial and industrial electrical construction services, telecommunication services, traffic signals and high-voltage distribution, service and maintenance. Founder David Dwight “D.D.” Sturgeon put up the first outdoor Christmas light display to cheer up his sick son.

30 | CACI International Inc.

Years ranked: 3 | Founded: 1962 | Headquarters: Arlington, Va. | Employees: 22,000, with 1,279 in Colorado | Locations: 1 in Colorado CACI International provides information technology services to many branches of the federal government, including defense, homeland security, intelligence and health care.

31 | UCHealth

Years ranked: 7 | Founded: 2012 | Headquarters: Aurora | Employees: 24,540 | Locations: 200 The UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital is a Level I trauma center and the principal teaching hospital for the University of Colorado School of Medicine. U.S. News and World Report ranked the hospital the best in Colorado

and the 15th best in the nation.

32 | Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1994 | Headquarters: Bozeman, Mont. | Employees: 1,630, with 599 in Colorado | Locations: 13 in Colorado Murdoch’s operates stores in five states and an e-commerce website.

33 | Vivage Senior Living

Years ranked: 2 | Founded: 2012 | Headquarters: Lakewood | Employees: 3,230, with 2,102 | Locations: 31 Vivage is the largest skilled nursing Medicaid provider in Colorado and offers post-acute rehabilitation, senior living and long-term care, including home health, hospice and pharmacy services.

34 | Nelnet Inc.

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 1978 | Headquarters: Lincoln, Neb. | Employees: 6,200, with 520 in Colorado | Locations: 2 Nelnet helps students and families plan and pay for their education and makes the administrative processes for schools more efficient with student loan servicing, tuition payment processing, school administration software and college planning resources.

35 | DSST Public Schools

Years ranked: 6, 4 consecutive | Founded: 2004 | Headquarters: Denver | Employees: 867 | Locations: 16 DSST, formerly known as the Denver School of Science and Technology, is a public charter STEM network of 14 schools on eight campuses.

Operated in partnership with Denver Public Schools, DSST is one of the top 200 public high schools in the U.S.

36 | Nutrien/Nutrien Ag Solutions

Years ranked: 1 | Founded: 2018 | Headquarters: Loveland | Employees: 22,000, with 757 in Colorado | Locations: 5 Nutrien is the world’s largest fertilizer company and produces and distributes 27 million metric tons of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products worldwide.

THE DENVER POST • TOP WORKPLACES 2020 «31

The winners 9 years of champs Small Company Winners

Top winners for the past nine years in each category:

2020

Large: Salesforce Midsize: RE/MAX Professionals Small: Booyah Advertising

2019

Large: East West Partners Midsize: Madison and Co. Properties Small: Choozle

2018

Large: Breckenridge Grand Vacations Midsize: Madison and Co. Properties Small: Zoom Video Communications

2017

Large: USAA Midsize: 8z Real Estate Small: GoSpotCheck

2016

Large: Alliance Data Midsize: PorchLight Real Estate Group Small: Supreme Lending

2015

Large: USAA Midsize: Physician Health Partners Small: Live Urban Real Estate

2014

Large: Edward Jones Midsize: The Container Store Small: Visiting Angels of Littleton

2013

Large: Anadarko Petroleum Corp./Denver Midsize: The Container Store Small: Restaurant Solutions

2012

Large: Anadarko Petroleum Corp./Denver Midsize: Rally Software Small: Restaurant Solutions And businesses that have been recognized all nine years in The Denver Post’s Top Workplaces competition: Large: FirstBank Large: Clinica Campesina/Family Health Services (2015)* Midsize: Weifield Group Contracting Midsize: Physician Health Partners Midsize: Burns & McDonnell Midsize: Slalom LLC Small: Visiting Angels of Littleton Small: Larson Financial Inc. Small: Bradsby Group *Not ranked in the year specified but still met the national standard.

