Fitzsimon Innovation Picks Kelly Brough to Run Biotech Campus

A Denver business leader and candidate for mayor last year has been named head of a growing life sciences campus in Aurora.

Kelly Brough, CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, was picked to be the next CEO of the 184-acre Fitzsimons Innovation Community at 12635 East Montview Boulevard, the Denver Business Journal reported. She starts early next year.

She will replace CEO Steve VanNurden, who will retire at the end of the month.

Fitzsimons, run by the City of Aurora and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus next door, has five buildings with 427,000 square feet of research laboratories, offices and meeting rooms, with 175,000 square feet in the development pipeline.

The campus now serves more than 80 life science companies delving into such research topics as genetically engineered cancer-fighting cells and the latest in vaccine science.

The life sciences campus, positioned next to three major hospitals, is geared to support bioscience research and attract industry to the suburb east of Denver. Campus leaders are working to develop its final 60 acres, while increasing the amount of nearby homes.

“The [Fitzsimons Innovation Community] is already producing some of the nation’s most exciting and groundbreaking work in life sciences, but it’s the community’s untapped potential that really has me excited to take on this role,” Brough said in a statement.

Brough, who served as chief of staff to former Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, has a three-year contract with Fitzsimons and a salary starting at $320,000.

She ran a close race for Denver mayor last year that ended with a runoff won by Mike Johnston, according to the Business Journal.

Previously, Brough was tapped to serve as vice president of strategic partnerships at Colorado Mesa University. Brough had hoped to help improve access to higher education for residents of the Western Slope.

In January, Brough was named a policy fellow for the Common Sense Institute, a think tank that researches the state’s economy and business climate. She was the nonprofit’s first fellow to focus on urban development and infrastructure.

The Denver-Boulder region is rapidly emerging as a major hub for the life science industry, attracting companies that develop medical treatments and technologies, CNBC reported this spring.

Last year some 14 companies sought a combined 506,000 square feet of lab space across the Denver-Boulder market, which includes the city of Aurora. In addition, the market saw 370,000 square feet of completed research labs and another 560,000 square feet in the pipeline, according to CBRE.

— Dana Bartholomew