News

700+ Professionals Gather for 50th World Trade Day

June 2, 2023 - On May 19th, in Denver, CO, USA, 700 global business professionals gathered at the Sheraton Denver Downtown for a full day to learn, engage, and connect with others in the trade community. Prominent speakers from the business, government, and academic sectors shared insights, trends, and strategies related to international trade. With 3 keynote speakers, 12 breakouts, and countless opportunities for networking, there was something for everyone. The Governor's Excellence in Exporting award was presented to two Colorado companies who have successfully entered new global markets. The WTC Denver honored Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock with a Global Community Leader award, the Ralph Peterson Global Business Community Leader Award, for his 12+ years of service as a global leader creating a welcoming environment to international businesspeople from around the globe. The conference ended with a fun-filled international theme reception showcasing United Airlines and the Star Alliance direct flights to international destinations to Japan, Germany, the UK, Panama, and soon, Turkey. Attendees enjoyed delicious international drink and food as they networked with other attendees and made lasting business connections. Read More

Globalization: Cause or Cure of the Pandemic?

April 27, 2020 - By Karen Gerwitz, President & CEO, World Trade Center Denver “You aren’t in traffic, you are traffic,” said my friend Bill Fulton in a recent blog. “This is a lighthearted way to remind us that we are not the center of the universe, surrounded by problems of other people’s making, but that we are very much a part of the problems that confound us.” This adage holds true for our most significant challenges we face throughout the world: pandemics, climate change, poverty. I’ve heard many pass blame of the quickly spreading COVID 19 virus to certain countries and to globalization or trade, with our ever-increasing global travel, connectivity and integrated supply chains. We learned through this crisis and the subsequent lack of medical supplies that even a ventilator today has parts from over 10 countries, making our reliance on each other a life or death scenario. So, when one country decides to stop exporting their part to the finished ventilator product, it disrupts the entire world’s healthcare systems. Does this mean we should all re-shore our manufacturing and make all parts in our own countries? While your gut reaction may be to say yes, we know it is neither practical nor affordable to do so. Therefore, you can argue, like the traffic adage above, globalization is not the cause of the pandemic, but it is the pandemic and the cure! After all, not one of us will likely discriminate against the location of a hopeful cure. Won’t we all be clamoring for this innovative cure and readily share the knowledge it took to develop it? Isn’t this the purest form of globalization that we can all support? The uncertainty and disruption caused by this pandemic have already closed businesses of all sizes and forced others to scale back and focus on core business functions just to stay operational. However, I implore you this is not the time to abruptly abandon your global operations or suppliers. It may be natural to think that you should pull back and focus only on a domestic market during economic downturns and get back to your international markets when things move back to normal. I have seen too many companies retract global efforts during difficulties, only to fail to claim market share during an economic boom. Global business must be your long game, with a steady, tailored effort and sound strategies that complement the overall business plan. There will be no chance to claim your market share once again if you pull out of global markets today. The time our office gets most requests is when companies are desperate for sales and the domestic market doesn’t deliver for them, so they try selling to new markets to weather the storm. Global market entry is an investment in patience, risk, timing, relationships and reward, but those rewards come to those who wait out the turbulence and continue to grow within and among your international customers. Now is our chance, as the largest network of trade professionals around the world, to come to the aid of the businesses we serve. Together we can make a difference. Of course, our roles in the immediate term will be to help our affiliated businesses get access to much needed capital to try to retain their employees. But as soon as companies are fully operating again, they will be looking to us to support their efforts in buying or selling to grow their business. Through our connections, knowledge, expertise and resources, we now can appreciate the importance of trade services within our network. This crisis has presented a perfect storm and an opportunity for World Trade Centers worldwide to show up and make a difference. I am honored to serve in this capacity with you. We are the pandemic. We are the cure. We will solve this challenge together, globally. Karen Gerwitz is the president and CEO of the World Trade Center Denver, a trade association supporting the international expansion of companies in the Rocky Mountain Region for 32 years. Read More

