CMC President Matt Gianneschi speaking at the 2024 Spring Valley commencement.
CMC President Matt Gianneschi speaking at a podium.
Dr. Matt Gianneschi
CMC President Matt Gianneschi hugs a new graduate at a Rifle commencement.
CMC President Matt Gianneschi helps cook breakfast for an event.
Matt Gianneschi, Ph.D.
President, Colorado Mountain College
Dr. Matt Gianneschi is the tenth president of Colorado Mountain College, a local district, Dual Mission, Hispanic-Serving Institution with 11 campuses serving Colorado’s mountain resort region. He was appointed by the CMC Board of Trustees in 2024.
Gianneschi served for a decade as CMC’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff, playing an integral role in building the college into the financially stable, diverse, and innovative institution it is today. The child of college educators, Gianneschi can still be found in CMC classrooms teaching courses in economics and history from time to time.
Before arriving at CMC, Gianneschi served in numerous executive roles in education, philanthropy and state government. He was a vice president at the Education Commission of the States, a national, non-partisan education policy non-profit; Deputy Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education; Senior Education Advisor to Governor Bill Ritter, Jr.; and Chief Academic Officer for the Colorado Department of Higher Education. He was the Vice President of Student Services at the Community College of Aurora and served as one of the directors of the Daniels College Prep and Scholarship Program at the Daniels Fund, one of the nation’s largest philanthropically funded college access programs.
Raised in Colorado, Gianneschi is an alumnus of Manual High School in Denver and received Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Denver and a Doctor of Philosophy from the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona. In 2011 Gianneschi was awarded a Marshall Memorial Fellowship from the German Marshall Fund of the United States and in 2016 was awarded the Aspen Presidential Fellowship for Community College Excellence, a program jointly directed by the Aspen Institute and Stanford University.
Gianneschi has served on numerous national, state and local boards and advisory councils. He is the past chair of the board of directors for AVID, a national college readiness non-profit organization and currently serves on the El Pomar Foundation’s Northwest Council.
Gianneschi is the grandson of a 10th Mountain Division soldier, ski troopers that trained at Camp Hale in the CMC district and facilitated the development of many of the mountain communities the college now serves.
CMC Senior Leadership Team
Meet the team members who help lead CMC.
Past CMC Presidents
The Presidents who have lead CMC since its founding in 1965.
Colorado Mountain College President’s Advisory Council
CMC Foundation Board Member and Carbondale philanthropist Jim Calaway founded the CMC President’s Advisory Council (previously called the Board of Overseers) in 2012. His vision was to launch and sustain a selective group of advisors who care about and support CMC’s mission, and to establish a thought-provoking, dynamic forum to help guide the college to further excellence.