Brian Watson (entrepreneur)
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Brian Watson (born October 28, 1971) is an American
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
, author, politician, and Forbes Real Estate Council Member and published contributor. He has worked as a commercial real estate owner and is the founder and CEO of Northstar Commercial Partners. Watson won the 2018 Republican primary for
Colorado State Treasurer The Treasurer of the State of Colorado is one of the five elected officials of the U.S. state of Colorado, the other four being the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and Attorney General. The State Treasurer is responsible for man ...
, beating two other candidates, and lost to Democrat Dave Young in the general election in November 2018.


Life

Watson graduated from Olathe High School on the Western Slope of Colorado. He received a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree in real estate at the
University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...
and then joined Cushman & Wakefield of Colorado, Inc (C&W), an international commercial real estate firm. Watson is the founder of Opportunity Coalition, a nonprofit social welfare organization pursuant to IRC 501(c)(4). The organization promotes and facilitates a business friendly culture for free markets, entrepreneurship, and collaboration. For his contributions to
community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activists ...
, he has been interviewed by several local radio and television stations. The Opportunity Coalition also created the ''Mountains of Opportunity'' TV show series hosted by Watson. The show highlights the real-life stories of Colorado's entrepreneurs, innovators and job creators.


Political career

Watson ran for Colorado House of Representatives District 3 in the 2012 elections. He first ran unopposed in the Republican primary on June 26, 2012, but was defeated by incumbent
Daniel Kagan Daniel Kagan (born January 1953) is an American politician who served in the Colorado Senate from the 26th district from 2017 to 2019, and in the Colorado House of Representatives from the 3rd district from 2009 to 2017, as a member of the Dem ...
, a Democrat, in the general election on November 6, 2012. Watson is a board member of the "Leadership Program of the Rockies," an organization that "identifies and brings together emerging leaders from the legal, economic, business, political, nonprofit and civic professions to learn how visionary, principle-centered leadership can positively impact their community." On October 20, 2017, Watson announced his candidacy for Colorado State Treasurer. The ''Denver Post's'' Brian Eason noted Watson's announcement "shook up the field" in the GOP Treasurer primary, and that Watson "brings fundraising clout to the race, reporting $21,550 in major donations in the six days since he officially filed for office." Watson told the ''Greenwood Villager'' his campaign for Treasurer would focus on his career in business and his skills, he argued, that are well suited for the office. "'When you have somebody who understands internal rates of return and complex financial matters and how to go in and restructure debt and can save millions and millions of dollars for the people of Colorado—this is what I do every single day," atsonsaid." In the same interview Watson also described the Colorado public pension system olorado Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA)as a "ticking time bomb." Watson said his ideas to address financial shortfalls in PERA include "raising the retirement age for the state government’s younger employees and perhaps allowing workers more control over their retirement investments." Watson reported raising $215,000 in his first fundraising quarter this year and announced he planned to petition his way onto the June primary ballot. Watson's January fundraising total dwarfed the next closest Republican candidate and was more than the next 9 candidates' fundraising totals combined. On March 5, 2018, Watson became the first Colorado State Treasurer candidate to turn in his petition signatures to qualify for the June primary ballot. Watson announced a submission of over 17,000 signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State's office.


Business career

Watson was a manager and director at
Cushman & Wakefield Cushman & Wakefield plc is a global commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois. Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest commercial real estate services firms, with revenues ...
. In 2000, he founded Northstar Commercial Partners, a commercial real estate investment company in Denver, Colorado. Northstar's business strategy focuses on “buying vacant or distressed assets and giving them new life” and oversees key development projects, such as senior living, healthcare, and large data center facilities for a Fortune 25 company. Watson said he is proud of Northstar's work buying distressed real estate, arguing doing so provides benefits to communities where Northstar has a presence. "We can take something with low utility, and turn it into a highly productive environment that has a social impact. High tides raise all boats – if we can do well by doing good and give returns back to our investors and prove an asset and help achieve dreams in the community – then that’s a life well lived," Watson said. Watson also stated Northstar's work building a hospital for the healthcare company Clinica will help "serve individuals who don’t have healthcare access." Mr. Watson also directs Northstar to fund community-focused initiatives. In 2017, they began raising money to help build a retail and commercial development in Aurora that could benefit veterans in close proximity to the forthcoming Aurora VA facility. The project itself will ultimately cost $120 million, and seek to not only house veterans, but also encourage retail and economic growth around the development. Jason Marcotte, Northstar's development team lead on the Aurora project, said the planned development site stands out today because it is one of the few underdeveloped stretches in that part of Aurora. “Taking this mostly vacant and distressed spot in an otherwise thriving area of town and helping place it back into productivity will create new opportunity and much needed space to live and create,” Marcotte said. In October 2014, Watson founded the "Education Opportunity Fund", a $100 million charter school facility fund In spring 2017, Watson published , a book about "life balance". His most recent book was released in the fall of 2019, titled In February 2018 Watson announced Northstar Commercial Partners purchased the iconic "Offices at the Art" building in Denver for $17.1 million. "This will be one of the top acquisitions in the Denver market for newer office space and we're thrilled to be involved, especially with Denver as our hometown," atsonsaid in a statement. In April 2020, the FBI raided Watson's house, serving him a search warrant, and confiscated his cell phone and computer. According to a company-wide e-mail The Denver Post received, Watson alleges the raid was in relation to "fraud and misappropriation of funds and was connected to the company’s work with Amazon data centers." In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Virginia, Amazon accused Northstar Commercial Partners of "a significant fraud and kickback scheme" which likely prompted the April FBI raid of the home of CEO Brian Watson. The lawsuit accuses Northstar of racketeering and fraud, which Mr. Watson denies.


References


External links


Official websiteTreasurer campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Brian Living people 1971 births American business executives American real estate businesspeople Colorado Republicans University of Colorado Boulder alumni People from Arapahoe County, Colorado 21st-century Colorado politicians