CU Denver Business School building, new programs and ties to business community mark Dean Ambron as transformational leader

“Excellence.”

Ajeyo Banerjee, PhD, recalls this simple answer given by Sueann Ambron when asked: “If hired as dean, what would you bring to the Business School?” Her confident assertion, on top of stellar academic credentials and Silicon Valley pedigree, vaulted Ambron to the top of the candidate list.

Fifteen years later, as Ambron’s retirement date of July 3 nears, her mark is on every corner of the CU Denver Business School. It’s an imprint of tireless work, innovation, risk-taking and steadfast focus on student success.

Banerjee, director of the Risk Management and Insurance program and the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities, says Ambron brought a “breath of fresh air” to the somewhat staid halls of academia. “She really relished a challenge,” he says. “She relished taking new and unchartered paths.” Those paths led to a new building—the Business School was spread across eight buildings when she arrived—as well as industry-specific programs that propel graduates to well-paying jobs, and wider recognition of the CU Denver Business School as a top-tier school.

In other words, excellence.

‘Amazing privilege’

At the time Ambron applied for the dean’s position she’d never considered leading a Business School. She wove a rich and textured career from the Renaissance loom: Ambron went from graduate school at Michigan State University (human development) to the Peace Corps in Jamaica. She then went from receiving a doctorate from the Teachers College, Columbia University, to a faculty position in educational psychology at Stanford University.

After seven years of research, teaching and writing at Stanford, she embarked into a world of engineers, software developers, content producers and entrepreneurs. She launched her business career at a pair of Silicon startup giants: Atari and Apple. At Apple, she founded the Apple Multimedia Lab and learned skills that shaped her entrepreneurial and customer-oriented focus. Ambron went on to further success with Paramount, Viacom, Motorola and then her own startup, a firm providing online training for information-technology professionals. She spent a 10-year stretch virtually living on airplanes.

“I got to a point where I said I’d like to live and work in the same place,” says Ambron, a wife and mother of three. “It took me a while to discover that.” One day her husband read a newspaper article about CU Denver looking for a Business School dean, and that led to a new challenge in her Renaissance life.

“It’s been an amazing privilege, particularly being a Business School dean at this time and this place and with this set of people,” she says. “We have the right people with the right talents. The right people on both sides — the Business School and in the business community.”

Having served on business school accreditation boards, Ambron has a keen eye for quality. She places the CU Denver Business School among the world’s best. “It’s because of the relationships, the engagement the Business School has with the business community. We exist to make sure that our students walk out the door with the skills and talents they need to succeed in the business world and contribute to the community.”

With Ambron at the helm, the Business School integrated into the region’s business fabric with direct connections to more than 300 companies. This collaboration translates to job opportunities across all disciplines for students, as well as internships and scholarships. Through her characteristic business savvy and energetic pace—”She’s always running in step with the mission of the Business School,” says Chief of Staff Malena Brohm—Ambron has powered the Business School to the forefront of the many private-public partnerships at CU Denver.

Recently, the Business School announced a partnership with the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and six leading financial service companies—Fidelity Investments, Janus Capital Group, Oppenheimer Funds, T. Rowe Price, TIAA-CREF and Charles Schwab & Company—to offer an undergraduate course, Introduction to Investment Services.

‘Huge milestone’

Just as she had an eye on the digital horizon back when it was an analog world, Ambron has shrewdly kept the CU Denver Business School abreast of industry and educational trends. Signature academic programs launched during her tenure include Global Energy Management, Risk Management and Insurance (RMI), J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities,Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Sports and Entertainment Management.

A key question Ambron constantly asks herself and the school’s faculty and staff: What is the student’s experience going to be in his or her program of study? “That goes from the look of the building to each interaction with faculty and staff,” Ambron says. “It also has to do with the virtual space. When students take an online course—one-third of our credits are offered online—what will their experience be on their computer or cell phone?”

So, every day for the past 15 years, Ambron has thought about the more than 3,000 students enrolled at the CU Denver Business School, the largest accredited graduate school of business in the Rocky Mountain West. What’s relevant to them? What programs will lead to jobs? How can they become the best global citizens possible?

