New incubator CEO has a Ph.D. in physics, MBA in hard knocks

Ric Denton served as president of the local chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) for three years, but he never seemed very retired. On Monday, the former physicist and one-time founder and CEO of a defense contractor and imaging firm is officially hanging up hanging it up as he takes over as CEO of the Colorado Springs Technology Incubator.

“I’ve never lacked for something to do,” Denton said. “The last thing I can imagine is to go off and twiddle my thumbs in retirement.”

In many ways, Denton’s new gig builds on everything he’s done up to this point. The incubator works with local entrepreneurs, offering both office space and business guidance, trying to get people with good ideas on their feet and then sending them on their way.

Denton, 67, has a Ph.D. in physics, but he likes to say he earned his MBA at the school of hard knocks, learning business on the fly as he launched TAU Corp. in the difficult economy of the early 1980s and eventually turning it into a success.

“I’m intimately familiar with the broad spectrum of everything that can go right and everything that can go wrong,” he said.

Denton replaces Duncan Stewart, who has taken the CEO job at a local dental implant startup company. Stewart, 39, isn’t going far, however — he plans to stay on as chairman of the incubator and remain closely involved with plans to expand the incubator’s mission and footprint to become an innovation center.

“By bringing him in and letting me focus more on fundraising, he can focus on the day-to-day operations and we can get a lot more done,” Stewart said of Denton.

Both Denton and Stewart said the transition won’t change the incubator’s goals or operations, although it may tweak its style.

“I’m perfectly willing to jump off a cliff and learn how to fly,” Stewart said. “Ric would probably survey the landing zone first.”

“I would not have taken this job if I felt that we needed a major change of course,” Denton said. “If I can perform in the blueprint that’s laid out, I’ll be a success.”

While Denton said he looks forward to working with the incubator’s technology-focused clients — SCORE serves a broad range of business types — he said a lot of what infant companies need to learn is shared by all businesses.

“Whether it’s marketing and sales, whether it’s legal, whether it’s finance, all of these things are important in getting a company off and running,” he said. “My enjoyment is how they all mesh together.”

Stewart said the breadth of Denton’s experience and his contacts will be a boon to the incubator’s clients.

“Ric is incredibly good at strategic planning,” he said. “He wants to get to the bottom line pretty quick and not dance around the topic: What is it going to take for these guys to ramp up their revenues and build up their companies? Ric’s done that.”