High flier in global real estate credits UW-Madison

Chris DuPré

When she was looking at master’s of business administration programs in the mid-’90s, Susan Chapman wasn’t too sure about UW–Madison.

“It’s interesting, because I was fairly adamant about not wanting to go to Wisconsin,” says Chapman, now director of global real estate for Level 3 Communications in the Denver area. “Then I went on my road show of campuses, and I talked with students, professors and alumni.

“No. 1, Wisconsin alumni always returned my phone calls,” which made a big impression, she says. “No. 2, every time I talked with Wisconsin people, there wasn’t the sense of competition you get in a lot of programs. I had the feeling that Wisconsin alumni are really interested in helping each other.”

Chapman, who had degrees from Vanderbilt University and the University of Massachusetts, received scholarships from outside sources and UW–Madison. She earned her MBA in the real estate program in 1998.

“It was one of the best moves I could have made, both for the quality of the education I received and the relationships I was able to forge with people in my class,” she says.

Over the last year and a half, Chapman and her team at Level 3 have closed more than $250 million in transactions, according to a recent story in the Denver Post.

She was named to Black Enterprise magazine’s Hot List, made up of 50 of the most promising African-American professionals younger than 40.

She has spent the last two years flying around the globe, and she credits her UW experience with providing her a view of the wider world.

“UW-Madison exposed me to new opportunities and gave me a different perspective,” she says. “The trips I made abroad, for instance, with Rod Matthews (senior lecturer and distinguished scholar in the Department of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics) opened my eyes to the opportunities. I knew then that international real estate was something I wanted to add to my repertoire, and I now spend the majority of my professional efforts on projects outside the United States.”

Chapman talks with some of her UW–Madison professors and classmates on a regular basis. “People from my class are still fairly close. I know if I called on them, they would help me if I needed them,” she says.

Her gratitude extends to supporting the university as well. “Whenever I get out my checkbook for charitable purposes,” she says, “I give it to Wisconsin.”