"Keep Calm & Trade On" Theme is Appropos for Times

May 24, 2019 - Denver, CO USA – On Tuesday, May 14, the World Trade Center Denver hit record attendance when close to 700 attendees from across the international business community gathered at the Colorado Convention Center to participate in World Trade Center Denver’s 46th Annual World Trade Day Conference. This year’s theme, “Keep Calm and Trade On,” focused on the current turbulent times in trade. News headlines that focus on tariffs, TPP, Brexit, NAFTA, USMCA and trade with China have gone from relative obscurity to becoming a part of our daily news cycle. The impact of trade policies has become increasingly noticeable to companies and consumers through every segment of our economy. Thus, the theme of the event capitalized on these developments. For this year’s World Trade Day, we had 3 keynote speakers and 14 Trade Talk and Global Insight talks, as well as an expo showcasing the current leaders in their industries. The keynote speeches covered trade topics spanning from what it takes to be a successful importer in Colorado and the future of Trans-Atlantic trade after Brexit, to applying concepts from Sun Tzu’s, The Art of War, to global trade. The Trade Talk and Global Insights talks covered everything from corporate social responsibility to technology and supply chain management. Simultaneously during the event, we held B2B meetings where companies connected and had the opportunity to discuss potential relationships, joint ventures or other partnerships. This was the first year that World Trade Day and its speakers were featured in The Associated Press. https://youtu.be/0boTxeuWxMQ We hope other World Trade Centers will consider joining us next year in May for our 47th Annual World Trade Day to experience the growing international business community of Colorado. Read More

WTCD Celebrates “Year of the Pearl” Anniversary

September 1, 2017 - Denver, Colorado celebrates 30 years of having an active World Trade Center license on September 27, 2017. Purchased originally by Metro State College Foundation in 1987, the license was transferred to the non-profit trade association soon thereafter. From the beginning, the World Trade Center Denver specialized in trade education for approximately 30,000 participants from every sector of the business community as well as university students. Now, the World Trade Center Denver offers over 100 classes, events and conferences every year, serving as the center connection point for nearly all global business activity in Colorado. To commemorate the 30th Anniversary, the World Trade Center Denver will welcome the growing Denver Starup Community by hosting its celebration on September 27th, during Denver Startup Week, the nation’s largest gathering of startups. Through the World Trade Center’s Global Launch Lab, the startup community now has a pathway to successfully grow their business globally. As we continue to educate and offer direct trade services, such as auditing companies’ international business practices, offering customized research, and consulting to implement what we teach, the World Trade Center Denver is poised for gorwth in the coming years. Our growth tragectory is more important than ever, as we prepare to activate the new $200 million real estate project that will bear the World Trade Center name in Denver opening in 2019. If you happen to be in the area in September, we warmly welcome you to our 30th Year celebration and hope you will come visit us in the Mile High City! Read More

Will Colorado’s China trade survive Trump?

February 10, 2017 - Colorado exported $662 million in goods to China in 2015, and China invested $334 million in Colorado business in 2016. But some business leaders worry that the president’s tough talk will cool a hot market for the state. Read More

