Robert E. Foss Gift
Contacts:
Dennis A. Ahlburg, 303-492-1809
Doug Nogami, 303-492-0786
Before Robert E. Foss graduated from the business school at the University of
Colorado at Boulder in 1971, he took many of his classes in the then-new building
constructed for the business school. Now 36 years later he and his wife will help provide
a similar experience for the 3,800 students of CU’s Leeds School of Business.
Foss and his wife, Georganne, have pledged $1 million to name the dean’s suite in
the Koelbel Building, the newly renovated and expanded home of the business school
which is set to reopen in August.
“I feel it’s important to give back to the institutions that helped you along the
way,” Foss said explaining the couple’s gift. “And it’s more critical than ever that alumni
support the Leeds School since we aren’t receiving critical support from the state.”
Dennis A. Ahlburg, dean of the Leeds School of Business, said, “It will be a great
pleasure to see Rob and Georganne Foss’s name on the dean’s suite each morning as I
come to work. It will serve as a reminder that the Leeds School is lucky to have generous
alumni who are committed to enhancing the educational experience of our students. I
look forward to working with Rob and Georganne to ensure that our students have the
best possible education here at the business school.”
Rob and Georganne met while students at CU Boulder. Rob earned a business
degree with an emphasis in accounting. Georganne quit school briefly after the couple
married in 1971, but returned to CU’s Denver campus to earn a degree in English
literature in 1976.
After graduation, Rob worked in the Denver office of the accounting firm, Ernst
& Ernst, which eventually became Ernst & Young. He became a partner in the firm in
1982 before transferring to the Washington D.C. office in 1986.
In 1994, he joined Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc. (MAMSI) as executive
vice president and chief financial officer of the health services company. Based in
Rockville, Md., and traded on the New York Stock Exchange, MAMSI owned health
maintenance organizations and provided health insurance to major corporations. MAMSI
was acquired by UnitedHealth Group Inc. in February 2004, and Foss retired as senior
executive vice president and CFO a year later.
Foss said naming the dean’s suite emphasizes “our overall interest in the Leeds
School. Most of my classes were in this building when it first opened. It needs to be
renewed.”
The Foss’s gift, facilitated by the CU Foundation, will help fund the Leeds
School’s $38-million project to renovate the existing 100,000-square-foot building and
integrate it with a 65,000-square-foot, four-story addition.
