A man of great intellect, inspiring calmness and true statesmanship are among the descriptive phrases colleagues use when talking about Kyle Hybl, who has received a “resolution of appreciation” for his 12 years of service on the University of Colorado’s Board of Regents.

Hybl says it’s been his privilege to help guide the four-campus university system through some of its most difficult years.

“I played a small part in a number of large projects,” he says, reflecting on the accomplishments the state’s largest university system has realized from 2006 until now.

Hybl and departing Regent Steve Ludwig, the first University of Colorado Colorado Springs alumnus to become a member of the board, were recognized at a board meeting Friday, held at the UCCS campus. They are leaving two term-limited seats on the CU Board of Regents

They also received “Regent Emeriti” designation, as it was effectively their last board meeting.

Republican candidate Chance Hill, who won Hybl’s seat in the Nov. 6 mid-term election, will be sworn into office in January, when Hybl, also a Republican, officially departs.

Hybl said he has no further political aspirations.

Getting elected to the six-year seat in 2005 and again in 2011 resulted from Hybl attending CU Law School in Boulder and interning for both Vice President Dan Quayle and U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley from Colorado Springs.

“So I had an interest in politics, and I also have an interest in higher education,” he said. “That combination is unique to the position of Regent.”

The university system was in a tough spot in 2006, when Hybl took office, facing a recruiting scandal with its athletics programs, rape charges against some athletes and the case of Ward Churchill, a Boulder professor who was fired in 2007 for academic misconduct associated with plagiarism and fabrication in his work. He sued the regents and won $1 million but didn’t get his job back.

“Favorability ratings weren’t that great,” Hybl said. But when U.S. Sen. Hank Brown became president of the CU system, he started “righting the ship.”

Brown led the board and staff to realize “the importance of a shared vision and mission,” Hybl said. That lined up with Hybl’s goals.

“One of my objectives, when I came on the board, was that CU had been a Boulder-centric group of leaders,” he said, and that has changed to becoming “a bona fide system.”

One thing that helped was that Brown moved the system office from Boulder to Denver – not to a campus but to an independent site.

“That was truly separating; the office stands alone, which separated the campuses into a system,” Hybl said.

Hybl, who works as president and chief operating officer at El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs, also pushed for the Board of Regents to become “a higher-forming, policy-based governing board.”

“We’ve worked hard to develop a mission, vision, guiding principles and strategic directions for the campuses,” he said. “We’re now at a place where we have strategic principles, to which we hold the chancellors and president accountable.”

“You’ve been a stalwart in your service and unselfish in your generosity,” CU Denver Chancellor Dorothy Horrell said at Friday’s meeting in acknowledging Hybl’s time on the board.

“Though you’re a Buffalo, you decided to be a Mountain Lion, having your footprints throughout this campus,” said UCCS Chancellor Venkat Reddy.

Hybl was elected by fellow members to chair the board four times – the most of any regent.

Regent Linda Shoemaker said she had no idea what a tough job that was because Hybl made it “seem easy and seamless.”

“You managed to get us moving in the same direction,” she said, “and I realized how important it was to have a leader like you.”

Regent Irene Griego said one word reminds her of Hybl: Epical.

“The Democrats have always been the minority, and you never let us feel it,” she said. “You taught me so much, you kept me informed, you truly want to do what’s right for all of us.”

When the recession reduced state funding for higher education, to the point that students now fund two-thirds of the cost of higher education, and the state funds one-third, Hybl worked closely with former UCCS Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak to ride out the storm of a budget crisis.

“When I started the UC (system) budget was $2 billion,” Hybl said. “it’s now $4.5 billion, and gets $235 million from the state of Colorado.”

Despite the struggles, UCCS has amassed a mountain of achievements in recent times.

Enrollment has grown from 7,000 when Hybl joined the board to more than 12,500 this semester. The campus’ economic impact has ballooned from $250 to nearly $600 million, Hybl said.

The system as a whole has seen a similar pattern, expanding economic impact from $4 billion in 2006 to an estimated $8.3 billion today, Hybl said.

Among the projects he’s worked on include attracting a branch medical campus to Colorado Springs.

“For a city of our size, we were one of the few that did not have a branch medical campus,” he said. “It’s helpful to the future of medicine.”

Hybl is also proud of the part the board played in Colorado Springs’ economic development and tourism project known as City for Champions, with last month’s groundbreaking for UCCS’ William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center.

The 104,000-square foot center, scheduled to open in 2020, will be the first of its kind to integrate undergraduate and graduate education with clinical practice and research in a sports medicine and performance environment.

Named after Hybl’s father, Bill Hybl, chairman and CEO of the El Pomar Foundation and twice president of the United States Olympic Committee, the $61.4 million center will operate in partnership with Penrose-Sr. Francis Centura Health.

Hybl also was actively involved in arranging the UCHealth Memorial lease effort with the city of Colorado Springs.

“I think our community also has benefited from that,” he said.

Hybl and his wife, Sally co-chaired fundraising for the $70 million UCCS Ent Center for the Arts, which opened in January. The Hybls also led a $1.5 million drive to name the theater in honor of former chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak.

Hybl also had a hand in the creation of the National Cybersecurity Center in Colorado Springs, which is becoming a think tank for sharing information between federal and state agencies on cyber-based criminal and national security threats.

Hybl said he leaves the board at an “exciting and challenging time for higher education.” The regents are searching for a new system president, as Bruce Benson has announced he will retire in June.

And, “With the disruptive nature of technology, artificial intelligence, the flipped classroom, how people are going to learn in the future is changing,” Hybl said.

“It’s been a true honor and real privilege to be part of an institution that’s whole mission is to educate people, be a workforce driver, a cultural driver, an economic driver,” he said.