June 28, 2022

Colleagues,

I’m pleased to announce that Brendan Hanlon, most recently the deputy mayor and chief financial officer for the City and County of Denver, will be joining Colorado State University August 1 as our new Vice President for University Operations and Chief Financial Officer. Many thanks to all who participated in the search process for your hard work in bringing forward an excellent pool that led to a really great hire.

Brendan has been responsible for the financial planning and strategy for the 19th largest city in the US for many years. In this role, he managed seven divisions and shepherded city finances through the strain of the COVID pandemic while avoiding employee layoffs and spearheading an equity-based community engagement process for deployment of federal relief funds. Under his leadership, the city has earned a AAA credit rating from all major rating agencies before and throughout the pandemic downturn.

His experience with complex budgets and systems – as well as with HR, risk management, workers compensation, treasury, debt management, capital planning and programming, motor vehicle, and property assessment and more – makes him well-prepared to step into the VPUO/CFO role. He also brings with him a reputation as a collegial, responsive, visionary colleague and leader who focuses on solutions and new ways of looking at old problems. I think he will be an outstanding addition to our campus leadership team, and I encourage you all to join me in giving him a warm welcome.

I also want to acknowledge and thank our former VP Lynn Johnson, whose years of work to grow our leadership team in operations and finance have allowed Brendan to step into a strong, solid division that is firmly dedicated to serving the complex needs of our broader campus. Among Lynn’s many accomplishments at CSU, this in itself is a wonderful legacy.

Welcome, Brendan!

-Rick

Dr. Rick Miranda
Incoming Interim President
Colorado State University