Cutting Edge Realtors has accomplished what no other Colorado Springs employer has done – the real estate agency has been named a top employer in The Gazette three times in the seven years the award has been given.
The company, owned by Amy Kunce-Martinez, has nearly 140 agents that sell homes, multifamily and commercial properties in the Colorado Springs, Castle Rock and Pueblo areas. Cutting Edge won the top spot this year in the large employer category for those with 76-299 employees, after previously winning the top spot in both 2019 and 2020. Kunce-Martinez started Cutting Edge in 2016 after working as an agent for The Platinum Group and Re/Max Properties.
“The (Best Workplaces) award-winners share many things in common: clear missions, strong leadership and eyes ever-on success – of their people and their businesses,” said Chris Reen, president and publisher of The Gazette.
Alpine Contracting this year joined Ent Credit Union and Vanguard Skin Specialists as the only employers to win the top award twice. The Colorado Springs company, which specializes in a variety of home remodeling projects, has won the top employer award in the small employer category, for those with 10-29 employees, and also won the same award last year. Michael Pappas started Alpine in 2010 after working for his uncle John Archer’s company, Archer Construction.
Defense, intelligence and infrastructure conglomerate Parsons Corp. was named the top employer in the extra-large category, those with 300 or more employees. The company employs nearly 500 people in Colorado Springs working in software development, systems engineering, cybersecurity, space operations and ground systems development. Most of its local employees came from Parsons acquiring Braxton Science & Technology Group in 2020 for $300 million and Polaris Alpha for $489 million in 2018.
Defense and space contractor ExoAnalytic Solutions was named the top employer in the mid-size category for those with 31-75 employees. The California-based company, which has a major office in Colorado Springs, was started in 2008 by three career physicists who had worked together at defense contractors Sparta and Computer Sciences Corp. The company operates the world’s largest optical telescope network and specializes in persistent and precise tracking of space objects, including satellites, weapons and space debris in Earth’s orbit.
Both Vanguard Skin Specialists and The Resource Exchange added to the Best Workplaces honors they have won in previous years. Vanguard finished second to Cutting Edge in the large employer category, placing in the top three for the fifth time, including winning the category in both 2021 and 2022, finishing second in 2020 and third in 2019. Resource Exchange placed in the top three a fourth time by finished second to Parsons in the extra-large employer category after winning the category last year and finishing third in 2019 and 2021.