Michael Niyompong

Vice President & Chief Engagement Officer Mental Health Center of Denver

With a strong penchant for social good, design, innovation and futurism, Michael Niyompong is Vice President and Chief Engagement Officer at the Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD), a local and national model for innovative and effective community behavioral health care. In his role, Michael oversees the organization's philanthropy and fundraising; communications and marketing; external relations, community engagement and strategic partnerships; and public policy and advocacy
functions.

Prior to joining MHCD, Michael was Chief Operating Officer at Denver-based Clayton Early Learning. Michael was also Vice President at Rebound Solutions, a socially conscious firm specializing in strategy, change management and turn-around solutions and was Vice President of Technology and Facilities at Mile High United Way.

Michael earned his BS in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and his MBA in finance and MS in operations management from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. During his tenure at Daniels, he served as the Co-President of the Daniels chapter of Net Impact, a worldwide nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to improve the world through corporate social responsibility.

Michael volunteered with Project Angel Heart, delivering food to terminally-ill people in the community. He served on the founding board of the Academy of Urban Learning (AUL), a Denver Public School district charter school targeting at-risk, highly mobile youth and was elected Secretary of the AUL’s Board of Directors in 2005. The same year, Michael was appointed by then Mayor John Hickenlooper to serve on the Denver Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Commission and was elected Vice Chair prior to completing his term in 2009.

In 2010, Michael traveled to Uganda and Rwanda to study innovative solutions to poverty and to understand the challenges and issues that distress developing countries. Later the same year, Michael served on the Information Technology Transition Committee for then Governor-elect John Hickenlooper.

Currently, Michael is active on the Library Commission for Denver Public Library, the Colorado State Leadership Council for Enterprise Community Partners and the Housing Advisory Committee at The Colorado Health Foundation. His prior service includes Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation, Colorado Nonprofit Development Center, Rocky Mountain PBS and Academy of Urban Learning.

Michael is a graduate of Leadership Denver Class of 2011 and in 2013 was recognized as one of Denver Business Journal’s Forty under 40. In 2016, Michael was selected as one of five Livingston Fellows by the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, and in 2017, Michael was part of the inaugural class of the Ascend Colorado Children and Families Fellowship at the Aspen Institute.

Michael is a Colorado native, born in Denver. He is fluent in both Thai and English. Because of his Thai heritage, growing up, Michael split his time between Bangkok, Thailand and Denver, Colorado. Today, Michael lives in Denver.