WfBC | Business Forum | Richard Wobbekind Bio

Go to Workforce Boulder County Home Page



	For Employers

Richard Wobbekind photo Richard Wobbekind

Richard L. Wobbekind is Associate Dean for MBA and Enterprise Programs, Associate Professor of Business Economics and Finance, and Executive Director of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He joined the faculty in the fall of 1985. In 1988 he was appointed Associate Director of the Research division and Director in 1991. He assumed his current position as associate dean in July of 2000.

As Director of the Business Research Division his responsibilities include developing an annual consensus forecast of the Colorado economy and performing various strategic analyses and economic impact assessments of the Colorado economy. Rich also produces a quarterly economic indicator series for Boulder County and a quarterly Business Leader Confidence Index for the Colorado.

He participates annually in the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank Regional Economic Roundtable, and is a contributor to the Western Blue Chip forecast newsletter and the National Association of Business Economists Economic Policy Survey. Professor Wobbekind was appointed to the board of the National Association for Business Economists in 2006. Rich is a member of the Governor's Revenue Estimating Advisory Committee, the Denver Regional Council of Government's Forecast 2030 Advisory Committee, the Colorado Tourism Office Education and Research Advisory Committee, the Boulder Economic Council, the Boulder Redevelopment Authority and the Center for the American West.

For his efforts in community development and outreach, Rich was awarded the University of Colorado Community Outreach Award in 1997. In 2002 he was named a Member of Distinction by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. In 2006 he received the Robert L. Stearns award for lifetime excellence in research, teaching and service to the University of Colorado.

Dr. Wobbekind teaches MBA, undergraduate and executive students in macroeconomics, public policy and entrepreeneurship. He has received four awards for teaching excellence from the students of the Leeds School.

Richard Wobbekind is a member and active participant in numerous professional organizations at the local, state and national levels. Included among these organizations are the Denver Association of Business Economists (past president), Economic Developers Council of Colorado, Association of University Business and Economics Research (past president) , The National Association for Business Economics (board member ), Western Economics Association, and the Western Regional Science Association.

Richard Wobbekind has lived in Colorado for over 30 years and has spent much of his time studying the development of the Colorado and regional economies. Rich and his wife Carol have raised three children. Dr. Wobbekind received a BA in Economics from Bucknell University and an MA and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.