The Maverick magazine is a great way to stay in touch with current events at your alma mater, old classmates and the bright future of Colorado Mesa University.
Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1080357
McDonald is thrilled with the move to western Colorado. “We wouldn’t be in business if we were in Michigan,” she explains. “Everything is going much better since we got here.” Page Tucker is the founder and CEO of ProStar Geocorp, a Grand Junction company that develops and utilizes its patented geospatial intelligence software for precision mapping. ProStar Geocorp works with companies and government agencies to map underground assets like pipelines and utilities with precision down to the centimeter. Tucker was attracted to the JumpStart program by the tax incentives and his company was the first one accepted into the program. “For early stage startups, anytime you can get a tax break it is significant,” he explained. “We also use the employee tax break for recruitment because it’s like offering employees a bonus.” ProStar Geocorp is on a path to be the first publicly-traded company headquartered in Grand Junction. The 15 employee company is growing rapidly with plans to expand by 10 employees in both 2019 and 2020. Many of these new hires will come directly from CMU. “CMU is a workforce pipeline for us,” said Tucker. “We offer paid internships through the computer sciences department and then hire many of these students to full-time positions once they graduate.” Another rapidly expanding Grand Junction tech firm looking to CMU for new hires is Kaart Group. A geospatial company, Kaart gathers and maintains geographic data for countries around the world. Kaart is headquartered in Grand Junction, with offices in San Francisco, California, and Seattle, Washington, and eight other countries. Kaart employs 40 people locally and 100 in total, according to company CEO Aaron Young. Young said that Kaart has nearly outgrown the JumpStart program. “We can only qualify for eight employees and we’re currently looking to hire 20 CMU interns and another 30 to 40 full-time graduates in Grand Junction.” Kiana Ziola and Louis Morales are among the many CMU graduates hired by Kaart. Ziola’s data collection, field work and GIS experience made her a good fit for the company. “CMU did a great job preparing me. I spent a lot of time in the field and I felt comfortable and prepared for tasks,” she said. During her first year of employment, Ziola visited Morocco, South Africa and Greece to collect and organize mapping data. Morales also credits CMU with his success at Kaart. “I was never into school,” he explains, adding that his professors in the mass communication program changed his perspective on education. “My professors understood that while school is not for everyone, certain elements of it are. They helped me to find these elements, stay in school and pursue a career.” Morales said Grand Junction’s growing tech sector is creating “a good mixture of people” and an increasingly diverse workforce. Both he and Ziola are enthusiastic about the future of the local tech sector. “It’s interesting to see how growing companies like Kaart influence the way students look at their futures in Grand Junction,” said Ziola. “The future just continues to grow here.” •