Denver’s Gritty Back Door Could Become New Gateway

December 26, 2016 - DENVER — A checkerboard of low-slung buildings and vacant parcels, the River North Art District in this fast-growing city has developed a funky vibe over the last few years. Among the unconventional work spaces and restaurants in the district, known as RiNo and north of downtown, is Comal, a lunch spot with Latin American cuisine where women from low-income backgrounds are learning how to run a business. In RiNo’s recently opened Denver Central Market, shoppers can grab a sandwich, coffee or fresh fish,or sit at a bar and take in the scene. The neighborhood has attracted artists who helped gentrify the old and neglected industrial expanse, which in its dilapidated condition was long considered the back door into downtown from westbound I-70. Business promoters now want to create an international trade hub in the district and are ready to capitalize on what they see as one of Denver’s last development frontiers. The developer Sean Campbell and World Trade Center Denver, a nonprofit organization that helps regional businesses, have proposed building a $200 million international business campus in RiNo. Mr. Campbell, a former Wall Street bond trader who moved to Denver in 2010, is hardly the first investor to descend on RiNo in recent years, though the development’s successful completion would rank as one of the most ambitious projects to date. He considers it the right place for a global commerce center, citing as draws the city’s growing corporate roster, affordability and active outdoor culture. “Whether you’re in New York or the San Francisco Bay Area, Denver is going to be 60 cents on the dollar for the foreseeable future compared to those markets,” Mr. Campbell said. “We’re seeing large companies saying, ‘Places like Silicon Valley are nice, but we can use Denver and its Rocky Mountain backdrop as a lifestyle tool for recruitment and retention.’” The first phase of the World Trade Center Denver project will include 250,000 square feet of offices and creative working space, a 200-room hotel, conference space, and shops and restaurants. It will be adjacent to a recently opened stop on a light rail line that connects Denver International Airport to Union Station downtown, about two miles away. Mr. Campbell is seeking tenants and financing, and he anticipates preleasing about 60 percent of the office space before beginning construction late next year. The tenant giving the project its name, World Trade Center Denver, needs a new home for events that its old location could not accommodate, Karen Gerwitz, president of the local organization, said. The group, which is part of the 322-member World Trade Centers Association, moved out of a downtown building in 2015 and operates in a temporary location. The World Trade Center Denver team and city officials supporting the project say it is the right time to promote the city internationally. They cite average year-over-year employment growth of 3.5 percent in the metro area from 2013 to 2015, and growth of more than 3 percent through October this year. Denver’s diversified economy relies less on the boom-and-bust industries of energy and real estate than it did a few decades ago, they contend, and to a large degree, they credit the city’s airport. When it opened in 1995, officials did not anticipate the high number of visitors, business travelers included, who would make Denver a destination rather than a stopover, said Tom Clark, chief executive of Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. Since then, the city has worked to increase nonstop flights to international destinations, he said. Today those include Munich, Tokyo and London, and the airport is pursuing flights into Dubai, Paris, Beijing and other markets. “I’ve lived through oil and gas ups and downs and the dot-com bust, but in none of those times did we have such a diverse economy,” Mr. Clark said. “The transformative nature of the airport has turned us into a much different economic region.” Just how different can be seen in RiNo, where private investors and the city are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build