The former head of the DIA Partnership has taken the top job at the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District.
Julie Bender, who was president and chief executive of the DIA Partnership from its founding in 1996 through winter 2006, began work at the Cherry Creek North BID on Monday. She replaces CEO Marc Schtul, who announced his resignation in September.
The Cherry Creek North BID markets the retail district and provides a variety of services in the 16-block area. It is funded through property- tax collections. Merchants and property owners in the district last year approved an $18 million bond issue to fund renovations in the neighborhood.
Bender said her first priority will be to meet with business and property owners in the neighborhood. She also wants to freshen up the neighborhood’s branding and advertising and seek solutions to its ongoing parking problems, she said.
Cherry Creek North “is an area with a tremendous future and an area that is poised for great change,” Bender said.
During her time at the DIA Partnership, Bender helped shepherd economic development in the region surrounding DIA. The area has since emerged as an economic hub and is expected to account for 30 percent of the metro area’s future employment growth.
“My background is in community-building,” Bender said. “That’s what I did at the DIA Partnership. My experience is bringing together diverse groups to create positive change.”
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-954-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
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Julie Bender file
New position: Chief executive, Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District
Career: 1996-2006, president and chief executive of the DIA Partnership; 1989-2000, president of the Aurora Economic Development Council; 1985-89, economic-development manager, Denver Office of Economic Development; 1982-85, senior associate, the Naisbitt Group Inc.
Education: Master’s degree in urban and regional planning, Eastern Washington University; bachelor of arts, University of Colorado
Memberships: Urban Land Institute, the CU Real Estate Council, TEC (a private-sector CEO organization), board of directors of Metro Transit and the University of Colorado Real Estate Foundation
