Garrett Groves

Garrett Groves is Vice Chancellor of Strategic Initiatives. He joined the college in February 2018 and leads the college’s efforts to identify emerging needs, evaluate opportunities for collaboration, and build strategic partnerships benefiting the region and ACC students.

Groves graduated from the University of Denver and earned his master’s degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin. He is a scholar in residence at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas where he continues his studies of workforce practices and consumer credit conditions in the state.

Before joining ACC, Groves directed the Economic Opportunity Program at the Center for Public Policy Priorities. He served at the National Governors Association where he worked with state and local entities on workforce, postsecondary education and economic development policy. He has supported governors, senior policy advisors and local leaders on several initiatives designed to improve postsecondary to workforce transitions, including improving performance measurement strategies, coordinating employer engagement activities and fostering regional collaboration. In particular, he helped lead Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin's signature initiative as chair of the National Governors Association in 2014, which called on governors from across the country to bolster their talent development pipelines and align educational institutions, training programs and community-based organizations with employer needs and state economic development strategies.

Preceding his work at the National Governors Association, Garrett oversaw the rigorous evaluation of education and training programs in the Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Labor, including random assignment evaluations of the YouthBuild program, Community-Based Job Training Grants and the ARRA High Growth and Emerging Industries grantees. He also served at various levels of Colorado state government, including the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, the Joint Budget Committee of the General Assembly, and the Office of the Lieutenant Governor.