Recycle Colorado names new executive director

Recycle Colorado, a Longmont-based nonprofit that advances circular economies and works to improve recycling across the state, has named a new executive director.

Brandy Moe took over the role June 9, replacing Elizabeth Chapman, who recently announced her departure.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to take on this role,” Moe said in a prepared statement. “ It feels like both a continuation of a journey I care deeply about and a meaningful new chapter. Recycle Colorado has been a place where I’ve found deep purpose, lasting connections, and a shared passion for making a difference. I have so much respect and admiration for Liz Chapman and the thoughtful, impactful leadership she’s brought to this organization. It’s an honor to follow in her footsteps, and I’m excited to help carry our mission forward into the future.”

Moe previously served as municipal administrator of government affairs and community relations at Republic Services. She has served on the board of Recycle Colorado since 2018 as vice president of the board and vice chair of the policy committee.

“I am excited that Brandy will be moving from one of our most active members to leading this wonderful organization,” Chapman said in a prepared statement. “Her knowledge, skills and passion for our mission are a combination that will benefit all members and the state of Colorado. Brandy brings a diverse background with experience in all parts of the state to ensure Recycle Colorado continues to have a positive impact on the circularity of materials.”

Silicon Flatirons in search of new leader as director plans to move on

Silicon Flatirons, a University of Colorado-affiliated group that fosters conversations among technology entrepreneurs, legal professionals, students and lawmakers, is in the market for a new leader as Brad Bernthal, the organization’s executive director since late 2021 and a longtime CU law professor, intends to leave the university after the upcoming fall semester.

“My intent is that, bureaucratic processes permitting, Fall 2025 will be my final semester at CU Law. Post academic retirement, a second career in sports psychology awaits,” he wrote in a letter emailed last week to the Silicon Flatirons community. “I will continue to serve as Executive Director until the position is filled. We hope the new leader will join by the outset of the Fall 2025 semester.”

Bernthal, who has expertise in startups, entrepreneurial law and early-stage finance, has worked with Silicon Flatirons since 2005. He took over as interim executive director after Amie Stepanovich left in late 2021 for a new job in Washington, D.C. The interim tag was removed soon after.

“I took a one year position as Silicon Flatirons’ first Fellow, working for Phil Weiser, back in 2005. If you took the ‘over’ on my time at Colorado Law, you win,” Benthal’s email said. “Twenty years on, I am grateful for an amazing set of experiences. Teaching students is a privilege. Helping build up the entrepreneurial community is among the most satisfying projects of my career. And it has genuinely been a joy to lead Silicon Flatirons over the past three years (depending on how you count it — two as full-time, one as interim). This is the best job I’ve ever had.”

Albee joins California PR firm as Boulder’s Comprise folds

With his Boulder public-relations firm no longer a going concern, Doyle Albee — who had owned and led MAPRagency Inc., later rebranded as Comprise, for the past decade — now works for Hawke Media, a marketing and PR company headquartered in California.

Comprise filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March. Albee told BizWest at the time that the company was facing cash-flow problems — in part a result of several clients being unable to pay their bills — but planned to reorganize rather than liquidate.

Those plans changed in the past three months, as Comprise converted its Chapter 11 reorganization effort into a Chapter 7 liquidation in early June.

“While Debtor has continued to operate, including performing on existing customer contracts and obtaining outstanding accounts receivable under the same, Debtor’s owner, Doyle Albee, and most, if not all, of Debtor’s current employees, have been given the opportunity to work for another public relations and digital marketing company, Hawke Media, which is a much larger company that will provide both more stable compensation and a more certain future for Mr. Albee and his employees,” Comprise attorneys wrote in court documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver.

Comprise laid off an unspecified number of workers in early 2025 around the time it began seeking bankruptcy protection, and it is unclear which of the remaining employees — beyond Albee himself — have joined Hawke. Albee declined to comment for this story and Hawke representatives did not immediately respond to an interview request.

Since filing for bankruptcy this spring, there “have been ongoing efforts by former employees to poach Debtor’s customers, making Chapter 11 reorganization all the more difficult and misdirecting the attention of Mr. Albee and loyal employees from the reorganization effort,” Comprise claims in a court filing.

“In light of these recent developments, continuing to prosecute the Chapter 11 case no longer makes sense, and, after resolving outstanding accounts receivable and customer contracts, the Debtor simply wishes for a Chapter 7 Trustee, to the extent possible, liquidate the Estate and pay all appropriate creditors,” the filing said.

A list of MAPRagency’s 20 largest unsecured creditors that was recorded when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March included banks, the Internal Revenue Service and employees owed back wages. Six former employees were included among the 20 largest unsecured creditors, with back salaries ranging from $14,958 to $45,806.

MAPRagency originated in 1991 as Metzger Associates Inc., headed by John Metzger. Albee ran his own public-relations firm and merged it with Metzger Associates in 2005, with the combined company operating as Metzger-Albee Public Relations.

Metzger and Albee entered into a stock-purchase agreement in November 2015, with Albee agreeing to purchase Metzger’s stock, and the company’s name was changed to MAPRagency Inc. the following year. MAPRagency began operating as Comprise in 2022.

