Metropolitan State University of Denver welcomes to the campus community Jim Carpenter, who will serve as interim chief financial officer. He replaces George Middlemist, Ph.D., who will depart MSU Denver in December. In this role, Carpenter will provide leadership, vision, oversight and strategic and financial planning for the University. He will oversee Accounting Services, Business Services, Students Accounts, the Office of Institutional Research and the Office of Budget. Carpenter will begin Jan. 1 and serve until a full search is completed.
“We are delighted to welcome Jim to MSU Denver,” said Larry Sampler, chief operating officer and vice president for Administration. “He brings extensive experience in delivering results and creating value in complex educational organizations, and we look forward to sharing in his expertise.”
Carpenter has served in several roles as deputy and chief financial officer. He spent the past 4½ years with Denver Public Schools, where he served as CFO and deputy superintendent of operations. Before joining DPS, he was with New America School, a system of local charter schools and the American School of Doha in Doha, Qatar. He was also employed as the resident budget advisor for the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Technical Assistance, where he provided technical support to government finance offices in Paraguay and Guatemala.
Carpenter, a Colorado native, comes from a long line of public-school teachers and workers. His grandmother, mother, sisters and wife have all served as public-school teachers, and his grandfather retired from DPS after a career in Facilities.
He earned his master’s degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and his bachelor’s degree in History from the University of California at Berkeley.