From the Five Points Media Center in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

This is StudioTwelve.

We hope you had a meaningful Memorial Day weekend as we honor our veterans and remember their sacrifices.

Tonight on a special 30 minute edition of StudioTwelve, we meet a Navy veteran turned inspirational business leader.

We also have a legendary NBA coach with Colorado ties to tell you about, and to end the show.

We always like to leave you with the sounds of local music tonight.

It's a live performance from the Denver band The Etiquettes.

We've teamed up with the Colorado Business Roundtable to spotlight inspiring leaders and entrepreneurs across our state this week on the business of Colorado.

We feature one of those stories.

It's about Danny Moore, CEO of De Novo Solutions from growing up in the segregated South to serving in the Navy, to building a successful business and mentoring the next generation of leaders.

Danny's journey is all about purpose, perseverance, and giving back.

Take a look.

I don't know how I got here.

You know, I like to say that I'm an unremarkable person that has had a remarkable life growing up in the South.

At that time, it was the segregated South until I grew up to a time where they were integrating schools.

So you imagine, you know, here's this young black boy growing up in the South, now being implanted into these segregated schools, I should say how it shaped me.

It taught me that I have to look past who, a person, what a person looks like, and I have to look at what a person is.

And what that did for me is it made the world a more friendlier place to me.

I grew up in the projects, and as most kids, I didn't realize I was in the projects until I got older.

My mother was, very prideful person and instilled in us a great sense of pride of who we were.

I remember she would make us get up on Saturday morning and go and pick up trash in our neighborhood, and I would complain about it.

Because I always thought it was someone else's job.

The city's job to do that.

But she would say, no, we live here, and it's our job to take care of our own community.

And that kind of community has stuck with me.

My mother had eight children.

That's a lot of people to keep up with.

And we had one rule, and that is don't work against her.

Always work for her.

And so that's what that's what shaped my life.

And that's the kind of thing I passed down to even my own kids.

My dad was the hardest working man I know, and that includes myself.

My dad had an eighth grade education, so he was a laborer.

But he could do anything.

He could build anything.

He had a mind for business.

But he always worked hard.

And you can imagine back in those times where you're working to feed and clothe and house eight children.

That's where we got that from.

When I joined the military, I had no had no career vision.

I was going to go in for four years and call it good.

I found myself entrenched in a relationship that you build.

You know, you have your family, and then you have your extended family, which is the military men and women you served with.

There was a maverick called Terry Shepherd, and Terry was a, enlisted person who had joined the Navy and became a captain.

I was complaining to him one day about, you know, credit and not getting any credit.

And I can remember him sitting to me.

And he looked at me and he said, listen, do you need the credit?

And I said, no.

He said, well, maybe the other people need the credit.

Is it okay for them to have the credit?

And I said, yeah.

And that moment taught me something.

That moment taught me it was about the deal that you do not the credit that you get.

And so that was life changing for me as a, as an adult.

And how it's for me is that, you know, loyalty is is a crucial component.

You know, when you're serving in the military, oftentimes people think we're serving the country, but we're really serving each other.

You know, our mission is to go out there, do our mission, and bring everybody back home.

It it sticks with me today.

Even in my business, I'm really loyal to the people who call themselves Donovans.

As a part of my company.

And then after that, I retired and went to work for British Aerospace, doing really program and management and director kind of work.

And then I got the entrepreneurial bug.

I wanted to create a company, but I didn't know exactly what I wanted it to be.

And so, like most Americans who start, entrepreneurship, a new company, I had a perfectly good job, and I quit that job, in 2009, not knowing we were in a recession.

So and so right after doing that, I was in it, and, again, my wife, who supported me along the way.

We just stayed in the grind, and we never gave up.

So we went about a year and a half with, no work.

But we stayed at it, and I think that's the one thing I want people to realize is that when you when you start a company, when you're entrepreneur, you have to have two things.

You have to have grit and you have to have gratitude, grit to get through those hard times and gratitude so that those small victories a worthwhile for you.

I often tell people, you know, we build software and we build AI models and we build systems.

That's great.

That's that's that's the work.

But what we really do is we build families.

It gives me a great sense of pride to see people come to the company.

And they're they're young people and they don't have a new car and they don't have a new home.

And then to see them gain prosperity through that job.