it up and create a new gateway into Denver. Start-ups, and technology and creative companies have been migrating to the district for about the last five years, attracted to the area’s cachet, as well as new buildings and converted warehouses that are now offices, food halls, brewpubs and entertainment venues. Larger established firms have also moved to the neighborhood or are planning to, including Uber, HomeAdvisor, a University of Colorado medical campus office and Boa Technology, a firm focused on closing systems for footwear like snowboarding boots. At the same time, speculative investors have driven up land costs to an average of roughly $150 per square foot, which is as much as five times what they were four years ago, said Tim Harrington, an executive managing director with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank in Denver. In 2013, the developer Jason Winkler and his wife, Ellen, converted a warehouse that became 150,000 square feet of work space called Industry. The $35 million development, in which Clarion Partners acquired a majority stake last year, features shared meeting space, four kitchens and perpetually tapped beer kegs to fuel collaboration among the building’s tenants. “Right now this is the urban part of Denver that can grow,” said Mr. Winkler, who has also teamed up with Clarion to develop the $58 million Industry RiNo Station, another creative work space several blocks to the southeast. “I think our vision for what the neighborhood would become was pretty accurate, but the timeline has been a lot faster than we expected.” Other developers have added similar collaborative office environments in RiNo, and some three million square feet of office space is planned for the area, said Mr. Harrington, who is marketing a large mixed-use campus proposed by the local developer Westfield Company on 14 acres in the district. He estimated that as more office projects in RiNo are completed over the next several quarters, tenants would most likely pay $3 to $5 less per square foot than they would in the downtown and Lower Downtown submarkets, a discount of roughly 10 to 15 percent. RiNo’s rapid growth, however, has stirred trepidation among artists and other early pioneers, who are worried that gentrification will eventually take away the neighborhood’s grit, said Jamie Licko, executive director of the RiNo Art District. Aiming to prevent that fate, property owners have banded together to fund infrastructure and other improvements and to push for zoning that preserves RiNo’s character and fosters affordable housing, she said. Among other efforts, the group is contributing $3 million to help pay for a recently begun $29 million redevelopment of Brighton Boulevard, which is improving the former horse carriage road and adding sidewalks, bike lanes and landscaping. Still, the developer Kyle Zeppelin anticipates more tension between newcomers and established property and business owners in the area. In 2000, Mr. Zeppelin’s father, who began investing in rundown Denver neighborhoods in the 1970s, moved into a former Yellow Cab facility on eight acres in RiNo and renamed it Taxi. Kyle joined him about a year later and over time they expanded the project into a mixed-use development on 28 acres that encompasses offices, retail, housing and restaurants, including Comal. One future disagreement is likely to be housing, Kyle Zeppelin predicted. Lenders have cooled to Denver apartment development, and he says he believes that market conditions are encouraging high-end condominium projects instead. “I don’t think that’s what RiNo needs or wants,” said Mr. Zeppelin, who with his father is also developing a boutique hotel in RiNo next to the Source, a red brick foundry that they converted into an artisan food market. “But there’s a disconnect between the urban fabric and culture of the neighborhood and what speculators want to do,” he continued. “It’s a threat to the future potential of RiNo.” Correction: December 29, 2016 An earlier version of this article misstated the approximate average cost for land in the River North Art District of Denver. It is $150 per square foot, not per acre. Read More

