Curtis J Hopfenbeck is the President and CEO of AlumnusPay, a national payment solutions company powered by ECS that allows university alumni (and Bronco fans everywhere) who are business owners or business influencers to accept credit cards and support the Boise State Alumni Association with every swipe. When companies switch over their payment processing to AlumnusPay, Powered by ECS Boise, a portion of every credit card transaction goes to the Boise State Alumni Association to further support Boise State and its student population.
As an Idaho native and a Boise State alumni, Boise has always been Curt’s home, and “it will remain so regardless of travels or moves, home is where the heart is!” Growing up in a small town of less than 50,000 and watching it prosper to a dynamic and diverse national leading metropolitan area of over 500,000, has been a great sense of pride for Curt.
“With Boise being the envy of every economic model and social scenario, the culture and quality of life here have always been unequaled, even in this current time of great transition and transcendence. The perpetual prosperity plan that Boise encapsulates has been the driving force in its economic sustainability model.”
And that model was foundationally laid decades ago. “I had the honor and opportunity to grow up in Boise when a litany of large corporations called Idaho their home: Morrison-Knudsen, Micron, Simplot, Boise Cascade, Ore-Ida, Agri-Beef, Albertson’s, Winco, Amalgamated Sugar, Idaho Candy, Lamb Weston, HP’s Printer Division, etc., and those are just off the top of my head, we continue to thrive and strive for greatness.”
Ted Hopfenbeck, Curt’s father, who recently passed away in July at 94, was the longest-serving professor at Boise State, where he was the Director of Criminal Justice and taught passionately for 50 years. He was also the prior Director of the Idaho Law Enforcement Planning Commission. “Dad loved the law and those who enforced it. And playing a role in the education, ideals and ideology of future police officers and attorneys was his life and legacy. He is the mentor and coach in my head, and the father and friend in my heart.”
Curt remembers Boise as the ideal upbringing in the ’60s and ’70s. “It was spectacularly Mayberry-esque. Floating the Boise River, swimming in the Ridenbaugh and New York Canals, playing sports and feeding the ducks in Ann Morrison Park, the zoo-paddle boats-miniature golf at Julia Davis Park, going to drive-in movies, skating at Skateland, Halloween on Harrison Blvd, bike rides to Tablerock, snow-skiing at Bogus, water-skiing at Arrowrock, trips to Idaho City, Stanley, McCall and Sun Valley. Great forgotten food memories are filled with Manley’s Café, the Red Steer, Big Bun, College In & Out, Smokey Davis, The Torch, the Westside Drive-in, the Royal, and a hundred others!”
“I love Idaho, Boise and Boise State and all that they espouse and advocate. I got to grow up in a city and at a time of mutual respect, of friends and neighbors, Christian values and Country pride, and blanket acceptance of other cultures, beliefs and values. It’s a snapshot of what America used to be and a portrait in the progress of how Boise continues to be globally defined and admired!”