And and now I see I have their kids pictures on my desk.

I have that new home purchase on my desk.

I take the most pride in knowing that we're growing families and our company defense is what we do.

The growing family is our mission.

The most crucial thing that we give is about time.

We work with, you know, my members.

We all work with the Junior Achievement Organization to kind of help mentor kids.

We go and we plant flowers at the VA. We build bikes for, you know, underserved communities.

Those are the kind of things when you reach out to those communities, you're doing more than just providing a service.

What you're doing is you're connecting with people and showing them, hey, this is the possibility for me.

Many of the kids that we meet, they have no idea what aerospace and defense is or engineering is.

And so perhaps we're seeding with them a potential to be an engineer in the future, just by having conversations with our employees and with and with myself.

I think there's a lot of things going on in the state of Colorado right now.

You know, obviously most businesses are still recovering from Covid.

As you can imagine, you know, train going 100 miles an hour and someone slamming the brakes on it.

That's what happened to the business community.

And so when that happened, you know, we had one priority.

And that was how can we take care of the people that we had in our company?

It wasn't about growing.

It was about taking care of people.

And that process really lasted from like 2020.

All the way through 2023.

And so last year was that first year where businesses are starting to look at now, how do we reinvest in Colorado?

How do we tap into that workforce?

When you think about it, that a third of the people in this state are not a part of a growing economy here in the state.

How do we use these certificate programs to bring in more people who don't have a four year degree or even a two year degree?

And until we figure out a way to tap into the resources of our entire community, we're not going to be successful not only as a state, but as a nation.

We are the number one aerospace state per capita, in the nation.

And you think about places like California and Texas.

That says a lot for Colorado, right?

But we also are much more than that, right?

We are we're a defense hub that people don't think about in Colorado Springs, in Aurora, Colorado.

We have some of the greatest learning institutions that are here and see you and School of Mines and others.

What we need to do is to make sure we can keep this talent at home.

What we're seeing in the industry is we're seeing more people graduate from from higher ed and are leaving our state.

We have to keep our talent here because we want to continue to be the number one state in the nation for aerospace.

Want to continue to to build on the defense industry here, because Colorado is the best place to be.

The challenges that you're going to have in day one of business are going to be the challenges you're going to have in year 20 of business.

And the realization that people have to have is that this is hard work.

But it's also fun because you do what you love doing.

I love what I do.

I love running this business.

I love walking to office every day.

I love engaging.

I love the fact we're supporting the defense and aerospace industry.

I love it.

And so for me, it's not work.

And if I'm looking back, you know, 20 years from now, I'd like to see a legacy that says, you know, Danny Moore is a person who helped grow my family.

I like for you to look at my company and look at that as a springboard to success.

I like to see dozens of entrepreneurs flow out of de novo solutions, and start their own businesses.

That's what I would like to see from a legacy standpoint.

I think it's remarkable what PBS 12 is doing.

You know, having that independent ethical media, to share and tell the stories of our community.

Everything from, political climate to business to, to cultural, is really important.

And what they're doing here, it's exceptional.

So I'm grateful for the opportunity to share our story of business, on PBS 12.

Danny Moore story is a powerful reminder of the potential of leadership to lift up others.

His professional peers applaud him for building not just a business, but also a legacy.

To find out more about Danny's company, De Novo Solutions, you can go to their website, the de novo.com.

And for more information about the Colorado Business Roundtable, go to c o brt.com.

this week on Colorado inside out, longtime civic leader and elections expert Alton Dillard stepped in to guest host.

As Kyle is off, he led the roundtable discussion with our panel.

Colorado recently took some steps toward creating some housing reforms, but six localities said not so fast and sued Governor Polis on the grounds that two land use bills passed last year violate local control provisions.

And the implications are huge here.

What are you hearing?

Well, let's go back to the 2023 and 2024 sessions.

And Governor Polis has pushed us.

We need more housing constructed.

Specifically, we need more multifamily housing around transit hubs, constructed that will allow people to live there a little bit cheaper, not have to drive cars.

And housing.

Our lack of housing is one of the biggest reasons we see such an affordability problem right now.

So the legislature, with his urging after rejecting them in 23, passes, two bills in 24.

One of them says, okay, you're going to have to zone for more density.

