C+V Community Leadership Conversation with Chancellor Haefner & Provost Clark: A Community Driven by Purpose

Featuring Panelists:

Jeremy Haefner
Chancellor, University of Denver

• Learn about Chancellor Haefner

  Jeremy Haefner is the University of Denver’s 19th chancellor. He brings to DU over three decades of leadership experience in higher education at both public and private institutions.

  Chancellor Haefner strongly believes DU is an institution uniquely able to serve students as they prepare for successful careers and meaningful lives—today and into the future. And he is deeply committed to upholding the University’s long-held mission of serving the public good.

  As a mathematician, Chancellor Haefner studies integral representation and module theory. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin. He was born and raised in Iowa with strong mid-Western values, is a triathlete, and a lifelong Star Trek fan—especially for its themes on equality and hope for the future.

Mary Clark
Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor, University of Denver

• Learn about Provost Clark

  Mary Clark serves as the provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Denver. With expertise in the areas of higher education law, women’s legal history, legal ethics, judicial politics, and property, Provost Clark also holds an appointment as professor in the Sturm College of Law.

  Prior to being named provost at DU, Provost Clark served as interim provost, deputy provost, and dean of faculty at American University, associate dean for faculty & academic affairs at AU’s law school, director of its doctor of juridical science program, and acting director of its Law and Government Program. 

Stephanie Y. O’Malley, J.D. (Moderator)
Associate Vice Chancellor of Government Relations and Community Affairs, University of Denver
 

• Learn about Stephanie

  Stephanie Y. O’Malley is a licensed attorney in the State of Colorado and serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor of Government Relations and Community Affairs for the University of Denver.  In this role, Ms. O’Malley supports the University of Denver by building effective partnerships between the university and federal, state, and local governments as well as community residents, businesses, and non-profits.  She is an integral piece of DU’s advocacy for University needs, interests, and its mission to serve for the public good.  

  Prior to joining DU, Ms. O’Malley attended as a public servant leader for over sixteen years.   Her professional career as a public servant has spanned across three mayoral administrations including a four-year term serving as Denver’s first elected County Clerk and Recorder.  As a public servant with a legal background, Ms. O’Malley has entrenched herself with weighing, analyzing, and advocating legal and policy positions associated with multitudes of complex regulatory, public policy, disciplinary, and community centric issues that span across scores of disciplines including licensing, elections, real property, minority, women, and small business, contracting, safety, and social equity.   Within the public sector, she led a total of three municipal departments with annual aggregate budgets totaling more than $550,000,000 and served as a trusted advisor to two elected Mayors. 

  Recognized as a change agent, Ms. O’Malley has repeatedly transformed challenged municipal government environments into thriving ones including a licensing division and Denver’s elections division. 
  “Denver Votes”, the city’s current election platform was her brainchild.  In addition to eliminating long lines and voting challenges for Denver’s voters, her vision and leadership served to creatively integrate technology into the elections environment by offering tools to voters such as Ballot Trace, paper mail ballots, voter service centers, and electronic voting for overseas and military voters. 

  During a height of challenges associated with police and community relations, she served for a period of four plus years as the Executive Director of the Denver Department of Public Safety, the city’s largest employer. As the chief authority for the Department, Ms. O’Malley maintained direct oversight of nearly 5,000 current and retired law enforcement officers and employees of the Denver Police, Fire, and Sheriff Departments, Denver 911, Community Corrections, Youth Services, the Gang Reduction Initiative of Denver and the Denver Public Safety Cadet Program.  As the Executive Director of the Department of Public Safety, Ms. O’Malley leaned in to charge and support Police and Fire Chiefs, Sheriffs, and Directors within the Department of Public Safety with transformational activity and department cultural revisions designed to align with mayoral safety priorities, accountability, public safety service delivery, and community expectations.  Through this journey, Ms. O’Malley’s legal acumen, leadership, and professional strengths were tested by a host of stakeholders including, but not limited to unions, community activists, and media representatives.  Un-phased, Ms. O’Malley maintained focus on assuring revisions to policies that significantly impact communities and their members such as Use of Force, Shooting into Motor Vehicles, the Use of Body Worn Camera Technology, and Mental Health Treatment for the incarcerated.  She forged the ongoing initiative to have data collected by police officers to determine whether police contacts are driven by bias.    

  Beginning in 2018, she dutifully collaborated with colleagues, small, women, and minority business owners, industry, and community stakeholders to move to interject social equity into the city’s procurement environment, an environment that includes billions of dollars of spend in construction, professional services, transportation, and the goods and services areas.  She engaged in this endeavor by giving credence to the undisputed fact that Blacks, Asians, Latinos, and Native Americans materially lag in securing opportunity in the city’s procurement space.  The work in this area continues; however, within two years of her guidance, the City saw fit to support initiatives to prioritize equity as a value, revise laws, rules and regulations, processes, and programs that undermine the value of equity.  Her leadership created mechanisms to hold City Administrative leaders accountable to forge different outcomes for participants in the city procurement ecosystem.    

  In advance of her service to the City and County of Denver, Ms. O’Malley began her professional career
  practicing law in the criminal and public policy arenas. She received her law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration.  She took experiences in these areas and her education into the public sector and continued her professional career as an Executive Level leader and manager.  
        
  Ms. O’Malley has served on the Zion Baptist Church Trustee Board and the Steering Committee for Forest Street Compassionate Care Center.  She has served as member of the Denver Urban Redevelopment Authority Board, a founding board member of the Denver School of Science and Technology, a member of the Denver Public School Citizens Bond Committee, a member of the Colorado Election Reform Commission, and as President of the Sam Cary Bar Association.

  Ms. O’Malley has been recognized for her civic engagement and leadership efforts by many organizations including the Colorado League of Women Voters, Colorado Black Women for Political Action, LCCLA, the Sertoma Club, the National Negro Council of Women,  the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, the Colorado Women’s Bar Association, the Blair-Caldwell African-American Research Library, the Denver Nuggets, the Foundation for Educational Excellence, the Colorado Black Roundtable, the National Bar Association, the Sam Cary Bar Association, and the National Election Commission.  Most important, Ms. O’Malley is the proud mother of two respectful and Christ centric adult sons.