Is Denver world class?

December 16, 2016 - It was about 20 years ago that Tom Clark, head of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., recalls running around town saying Denver could compete on the international business scene with cities like Austin and Portland. After he left the room, the crowds just howled with laughter, Clark found out years later. Now, Clark and people like Karen Gerwitz, president of the World Trade Center Denver, developer Sean Campbell and Mayor Michael Hancock are saying Denver is on the cusp of becoming a global city, competing with the likes of London and Singapore. This time no one appears to be laughing — even after they’ve left the room. “The timing is right and we have to be aspirational about it and be ahead of it,” said Pam Reichert, vice president of the Metro Denver EDC and co-chair of Hancock’s International Advisory Council. In September, the city revealed an international strategy that includes beefing up exports, creating a manufacturing park and economic incentive zones to attract foreign direct investments, and integrating immigrant and ethnic business owners into the business community. A lot can happen in 20 years, Clark said. Consider what is already in motion: - An expanded network of air routes from Denver International Airport to Asia, Europe and Canada. - Plans for extensive development of new business at and around DIA, aiming to attract companies and foreign direct investment. - And a proposed World Trade Center campus that includes a 200-room hotel, 200,000 square feet of office space and a 40,000-square-foot conference center with a sole mission of international trade. “This is the beginning of where we see ourselves,” Clark said. Why now?In the 1980s, when the city had a lot of its economic eggs in the oil and gas basket, some areas of the city had 70 percent vacancy rates and LoDo was just getting started. Then-Mayor Federico Peña worked to diversify the economy, pushing the construction of a new airport and convention center. That work was followed by subsequent mayors who worked to build on the city’s arts assets, parks and infrastructure. Then the city started to compete again as a place for business expansion, foreign investment and growth. Today, with a population of 2.6 million, it’s the 21st largest metro area in the country and has the 18th largest gross metropolitan product (GMP), the toatl value of the goods and services it produces. In 2015, foreign direct investment in commercial real estate alone was $980.5 million, or 9 percent of the total commercial real estate investment in metro Denver. And foreign-owned companies have created 85,000 jobs — about 3 percent of the total workforce. “On the heels of the Great Recession, if that recession has taught us anything, it’s that we live in a global marketplace,” Hancock said. “My goal and objective is to make Denver a globally connected city. We must open the door to businesses around the world.” In 2011, Denver hosted the Global Cities Forum, which featured Denver as one of 42 cities with the greatest potential to be “globally fluent” — a city with global understanding, competence, practice and reach. And that’s when attitudes shifted, said Reichert. “It started to make the business community think,” she said. Still, when analyzed as a globally fluent city, Denver was considered only in the middle of the pack of a three-tiered ranking system by the Globalization and Work Rankings Research Institution. The city was considered on par with cities like San Jose, Minneapolis, Abu Dhabi and Edinburgh, and was said to be instrumental in linking its region or state to the world’s economy. Cities in the top tier include New York, Los Angeles and Chicago in the U.S., along with Hong Kong, London, Paris, Singapore and Dubai overseas. Then, in 2013, the Brookings Institution described Denver as hitting above its rank, said Paul Washington, the city’s economic development executive director. Denver, the Brookings analysis said, put in place some of the ingredients of a global fluent city including its Denver International Airport. But it fell short in areas of exporting and the integration of immigrants into its business community — other key traits of successful global cities. “At only 7.2 percent of GMP, [Denver’s] export intensity is well below that of highly competitive and international metros,” the Brookings analysis said. It seemed, Washington said, the city had to do two things – increase its exports and make a plan for how to integrate new immigrants, which includes developing business and cultural programs for new immigrants and ethnic populations. “With global fluency, ... we are in between, but we have the potential to become globally fluent,” he said. Making a planLast year, Hancock set up the International Advisory Council of local business leaders to write goals for an International Strategic Plan, which was completed in September. The idea was to move Denver into the top tier of cities on the global scene. “The airport did its business, now we have to do ours,” said Reichert, with the Metro Denver EDC. She believes the city does not have to grow to the size of Chicago, LA or New York. Instead, she said if the Denver zeros in on adding international flights, stays focused on its nine identified industry clusters, works to welcome and integrate immigrants, and builds momentum with existing trading