2025 Dealmakers of the Year Honorees
Presented By: PNC Bank
Jason Barrow
Co-Owner & President
Douglass Barrow
Co-Owner
Luna Roasters Gourmet Coffee & Tea
Luna Gourmet Coffee & Tea Company acquired CoffeeAM, and the acquisition integrates CoffeeAM into Luna's portfolio, which also includes Boyer's Coffee, Boulder Organic Coffee, and Boca Java. CoffeeAM has moved its operations to a new, upgraded roastery in Denver, Colorado, to enhance quality and consistency. CoffeeAM is now part of the larger Luna Roasters family, which is one of Colorado's largest family-owned roasters, and has moved its facility from Canton, Georgia, to Denver, Colorado, to a new, upgraded roastery. The move allows for higher-elevation roasting, which is expected to improve flavor consistency and quality.
Taylor Merritt
CEO
Merritt Companies
Merritt Companies, based in Fort Lupton, CO, acquired Magnum Trailer and Equipment, headquartered in Abbotsford, BC Canada. This cross-border acquisition represents a bold strategic move by Merritt Companies to vertically and horizontally integrate two of its core business units, Merritt Aluminum Products and Merritt Trailers, through the acquisition of Magnum Trailer and Equipment Inc., a Canadian manufacturer with highly complementary operations. The deal created an immediate platform for bidirectional market access between the U.S. and Canada, with the most significant near-term sales opportunities centered around aluminum truck accessories.
Erin Pulling
CEO
Food Bank of the Rockies
Food Bank of the Rockies has successfully leveraged New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) in four separate transactions between 2021 and 2025, generating over $18M in subsidy to support vital activities of the food bank. This NMTC funding supported the construction of new facilities in Grand Junction and Aurora and provided working capital—a less traditional use of NMTC funding—to help offset rising food and labor costs. By incorporating NMTC funding into its financing strategy, Food Bank of the Rockies has expanded beyond more traditional fundraising activities to more effectively combat food insecurity across Colorado and Wyoming.
Total allocations to Food Bank of the Rockies over the four transactions is $88.5M, with net benefit to Food Bank of the Rockies of $18.2M.
Bo Sutton
Co-Founder & Partner
Eric Wolf
Co-Founder & Partner
Liftout Capital
AG&E, a Dallas-based structural engineering company received a strategic investment by Liftout Capital, an investment holding company focused on accelerating growth in founder-owned businesses. AG&E provides innovative structural engineering solutions in mission critical, aviation, and advanced manufacturing markets. AG&E is currently the largest data center structural engineering firm in North America and anticipates significant further growth in this sector. This partnership positions AG&E to expand its North American footprint and enhance its service offerings while maintaining its commitment to delivering cutting-edge engineering designs to its blue-chip customer base.
Rourke Willner
Director of Finance & Strategy
Seekr Technologies
Seekr Technologies is finalizing its latest funding round, spearheaded by prominent investors Danu Venture Group and AMD Ventures. The Company closed the second tranche of the $100 million funding round in September, with final close in November. Seekr tapped Guggenheim Securities to advise on the financing round, putting the Company's pre-money valuation at $1.2 billion. Other undisclosed investors and strategics also participated in the round.
Social Impact Investing Award
Richard Lewis
President & CEO
RTL Networks, Inc.
Founder/Board Chair
RTL Foundation
RTL Foundation is a 501(C)3 nonprofit created in 2021 with a mission to Provide and support educational opportunities in the areas of history, technology and entrepreneurship and advocating for unity of all people while promoting economic opportunity for the historically disenfranchised and underprivileged. In pursuit of that mission, the RTL Foundation complements its media studios, art gallery and event space with a nonprofit incubator that now supports 17 BIPOC-led and -serving organizations through discounted workspace and developmental programming.