Maureen McDonald: Denver chamber foundation exec helps business learn from other cities.

• Author: Bronikowski, Lynn
• Position: EXECUTIVE EDGE

Maureen McDonald has felt the vibe of Miami and its rich arts scene. She has learned from an abundance of Fortune 500 companies in Minneapolis. She experienced Portland's affinity for the environment and witnessed a unique program in Phoenix to solve problems.

She's done it all over three-day whirlwind trips to such diverse cities as executive director of the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation--a job she's held since 2000.

In addition to overseeing Leadership Denver--the 11 -month program for professionals interested in assuming leadership roles in Denver--she heads up the Leadership Exchange, which for 21 years has taken a delegation of business and civic leaders to different cities where they discuss innovations and best practices with an eye toward bringing some of the ideas home to Denver.

"I love the scope of this position and the variety of working on something different every day," said McDonald, a Denver native. "When we went to San Diego, we visited a high-tech high school, and that gave us the momentum for getting the Denver School of Science and Technology going."

During a trip to Phoenix, the delegation visited the Decision Theater at Arizona State University--a world-class research facility where decision makers come together to review data and study an issue.

"The Decision Theater has a 360-degree screen, and you take whatever problem you are wrestling with in your community and put it up on the screen and come up with solutions," McDonald said. "Metro State is now designing such a structure on the Auraria Campus."

During a trip to Miami Beach, a delegation visited Art Basel Miami Beach, the sister event of Switzerland's Art Basel, one of the most prestigious art shows in the world.

"We learned a great deal about the commerce of art, and out of that came the Biennial of the Americas, which Denver hosted last summer," said McDonald, who oversees a staff of eight, dozens of volunteers...