Susan Powers is the President of Urban Ventures LLC, a real estate development company in Denver which she created in 1998. Urban Ventures focuses its efforts in urban neighborhoods, close to the core of downtown. In each development, there is a strong emphasis on community building in the context of social, environmental and economic viability. This is reflected in developments that have included historic renovation, affordable housing, TOD, Brownfields redevelopment, student housing, modular housing and mixed use projects in non-traditional neighborhoods. She is known as an advocate for affordable and mixed income development in Denver through both her private development activities and civic engagement.

Completed projects in and around downtown Denver include mixed use residential loft projects in central downtown, RiNo and Highland neighborhoods. Adjacent to the Auraria Higher Education campus, Susan led the team to develop Campus Village- the first student housing to serve the students of all three institutions. Susan was a member of a team led by Mithun Architects which developed a master plan to guide the redevelopment of a 17 acre existing DHA public housing neighborhood in Denver into a mixed income, green, TOD development, adjacent to downtown Denver. She has remained involved with each phase of development with a focus on improving the health of the residents.

Urban Ventures, in partnership with Perry Rose, acquired a 17.5 acre former convent property in northwest Denver which is being redeveloped into a model mixed income neighborhood called Aria Denver. The first phase of residential development is complete and over the next few years, the balance will be redeveloped including the renovation of the existing convent into a Co-Housing community. In addition to the private development that is occurring on the Aria Denver campus, a partnership with Regis University, located adjacent to Aria Denver has been formed- Cultivate Health- which is a comprehensive program focused on improving the health of the residents of a four census tract area around both campuses. This will be done with improvements to infrastructure, expanded access to healthy food and the development of a health center on the Aria Denver campus.

Prior to forming this company, Susan was the Executive Director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA) for 11 years.

She serves on the Board of Directors of several community Boards including Denver Health and Hospital, Denver Community Health Services, Downtown Denver, Inc. and Denver Bike Share.

She holds a B.A. degree in Anthropology and an M.S. degree in Urban Planning from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.