Brohm recalls a clear-cut vision that her boss articulated from the beginning. “Sueann was committed from the day she took her position as dean. She said, ‘We’re going to have a dedicated Business School building. It’s important for the school, it’s important for the community, and it’s important for the students to have one centralized place to study, collaborate and attend class.'”

Everywhere you turn in the Business School is the name of a company. They are firms that donated to the purchase and redevelopment of the six-story red-brick building at Larimer and 15th streets. CU Denver bought the building, which is LEED Gold-certified and offers ample collaborative spaces and flexible classrooms, for $24 million and invested $20 million in renovations.

Without Ambron’s “single-minded doggedness,” Banerjee says, the Business School would still be spread out across campus. “She never gives up. Even if someone says no, she has the tenacity and self-confidence to change minds and push forward,” he says. “This building has been transformational. It has given us an identity, recognition and a great location in the heart of the downtown Denver business community.”

Jahangir Karimi, PhD, professor and director of Information Systems Programs, has been a faculty member since the Business School’s 1985 inception. He calls Ambron a transformational leader with the tenacity to establish the new building, which opened in 2012. “It was a huge milestone … The building is by far the biggest step we’ve ever taken,” Karimi says. “Also, she focused on external relationships, resulting in increasing the visibility of the school in the business community.”

For example, programs in the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship, J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities, Global Energy Management and RMI, the latter posting a 100 percent job-placement record for graduates, are tailored to what businesses need: talent. The school’s connections to the Colorado business community are so strong that when firms set up shop, or when skill sets shift in their industries, the CU Denver Business School is often among the first places they call.

Banerjee recalls how, about five years ago, Pinnacol Assurance was looking for a university that would launch an RMI program to develop a talent pipeline for risk management and insurance firms. Several in-state universities passed on the proposal, but Ambron jumped at it, and now the CU Denver RMI program is hugely successful and winning awards for innovation. “It was one of those times where it would be a risk to start a program of this kind because success was very uncertain,” Banerjee said. “She was very enthusiastic about taking up the challenge.”

Business School as startup

“I always think of the Business School as a startup company,” Ambron says. “What are the things we’re doing that are of value to our students? What are the things we’re doing that are of value to the business community? Those things are constantly changing.”

Having been around the globe and seeing how, through technology, the world has shrunk, Ambron says the CU Denver Business School is a world-class player on the local, regional and international stage. She views “thinking globally” as a higher-education requirement. “It’s absolutely critical that students have some kind of international exposure,” she says. “It’s just part of what it means to be a world citizen these days.” She points out that London is an annual destination for RMI and Sports and Entertainment Management students, while other programs regularly travel to South America and Asia.

The Business School is a leader in the online realm—”Fundamentals of Global Energy Business” was the first MOOC offered by CU Denver—and constantly develops cutting-edge curriculum, including a new course on Cyber Risk Management and Cyber Warfare. The school has also launched a digital journal, Global Commodity Issues, at the intersection of academics and practice.

“There are aspects of this Business School that reach way beyond Denver,” Ambron says. “If we can be strong in the city, strong in the state and strong in the nation, we’ll be strong in the world.”

Ambron has been the fulcrum in this hub of connections, whether working the phones in her sixth-floor office, meeting with faculty, or chatting with students in the welcoming first-floor lobby. The retiring dean loves the school—she plans to stay involved in supporting growth of the school and the city, which Ambron calls an entrepreneurial powerhouse. “I’d say it’s beyond cooperation in Denver,” she says. “There’s a sense in Denver that this is their community, and they want to make sure that it grows and thrives and is sustainable.”

After July 3, Ambron plans to take some time off, maybe do some painting in Europe (her sister is a professional artist in Switzerland), then think about options. She’s interested in cyber risk management and has some ideas for a new company. Her immediate family all live in Denver, including her first granddaughter.

No doubt that child will hear from her grandmother that the world is vast and filled with possibility. It’s a place where learning is paramount. “I think students of today have to be constant learners,” the dean says. “Their world will change and they need to constantly ask themselves, ‘How am I making this community a better place?'”

Retirement Reception

A retirement reception honoring Dean Sueann Ambron will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. onWednesday, May 13, in the CU Denver Business School, 1475 Lawrence St. Please RSVP here.

Published: April 27, 2015
Contact:christopher.casey@ucdenver.edu