Peggy Tomcheck,
President & CEO,
Aspen Capital Company

“Aspen pushes the limits of ‘business as usual’ by developing innovative solutions to meet the challenges of our customers. Our ability to leverage technology among higher education institutions while providing deferred payments to our fitness accounts to address budgets affected by temporary closures was supported by our trusted lending partners.”

Aspen Capital Company, a provider of technology lifecycle management lease programs to companies and higher education, as well as fitness centers, is a story of steadfast dedication to companies in two industries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic: fitness and higher education. While many businesses have struggled to make payments, fill seats and retain employees, and many lenders also scrambled to pivot and adapt new methods and technologies, Aspen has remained focused on its verticals, weathering the storm alongside both. Peggy Tomcheck, president and CEO of Aspen, says there are many contributing factors to the success of a company that made the bold choice to focus not only on the businesses that were hit hard by pandemic quarantine restrictions, but also on its employees to motivate and support their happiness in and out of the office.

As fitness centers were mandated to halt operations to stem the tide of new COVID-19 infections, and colleges and universities shifted methods for connecting professors with students, technology and financial issues were exposed. The operational ramifications Aspen experienced dealing with previously funded assets was challenging. Booked accounts had to be redone and revised, which Tomcheck credits her entire team with accomplishing in record time. Staying the course by servicing customers hit hard by the pandemic was a choice made early on by Tomcheck and her team. In hindsight, the disruption caused by quarantine amounted to a hiccup in business as usual and the company now has ‘friends forever’ relationships with the companies and institutions it refused to abandon when the going got tough.

A listener at heart, Tomcheck also took a bold step for the good of her employees that has paid back its value tenfold: employing a four-day work week. Across all five generations currently in the U.S. workforce, the reclamation of time is the only constant want among all workers, Tomcheck says. And we’re not talking about four 10-hour days, either. Tomcheck believes four eight-hour days is enough time for each employee to accomplish everything they need to do each week while still allowing them increased time to do whatever they please — be it spending time with friends and family, traveling or just taking it easy.

A combination of staying the course on established markets and giving employees more personal time created the perfect atmosphere for Aspen to grow, earning it a well-deserved spot on this year’s Monitor 101.