About Alison Griffin

Alison Griffin is a nationally recognized leader in postsecondary education and workforce development policy, with decades of experience spanning federal and state policy, philanthropy, and the private sector. Her career includes serving as a policy advisor to the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, leading national engagement and government relations for Strada Education Foundation, guiding state policy development for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and co-directing Whiteboard Advisors’ postsecondary education practice.

Today, Alison is founder and Principal of Alison Griffin LLC and serves as a Principal Consultant to FutureRise and Senior Fellow with the President’s Office at Colorado Mountain College. She has also contributed to national bipartisan efforts focused on strengthening education-to-workforce pathways, including the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on the American Workforce and the National Skills Coalition’s New Promise of Work Advisory Council.

A Forbes contributor since 2019, Alison has authored nearly 100 pieces on education and workforce policy and publishes The Rise Report, a weekly newsletter focused on education and employment in Colorado.

Appointed by Governor Jared Polis in 2019, Alison is a trustee and former three-term board chair at Colorado Mesa University. She previously served for six years on the board of the Colorado League of Charter Schools. Alison holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Georgia and undergraduate degrees in business and psychology from Southern Methodist University. She lives in Boulder with her two sons.