Colette Pierce Burnette

Burnette is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and President Emeritus of Huston-Tillotson University–a historically black institution and oldest institution of higher learning in Austin, Texas. Burnette joined Huston-Tillotson University as president on July 1, 2015. She is the first female president of the combined institutions of Huston and Tillotson Colleges. and a staunch believer that education is the great equalizer and not an option. She served as interim President at Pierce College in Puyallup, Washington, as Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer, as Executive Assistant to the President, as Vice President for Information Technology and Services, and as Chief Information Officer at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, Dean of Information Technology at Pierce College in Lakewood, Washington, and Manager of Consulting and Project Management Services at the Washington State Department of Transportation in Olympia, Washington. Colette has combined her entrepreneurial spirit and technical knowledge to forge successful engineering, information technology, and higher education careers. Before transitioning into higher education, Burnette worked as a Computer Analyst at The Washington Post, an Operations Support Engineer at Procter and Gamble, Director of Information Systems at Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, and ran her own computer consulting firm, CompuMent. Upon retirement from higher education, she joined Newfields, a 152-acre cultural institution in Indianapolis, Indiana, as President & CEO. During her brief tenure at Newfields, she lifted the brand through intentional and meaningful community engagement, expanded the programmatic offerings, built important alliances, diversified the collection and the patrons, and uplifted morale.

Burnette is a strong proponent of building strong reciprocal collaborations and civic and community engagement. She is laser-focused on finding resources to support young people and views education as a primary civil rights issue at this time in our history and commits herself to removing all barriers to lifting lives through social mobility are elucidated and deconstructed. She believes in and has successfully forged strong partnerships with entities such as the Urban League, sister cultural institutions, and corporations such as Apple, Tesla, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Army Futures Command, Bank of America, and Indeed. Burnette's commitment to being a servant leader is evident in her leadership positions in her community such as Martin University Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, Indianapolis Propylaeum Board of Directors, Chair of the Mayor of Austin's Task Force on Institutional Racism and Systemic Inequities, Board Chair of Leadership Austin, and Treasurer of Council of Higher Education Accreditation, Big Sisters of Central Texas Advisory Council, Urban Roots Advisory Council, and the Waterloo Greenway Board. Burnette also has served/serves on national boards and committees, including the Courageous Conversations Global Foundation Board of Directors, Council for Higher Education Accreditation, National Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities of the United Methodist Church, Texas Methodist Foundation, and DISCO Law Corporate Board.