Fitzsimons Innovation Community CEO retiring, biotech campus searching for new leader

AURORA — Steve VanNurden, who has led the Fitzsimons Innovation Community since 2012, is retiring, and the Aurora-based life-sciences entrepreneurship campus is embarking on a national search for its new leader.

Fitzsimons, which provides space and resources for about 80 growth-stage biotech and health care companies, was launched in 1996 as a partnership between the University of Colorado and the City of Aurora. The Fitzsimons hub is adjacent to University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, out of which many participating companies are spun.

In addition to serving as president and CEO of Fitzsimons, VanNurden was a founder of the CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, a tech-transfer and venture-capital resource for innovations developed at CU Anschutz.

“When I first came to the University of Colorado, all of the entities on campus were working separately — the medical school, the hospitals, and the companies on the Fitzsimons campus all operated in their own siloes,” VanNurden said in a prepared statement. “But now all of them collaborate constantly, and that’s what turns us from an incubator into an ecosystem. It’s proven that companies have a higher chance of being successful here, and that’s because of the collaborative resources and the room to grow.”

VanNurden, who will retire at the end of 2024, “intends to evolve from a leadership role to one as an adviser, where he can lend his experience and expertise to help other organizations in the life sciences and healthcare spaces make patient impact,” according to a Fitzsimons news release.

on Facebook on LinkedIn