CSU Names Brendan Hanlon VP For University Operations and Chief Financial Officer

Brendan Hanlon, most recently the deputy mayor and chief financial officer for the City and County of Denver, will be joining Colorado State University on August 1 as the new vice president for university operations and chief financial officer. The University’s Interim President Rick Miranda announced the appointment today.

Hanlon has served the City and County of Denver for 20 years, including more than six years as the city’s chief financial officer. His leadership has impacted more than a decade of city budgets, three General Obligation bond programs to fund hundreds of city projects from parks to museums to mobility improvements, and supported the establishment and subsequent doubling of the city’s first affordable housing fund. Hanlon has worked closely with the community and city council to close the city’s structural budget gap and led the Budget Office and the Department of Finance during the recovery from the Great Recession and the pandemic while maintaining the city’s AAA rating since 2010.

Miranda noted that Hanlon 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 the deployment of federal relief funds.

“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,” Miranda said. “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.”

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, in a statement today, noted: “No matter the challenge, I could always count on Brendan to bring a calm, practical, solutions-oriented approach to the table. He will no doubt be a tremendous asset to the CSU family in his new role.”

Hanlon earned a bachelor’s degree with a double major in political science and history, and a master’s of public affairs with a concentration in public budgeting, from the University of Connecticut. He has been with the City and County of Denver since 2000.