RICK O’DONNELL

Rick O’Donnell has served as CEO of five public and private sector entities where he drove game-changing innovations.

Passionate about transforming important industries, O’Donnell optimizes hands-on management expertise with a talent for driving strategic direction, consistently producing significant ROI. Frequently in high visibility public roles, O’Donnell has a reputation for solving complex problems and getting results with diverse and sometimes opposing individuals and groups.

O’Donnell has recruited and developed high-performing management teams. He has led organizations from start-ups to more than 500 employees. O’Donnell’s P&L responsibilities have ranged from $1 million to over $100 million and he has provided oversight for budgets exceeding $1 billion. A seasoned public speaker, he is well versed in leveraging and influencing the media, elected officials, regulators, philanthropists and top business executives.

Currently, O’Donnell is serving as an Advisor to CEOs and Boards. He is an Executive Partner with SOLIDexecutive, Inc. and is available through this organization to deliver senior executive coaching, CEO advising and Board consulting.

After running for Congress in 2006, O’Donnell was recruited to be President of the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence. He led the national expansion and online development of its award-winning, revolutionary MBA curriculum. O’Donnell’s focus on entrepreneurship led him to launch a start-up technology firm to reinvent how employers recruit, hire and onboard college graduates.

O’Donnell spent from 1998 to 2006 in the Colorado Governor’s Cabinet. As CEO of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, he had direct oversight of the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commissioners as well as the Public Utilities Commission and achieved significant regulatory reforms, particularly to aid start-up, emerging and middle-market businesses. As CEO of the Department of Higher Education, he oversaw 29 public colleges and universities. O’Donnell transformed how higher education is operated and funded, including pay-for-performance contracts and the nation’s first college vouchers. He also outsourced a student loan business, saving the state nearly $60 million.

In both the public and private sectors, including as COO of a national think tank comprised of Fortune 500 CEOs and governors, O’Donnell achieved significant reforms to the tax, transportation, land-use and K-12 education systems. Earlier, he was Director of Communications for a Washington, D.C. think tank and producer of a weekly TV show featuring top nationally recognized leaders. O’Donnell started his business career as a Commodity Merchandiser at Archer Daniels Midland.

O’Donnell is the recipient of numerous fellowships, including Gates Fellowship to Harvard and a Senior Fellowship at UCLA. He is a cum laude graduate of Colorado College with a B.A. in History/Political Science.

An active civic leader, O’Donnell launched his own nonprofit in 2000. He has served on 11 boards, including the Princeton Review (Nasdaq: REVU), Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education and, as Chairman of the Board, Colorado Institute of Technology. A triathlete and mountaineer, Rick O’Donnell resides in Austin, Texas.

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