40 Under 40 Celebrates Youthful Achievement
By Laurie DiBattista, Staff Writer
September 2000
From the Publisher Denver Business Journal
Though her business headquarters are in a restored Victorian convent in Littleton, Kelly Gilmore doesn’t have to pray for success. She has what high-tech companies in the Denver area sorely needed a network of more than 3,000 information-technology job candidates and self-employed consultants.
The firm she co-founded with Maureen Clarry in 1992, CONNECT: The Knowledge Network, was started on a shoestring. The women pooled their savings and used one laptop computer, two phone lines and a spare bedroom office. They had no clients or consultants at the time.
Since startup, the company has enjoyed an average yearly revenue growth of 32 percent. As it turned out, the women’s vision and timing had been impeccable.
Their IT placement service was ready when the demand for IT professionals soared and more wanted to step out on their own. Gilmore’s advice to CONNECT’s consultants has been to “work for yourself, not by yourself.” She said, “My goal is to help them understand what job and career is right for them.”
Gilmore, 36, also gives pro bono presentations for the local and national business communities about topics such as organizing, hiring and retaining high-tech teams.
She is an instructor for The Data Warehousing Institute, and CONNECT has been recognized as the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year.