Comprise and Albee have won numerous awards over the years. The agency was named Business Intelligence’s PR Agency of the Year in 2024 for the fourth consecutive year. The agency was also named to Inc. Magazine’s Power Partner Awards in 2022 and 2024.

Albee was named 2024 Business Person of the Year by the Public Relations Society of America. Other honors include being named to the Denver Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 Class of 2002. He received the Boulder Chamber’s Community Impact Award in 2018.

Most recently, Albee was named one of the Top 50 Most-Influential Business Leaders in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado by BizWest.

Case No. 25-11092-TBM, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Denver, filed March 4, 2025.

UK quantum firm with Boulder ties minted as unicorn in $1B+ deal

Oxford Ionics, a British trapped-ion quantum computing company that last year planted its first across-the-pond flag in Boulder, recently inked an agreement to be acquired by an American firm in a deal valued more than $1.07 billion.

IonQ Inc. (NYSE: IONQ), a College Park, Maryland-headquartered company that also uses trapped ion technology to develop quantum computers and network systems, will contribute $1.065 billion in shares of its common stock and about $10 million in cash to absorb Oxford Ionics in a deal is expected to close before the end of the year and represents one of the priciest acquisitions ever in the quantum space.

“The transaction will bring together IonQ’s quantum compute, application and networking stack with Oxford Ionics’ groundbreaking ion-trap technology manufactured on standard semiconductor chips,” IonQ said this week. “The combined technologies are expected to deliver innovative, reliable quantum computers that increase in power, scale, and problem-solving capabilities. Both companies expect to benefit from the other’s complementary technologies, deep expertise, and IonQ’s global resources and established customer base.”

Oxford last year moved into 1919 14th St., a property owned by W.W. Reynolds Cos. that is downtown Boulder’s tallest office building.

For the 6-year-old company, which last summer claimed to have set a qubit performance record for mass-producible quantum computer chips, Boulder, a global hub for the cutting-edge quantum industry, “really felt like a natural fit,” David Allcock, Oxford Ionics’ North American director of science and Boulder office leader, told BizWest in an August 2024 email.

It’s unclear how IonQ’s acquisition of Oxford will affect the combined company’s Boulder operations. “As this is still in process and we have not closed the acquisition — we are unable to comment or speculate on specific office locations or staffing,” a company told BizWest in an email Thursday.

Quantum theory attempts to explain the behavior of matter at atomic and subatomic levels. Because quantum computers take advantage of special properties of quantum systems such as superposition, their computing power and speed is exponentially greater than a traditional computer. Applications of quantum science could revolutionize the way humans discover new drug therapies, map the cosmos, protect sensitive data, combat climate change and maybe even discover new forms of life in deep space.

The Boulder Valley — with its powerhouse federal labs and the University of Colorado’s world-class physics department — has become, over the past few decades, a global epicenter for quantum research.

It’s notable that both IonQ (University of Maryland) and Oxford Ionics (University of Oxford) also have strong ties to research universities.

The Colorado quantum ecosystem got a major shot in the arm last year when the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Tech Hub program granted Elevate Quantum, a nonprofit consortium of about 100 stakeholders who represent industry, academia, capital and laboratories in Colorado and New Mexico, a Phase 2 Tech Hub designation that unlocked $127 million in state and federal funds, which are expected to generate several billion more dollars of private investment in the region’s quantum industry.

As quantum technology has moved from the labs to the marketplace, companies in the sector are posting huge valuations and raking in gaudy fundraising hauls from investors, as evidenced by the $1 billion Oxford deal and Infleqtion’s recent $100 million Series C round. Boulder-based Infleqtion, the trade name used by ColdQuanta Inc., had previously raised a $110 million Series B round in 2022 to jumpstart commercialization of its technology.

Beyond the valuations and the fundraising successes, the Oxford acquisition could indicate that the maturing quantum industry is poised for an uptick in M&A activity.

“This record-breaking deal represents a major consolidation of talent and resources in the quantum computing industry,” according to an analysis by tech-industry research firm IDTechEx, “a trend that IDTechEx has predicted to emerge as the industry matures and talent shortages become more pressing.”

The deal, according to IDTechEx analyst Noah El Alami, “represents a significant shift in the quantum computing market landscape. With this acquisition, IonQ shores up many of its previous technical limitations while consolidating talent and resources in the trapped ion computing space. This proves that the stakes in the quantum computing industry are now higher than ever as investment and competition continue to grow.”

Food Network lends branding to Noodles & Co. menu items

Noodles & Co. (Nasdaq: NDLS) rolled out a system-wide menu update in early 2025 and is now adding Food Network branding to some of its new offerings.

Four entrees have been dubbed “Food Network Favorites”:

• Basil pesto cavatappi.

• Buffalo chicken ranch mac and cheese.

• Rigatoni rosa with parmesan chicken.

• Lemon garlic shrimp scampi.

“As the authority on all things flavor, Food Network is always looking to highlight delicious food finds for our fans, and this partnership is another way to deliver on that mission,” Food Network senior vice president Lauren Burack said in a prepared statement. “Noodles & Company excels in crafting delicious, noodle-focused dishes, and the new menu reflects that, but these four stood out as clear favorites to our team, showcasing the perfect combination of craveable taste and incredible value.”

