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Herman Malone
Herman Malone was born in 1947 on a farm in Chidester, Arkansas. Being the youngest of seven children, he was spared doing some of the more difficult chores which came with farming, such as; getting up at dawn milking cows, picking cotton or plowing the fields with a mule named Jake. Malone clearly remembers doing many other farming chores like row hoeing, cleaning vegetables, feeding chickens and hogs, and picking berries to be sold at the market on Saturdays.
He was born into a financially poor but spiritually rich family however, after the divorce of his parents, mother Emma became the primary provider for the family. She was a woman of great courage and strong religious beliefs. She was highly respected throughout the community for her kindness and generosity. Malone’s grandfather, a Presiding Elder and Bishop in the AME Church, took a keen interest in helping to raise Malone, with the assistance from his older brother, Lloyd and sister, Grace. Malone’s grandfather was an entrepreneur who grew cotton and purchased farmland. He had been Malone’s teacher, mentor, role model, and the one who had guided and inspired him. As a result of his relationship with his grandfather, Malone realized the never-ending capabilities of man and the innate ability within each of us to succeed.
After the death of his grandfather, the family moved to Camden, Arkansas where Malone graduated in 1963 from Lincoln High School. Malone later attended Jarvis Christian College, studying business management, before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in 1965.
While in the Air Force, Malone supervised military and civilian personnel at the Government Engineering Headquarters in Europe. In this capacity, Malone developed and maintained highly-classified data banks for electrical and communication materials.
Upon being honorably discharged from active military duty, Malone moved to Denver, Colorado, enrolled in a local community college and secured a position at Montgomery Wards, electrical division, as one of the first black managers to be hired.
In 1976, Malone started the Rocky Mountain Electrical Supply Company. His company began in the basement of his home distributing electrical supplies. During this time there were no known African-American owned electrical firms.
After achieving success Malone realized there was an opportunity to expand into telecommunications, as a result of the court-ordered divesture of the Bell Operating Companies. Malone was successful in attaining a multi-million, multi-year contract with US West to provide PVC conduit throughout its 14-state Western region. The contract was awarded under its initial “Flagship Program,” which was designed to foster links with minority businesses. At the time, the contract was the largest US West had awarded to a minority owned firm. In order to reflect the expanded services of the company, Rocky Mountain Electrical Supply was changed to RMES Communications.
During this period, RMES was becoming one of the most successful African-American owned companies in the country, with annual sales in excess of $10 million, sixty employees and offices in four states.
In addition to performing contracts for the US West, RMES was a supplier of goods and services to the newly-developed Denver International Airport as well as other government contracting agencies and programs.
An unexpected shift involving RMES’ major contract had a very devastating financial impact on the company, which took years to recover. The firm closed its locations outside of Colorado, drastically reducing its staff. RMES eventually sold its headquarters building after filing for Chapter 11 reorganization.
Today, RMES is operating as prime contractor for public pay telephones, calling cards, public internet services, amusement, entertainment and other travel-related services for Denver International Airport.
Herman Malone continues to be involved in community affairs. He currently serves on Denver’s Mayor Infrastructure Task Force Committee, Founding member of the Denver Business Action Coalition, and Board member of the Denver Ghana’s Children Fund. He is the former Chairman of the National Black Chamber of Commerce and the Founding member and Chairman of the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce. Malone was formerly on the boards of the State of Colorado Space Advisory Council, the Greater Denver Local Development Corporation, and the Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry. He was appointed by former Governor Roy Romer to the Board of Directors of Colorado’s World Trade Commission. Appointed by former Colorado Governor Bill Owens to the Colorado Financial Services Board and the Governors Small Business Council. Mr. Malone has served on former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb’s Business Advisory Committee, the Summit of 8 Committee held in Denver, Colorado and the Denver Trade & Partnership Mission to South Africa. Lastly, Malone was appointed by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to the Administration’s Transition Team and the Denver International Airport Task Force Commission.
Mr. Malone was the recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Responsibility Award, the Colorado Gospel Music Academy Outstanding Achievement and Service Award, the Juanita Ross Gray Community Service Award, The Colorado Ethic’s & Business Award, The National Black Chamber of Commerce Business Innovator of the Year Award and The Denver Post & Great Denver Chamber of Commerce Businessman of the Year Award. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Parade, The Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News and various Denver area magazines.
Herman is the proud father of two sons, Leon and Miles, one daughter Pamela and stepdaughter Carrie.
Robert Scwhab
Robert Schwab has been the editor of ColoradoBiz Magazine, a 33-year old statewide business magazine owned by Wiesner Publishing, for six years. He has also worked for The Denver Post, where he served as a reporter and columnist covering small business, women in business, and minority business, as deputy business editor and as night city editor. Before that, he was city editor of the Bryan-College Station Eagle, before that, an editor, reporter and Washington correspondent for the Austin American-Statesman, and before that an editor and reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago.
During his journalistic career, Schwab has covered cops and criminals, several presidents of the United States, Congress, and businesses across both Texas and Colorado.
He has won awards for his work in newspapers as well as several national awards for the editorial quality of ColoradoBiz magazine, both for story content and for design.
He is also a poet. His poetry website is robertschwabpoet.com, where you can purchase a sampling of his work over the past forty years.
Schwab lives in Centennial, Colorado, and has two daughters: Rebecca, a dancer and high-school senior, and Catherine, a painter and sculptor studying at Boston University.
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