Keith Cole

Board Member

Keith has over fifteen years of experience working in various sectors of the international development arena (food security and agriculture, refugee services, and education programs), both in the U.S. and abroad. Currently he serves as Associate Director for Program Development at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture within the Texas A&M University System where he has overall responsibility for new business development.

Previously he served as the Institute’s Assistant Director for Administration and Finance providing overall administrative oversight, financial management, project coordination and compliance, and logistical support for international contracts, cooperative agreements, and grants portfolio that between 2002 and 2012 exceeded $80M. With an emphasis on food security programs primarily in conflict and post-conflict countries, in recent years this has included projects in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Panama, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan.

Within the refugee field, following field experience in-country working with the American Refugee Committee (ARC) in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1997, he served for four years as a board advisor to the finance and fundraising committee of the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center (RMSC) in Denver, CO. Concerned about domestic food security as well, he served on the board of the local Brazos Valley Food Bank from 2006 to 2012.

He completed an MA degree focused on international development jointly offered by the Josef Korbel School for International Studies and the Division of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and an MS degree in international management from the Daniels College of Business, both from the University of Denver. His undergraduate degree in English literature is from Texas A&M University. He has worked and traveled in 50 countries and 44 of the 50 U.S. states. Keith is married to Catherine Cole who also serves on Empower Dreams Advisory Board.

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