partners including Japan, the city will become globally fluent. “We are right there,” Reichert said. “We aren’t New York. We aren’t San Francisco or Los Angeles. We don’t need to be.” Why Denver?Arrow Electronics Inc. considered several locations in the United States for its new global headquarters in 2011. It has 460 locations in 85 countries. Arrow (NYSE: ARW), a Fortune 500 company and Colorado’s largest public company by revenue, said DIA was one of the key reasons it moved its global headquarters from Long Island, New York to suburban Centennial. “I can tell you that 50 percent of our revenue comes from outside the U.S.,” said John Hourigan, Arrow global vice president of communications. “For us, access to those countries is a business imperative.” DIA has 20 nonstop international destinations in eight countries. Arrow’s main business is in electronics components supply and sales of large computing systems and data center equipment. So there was something else about Denver that was attractive: the educated workforce. But even if the educated workforce isn’t in Denver, Hourigan said, they are willing to come. “People in other regions are very impressed with Denver,” he said. “Among the reasons we designated Colorado as our headquarters — business environment, transportation, but there is also a cultural environment. They see Denver as the total package.” Washington said the city’s efforts in the coming year will be focused on manufacturing. In 2015, the city ran a pilot program where it teamed with Denver Beer Co. — maker of Graham Cracker Porter — to write an export plan and the target country was Japan. The company recently began exporting to Japan and Washington says the exporting plan is something that can be duplicated with other manufacturers. The next partnership will be with a medical devices company, he said. “The challenge for Colorado and Denver [is that] we are not at a port. So a lot of manufacturing will involve high value, low weight goods,” he said. “This is why medical devices are important.” The city plans to open a manufacturing park in 2017, where many manufacturers can share facilities, research and development, storage and transportation. It also will designate economic zones for tax incentives in an effort to attract manufacturers. But a key to becoming globally fluent may rest with immigrants, Washington said. The city is hoping to develop programs and services that help immigrant business owners. “Anytime you think about a globally fluent city, these cities have identifiable concentrations of immigrant communities like Chinatown in San Francisco and Little Italy in New York.” The city will target South Federal and East Colfax — two areas with high concentrations of minority-owned businesses. “The question is, how do we organize pockets of international culture that allows for immigrants to have business opportunities and entrepreneurial opportunities?” Washington said. “It offers real authenticity from a retail experience and it makes everyone that much more sophisticated and more exposed to other cultures and makes it more comfortable when they see the best of those cultures represented.” Being a welcoming city is among the traits that Brookings used to define globally fluent cities. “For me, my biggest ‘a-ha’ moment was that we do need to figure out how to more fully integrate our immigration population into the discussion and into the community,” Reichert said. “If we can do that, we would have the best marketing team ever. They go back and tell their friends and family and that will amplify us being a global city.” World Trade Center campusThe planned World Trade Center campus in the River North neighborhood is more than just a cluster of buildings, said Campbell, CEO and founder of real estate company Formativ, the developer on the WTC campus project. “(The) vision is to look at this campus as not just an opportunity to compete with Austin and Portland and Nashville, but to compete with Singapore and Munich and London,” he said. “The amenities will play to the culture and community with a large public development for festivals, events, fundraisers and foreign movie night – and all those things you would want in a global community.” Gerwitz, who heads up World Trade Center Denver, said the campus at 38th Avenue and Blake Street will be the first to use a campus model of mixing World Trade Center services, business headquarters, education, retail space and cultural events. “But we will have one single focus and that is expanding global business,” she said. The first phase of the new campus, which will take up about 1.5 acres, is a $200 million construction project on the rail line from Union Station to Denver International Airport. It’s expected to break ground next year and open in 2019. (The WTC was downtown between Broadway and 16th Street for 29 years and now is temporarily located at Geotech at 2650 E. 40th Ave.) “It’s going to be about expanding your business globally and that doesn’t mean only exports either,” Gerwitz said. “It means imports. It means investments and tech transfer across exporters. Trade is completely changing. Our model needs to change with it.” “We are on the cusp of this major shift,” Gerwitz said. Monica Mendoza covers banking and financial services, legal services, retail, the economy and economic development, and sports business. Phone: 303-803-9230. Read More

