Brian Weber boasts many characteristics common in nonprofit professionals—he's innovative, optimistic, mission-driven, and humble—but he utilizes them in an unusual setting for a nonprofit. Weber happens to be a leader of one of the most ambitious nonprofits in a very profit-driven arena. He's the Vice President of the Stapleton Foundation, where he consults with the master developer of Stapleton, Denver's former airport—the largest urban redevelopment project in the country—and others on incorporating lifelong learning and workforce/small business development into their projects.
"There is no model for what we're doing," Weber says. "You just don't find a nonprofit like this working within a huge redevelopment project."
That means he faces new challenges to his creativity daily. And he uses his Master of Nonprofit Management degree from Regis University's School of Humanities & Social Sciences at every turn.
"It was the coursework in finance, volunteer management, fundraising, cultural competency and governance board developments that have helped the most," he says. "Regis really helped me combine philosophical thinking with practical application."
Weber's also one of the founders and the Project Director for the Denver Language (charter) School. He conceived, planned and currently leads all activities to develop Denver's first-ever public full immersion, K-8 Mandarin Chinese/Spanish school that opens in fall 2010.
And as the head of a couple of projects as big and important as these, it's clear Weber wants to be influential.