Home > CO > Castle Rock > Education, Careers & Opportunity > Inspiring Innovation Leaders in Castle Rock, CO

Inspiring Innovation Leaders in Castle Rock, CO

Cutting-edge companies make Castle Rock home base

By Kayla Walden on March 20, 2018

Castle Rock, CO
Castle Rock / Jeff Adkins
Jeff Cox is the Founder and CEO of Digital Globe Services at The Move in Castle Rock, Colorado.

CEO of Digital Globe Services Jeff Cox lived in Castle Rock, Colo. once prior to launching his own company. When he had the opportunity to relocate DGS from Washington, D.C., Colorado was calling his name.

“We’re an online acquisition company that uses digital media to acquire new customers for large businesses like Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T,” says Cox. “These organizations use us to help navigate the online channels to find new subscribers.”

Cox says many of the companies he works with are too large to keep up with the ever-changing industry trends, and thus they hire his company to “be innovative for them.”

“We could basically live anywhere we wanted,” Cox says. “But we ultimately decided to come back to Castle Rock.”

He lists the drivers of his decision as the business-friendly atmosphere and economic development leaders working strategically to usher new businesses into the community.

“As we started to create partnerships with the Economic Development Council, we realized Castle Rock was a really business-friendly environment,” he says. “The business incentives they presented were instrumental in our choice to land here.”

Leading Innovation in the Food Sector

Castle Rock is also home to companies like Where Food Comes From, an independent, third-party food verification company.

“To put it simply, we’re the ultimate food nerds,” says Kathryn Britton, senior director of operations and corporate marketing. “We visit farms and ranches, look at their plants, animals and records, and compare the information we collect to specific standards or claims they want to make about how they produce their food.”

Like many other companies flocking to Castle Rock, innovation plays a substantial role at Where Food Comes From.

“We want our customers to get the best available service, and that requires us to innovate,” says Britton. “It’s crucial for us as we look to maximize the integrity and efficiency of our business.”

Founders and current CEO and President of Where Food Comes From, John and Leann Saunders, specifically chose Castle Rock as their Colorado base.

“It has one of the strongest connections between urban and rural communities along the front range,” Britton says. “Because our business highlights the connection between farmers and consumers, Castle Rock is the best place in the world for us to be headquartered.”

Britton says the beautiful environment paired with the thriving business climate has made it easy to attract young, highly-qualified talent to this small but growing community.

Hiring Good Talent

While several Digital Globe Services employees work remotely, Cox says some of his employees made the decision to relocate to Castle Rock after visiting the area.

“They’re here buying houses and raising families,” he says. “That’s the whole idea, right? You need people to come work and live in the community. It not only helps us, but also helps other businesses thrive.”

Similarly, Britton says thanks to the urban and rural connection, Where Food Comes From has been fortunate to have a strong history in hiring locally.

“The appeal of Castle Rock has enabled us to hire a significant amount of people from Colorado,” she says. “We’re proud of how many people have come from Douglas County and the surrounding areas.”

Innovation leaders will keep flocking to Castle Rock as the city continues making progress on its strategic, long-term plans for the community. With its hometown charm and eye on the future, Castle Rock has nowhere to go but up.

Array ( )
Array ( )
Array ( )
Array ( )

Newsletter Sign Up

Keep up to date with our latest rankings and articles!
Enter your email to be added to our mailing list.