Jeff Bowen
Jeff Bowen attributes many of his career accomplishments to coincidence. But the Daniels Department of Management teaching associate professor—who retired in June—has achieved too much to write off as just good luck. As the aphorism attributed to Thomas Jefferson goes, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
Before teaching, Bowen spent 35+ years primarily as a general partner of the Investment Management Group Ltd. He also was an advisor to various investment, asset management, real estate and manufacturing firms. His broad business experience plus a late-in-life PhD brought him to teaching.
In the early ’90s a dean at Colorado Mountain College asked Bowen to teach a management course.
“Two weeks before class, he asked if I would also teach two other courses,” said Bowen. “I declined, but the teacher for those courses had just dropped dead. I couldn’t say no.”
Returning to Denver, Bowen became a certified commercial arbitrator and mediator for the American Arbitration Association, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Eagle County.
“It was the foundation for developing my dispute resolution course at Daniels,” said Bowen.
In 2004, he connected with then-Daniels Department of Management Chair Bob McGowan and joined the faculty.
“Jeff has a genuine affection for his students, and it comes right back to him,” said Dennis Wittmer, former department chair. “Teaching is about relationships, and students consistently connect with him after graduation, which I attribute to Jeff being such a caring and considerate person.”
If luck was involved in any of this, it’s that Daniels has been lucky to have Jeff Bowen.