Douglas named vice chancellor for CU South Denver
As the campus closest in proximity to the Liniger Building (formerly The Wildlife Experience), CU Denver is managing the facility on behalf of the four-campus CU system. In her capacity as vice chancellor for CU South Denver, Douglas’ responsibilities include facilitating academic program access for all four CU campuses, managing the facility (housekeeping, IT, renovation and maintenance), and continuing many of the community services that exist at The Wildlife Experience today (museum, K-12 education, event space, and community events). In addition, Douglas will be working to expand the specific academic offerings from CU Denver and CU Anschutz at the facility.
Tony Smith, interim executive director of CU South Denver in its startup phase, has elected to return to his former position as director of CU Denver’s Experiential Learning Center; moving forward, Douglas will hire select staff to support efforts and operations at CU South Denver.
Clearly a master multitasker, Douglas oversees university functions including budget, finance, student financial services, and policy and fiscal analysis in her role as associate vice chancellor of budget and finance for CU Denver | Anschutz. At the Denver campus, Douglas was recently appointed chief financial officer, and is accountable for representing the institution on financial and administrative topics regarding the university presence on the Auraria campus, capital development, coordinating with Denver schools and colleges on such matters, and final resolution and presentation of financial issues.
Douglas believes it is important for her to keep a strong tie with the campuses in order for South Denver to be a success. “As CU Denver CFO, I get to continue to work closely with the great schools and colleges on the Denver and Anschutz campuses, which have been the major contributors to the higher education programming so far at South Denver. Also as CFO of Denver and associate vice chancellor of budget and finance for both campuses, I am able to keep a close relationship with the CU system office and the CFOs of Boulder, Anschutz and UCCS; those relationships are critical as well for success at the Liniger Building.”
Before joining the University of Colorado, Lisa served as Gov. Bill Ritter’s deputy budget director for the Office of State Planning and Budgeting. She also was operations and finance director at the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, where she worked for 10 years.