16th Annual Colorado Ethics in Business Alliance Awards: good business practices include community service.

• Position: PLANET PROFIT REPORT - IMA FINANCIAL GROUP - INSUREME

Bring up ethics in a conversation about business, and it might stop at making the right decision, doing the "right thing." But as the four winners of the 16th annual Colorado Ethics in Business Alliance Awards exemplify, practicing good ethics also comes with a sense of obligation to your community.

Investment banker Walter Imhoff, winner of this year's Daniel L. Ritchie Award, easily could fill a couple of pages listing the nonprofit, educational and civic boards he's participated in over the years--a commitment to service he says was instilled in him through the Jesuit training he received as a student at Regis University, where he has served as a trustee for decades.

At IMA Financial Group, winner of an Ethics in Business Award, employees receive paid time off for volunteer activities, and the company matches their charitable contributions. Last year, IMA of Colorado donated more than $100,000 to charitable groups.

When Robin Paquette arrived at InsureMe, the chief operating officer aimed to give employees of the insurance referral company a greater sense of purpose, which includes giving 10 percent of the company's profits to charitable causes. The company also is a 2008 recipient of an Ethics in Business Award.

The Beacon Center, winner of this year's Samaritan Institute award, provides shelter, counseling and academic services to at-risk youth in the Denver area. Executive Director Anne Robinson oversees an organization that keeps administrative costs down to 15 percent of each dollar raised.

The Colorado Ethics in Business Award program was founded by the University of Denver, ColoradoBiz and the Samaritan Institute.

Winners are profiled on the following pages.

DANIEL L. RITCHIE AWARD

WALTER IMHOFF

You would think a man who is being championed by the Colorado Ethics in Business Alliance for setting a strong example in the community wouldn't think about consulting a dictionary to define "ethics."

Walter Imhoff did that before he arrived at the ColoradoBiz offices one recent morning so we could talk to him about being honored with the Daniel L. Ritchie Award.

After sitting down for an interview videotaped for ColoradoBiz TV, the recently retired investment banker offered a note he had copied by hand from "Webster's" that defined ethics as: "The principles of conduct governing an individual or group. The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation."

It's the second part of the definition--obligation--that might be easy to forget: Practicing good ethics is more than making the right choice; it's making the choice to help others.

That's the kind of ethics Imhoff, 76, has practiced since landing his first job in the investment banking industry more than 50 years ago--five years before he co-founded the firm that would include his name under a few incarnations to this day In December, he retired as managing director of the Hanifen Imhoff Division of Stifel Nicholaus.

"We think that you should give back to the community. My wife (Georgia) and I have always had that philosophy," says Imhoff, whose lengthy list of past and president community board positions includes the Boy Scouts of America, the Denver Foundation and the Kempe Children's Foundation. "It's a very special feeling you get from giving back to the community. Plus you get to know a lot of...