Dear FRCC Community,
FRCC has some very exciting new beginnings happening this month with three vice presidents coming on board. I know everyone here will offer them a very warm welcome.
As we help orient the new VPs to life at FRCC, you will have opportunities to meet them in the coming weeks. They will be making the rounds at each campus to meet their new colleagues and community members. I hope you’ll all be able to join us at one of the upcoming meet-and-greets that are being scheduled.
In the meantime, I want to continue to introduce them to you by sharing more information about each of their backgrounds and experience.
Vice President of Operations
Dr. Ethan Johnson (he/him) has worked across multiple collegiate institutions for more than a decade. He began his career at Georgia Southwestern State University as a student dispatcher and parking ticket writer. Throughout his career, Ethan has worked as a cybercrime investigator, drone program manager, counter-sniper, evidence custodian, firearms instructor, emergency management coordinator, Clery coordinator, and state accreditation manager among other roles.
Most recently at Coastal Pines Technical College, Ethan served at the Cabinet level as a Chief of Police among various other administrative duties. In December of 2024, he completed his Doctor of Public Administration degree at Valdosta State University. He is a graduate of the third session of the FBI National Command Course and completed his master’s degree in public safety administration through Columbus State University at the Georgia Law Enforcement Command College.
Throughout his years of service, Ethan has developed working relationships across a multitude of governmental, quasi-governmental and private sector entities. His work in higher education has involved wearing many hats on multifunctional teams across departmental borders. In his previous role, he worked closely with the college IT team on cybersecurity and compliance issues, ensuring systems were working effectively. He also collaborated daily with the college’s facilities team on issues such as emergency management, infrastructure planning, maintenance and replacement schedules, and ADA compliance.
Above all, Ethan works daily to educate and develop others and enjoys building meaningful relationships with students, faculty, staff and other campus community stakeholders. He brings exceptional expertise to this newly formed division at FRCC—which includes Facilities and Campus Security & Preparedness—and he is excited to be here.
Vice President of Strategy & Innovation
Dr. Alana Olschwang (she/her) has more than 20 years of experience in advancing planning and strategy, data infrastructure and evidence-based decision-making. Throughout her career, she has served in multiple capacities to promote institutional effectiveness and strategic planning within higher education through leadership across institutional research, workforce integration, strategic planning, evaluation and assessment.
Alana’s research focuses on improving student success and smooth transition into the workforce, closing equity gaps, improving university processes and advancing culturally responsive and sustaining practices. This has led to support for multiple grants, including as Principal Investigator for a $5.3 million National Telecommunications and Information Administration grant for Connecting Minority Communities.
In addition to serving on numerous accreditation review teams in California, Hawaii and Peru, Alana has supported data analytics fellows and faculty communities of practice for California State University. She earned a PhD in higher education and an MA in organizational behavior from Claremont Graduate University, and a BA in psychology from the University of California San Diego.
Throughout her career, Alana has also worked closely and collaboratively with faculty, including:
- Leading communities of practice with the college faculty development center to integrate evidence in the advancement of teaching and learning.
- Supporting grant project development, monitoring and reporting.
- Leading faculty and staff cohorts for statewide data literacy and fluency programs.
- Developing toolkits and resource guides to combine data sources in support of chairs, associate deans and deans.
- Providing projection, enrollment and disaggregated data reports to faculty committees and senate for trend analysis, projections and planning.
- Conducting analytic studies and impact assessments for advising and program improvements.
At FRCC, Alana will identify and lead transformative change around the college’s strategic priorities, in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. She brings a wealth of experience to the division and is looking forward to collaborating with its leaders.
Vice President of Finance & Administration
Many of you already know David Osborn (he/him), who has been serving as interim VP. David joined FRCC as our controller in January of 2023—then in June, he took on the interim role. David and his team are responsible for all the financial functions of FRCC and for the fiscal well-being of the college.
As VP of Finance & Administration, David will be responsible for collaborating with the college to prepare and monitor the college’s budget each year. Additionally, he will work with the budget department to develop long-term financial planning reports to ensure the college is making decisions that enable it to succeed now and in the future.
During his two years of service as FRCC’s controller, he oversaw the fiscal operations of the college. Before joining FRCC, David worked at a public accounting firm performing external audits of companies in the manufacturing, non-profit, government and higher education industries. He is a first-generation college graduate of Oklahoma State University, where he got his Bachelor of Science in accounting and Bachelor of Science in economics. David is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Colorado and Oklahoma.
In his role as VP, he oversees the teams that provide procurement and contracts, as well as budgeting and fiscal operations of the college. David brings extensive experience to this critical division and will play a pivotal role in advancing our strategic goals.
Thank You
I also want to recognize our intrepid IT Director Linc Nesheim for his invaluable leadership in the critical areas of operations, finance and administration—and I look forward to his continued contributions. I’d also like to thank Executive VP & Chief Communications Officer Lilian Clemente for her tireless leadership with the strategy and innovation team and I look forward to her continued partnership.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who participated in our searches to find these three outstanding hires. I appreciate your engagement and collaboration throughout the search process.
I’m eager to begin working closely with Ethan, Alana and David (in his new role). As FRCC’s newest executive leaders, I’m confident that their guidance will advance our mission and strategic priorities—and their forward-thinking approach will help propel our ongoing efforts to ensure the college is future ready.
With much appreciation,
Dr. Colleen Simpson
President
Front Range Community College