$200 million WTC Denver campus to open 2019

September 19, 2016 - Leaders of World Trade Center Denver are offering new details of their planned campus in the River North district — and a price tag for the first phase. In February, World Trade Center president Karen Gerwitz announced the plans for a World Trade Center Denver campus — what she calls a one-of-a-kind within the 330 World Trade Center network. The planned World Trade Center Denver at 38th Avenue and Blake Street would be the first to use a campus model of mixing World Trade Center services, business headquarters, education, retail space and cultural events, Gerwitz said. The center was downtown between Broadway and 16th Street for 29 years and now is temporarily located at Geotech, at 2650 E. 40th Ave. The first phase of the new campus, which will take up about 1.5 acres, is a $200 million construction project on the rail line from Union Station to Denver International Airport. It’s expected to break ground next year and open in 2019. "We will start our leasing process (this) week," said Sean Campbell, CEO and founder of real estate company Formativ, the firm working on the project. "Our team will go out and put together institutional capital in equity that will sit beside a $100 million construction component." We'll have more on the new World Trade Center Denver campus and the organization's plans in Friday's Denver Business Journal print edition. Read More

WTC Denver plans to hang its beret in River North

February 17, 2016 - World Trade Center Denver has selected for its new campus a development team and a location in one of Denver’s hottest neighborhoods, River North Art District. “We have spent the past year communicating with more than a dozen developers about the opportunity,” said WTC Denver president Karen Gerwitz. WTC Denver chose Sean Campbell, who co-developed Industry, 3001 Brighton Blvd.; Trae Rigby, head of Saunders Commercial Development, a subsidiary of Saunders Construction; and Andrew Feinstein, a co-managing partner of the EXDO Event Center and an owner of some of the land proposed for the campus development. “We have a bit of a blank canvas,” Campbell said. “We have one amazing shot to do something transformative.” Plans could take about 12 to 18 months to hammer out, with a groundbreaking next year and delivery of the first phase in 2019, Campbell said. No proposals have been submitted to the city, Campbell said. Financing will be arranged after concepts are firmed up. “We are in the early stages. We have several interested parties,” Campbell said. “It will be a traditional mixed-use development in terms of financing.” Gerwitz said the hope is to create a must-see destination that rivals Denver Union Station and Larimer Square. Campbell and Feinstein control what are mostly vacant lots along 38th Street between Walnut and Blake streets where the new campus could take shape. A key appeal of the location, Gerwitz said, is its proximity to a stop on the soon-to-open commuter rail line connecting Union Station and Denver International Airport. That will allow foreign visitors easy access to the location from the airport, not to mention a quick ride downtown. The campus may also include a flagship business hotel to host foreign visitors, as well as classrooms and meeting space to accommodate the numerous training sessions and events the group hosts. The concept plans call for traditional office space for other trade-focused groups and companies, as well as shared office space, incubators and accelerators to help local startups break into global markets and foreign firms establish a U.S. presence. “They see this as more a business development project more than a real estate development. How do we build our international community?” Gerwitz said. Campbell said he is talking to nearby developers and land owners in the area about expanding the international focus into surrounding blocks, including housing for international students and retail space for ethnic restaurants and stores. Details such as the number of buildings, as well as their height, square footage and architectural style, are all still being worked out. Denver-based Oz Architecture will handle the master plan. But specific building designs will be solicited in an international architectural competition. WTC Denver left its high-rise home of 27 years on 16th Street and Broadway early last year, in part because of limited space to host events and to bring in other trade-focused groups. In the interim, WTC Denver chairman Jeff Popiel is hosting the group at Geotech Environmental Equipment, the north Denver company where he is CEO and president. Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or @aldosvaldi Read More

Fall 2015 Education Schedule Announced

July 27, 2015 - DENVER, CO, USA - WTC Denver is dedicated to providing practical, real-world training in international business. Twice per year, fall and spring, we organize 12-15 classes on various aspects of international trade. Taught by award-winning instructors who have decades of experience in their own industries, our classes effectively teach the nuts and bolts of international trade. Topics include Incoterms, letters of credit, export/import documentation, compliance, strategy, marketing, sales, and supply chain. We are very pleased to announce that the schedule for our Fall 2015 classes is now available here. For those who can't attend in person, several of our classes are also available online here. Many class attendees participate in our Certificate in International Trade program. By completing 48 hours of classes and attending our two major networking events, attendees learn how various careers within international business are conducted and make invaluable networking connections. More information is available here. New this year to our educational offerings is a series dedicated to the IT industry. By partnering with the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, we are designing and producing an educational series tailored for IT companies. The highlights of this series include protecting IP, digital marketing, tax implications of website sales, outsourcing, managing across cultures, cyber security, and maintaining connectivity around the globe. These courses will launch in Fall 2015. Click here for details. Also new to our regular class programming is "Digital Marketing Strategies: How to Reach, Engage, and Convert New Audiences Online." This half-day class will teach how social media can support lead generation, PR, and customer service, how to leverage hyper-targeted online advertising campaigns to reach pre-qualified audiences, and how to measure marketing effectiveness with Google Analytics. In addition to this digital marketing class, we have also introduced a new supply chain class this year. We welcome engagement and partnership with all of our educational programming. To learn more about WTC Denver, click on the source link below: Read More

Denver's 42nd World Trade Day Draws Record Crowd!

