Dr. Angie Paccione, Executive Director
Dr. Angie Paccione was appointed executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education by Gov. Jared Polis, assuming the role on Jan. 10, 2019, and unanimously confirmed by the Senate Education Committee on Jan. 17, 2019.
Dr. Paccione has more than 20 years of experience in secondary and postsecondary education. She was a high school teacher, coach, and administrator at Smoky Hill High School in the Cherry Creek School District before earning a Ph.D. in education and human resource studies from Colorado State University (CSU). There, Dr. Paccione served on the CSU faculty for nine years as a teacher educator in the “Project Promise” program, a nationally recognized program of excellence in teacher preparation for mid-career professionals. She also conducted research in the teacher education field, examining educators’ life events that led them to become committed to issues of diversity and inclusion. Her findings informed a teacher preparation program and were later published in Teacher’s College Press, which has been cited in over 75 academic papers.
Dr. Paccione left higher education to pursue public service and was elected to two terms in the Colorado House of Representatives, rising to become house majority caucus chair. She served on the Education Committee during all four years in the legislature, helping guide the education environment for the state of Colorado. In 2006, she ran for U.S. Congress and came within 2.5 percent of unseating the incumbent.
From 2007 to her appointment as executive director, Dr. Paccione worked for Verus Global where she specialized in the areas of leadership development, diversity and inclusion, talent development, and change management. She has worked with leaders from the shop floor to the C-suite in 40 countries and all 50 states. Dr. Paccione has also co-authored two books on leadership: One Team: 10-minute Discussions that Activate Inspired Teamwork and Do Big Things: The Simple Steps Teams Can Take to Mobilize Hearts and Minds and Make an Epic Impact.
Growing up biracial in New York City, attending college in California, and residing in Colorado, Dr. Paccione bridges many divides. She was raised to believe you can accomplish anything to which you set your mind, a philosophy that runs through her life’s accomplishments. Playing basketball at Stanford University and professionally in the 1980s, Dr. Paccione’s credo is that she’s as committed to your success as she is to her own.
When she’s not working, Dr. Paccione can be found reading, traveling, enjoying theater and films, or gardening. She counts her family and friends among her greatest blessings.
For speaking engagements, please use the following condensed bio:
Dr. Angie Paccione (Pah-CHŌ- nēē) is the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and a member of the Governor’s Cabinet. She has been a professional athlete, a high school educator, administrator, and coach, a university professor, a state legislator, a global corporate consultant, and an award-winning author. Through all the work she has done, Dr. Paccione continues to be committed to activating the potential of others.
Angela P. Baier, CEO of College Assist and CollegeInvest
Since 2009, Baier has been responsible for managing Colorado’s 529 College Savings program representing more than $5 billion in assets under management and more than 330,000 families. In 2012, she was named CEO of CollegeInvest and of College Assist, a federal student loan Guaranty Agency representing more than $11.5 billion in student loans. Baier brings over 25 years of senior level management, business development, and marketing expertise to her position.
Baier’s diverse career consists of 20 years in nonprofit leadership, including serving as CEO of The New York State Zoo and as a vice president at the Denver Zoo. She served as a Hickenlooper mayoral appointee for the City & County of Denver – leading the first-ever city branding effort. She was the youngest department head in Best Western’s Corporate history, led the nation’s largest retail sponsorship program at Cherry Creek Shopping Center, was a national nonprofit liaison for the Walt Disney Company, and has been host of her own TV and radio shows – appearing with live animals.
Baier is very active in the Metro-Denver community, serving on the mayoral transition teams for both Mayor Hickenlooper and Mayor Hancock, and has served on a number of non-profit boards.
Baier earned her B.S. from the University of Kansas.
Ben Boggs, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff
Ben Boggs joined CDHE in 2019. Previously, he served as higher education program principal at the National Conference of State Legislatures. In that role, he analyzed legislative trends related to postsecondary education including issues on higher education governance, finance and student aid/affordability, workforce preparation, and economic development.
His professional experiences include service as nonpartisan legislative staff to the Kentucky General Assembly, director of educator preparation at the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board, senior associate for academic affairs at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, and President’s chief of staff at Berea College, a tuition-free liberal arts work college focused on Appalachia students with limited resources.
Ben earned his B.A. from Wake Forest University, M.Ed. from The College of William & Mary in Virginia, and Ph.D. in higher education policy from the University of Virginia.
Lorna Candler, Chief Occupational Education Officer
Lorna Candler directs the seven-member governor-appointed Private Occupation Board and the Division of Private Occupational Schools (DPOS). Candler has been an attorney since 1994 and has served the state in various roles; most recently as an assistant Colorado attorney general advising DPOS (and other educational and healthcare agencies).
