JB Holston was known as “the students’ dean” when he led the University of Denver’s engineering and computer science department from 2015 to 2020.
In that role, the Stanford University graduate worked with faculty, learned about governance and collaborated with the administration. But he said his favorite part of the job was mingling with students.
“They’re the most fun,” Holston said during an interview this week.
Now, Holston’s purview over students, faculty and academia has grown significantly. The philanthropist, consultant and higher education strategist is the new executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. He started this week, succeeding outgoing executive director Angie Paccione, who is leaving for the private sector.
Holston’s annual salary is $228,705, according to the department.
“JB’s decades of academic, business, civic and community leadership will ensure the department’s success as we chart a new era for Coloradans seeking higher education,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement. “JB’s deep breath of experience and energy will drive forward our vision to better connect higher education with the needs of our workforce, ensuring that students who seek higher education leave with the skills needed for high-paying, in-demand careers.”
Holston previously served as a senior adviser to the Boston Consulting Group, where he advised public sector entities, including Colorado’s state government, he said. Before that, Holston was the CEO and senior adviser at the Greater Washington Partnership.
He takes the helm of the department during a time of transition.
A report commissioned by Polis and released in December outlined an overhaul of the Department of Higher Education that would merge the agency with seven other state departments to focus on workforce development.
The merger would require lawmaker approval. The outgoing governor wants a legislative bill to kickstart the process that he expects will be finished next year.
Holston said he’s not focused on the overhaul just yet. Right now, he’s interested in meeting with lawmakers and higher education leaders in the state to introduce himself and solicit their feedback.
During his tenure, Holston said he hopes to promote the good things that are going on within Colorado’s postsecondary institutions, whether they be the state’s major research universities, technical colleges, community colleges or some combination that provides students a pathway to a good job.
“I don’t think that we’re necessarily as well known for the real strengths of our postsecondary institutions as we should be,” Holston said. “People don’t necessarily talk about our institutions as leaders, but look at quantum.”
Holston praised Colorado’s quantum tech hub, an industry expected to galvanize the development of artificial intelligence.
Higher education institutions across the country have been under attack by the Trump administration, which has mandated funding cuts and launched federal investigations into universities that have diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“In spite of the budget cuts and all of this anti-woke national rhetoric, I think the state has continued to support the students that are most in need as well as any state has,” Holston said. “I haven’t heard from any institutions that are moving away from it.”
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Paccione, the outgoing director, said some of her proudest accomplishments as leader of the department included helping underserved students thrive.
In an interview about her seven-year tenure, Paccione pointed to initiatives combatting food insecurity on campus and highlighting mental health resources along with programs that helped foster kids and the homeless obtain degrees as some of the work that made her most proud.
“My purpose is to activate potential,” Paccione said, divulging that a few hours earlier, as she grabbed her morning Starbucks, she chatted with the barista about different pathways to attain a degree.
“We need to do a better job of making sure students realize it is affordable and valuable,” she said.
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