Kristin Heath Colon, currently president and CEO of the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Foundation, DPS’s fundraising partner, has been hired by Colorado Mountain College as the vice president for advancement and CMC Foundation CEO.
“We are thrilled to be bringing on board an accomplished leader like Kristin, with her years of development and advancement experience in both higher education and K-12,” said Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser, president and CEO of Colorado Mountain College. “We know how much she loves Colorado and the Western Slope; she and her family will feel right at home in our mountain communities. Along with the CMC Foundation Board and Chair Patty Theobald, we welcome Kristin and look forward to sharing many future successes with her.”
Since 2009 Colon has been the president and CEO of the Denver Public Schools Foundation, growing the foundation’s support of DPS students exponentially with annual revenue increasing from $6.6 million in 2009 to $15.3 million, and total assets growing to $14.8 million – both increases of more than 130 percent since 2009. The school district is Colorado’s largest and among its most diverse, serving 89,000 students in 186 schools.
“Under Kristin’s tremendous leadership these past six plus years, the DPS Foundation has raised nearly $81.9 million, and helped us leverage an additional $100 million to support Denver’s students and programs,” said DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg. “I am forever grateful to Kristin for her leadership, tenacity and passion, which has helped to spearhead critical work being done in DPS to ensure every child succeeds. She will be deeply missed.”
Colon has deep roots in supporting public education. The move to Colorado Mountain College returns her to higher education, as she held myriad fundraising roles for the University of Colorado Foundation, serving the athletic department for over 14 years. As vice president for advancement and foundation CEO at CMC, Colon will oversee fundraising efforts for the multi-campus college as well as the college’s marketing, communications, public information office and alumni relations.
“Kristin impressed our board as a professional, driven, experienced leader,” said Patty Theobald, chair of the CMC Foundation Board. “We look forward to working with her to support the college and its students.”
“I strongly believe that having access to a quality and affordable education is the civil rights issue of our generation. Both DPS and CMC are leading the way in making a difference for our community and our youth,” Colon said. “I am excited to be joining CMC and its advancement and foundation teams, working together on the college’s strategic vision to become the most innovative, inclusive, student-centered college in the nation.
“The CMC region has held a special place in my heart for many decades,” Colon said. “My family and I look forward to making it our official home.”
Colon and her family are no strangers to the Western Slope. Since 1978, her family has been spending spring breaks in Vail. And when she met her husband, he was a coach for Ski Club Vail. Her husband continues his career as a ski coach, and their sons, now in seventh and 10th grade, are ski racers. When Colon was a high school student, in the summers she attended week-long residential camps at Colorado Mountain College’s Leadville campus.
Colon will start at Colorado Mountain College in a part-time capacity approximately Oct. 1, in a shared arrangement to benefit both organizations, transitioning to be at CMC full-time no later than the first of the year.