May 25, 2015 - DENVER, CO, USA - On Tuesday, May 19th, although an unusually cold and wet day in Denver, Colorado, more than 530 international business professionals and university students made their way into the heart of downtown Denver to participate in WTC Denver’s 42nd Annual World Trade Day Conference. This year’s conference, Advancing Colorado Around the Globe, focused on showcasing Colorado’s most internationally relevant advanced industries - aerospace, bioscience, clean tech/energy, engineering/infrastructure, electronics, IT, and manufacturing. During the morning, six breakout sessions focused on how to solve some of the most important and relevant challenges of doing business internationally. Representatives of international leaders in the advanced industries including Jeppesen, Trimble, Terumo BCT, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, all headquartered in Colorado, led these dynamic and interactive sessions. Participants in the breakouts were able to hear real world examples to get advice, role play, and more. In the afternoon, attendees actively engaged in 10 person teams, during an interactive supply chain and trade finance simulation, called The Cool Connection, meant to offer greater understanding of the interdependencies within a company, and to improve cross-functional cooperation. At the same time, over 100 individual B2B meetings were held between local and international attendees to discuss international opportunities and challenges, as well as potential joint ventures, distribution relationships, and other partnerships. The day included over 30 international delegates from 14 different markets, truly bringing the international perspective to World Trade Day this year. As the afternoon simulation was completed on tablets loaned by Microsoft, we took the opportunity to have attendees complete a brief survey about their experience with WTC Denver, what they find most valuable, and what offerings they would like to see in the future. With almost 300 responses, we learned that attendees would like expanded market research-which we have been working on and will launch soon, as well as offering trade missions and more cultural trainings. Responses like these help us to continue improving and expanding our trade services so that WTC Denver can continue to grow and allow international trade to flourish. Pictures of the entire conference are available here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk8AK1sf Read More

Turning the Page: A Note from WTC Denver

January 31, 2015 - DENVER, CO, USA - As discussed in our Annual Member Meeting back in September, the day has come. We are at the end of our lease, and today is moving day for the World Trade Center Denver. After 26 years in the prominent location of 16th & Broadway, the World Trade Center is packing up its sign and taking it to our temporary location as we plan for our permanent home for at least another 25 years. "Packing and moving is always bitter sweet," said Karen Gerwitz, president of WTC Denver. "I'm finding my hand-written notes on documents preparing for the Western Hemisphere Trade Ministerial from over 20 years ago, when I worked in the Colorado International Trade Office, which shared a suite with the World Trade Center and USEAC back then." Also uncovered was a directory of World Trade Centers worldwide, dating back to 1990, where there were 96 centers, and now the organization has grown to 330 centers in 100 countries. We are grateful to our partners and multiple tenants of the building, including three consulates, who supported the vision of the World Trade Center as a collective hub for enhancing global business, by moving into the complex on 16th and Broadway. We assure you that our new complex will continue that vision, and we hope you will consider coming with us. We will be issuing a Request for Expressed Interest in mid-February to real estate developers and building owners who wish to enter into a license agreement with us and create the new, vibrant World Trade Center complex. Our vision is to include a co-working and collaborative environment for small- to mid-size global businesses, a training and conference facility to gather and prepare our next generation of global business leaders, global retail establishments and restaurants, and potentially temporary housing and hotel facilities. For a sneak peak of our vision statement, please click here. In our temporary location, which if you came to our Annual Member Meeting, you got a taste of it, is graciously provided by our chairman, Jeff Popiel, president of Geotech Environmental Equipment at 2650 E. 40th Avenue, just 10 minutes from downtown. We will continue to operate and serve our members as we always have, bringing you over 60 events or classes per year, including World Trade Day on May 19th, and processing export documents and market research on a daily basis. You will be pleased to note that now we have free parking! Geotech is home to a growing number of small manufacturers as well, where we can apply our trade services first hand to help our immediate community grow their global businesses. While this move may mark the end of an era, it is the beginning of something very exciting! We welcome your involvement and participation in helping to create your new World Trade Center, and we hope you will share your ideas of "must haves" for Denver's new hub of international business by emailing our president at karen@wtcdenver.org. If you missed the positive news coverage on our next chapter, please see the following: Denver's World Trade Center Buildings to Be Rebranded as Namesake Tenant Leaves, Denver Business Journal World Trade Center Denver Decamps, Towers Renamed Denver Energy Center, The Denver Post Thank you for your ongoing support as we turn the page! WTC Denver Staff New Address: WTC Denver2650 E. 40th AvenueDenver, CO 80205Phone: 720-215-2550 (temporary number until we re-connect our current number of 303-592-5760) Read More