If you're around a transit hub, if you're a local city.

The second one says, and by the way, you're going to get rid of your minimum parking requirements.

We've known for a year that the cities were going to rebel against this, and they specifically rebelled against a recent executive order in which the governor said, oh, and by the way, if you don't do this, we're going to take funding from you in other areas as well.

The governor this year, signed a housing bill, looking to fix construction defects, reform problems.

That's going to make it easier to build.

Owner occupied, housing, hopefully.

I don't think there's an easy answer here, but what comes out of this, whether it is, is state matter of concern or a local matter concern is going to affect a lot of bills going forward on subjects from public safety to how local governments are allowed to deal with federal government in terms of, say, immigration reform.

Well.

Jesse, so I asked the governor about this the other day because I think his relationship with local governments is really fractured.

And his kind of spin on the situation is there are a number of local governments who support what we're doing.

We've got a few mayors and city council people who come to these press conferences.

But I think the reality is, you know, far and large, far and away that that most municipalities and counties in Colorado have some frustrations around some of these bills.

And I think the result of that was the failure of the governor's.

You could be bill at the Capitol this year, the yes in God's backyard bill that would have basically allowed for, zoning lists or overcoming zoning, restrictions for church properties and for schools and basically just another way to kind of build more housing.

And that died in the Colorado Senate as a result of local government, the local government concerns.

And I don't even know if they were as opposed to this as they were the previous bills, but I think they were so fed up with some of the legislation that has been passed in recent years that they kind of said no more.

We're not working with you guys on this anymore.

And they've kind of turned some lawmakers against what the, the, the, the governor's housing agenda.

And with one year left in office, I think it's interesting.

It'll be interesting to see if, if he can get any of these folks on board, get pass get at some of these other local control issues that he wants across the finish line.

And, as of now, you know, with, with local government suing him, I think the outlook is fairly bleak.

Fairly bleak.

Patty.

Interesting to see which government sued and which ones haven't.

I mean, you'll notice Aurora's front and center there.

Denver is not part of it, but Denver has its own big problem coming up soon.

When you talk about the lack of parking that they are now going to remove.

It looks like they will remove parking requirements for minimum parking requirements for developments.

And you see the blowback there because unless you happen to live by transit or happen to have a parking place somehow with your dwelling, there's so few places with parking right now in Denver, in the inner city neighborhoods, and it's becoming a big issue that is dividing people a lot in Denver.

So the parking issue, much worse in Denver than obviously in the cities that sued, but that's going to be will have blowback, too, with Denver and especially as I guess they'll keep the parking monitors going.

No matter what the the meter maids and the others who ticket, because that'll bring in plenty of money because people are parking illegally all over the city already.

Well, that's always one of my number one criteria.

And you want to ask me?

Go do something.

Is there somewhere to park?

Elena?

I think policies relationship right now with local governments is just fascinating to watch.

And I'm almost like, Frank is are you better move aside.

There's a new strong arm in town.

He's strong arming all of these local governments.

It's really interesting because of course, you know, leans libertarian.

And to see him sort of stomp all over local control is I think some people might see us surprising.

Also, he's his administration is compiling a list by early October of compliant and non-compliant local governments.

So he can prioritize which get state grant dollars.

And this feels very familiar.

Because we've seen this a lot at the federal government under Trump right now.

He's dangling dollars for, you know, cities and states that are complying with him.

So it's, you know, a little bit Trump esque and a little bit surprising there.

I think, you know, between the lines, affordable housing is such a top priority for Polis.

And because he's term limited obviously can't seek reelection.

I wonder if he's just not, you know, in a place doesn't see it in his interest to play nice anymore.

Thanks again to Alton Dillard for guest hosting this week's episode.

While Kyle was away, you can catch Colorado Inside Out every Friday at 8 p.m. right here on PBS12, also on the PBS passport app or on our YouTube channel.

You can also listen to the Colorado Inside Out podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

When the San Antonio Spurs suffered a heartbreaking loss in the 2013 NBA finals, head coach Gregg Popovich, himself a graduate of the Air Force Academy, turned to his roots for inspiration.

We sit down with Rob Devall, a retired U.S. Air Force officer and director of military affairs for the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.

He shares the untold story of the Spurs visit to the Air Force Academy, and the profound impact it had on the players and coaches.

