Management Team

Tad Polumbus
President and Chief Executive Officer

R.T. (Tad) Polumbus was born in Billings, Montana and raised in Denver, Colorado. He was educated in the Denver Public School System and then went on to the University of Colorado on a football scholarship and graduated with a BS in Business in 1967. From there he went on to the University of Denver Law School and graduated Cum Laude and other academic honors in 1971. Tad went on to practice law with a large national firm and then from 1975-1980 his own firm with primary emphasis in oil and gas and business and financial investment. In the 1980’s he owned and managed his own independent oil and gas company and gained extensive experience in the banking and real estate industries. Tad then became the President and CEO of Caption Colorado when he and a small group of investors acquired the company January 1, 1999. Under Tads leadership, Caption Colorado has grown from two management employees and 25 captioners, to approximately 50 management employees, 160 realtime captioners and 60 editors; has increased monthly captioning hours by 6; has developed its own proprietary IP based captioning software; has broadened its service base to include Offline Captioning and a broad array of Internet based realtime transcription services; and has become the one of the largest realtime captioning and transcription companies in America. Tad has four children and four grandchildren.

Kurt Suppes
Chief Financial Officer

Kurt joined Caption Colorado in April 2002. Kurt is a CPA with over 25 years experience in public accounting and private industry, including 12 years with Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers. At Pricewaterhouse Coopers, he was a senior manager in the firm’s national Financial Services Industry Practice providing accounting and business consulting services to publicly-traded and private companies. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at the University of Colorado. Kurt and his wife have 2 sons.

John Irwin
Senior Vice President – Marketing and Sales

John Irwin was born and raised in Muncie, Indiana. John joined Caption Colorado in 2003 with over 30 years of experience in the television and radio industry. His time in the industry has been spent managing facilities in Indiana as well as in the cities of New York, Boston, Charlotte and Denver. In 1985 John was recognized in the National Association of Broadcasters Publication; In Search of Excellence-Lessons from Americas Best Run Radio Stations. This was written for the NAB by famed author Tom Peters for John’s leadership as general manager of KOSI Radio in Denver. John has also held leadership positions in the non-profit sector; Focus on the Family, Colorado Community Church and Denver Youth for Christ.  John and his wife Martha have 5 children and 4 grandchildren.

Gary Rulh
Chief Operating and Technology Officer

Gary joined Caption Colorado in 2009 and brings over 27 years of experience managing corporate technology operations in both private and government sectors. He began his technical career in 1982 with AutoTrol Technology, Inc., a Denver-based software development firm before joining INVESCO Funds Group, one of Denver’s leading mutual fund companies where he was the Chief Technology Officer for 12 years. During Gary’s time with Policy Studies Inc. (PSI), as Chief Information Officer (CIO), he worked with PSI’s Product Development group and State and local government agencies to define and develop products to manage federally funded projects, such as, Medicaid Enrollment Brokering and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). He led a staff of over 250 employees across 10 offices both national and international. Gary is a member of the CIO Executive Board, Financial Services CIO Forum, and the National Investment Company Services Association (NICSA). Gary is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and has two children and four grandchildren.