IBMC’s Laub both teacher and student of life

FORT COLLINS – Colleen Laub has been a pioneer in the vocational education industry for more than two decades.

As chief operating officer and owner of the Institute of Business and Medical Careers, she helps educate 1,000 students a year on four campuses in Northern Colorado and Wyoming. And “career” is not just part of the school’s name – 87 percent of graduating students find placement in medical and business occupations.

“What I love about IBMC is that it’s very purpose-driven, and we’re helping other people follow their dreams and become all they can be, not just with the students, but also with staff,” Laub said. “Our motto is ‘Leading you to a better life.’ It’s not just helping someone get their degree, it’s more deep-rooted than that; it really is leading them to a better life.”

SPONSORED CONTENT

People Powered: Preparing Longmont Businesses for Economic Success

Longmont Chamber and FNBO present People Powered on April 24, 2024, aiming to inform business owners about workforce development, housing, and transportation issues.

Laub is the Northern Colorado Business Report’s 2011 Woman of Distinction in the area of education.

She and her husband, Rich Laub, CEO of IBMC, moved to Fort Collins in 1990 and purchased Medical Careers Training Center in 1991. In 1995, The Laub Co. Inc. changed the name to Institute of Business and Medical Careers, with the vision statement: “Caring Individuals, Changing Lives.”

Laub says IBMC achieves exceptionally high standards in three areas: student retention, making sure students finish the program and graduate despite crises and obstacles in their lives; student placement, ensuring that graduates find jobs in their field of study; and student loan repayment, ensuring that they are gainfully employed so they are able to repay loans.

Laub and IBMC serve as dream-makers for many nontraditional students who, for various reasons, don’t have time, money or aptitude for a university degree.

“A four-year college isn’t for everybody, so we do attract more nontraditional students,” Laub explained. “IBMC is for someone who wants to get in and get into their career. It really is their dream, they’ve always wanted to be in a career where they are helping others. It could be a high school student who doesn’t see themselves in a university setting, single mothers who need to make ends meet quickly, or older mothers who have focused on raising their families and are now reentering the workforce.”

IBMC isn’t just for women, either.

“Our male population has grown with the downturn in the economy and all the layoffs, they are starting a brand new careers,” Laub said. “IBMC changes their lives in a short period of time and gives people a high potential of job placement.”

Laub reflects on the impact other women have had in her life.

“When I look at recognizing women, I can see, in my personal life, I’ve been blessed to have so many remarkable women along my path who have shaped my life,” she said. “From my three sisters, mother and mother-in-law and all the professional women that I have worked with. I’m so grateful that there are people in my life who are patient enough to continue to teach me.”