Rob Duvall.

Currently, I'm the director of military affairs at the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.

I was born here.

My dad was, stationed at Lowry born and Fitzsimmons.

And then I ended up joining the family business.

I joined the Air Force for 28 years.

Ten of them were here in Colorado.

Between the Air Force Academy and Buckley.

So back in 2013, the San Antonio Spurs playing the Miami Heat in Game six, the Spurs were up, towards the end of the game, though.

Regulation.

Ray Allen hit the three high as the game goes to overtime.

Spurs and the game still goes to a game seven.

But they they they don't make it on game seven.

So Miami Heat wins.

Devastating loss for the Spurs.

And so Coach Popovich he is actually an Air Force Academy grad.

And so because of the devastating loss he wanted to bring, a different perspective to training camp.

So he worked his connections, and he got training camp at the Air Force Academy.

And so, you know, they're they're experiencing things.

They're seeing the cadets, they're engaging with, watching the parades, all the things.

Right.

Just getting a taste for what Coach Kopp went through when he was there.

But what they didn't know is one day it was just totally on him.

But everybody understand?

Yes, sir.

All right, so this bus comes in, the base and then goes to this training area called Jacks Valley.

That's kind of the, field training area at the Air Force Academy.

And he gets off the bus.

We kind of arrange some things to occur and go.

We going right now?

Yeah.

I mean, you're talking Tim Duncan, manager now, my manager, notably, Tony Parker.

You got a lot of folks on there.

And so, kind of tell them a couple of things, have them fall off the bus.

Get them an information piece of a position of attention.

And so, I couldn't hold it much longer after that.

I started laughing because I was like, you guys make a lot of money.

Listen to everything I'm saying.

And so kind of broke down because I think we went far enough.

Kind of explain what we're going to do that day.

And then we put, GoPro on Boris Dell.

He was one of the new players, a French.

And so him and Tony Parker kind of had a connection.

To kind of document going through.

So the first guy to go was actually Tim Duncan.

He stepped up.

Then I would go through the course and that happened.

So it's a great story, right?

Because team building, doing something they don't usually do.

It's kind of build morale and get out of the gym.

Well, they go through and cool story right.

But for me, I think the coolest story out of all this is after the players were done.

A few of the coaches want to go through.

So coaches are running through.

They get to the last obstacle.

Last obstacle is this one where you're over water, and it's that rope that goes across and you kind of go backwards.

Across.

Across the water.

Well, he asks one of the guys, that worked with us to demonstrate.

So he gets on and he starts going through and not even, you know, five feet into the obstacle.

His cell phone falls out and goes in the water.

The phone and and, you know, all of us from our team and the players, we're hanging out and we see it, and we start cracking up.

For some reason, that was the reaction everybody had.

The thought was funny.

You know, and Thompson, that was the guy.

He said you that's where you're doing insurance on your phone.

And he kept going right while all that was happening.

Coach Popovich and he probably tell me to tell the story because he's just a real humble guy.

But I think he deserves his flowers on this one.

Because he he is a great leader.

He starts walking slowly around, unassuming.

Asks Dow about where the phone is.

He's like, oh, it's in there.

I don't worry about okay.

So it goes on and then he gets in the water.

Start fishing in the water.

Look for this guy.

You know what?

Everyone is kind of joking, laughing, having a good time.

Goes pop that his head on straight.

Doing what servant leaders do.

And took action.

I have to do the right thing.

I won't even pay attention to the fact that it was after I spent rewatching the tape that I saw all that occurs.

A huge leadership lesson.

That sort of thing.

It's kind of what that place is about.

The tagline is building leaders of character.

It's great for the military, but there's a lot of people that get out and go do great things as well.

That character is the thing that sticks.

Well, there's so many stories.

Not just folks that were in the military.

The young men and women that serve today.

Stories of courage.

Stories of leadership.

Stories of adversity.

And getting through it.

But Colorado got so much for that.

Our thanks to Rob Duvall for sharing this story and the videos and photos that brought it to life.

Thanks for joining us for this special 30 minute edition of studio 12.

We leave you tonight with Denver's own indie retro band, The Etiquette, performing live at Lost Lake Lounge.

I'm Bazi Kanani.

We'll see you next week right here on StudioTwelve.

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