Banking executive Wayne Hutchens is taking over the University of Colorado Foundation after two years of scrutiny of the organization’s spending, including a damaging state audit, the foundation announced Tuesday.
Hutchens, former president of Chase Bank in Colorado and a CU-Boulder alumnus, said he would work to restore donors’ trust and build a stronger relationship with the school.
“The best way to do that is just to do your job well,” he said. “Let people have confidence that when they give money to the program, it gets there. We can’t fix it by waving a wand.”
Hutchens said he has read the November audit, which criticized the foundation for not using donor money as intended and for lavish spending on travel and meals. The foundation says it has implemented 14 of the 17 recommendations to clean up spending and accounting and is working on the last three.
“Nothing there couldn’t be fixed,” he said. “The controversy that has kind of swirled around the university, and the foundation, hopefully is behind us.”
Hutchens pledged to make sure funds raised for specific university departments reach them. He said he would strengthen the relationship between university officials and the foundation.
Hutchens replaces Michael Byram, who announced in September that he would retire June 30.
Hutchens, 61, recently retired as Chase’s head of commercial-lending operations in Colorado. He has served on the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce board, is chairman of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and was on the Boulder City Council from 1977 to 1980.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