Food Network Favorites Four Dishes Hand-Selected from Noodles & Company’s Bold New Menu Featured Nationwide Beginning May 29 (PRNewsfoto/Noodles & Company)

Noodles’ menu revamp is aimed at helping the company rebound from a years-long financial slump.

For months, the Broomfield fast-casual chain’s stock price has been stuck below Nasdaq’s $1 threshold for listing. The exchange warned Noodles in January that it could face delisting if it can’t consistently eclipse that threshold.

The company’s stock price closed trading Wednesday at 88 cents per share. While that represented a 3.87% increase on the day, Noodle’s stock has boiled off more than 80% of its value over the past five years.

Noodles CEO Drew Madsen, a former president at Panera Bread who was hired in late 2023 to replace Noodles’ long-time CEO Dave Boennighausen, unveiled the company’s “menu transformation” efforts to investors and analysts in March 2024, saying that Noodles must adopt a “new ‘contemporary comfort kitchen’ culinary identity.”

Noodles hired restaurant-industry consulting firm The Culinary Edge to help shape its updated culinary identity.

“We believe we have positioned the Company to capitalize on the significant growth opportunities we see ahead. Our new brand strategy focused on our comprehensive new menu is increasing relevance and demand, our loyalty program continues to grow, and our emphasis on operations excellence is helping deliver a more consistent guest experience while ensuring the successful execution of the new menu,” Madsen said in a statement when the company filed its first quarter earnings report last month. “Combined with a significant reduction in capital spending and continued emphasis on smart cost savings, we are well-positioned to strengthen our balance sheet as well. Overall, we are confident in the foundation we have put in place and are excited by our sales momentum to start 2025.”

Sierra Space launches defense division, Centennial factory

Sierra Space Corp. recently formalized Sierra Space Defense, a business unit devoted to bolstering the Louisville-based firm’s position as prime military contractor for satellite systems and other aerospace technology.

In support of the new division, which will be led by SSC vice president Erik Daehler, Sierra Space has established a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility — dubbed Victory Works — in Centennial. Victory Works will be one of the primary production centers for the Sierra Space Eclipse satellite bus line. The Sierra Space Defense division will also be responsible for products such as Sierra Space Ghost, a delivery system engineered to return objects from space to precise locations on Earth; Sierra Space Spectre: a satellite designed for precision rendezvous proximity operations; and an operating system called Sierra Black OS.

The company, which already had 24,000 square feet of space dedicated to national security projects, said its facilities footprint now exceeds 1 million square feet across seven states.

“The launch of Sierra Space Defense and related infrastructure expansion plans are driven by a palpable sense of urgency: the United States is facing new threats and near-peer adversaries at unprecedented levels in the space domain,” the company said in a news release “In response to the evolving threat environment, Sierra Space is retooling its commercial capacity to focus on revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base through innovative satellite and spacecraft systems technology.”

Spun out of Sierra Nevada Corp. in 2021, Sierra Space began as a developer of aerospace technology with largely civilian applications. But SSC has increasingly shifted its focus to military clients of late.

For example, the company in April successfully demonstrated a satellite-navigation platform built for the U.S. Space Force. And last year Sierra inked a $740 million contract from the U.S. Space Development Agency to design and build 18 missile warning and tracking satellites. The company claims to have won about $1.5 billion in defense contracts over the past two years.

“We are mission-focused and dedicated to supporting our national security customers and the revitalization of the U.S. defense industrial base. Commercial space companies now have a profound responsibility to help lead an entirely new era for national defense,” Daehler said in the release. “The creation of Sierra Space Defense enables stronger partnerships — such as our steadfast partnership with SNC — to tackle the hardest mission problems like Golden Dome. Our new Sierra Space Defense organization is a testament to our dedication to innovation at speed and excellence in satellite and spacecraft systems production, which will shape the future of defense technology.”

Outside of the military-aligned aerospace sphere, Sierra Space’s projects include the Dream Chaser space plane, which is expected to be used to resupply the International Space Station starting next year; and the Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) Habitat, a modular, three-story commercial habitation, business and science platform.

Thompson Thrift adds Colorado leader to oversee residential development

Thompson Thrift Development Inc., an Indianapolis-based developer, recently hired Bo Chapman as senior vice president of development to oversee multifamily residential development efforts in a region that includes Colorado.

“As we look toward the future, we are reaffirming and deepening our commitment to multifamily—developing thoughtful, high-quality communities that create lasting value for our partners and residents,” Thompson Thrift CEO Paul Thrift said in a prepared statement. “This focused strategy is rooted in our strengths and shaped by the needs of the communities we serve.”

Chapman, who has worked for Thompson Thrift in the past, will operate out of the company’s Denver office.

“I’m excited to rejoin Thompson Thrift and serve in this important role as the company sharpens its focus on growth. Colorado has long been a strong market for Thompson Thrift,” he said in a statement.

Thompson Thrift is involved in a number of local projects, including apartment complexes in Longmont and Fort Collins.

— BizWest reports