DENISE BURGESS: A success in the male-dominated cpnstruction industry, DENISE BURGESS breaks ground as chair of Denver Metro Chamber.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: CEO of the YEAR

Denise Burgess, CEO of Denver-based construction-management firm Burgess Services, is known for her persistence and ability to foster teamwprk. After building a career as a leader in a male-dominated industry, she's the first African American to chair the board of directors at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Born into a military family in Munich, Germany, BiLrgess moved to Colorado in 1973 after her father, Clyde Burgess, retired from the Army. He'd made the decision duripg a five-hour layover several years earlier. "He said, 'When I retire, I'm moving to Denver,' "Burgess says." It was the friendliest place he'd ever been." Clyde Burgess and his wife, Lucille, founded Burgess Heating and Air Conditioning a year later.

Denise Burgess went on to graduate from the University of the Northern Colorado in Greeley with a journalism degree but returned to Denver for an internship at the Colorado History Museum that evolved into a full-time job. "I had an all-female management team," she says. "They taught me to be confident."

Burgess subsequently worked in radio advertising sales in Denver and San Diego. After her daughter was born in 1993, she decided to leave the radio business and returned to Colorado.

Back home, Denise Burgess started helping her father's business with marketing and earned a certificate in construction management from the University of Denver. "I've been here ever since," she says. "It's different when you're running a family-owned business. It's in your DNA. Not only do you know their quirks, you also know their hot buttons."

Clyde Burgess passed away in 2002, just six weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer, and his daughter took over as CEO soon thereafter. "We were doing the Webb building at the time," Burgess says. "Hensel Phelps said, 'We'll support you.'"

They were especially impressed with a responsive quality control system Clyde Burgess developed to solve problems during inspections. The key outcome: "Inspectors didn't have to come back," Denise Burgess says.

Burgess Services kept busy during the recession by broadening its geography and managing projects as far away as Miami. Locally, Burgess Services worked on the Denver Justice Center and History Colorado Center, which replaced the Colorado History Museum, Burgess' old workplace. ("It was like coming full circle," she says.) More recently, Burgess Services provided construction estimation services and engineering support and oversaw mechanical installation...