Mines Magazine Turns 100 - the Timothy and Bernadette Marquez ...

working closely with Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, he and hiswife, Bernie, made a matching gift of $50 million to create the DenverScholarship Foundation. The five-year-old foundation has sinceprovided college scholarships to students from Denver Public Schoolstotaling $5.2 million, and the college counselors it places in everypublic high school in the city have helped students win additionalawards worth another $62 million.Both Tim and Bernie are deeply committed to education and havestrong ties to DPS. Tim’s parents, Thomas and Beverly Marquez, bothtaught in the system, and all three of the Marquezes’ daughters havegone through Denver Public Schools. Bernie chairs the State Boardfor Community Colleges and Occupational Education, as well as theboard of the Denver Scholarship Foundation.Tom Boasberg, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, says theDenver Scholarship Foundation deserves a good bit of the credit forrecent improvements in the district: enrollments hit a high last year,and the proportion of graduates who are college-bound rose 20 percent,to nearly half of the graduating class.“Tim and Bernadette don’t believe in incremental changes,” saysBoasberg. “They believe inreally major leaps forward.Anyone can say we needa huge increase in collegematriculation, but they arealso putting up an unheardofamount of money to makethat vision a reality.”The Marquezes’ rise from themiddle class to a spot amongDenver’s philanthropic elitebegan back in 1992 whenthey borrowed $3,000 on aVisa card to help launch the company. Their first acquisition—an oilfield in Whittier, California. considered to be tapped out—cost only$150,000, says Marquez. A year later, after installing more powerfulpumps, the company was logging a profit of more than $200,000each month.In 1998, when they permitted the energy giant Enron to buy a 26percent stake in Venoco for $60 million, it seemed like an excellentdecision, adding value and liquidity to their growing company. Butthree years later, when the cash-strapped Enron asked Venoco to buythem out, a firestorm of complications ensued. As Venoco’s largestshareholder and CEO, Marquez took one look at Enron’s proposal andflatly refused. He didn’t want to operate the company under such aburden of debt. However, his partners proved more pliable, sidingwith Enron, and their combined voting power was sufficient to forceMarquez from his position as CEO.Hurt and a little baffled by how fast things had come unraveled,Tim Marquez returned to Denver with his family, where hesoon launched another venture. But he was not about to give up onVenoco, and a bitter struggle for control of the company ensued.Tim and Bernie Marquez (R) were joinedby his parents, Thomas and Beverly,for the groundbreaking in October.Marquez Hall, depicted below, willbe completed in summer 2012.Thomas Cooper, lightboximages.comUltimately Tim Marquez won.Threatened by a lawsuit broughtby the former CEO, and with thecompany weakened from Enron’scollapse and the Brockovitch caseunresolved, his disgruntled partnersfinally agreed to sell him the 60percent share of the common stockin Venoco that he didn’t own—theprice was $14 million.It is the best investment he’sever made. Just two years later,the price of oil had doubled, theBrockovitch case had been dismissed,and Venoco was well onits way toward its peak value in2008 of more than $1 billion. Eventoday, after being hit hard by theeconomic collapse in late 2008, the60 percent share of the company hebought from his partners is worthabout $500 million.“It’s a great story,” saysSchneider, who helped Marquezarrange financing for the2004 buyout. “Ifyou believein what32 Fall/Winter 2010