Dear Lynx community,

I am excited to share with you the appointment of Jen St. Peter as CU Denver’s new Vice Chancellor for Finance, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) effective May 1.

A familiar name on campus, Jen joined CU Denver in October 2013 as the Senior Director, Revenue Projections. In May 2021, she was promoted to Assistant Vice Chancellor, Revenue and Auxiliary Budgets and quickly advanced to Associate Vice Chancellor, Budget & Fiscal Planning in February 2022. In her most recent role, she has been responsible for overseeing the development and management of the $400 million annual CU Denver unrestricted, auxiliary, and restricted fund budgets, incorporating a wide variety of revenue streams and expense categories. Additionally, she has managed the development of fiscal analyses and recommendations for new academic programs, capital acquisitions, and auxiliary operations, among other responsibilities.

In her new role, Jen will be responsible for developing and implementing effective fiscal management, budget, and financial planning strategies for the university, as well as providing oversight for the maintenance and development of our physical plant. She will also collaborate closely with other leaders and constituents across the university and system.

Jen shares my excitement in joining the leadership team. “I am honored to serve as Vice Chancellor for Finance, CFO at CU Denver, an institution that has had a profound impact on my life and career,” she said. “As a first-generation student and alum, I have experienced firsthand the university’s commitment to access and opportunity. I look forward to partnering with faculty, staff, students, and leadership to support CU Denver’s mission through thoughtful, transparent financial stewardship.” 

We would not be able to share this great news without the extensive work done by the search committee for this position. I want to extend my gratitude to the committee, chaired by Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Karen Marrongelle, for their efforts that led to us filling this critical role. I also want to thank Ryan Davis for serving as our interim Executive Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and CFO during the last several months. His steady leadership has been instrumental in helping us to prepare for this transition.

As was shared when we initially launched the search, portfolio duties related to administration—with the exception of facilities management—are not included in the responsibilities of our new CFO. This was intentional to allow for a refined focus on fiscal strategy at a time when growth and diversification of revenue streams will be essential to positioning CU Denver for a sustainable and thriving future.

With that said, I am also pleased to share that Vice Chancellor for Access and Campus Engagement Antonio Farias will assume a new title as the Vice Chancellor for People and Culture and will add the important administrative functions of human resources and emergency management to his portfolio. He will also provide leadership for collaborating on and coordinating change management efforts that span multiple teams on campus.

Another change we are implementing is that OIT will move under the Office of the Provost. The responsibilities of this area are shared between our campus and CU Anschutz, with our OIT team primarily focused on academic matters, so this shift will further support those efforts.

Also in the Chancellor’s Office, Director of Organizational Effectiveness and Engagement Sarah Buller will be promoted to Assistant Vice Chancellor for Organizational Effectiveness and Strategic Impact, reporting to Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff Dan Maxey. In this role, Sarah will facilitate institutional capacity-building initiatives and large-scale projects spanning multiple units, delivering on priorities in service of the strategic plan. She will also provide oversight and direction to the Strategic Plan Implementation Team.

Additionally, Lisa Nelson, the university’s Ombuds, will continue to report to me as she has done since December. In this critical role, Lisa serves students, faculty, and staff seeking guidance, information, and insight as a trusted advisor whose assistance is confidential, independent, impartial, informal, and voluntary.

In the days ahead, we will announce additional changes meant to better align the structures in the Office of the Provost, Division of Strategic Enrollment and Student Success, and Office for People and Culture with our strategic plan and future goals and aspirations to improve the quality of the CU Denver experience for our students and employees.

We have carefully undertaken these reorganization efforts to avoid increasing the number of administrative roles at the assistant vice chancellor level and above and with budget neutrality in mind.

I want to thank everyone who engaged with the Vice Chancellor for Finance, CFO search and the reorganization process. Your efforts have helped to better position CU Denver as we advance our public service obligation of making education work for all.