Top companies tabbed: winners in nine industry categories range from nonprofit Delta Dental to high-flying shoe phenomenon Crocs Inc.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: Company rankings

It carries the tagline "Colorado's most competitive business award," and for good reason. To vie for the distinction of being a ColoradoBiz Top Company, a business must be bold enough to have its financial performance compared with competitors in similar industries; it must show how the company has excelled in specific business areas; and the entrant must allow judges to assess its influence outside the workplace through its involvement in the community.

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So simply entering the ring and vying for Top Company status says much about a company. Nominated companies were pared to three finalists in each category on the basis of financial performance, excellence in one or more operational aspect and community involvement, with the finalists honored and the winners tabbed at an awards luncheon Sept. 21 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

THE 2006 WINNERS:

TOP COMPANY

RETAIL/WHOLESALE

CROCS INC.

When Michael Margolis walked onstage to accept the Top Company award for Crocs Inc. back in September, a buzz arose from the crowd at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts before the shoe exec even got to the microphone. Kind of like the phenomenon of Crocs shoes themselves.

The oohs and ahhs stemmed from what the Crocs vice president of sales and marketing wore to the luncheon honoring Top Company finalists: bold, orange Crocs shoes and an equally loud orange shirt to match. Probably the only people unfazed by Margolis' brash wardrobe were Crocs employees, since most of them wear Crocs to work at the company's Niwot headquarters.

Launched in late 2002, the rubbery Crocs, which are made from proprietary lightweight resin, immediately took the retail world by storm. They were conceived as a boating/outdoor shoe because of their non-slip soles, but they quickly caught the fancy of nurses and others in the medical profession who spend long days on their feet, and they spread from there. Crocs went public with an initial public offering in February. In this year's first two quarters sales have grown in triple digits.

And consider this: In 2003 the company had sales of $1.2 million. Last year sales were $109 million. The company's biggest challenge has been keeping shoes in stock for retailers.

Co-founder and Vice President Lyndon V. "Duke" Hanson III says the move to public ownership hasn't altered the working environment at Crocs, just the size of the workforce. "Our company culture has not changed all that much, except that there are many more employees included," Hanson said, alluding to the company's growth to 1,130 full-time employees.

One early challenge for Crocs was visibility. "Before, we spent most of our time trying to get the brand on people's radar," Hanson says. But that seems to have been taken care, and now the company can focus on maintaining momentum.

Crocs is also branching out with more whimsical, leisure apparel and gear as well as coming up with new shoe models to add to the 20-some styles it currently offers. The IPO has enabled Crocs to add warehouses and bolster shipping programs for fast delivery.

Crocs also has stepped up as a contributor to causes in the Boulder community in a manner befitting a Top Company, with monetary donations to causes that include the Boulder Community Auxiliary, Longmont and Fairview high schools, as well as the Breast Cancer Center for Research. And not surprisingly, the company has donated thousands of pairs of Crocs shoes to victims of natural disasters, orphanages and other needy people around the world.

In August, Crocs struck a deal with Disney that will allow the shoemaker access to Disney's library of characters to use in products, making it likely that the buzz for Crocs will begin about the time a future consumer can walk and talk. The first such line, dubbed "Disney by Crocs," is due in select stores this month.

TOP COMPANY

ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

WHITING PETROLEUM CORP.

To James J. Volker, chairman and chief executive of Whiting Petroleum, performance is everything, and the performance of his company's employees over the past 18 months is what made it a ColoradoBiz Top Company in 2006.

"This year," Volker said, "Whiting has set some records financially for the company. Our second-quarter results were about the best in company history."

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And in production of oil, Whiting's primary product, Volker said, "Through the first quarter of 2006, our production averaged approximately 41,700 barrels of oil per day. That was a brand new record for Whiting, and something we're very proud of."

Whiting explores and acquires energy-producing properties, and recently acquired two major oil fields in Oklahoma and Texas that Volker said accounted for a significant portion of that daily production record.

It also owns natural-gas producing properties in Colorado and other states in the Rocky Mountain region, as well as oil wells along the Gulf Coast, in Michigan and the Dakotas. It has 309 employees with about 200 who work in or report to the Colorado headquarters, and the remainder reporting to an office in Midland, Texas.

To collect the Top Company award and to mark the role of the company's workforce in winning it, Volker sent Patricia J. Miller, vice president of human resources, to the magazine's Top Company Awards luncheon to collect it. He said Miller "essentially was the first employee at Whiting" and also served as its first corporate secretary before moving up to her current executive spot. She and her department, Volker said, deserve recognition for marshalling the workforce that has produced the company's records, including a doubling of the workforce size itself within the past year.

Only about 30 percent of Whiting's production is natural gas, so the company has not been hit as hard as other energy producers by the recent decline in natural-gas prices. Company growth has in part been funded by increased oil prices: from $40.70 per barrel first-quarter 2005 to $53.60 per barrel second-quarter 2006...