1. Booyah Advertising 2. Anderson Mason Dale Architects 3. Ave Maria Catholic School 4. Live Urban Real Estate 5. West + Main Homes 6. Footers Catering 7. Bloom Healthcare 8. Home Mortgage Alliance LLC 9. Integrity Locums 10. Cain Travel Group Inc. 11. Denver Scholarship Foundation 12. MassMutual Colorado 13. Lokal Homes LLC 14. Visiting Angels of Littleton 15. Done Plumbing & Heating 16. Brothers Plumbing, Heating and Electric 17. All Star Cleaning Services 18. Home Loan & Investment Co. 19. Choozle 20. Larson Financial Inc. 21. Centro 22. Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors 23. Muller engineering Co. Inc. 24. Swinerton Builders 25. Spyderco Inc. 26. GoSpotCheck 27. CORE Consultants 28. RevGen Partners 29. Baron Education 30. Cornerstone Apartment Services Inc. 31. NEI Electric Power Engineering Inc. 32. CyberGRX Inc. 33. Professional Assist Corporation 34. Bradsby Group 35. Billtrust 36. Denver Academy 37. Cooper Heating and Cooling Inc. 38. Vivax Pros 39. ANM 40. Primary Residential Mortgage Inc. 41. Galloway & Co. Inc. 42. Drury Hotels Co. LLC 43. Total Quality Logistics 44. Greystone Technology Group Inc. 45. SambaSafety 46. EMC Insurance 47. Pie Insurance Services Inc. 48. BCER Engineering Inc. 49. CCIG 50. Griffis Residential 51. RE/MAX Alliance 52. Electric Tobacconist 53. ECC-Environmental Chemical Corporation 54. Ulteig 55. Enerplus Resources (USA) Corporation 56. AFC Urgent Care Denver 57. Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher LLP 58. Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. 59. Entravision Communications Corporation 60. Turner Construction Co. 61. Advanced Assembly 62. American Indian College Fund 63. Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses 64. LT Environmental Inc. 65. Camp Bow Wow (Corporate Division)

Midsize Company Winners 1. RE/MAX Professionals 2. Custom Made Meals 3. Madison & Co. Properties 4. Visiting Angels of Denver 5. Power Home Remodeling Group 6. Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric 7. Brown and Caldwell 8. Cornerstone Home Lending 9. ezCater

32» TOP WORKPLACES 2020 • THE DENVER POST

10. Fransen Pittman General Contractors 11. Donor Alliance Inc. 12. Stryker Corp.

13. Ping Identity Corp.

14. Renewal by Andersen 15. 8z Real Estate 16. GSA Region 8 17. Extraction Oil & Gas Inc. 18. Weifield Group Contracting 19. Conga 20. Physician Health Partners 21. Delta Dental of Colorado 22. Burns & McDonnell 23. Risas Dental Management LLC 24. Encompass Health - Home Health and Hospice 25. Guild Education 26. Slalom Consulting 27. LONG Building Technologies 28. Adolfson & Peterson Construction 29. AllHealth Network 30. SEMA Construction Inc. 31. Aimco 32. Personal Capital 33. New York Life Insurance Co. 34. Syncroness inc.

35. Coalfire Systems Inc. 36. OpenTable 37. ICAT 38. The MITRE Corp.

39. Workplace elements 40. Lohmiller & Co. dba Carrier West 41. PorchLight Real Estate Group 42. SpotX 43. Wireless Vision 44. Tallgrass Energy 45. Mortenson Construction 46. Haselden Construction 47. Security Service Federal CU 48. Xactly Corp.

49. General Air Service & Supply

Large Company Winners 1. Salesforce 2. Edward Jones 3. Encore Electric Inc. 4. Progressive Insurance 5. Breckenridge Grand Vacations 6. RingCentral 7. Zillow Group 8. Keysight Technologies 9. Pinnacol Assurance 10. Gusto 11. Booz Allen Hamilton 12. Craig Hospital 13. Greystar 14. Fidelity Investments 15. OnDeck Capital Inc. 16. Charles Schwab & Co. 17. Saunders Construction Inc. 18. Accenture 19. Rose Medical Center 20. FirstBank 21. American Financing 22. USAA 23. Clinica Campesina/Family Health Services 24. Bright Horizons Family Solutions 25. Martin Marietta Materials 26. Mental Health Center of Denver 27. Jefferson Center for Mental Health 28. DaVita Inc. 29. Sturgeon Electric Company Inc. 30. CACI International Inc. 31. UCHealth 32. Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply 33. Vivage Senior Living 34. Nelnet Inc. 35. DSST Public Schools 36. Nutrien/Nutrien Ag Solutions