{"id":108923,"date":"2015-10-12T21:47:07","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T03:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/entrepreneur-named-leader-of-the-year\/"},"modified":"2015-10-12T21:47:07","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T03:47:07","slug":"entrepreneur-named-leader-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/entrepreneur-named-leader-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Entrepreneur named Leader of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Wolgamott\"
Wolgamott<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

John Wolgamott, a local entrepreneur, was recently named the Economic Development Leader of the Year by the Region 9 Economic Development District Board of Directors.<\/p>\n

Wolgamott was recognized Sept. 24 at the annual Region 9 meeting for his work with the Southwest Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs, an organization he helped found. So far, the accelerator has helped start 10 companies in two years.<\/p>\n

Wolgamott also has ownership in StoneAge, Steamworks Brewing Co., El Moro Spirits and Tavern, and Girard Properties, a local commercial real estate firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got the hands-on experience of growing a company from the ground up,\u201d said Elizabeth Marsh, SCAPE director.<\/p>\n

He brings this experience to the businesses he mentors through SCAPE.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe spends a ridiculous amount of time working with the companies that are in the program,\u201d Marsh said.<\/p>\n

Wolgamott said he tends to gravitate to those companies that have a manufacturing aspect where he can help with concepts such as inventory control.<\/p>\n

He is drawn to mentorship because he enjoys helping others create jobs. Without good jobs, young people struggle, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very dead-end, frustrating existence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But if good jobs are available, it helps build a better community.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to help people create jobs for other people so they can earn a living \u2026 that\u2019s a very rewarding thing; It\u2019s one of the things that\u2019s really needed in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the previous winners include Joe Keck of Cortez, a retired Southwest Small Business Development Center director, and the late Leonard Burch, former Southern Ute tribal chairman.<\/p>\n

mshinn@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

9 honors John Wolgamott<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5742,5735],"tags":[640,431],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-108923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news","tag-award-and-prize","tag-business-general"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108923"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=108923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}