Chancellor Justin Schwartz announces new campus leadership appointments

Chancellor Justin Schwartz has appointed Ann Schmiesing senior vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and hired Janel Forde as the new senior vice chancellor for operations. 

Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives Ann Schmiesing (left) and Senior Vice Chancellor for Operations Janel Forde (right)

“As I continue to build my leadership team, I am thrilled to make Ann Schmiesing’s role in my office permanent, as well as to bring Janel Forde into the CU Boulder community,” Schwartz said. “Ann’s expertise and long experience on our campus will be crucial in guiding our new and ongoing strategic plans and initiatives as we guide CU Boulder into the future. Janel Forde brings significant operations and business expertise after a long career in both the public and private sectors, which will help us achieve our business unit goals and objectives in the coming years.”

Schmiesing, who has served as interim vice chancellor for strategic initiatives since March, assumed the permanent position on May 28. In this role she serves as a campuswide resource, combining strategic oversight with high-level support to the chancellor, and a key advisor and liaison across CU Boulder’s executive team. She will have oversight of the Office of Government and Community Relations, the Global Engagement Office and a strategic initiatives management team. 

“I am excited to continue the strategic initiatives work that I first undertook a few months ago, as we chart and implement the current and future path of CU Boulder,” Schmiesing said. “Working in collaboration with the chancellor and his leadership team on strategic projects across campus and beyond is a unique opportunity to shape our campus’s direction as Colorado’s flagship university.”  

Schmiesing returned to the CU Boulder campus earlier this year after serving as the interim chancellor at CU Denver last fall.

Separately, after a national recruitment search, Schwartz appointed Janel Forde as the new senior vice chancellor for operations. Forde was most recently the chief operating officer in the Denver mayor’s office and has worked as a partner in the Chicago office of Boston Consulting Group. She has held numerous senior operations positions in state and local government in Illinois and in her new capacity at CU Boulder will oversee the campus’s human resources; health and wellness; information technology; public safety; and ethics, compliance and policy units. 

She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

“I am thrilled to be joining the leadership team at CU Boulder and excited to bring my years of experience across both the public and private sectors to help the university’s business and operations units continue to successfully support the campus’s mission,” Forde said. 

Forde’s appointment is effective June 23.