Molly Riddell

Background

About Molly Riddell

Currently, I support large-scale federal fundraising at the University of Colorado Boulder to help researchers establish new cross-disciplinary research initiatives and centers. By convening stakeholders from traditionally siloed disciplines across industry, government, and academia, these initiatives integrate research with education activities to address the most pressing "grand challenges” facing society. My greatest achievement in this role has been leading a unique career development program to help researchers secure funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF's) early career development program. This highly competitive funding enables Jr. faculty to pioneer entirely new research and education domain areas. This program has been credited in the College achieving a #1 record nationally, with 12 new awards in 2021 alone and 48 awards from 2015-present. My experience in strategic communications and large-scale fundraising spans industry, national lab, and academic settings. I am skilled in creating marketing, communication, and education materials for diverse audiences and adept in analyzing and interpreting standards, guidelines, and policies. I've worked with MS Office 2019 and 365 and Adobe Creative Suite and am adept at mastering new programs quickly as opportunities and needs evolve. On a personal level, I am passionate about personal finance and financial literacy. Because money remains subject to shame, taboo, and widespread misinformation, my second career will focus on reducing unnecessary complexity, challenging deceptive messaging in the financial sector, helping individuals and couples navigate financial decisions and conflicts, and broadening access to empowering services and evidence-based strategies to transform wealth and wellbeing.