Capsule of Russell George’s career

RBC I Russell George, about to enter his third year as president of Colorado Northwestern Community College, has an impressive resume, far from the ordinary for a child who grew up in Rifle, Colo. Highlights of that resume include:
George is a 1964 graduate of Rifle High School and a 1968 graduate of Colorado State University, where he was a Boettcher Scholar, earning his bachelor of arts degree in economics. He received his juris doctorate in law from Harvard in 1971.
He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1993, representing Rio Blanco, Garfield, Pitkin and Moffat counties. He also served as speaker of the state House in 1999 and 2000. His committee assignments included Local Government, Judiciary, Agriculture and Natural Resources and Capital Development.
From 2000 to 2004, George was director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife; from 2004 to 2007, he was executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, which oversees the Division of Wildlife, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, State Parks, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Division of Water Resources, the Division of Minerals and Geology, the State Land Board, the Colorado State Forest Service and the Colorado Geological Survey; from 2007 to 2011, he served as executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, where he was responsible for the direction and management of the 3,300-employee department with an annual budget of roughly $1 billion.
George’s record of community service includes being a member of the Boettcher Foundation Board of Trustees from 2006 to 2008 and being a VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) volunteer from 1974 to 1976.
Under awards and honors, George lists: Colorado State University, The Institute for Learning and Teaching, “The Russell George Great Hall” in 2008; and he was named Water Leader of the Year in 2010 by the Colorado Water Education Foundation.
His strengths, according to George, include: innovative finance, strategic planning, consensus building, organizational leadership, budget control and negotiation.