Brown Joins CSU as Director of Colorado Futures Center

Charles Brown has joined Colorado State University as director of the Colorado Futures Center, a new public policy institute focused on providing vital research and analysis of issues impacting the state’s economy and quality of life.

Brown comes to CSU from the University of Denver, where he headed up the Center for Colorado’s Economic Future and authored a landmark study showing that growth in required state spending for education, health care and prisons would crowd out funding for higher education, courts and all other state programs by 2024. Prior to joining DU, Brown, who also has an independent consulting firm, spent 29 years in state government, including 17 years as executive director of Legislative Council.

“We’re extremely pleased to welcome Charlie and the staff of the Colorado Futures Center to Colorado State University,” President Tony Frank said. “Charlie has a tremendous history of providing thorough, nonpartisan and rigorous analyses of public policies that affect every corner of Colorado. I’m confident the Colorado Futures Center will be a meaningful and substantive resource for all who care about preserving Colorado’s quality of life and long-term competitiveness.”

The Colorado Futures Center will be based out of CSU Denver Center, 475 17th St., Denver. In addition to examining the long-term impacts of economic trends and public policy developments on Colorado, the center will update and expand work previously done on state government finance.

“Launching the Colorado Futures Center at CSU is an exciting step,” Brown said. “CSU’s mission and academic and research resources provide the perfect environment for the Colorado Futures Center to grow, thrive and truly make a positive impact in Colorado. We are excited to not only produce high-quality, non-partisan research and analysis, but to communicate our findings to elected officials, business leaders, community representatives and the public.”

Phyllis Resnick will also be joining the Colorado Futures Center as lead economist. Resnick is an independent consultant who was previously with the Center for Colorado’s Economic Future and Colorado Economic Futures Panel, both at DU. Resnick’s work as an economist focuses on economic forecasting, revenue and fiscal sustainability studies for state and local governments.

“The Colorado Futures Center at CSU has the potential to influence the decisions that our leaders make today regarding the future of Colorado, and I look forward to continuing the work we’ve been doing for several years now as part of the CSU family,” Resnick said.

The Colorado Futures Center at CSU will be introduced at the Symposium on the Future of Higher Education that is part of CSU’s Founders Day activities in Denver. The invitation-only symposium will begin at 8 a.m. on Feb. 11 at the History Colorado Center and feature comments by President Frank, CSU System Chancellor Mike Martin, Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.

Additional information about the Colorado Futures Center at CSU is available at www.colostate.edu/coloradofutures.

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