Business at its best: Colorado's top companies take a bow.

• Author: Taylor, Mike

CH2M Hill has undertaken engineering and construction projects all over the world, and as close to home as Rocky Flats, which it has been entrusted to clean up. But the project closest to company Chairman Ralph Peterson's heart was neither his company's biggest nor most profitable.

It was a project that brought running water to people in an old section of Cairo, Egypt, for the first time. "I remember being out on one of the reservoir sites, kind of up on a little hill overlooking a very old part of Cairo, and realizing hundreds of thousands of people were going to have something that they'd never had before that we take for granted, which is running water in your house," says Peterson, the chairman, president and CEO of CH2M Hill.

"To me it was a very moving experience. I thought, 'You know, we really do some neat stuff that helps people out.' That was by no means the largest or most complex project, but there was something about that realization that was a personally moving experience for me."

Englewood-based CH2M Hill is one of the nine ColoradoBiz Top Company of the Year winners for 2003. What the companies have in common, besides notable commercial achievement, is a commitment to their communities and a belief, like Ralph Peterson's, that their business ultimately hinges on taking care of people.

Take Newmont Mining Corp. of Denver, a company with operations on five continents. The company operates a mine with 4,500 employees in Indonesia, and all but 125 of the workers are Indonesian. That's because the company insists on hiring locals, making sure they share in the wealth.

"We put those people in four-year training programs, and they become journeyman electricians or mechanics," says Newmont CEO Wayne Murdy. "And their kids will probably go to college." Newmont even created a mobile library program that serves more than 1,600 people in three Indonesian villages near the mine. These measures, along with record revenues last year, helped make Newmont Mining another Top Company winner for 2003.

Sponsors of the 16th Annual Colorado Business Awards include UMB Bank, ColoradoBiz and Deloitte & Touche LLP. This year's competition attracted 61 entries in nine award categories. The judging panel was made up of nine business leaders from throughout the state. Companies were judged on financial performance, achievement in the company's chosen area of emphasis and community involvement.

The Top Company awards will be given Aug. 5 at the Colorado Business Awards Luncheon in the Donald R. Sea-well Grand Ballroom of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Winners are invited to take part in an expenses-paid trip to San Francisco in October. The trip is sponsored by UMB Bank and ColoradoBiz. Winners are profiled on the following pages.

TOP COMPANY: MANUFACTURING

ROCKY MOUNTAIN STEEL MILLS

EMPHASIS: MARKETING/PRODUCT INNOVATION

Ten years ago Oregon Steel got a good deal when it purchased Rocky Mountain Steel Mills. "It was bankrupt when we acquired it," CEO Joe Corvin recalls. And while the subsequent upgrade of Rocky Mountain Steel's manufacturing technology was an important part of its success, Corvin attributes most of that achievement to a change in culture.

Rocky Mountain Steel Mills needed a highly motivated workforce, employees who took pride in their work, and an environment where management and the workforce worked together as much as it needed new steel-casting technology, Corvin says.

"I think we have an excellent management team. I think we have an excellent workforce. We have the right technology. I believe that we have a culture attuned to success," Corvin says of Pueblo-based Rocky Mountain Steel today.

With the upgraded casting technology, Rocky Mountain Steel Mills was able to address the railroad industry's rail-making market and its tight manufacturing specifications. Rocky Mountain Steel Milks now has the largest share of the U.S. rail market, is dominant in the Mexican market and is gaining market share in Canada. "We are the premier domestic rail producer," Corvin says. "That means we're the best."

Other category finalists: Spectranetics Corporation, Tuff Shed

TOP COMPANY: TOURISM/HOSPITALITY

DESTINATION HOTELS & RESORTS

EMPHASIS: MARKETING/PRODUCT INNOVATION

After coming within 1,000 feet of the summit of Mount Everest on two climbs, Charles Peck has learned two important lessons that apply to business in the luxury hotel and resort...