For the past 10 years, she has overseen the state authorization of both for-profit and non-profit private occupational education (both degree and certificate programs that are two years or less).
She has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Vermont and a juris doctorate from the University of Denver College of Law. Candler has served as present and vice president on the National Association of School Administrators & Supervisors of Private Schools (NASASPS) Board of Directors. She continues to serve on the Board of Directors since she was initially appointed in 2017.
Megan McDermott, Senior Director of Communications and Public Engagement/PIO
Megan McDermott is an award-winning communications strategist, bringing more than 20 years of experience helping organizations conceive and execute strategies to achieve their goals. In her role, she engages with key audiences to advance CDHE's mission, visibility, strategic goals, and communications objectives. She also manages two teams—communications, outreach, and community engagement – to inspire collaboration, garner resources, and leverage impact.
Before joining the Department in 2016, she was the Assistant Director of Communications at the Colorado Department of Education for nearly eight years where she developed and implemented strategic communications that advanced the department's efforts to increase educational achievement for all students. Before that, she was the Director of Communications for an international sorority where she managed the quarterly magazine and co-planned a national convention for 150,000+ members. Her professional experiences include expertise in education, nonprofit, tech, media, and government sectors.
She has served on several state-level committees and boards and as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Zimbabwe teaching English and working at an HIV/AIDs non-profit for more than two years. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in magazine journalism & communications, with a concentration in English from Drake University.
Dr. Roberto Montoya, Chief Educational Equity Officer
Roberto Montoya has worked and researched at all levels of the educational system. He began his career as a diversity recruiter for Colorado Mesa University and traveled across the state and Southwest to recruit students from diverse populations. He worked in enrollment at Regis University, and more recently, at the University of Colorado Denver as an instructor and on various research projects and grants that focused on educational equity and justice in public PK-12 schools and higher education. He also worked in the private sector for two different Fortune 500 companies. In these roles, he led dynamic and diverse teams that focused on equity initiatives and advocacy programs. He served as the manager of diversity and engagement for the City and County of Denver at the Denver International Airport. Most recently, he worked at Race Forward as the west regional manager for the Government Alliance on Race and Equity. In this role, he was responsible for working with, coaching, and guiding mayors, city managers, city councils, and appointed officials in crafting, establishing, implementing, and honing policies, practices, procedures, and legislation that focused on equity.
In August 2021, CDHE hired Dr. Montoya, to take on the new position and serve as the first-ever chief educational equity officer. The new position supports the Department’s diversity, inclusion, justice, and equity goals and promotes the vision of a Colorado higher education community that is inclusive and deliberate in erasing the persistent equity gaps in educational attainment across all student demographic categories. The chief educational equity officer serves as a catalyst and advocates for educational equity initiatives and systemic change at Colorado’s institutions of higher education to develop quick and sustaining results that support historically minoritized and underrepresented students.
Dr. Montoya has numerous peer-reviewed publications, holds a B.S. in political science from Colorado Mesa University, an M.A. in ethnic studies from Regis University, and a Ph.D. in education and human development from the University of Colorado Denver. Forged in the barrios of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dr. Montoya is committed to community, praxis, and elevating epistemologies. He is a father, husband, scholar, educator, and self-proclaimed jazz and hip-hop head.
Dr. Kim Poast, Chief Student Success and Academic Affairs Officer
Kim Poast leads statewide academic and student affairs policy in Colorado’s higher education ecosystem- and is strategically focused on equitable transfer, prior learning assessment, non-degree credentials, student advising, wraparound support programs, and educational innovation. She has more than 35 years of experience as a practitioner and policy maker in higher education and K12 and non-profit administration. In her spare time, she is an associate professor at the University of Colorado at Denver teaching higher education policy and governance.
She has previously served as the Executive Director of College and Career Readiness at Denver Public Schools, working to ensure that all students are ready for the next step after high school. Previously, she served the Community College of Denver as Dean of Students and Vice President/Executive Director of Institutional Advancement. Before that, she was Deputy Director for DHE, overseeing the strategic planning that led up to the master plan process and providing overall leadership for student services and statewide outreach divisions and activities.
Dr. Poast earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in counseling psychology from California Lutheran University and Ph.D. in Higher Education, Student Affairs Leadership from the University of Northern Colorado.
Michael Vente, Chief Performance Officer
Michael Vente works to harness connections between people, projects, programs, divisions, and organizations to ensure that CDHE is executing the right things. He examines and develops key performance indicators, finds efficiencies and/or opportunities for connection, and creates a roadmap to fix any problems.
He manages the research environment for CDHE as well as several specific research projects and reports related to student success. He also manages data governance activities by improving the quality and managing the protection of sensitive data and information assets.