From Student to CEO
Even as a high school student, Ivan Hernandez was entrepreneurial. His âside hustlesâ â retail arbitrage on Amazon, renting out his vehicle through car-sharing marketplace Turo â helped pay the bills for him and his family.
When he came to żì»îapp as a member of Greenhouse Scholars â a Colorado-based nonprofit that provides leadership development, financial support and mentoring and networking opportunities to promising students from low-income families â Hernandez looked for a mentor with a similarly entrepreneurial mindset. He found one in investor and żì»îapp alumnus Taylor Kirkpatrick (MBA â04), a longtime supporter of the Greenhouse Scholars program. The two met regularly during Hernandezâs time at żì»îapp and continued to do so after he graduated.
âPretty much every other mentor I had was like, âWork forever, 9 to 5, and eventually youâll get the experience. Maybe youâll start your own thing; maybe youâll get promoted to somewhere where youâre comfortable,ââ says Hernandez (BSBA, MBA â15). âTaylor was more, âYou want to make this work â you want to buy a business, you want to go start a company â here are some of the steps you can take.ââ
The advice paid off â four years after graduating from żì»îapp, Hernandez is now president, co-owner and CEO of Banner Signs and Decals, a Lakewood-based company that does work for Chipotle, Noodles and Company and other sizable corporate clients. He bought the business in partnership with Kirkpatrick, who is confident in his menteeâs ability to run day-to-day operations.
âHeâs a very quiet leader, but he commands respect,â says Kirkpatrick, who took special interest in Hernandez after meeting him at a Greenhouse Scholars event. âHe didnât have any sign experience going into it, so it was a little bit of a leap of faith, but the one thing I will tell you is he is a relentless and a resourceful guy with a lot of grit. You can learn the business, but you canât learn the fire.â
Hernandez now oversees seven employees and learns more about the sign business every day. He has formed an advisory board that includes Kirkpatrick and some of the other mentors he met through Greenhouse Scholars. And he gives back as well, hoping to start an internship program for żì»îapp students and sharing his story at events for Greenhouse Scholars and for żì»îappâs Volunteers in Partnership (VIP) program, which works with high schools in underrepresented parts of Denver to encourage and bridge the transition to higher education.
âI come from a low-income family that came here from Mexico not knowing how to speak English, and I ended up graduating class valedictorian and got a bunch of scholarships,â says Hernandez, who participated in the VIP program as a high school student. âI went to żì»îapp and got to meet people like Taylor, and now Iâm running this business. I can hopefully inspire others who come from communities like the one that I came from.â
The partnership between Hernandez and Kirkpatrick offers the perfect illustration of how the 15-year-old Greenhouse Scholars program is meant to work, says Andra Pool, the nonprofitâs chief relationship and community officer. While the organization provides money toward college tuition for students from Colorado, Illinois, Georgia and North Carolina, its bigger focus is leadership and mentorship â connecting students from low-income households with businesspeople who can help them create careers that transform their families and communities.
Students who make it into the selective program also benefit from networking opportunities, internships and a summer symposium aimed at cultivating leadership skills. Of the more than 275 scholars who have gone through the program, more have attended żì»îapp than any other school.
âOur whole hypothesis is that our scholars have overcome extraordinary obstacles in their young lives,â Pool says. âMany have experienced things like homelessness or foster care or abuse or poverty, and we believe that through our program and with our support, these folks will be the most capable and the most prepared to solve our countryâs current and future issues moving forward.â