President’s Office Team
Jenelle Beavers
Vice President for Strategy
Jim Bradeen
Associate Vice President for Spur Strategy
Ann Claycomb
Chief of Staff and Director for Presidential and Administrative Communications
Somer Gomez
Administrative Assistant
Wayne Hall
Information Technology Manager
Jean Jenes
Associate Chief of Staff
Emily Lewis
Executive Assistant to the President
Mark Luebker
Senior Content Developer and Editor
Nik Olsen
Assistant Chief of Staff for Communications and Outreach
Scott Shrake
Assistant Vice President for Strategy
Jenelle Beavers
Vice President for Strategy
Jenelle Beavers serves as Vice President for Strategy at Colorado State University. In this role, she works with the Executive Leadership Team to formulate, refine, and deploy strategies for successful and timely implementation of the President’s strategic priorities and policies. She supports the President in the development of internal and external strategic visions; determines structure of, and manages, federal, state, county, city, corporate and association partnerships; and oversees all Presidential Advisory Councils, Task Forces and Working Groups.
She earned her J.D. and M.P.H. from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and her B.A. from the University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou). She came to Colorado State after serving as Counsel at the University of Missouri System. Before joining the University of Missouri System, she was the Associate Director of the University of Missouri Honors College, a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, and a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice where she received a Special Commendation for Outstanding Service from the Assistant Attorney General of the United States.
Jim Bradeen, Associate Vice President for Spur Strategy (he/him)
Dr. Jim Bradeen serves as associate vice president for CSU Spur strategy, facilitating Fort Collins campus activities as CSU’s local senior leader at Spur and working closely with CSU Spur campus leadership and stakeholders across the larger Denver-Metro community. He is responsible for operations and communications for CSU Fort Collins at the CSU Spur campus, serving as a liaison for Spur-based activities for all eight CSU colleges, as well as the Office of the Vice President for Research, Office of Engagement and Extension, and other divisions and units. Dr. Bradeen is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Biology in the College of Agricultural Sciences at CSU.
Dr. Bradeen came to CSU from the University of Minnesota, where he’s served as a professor and head of the Department of Plant Pathology for nearly nine years. He was the founder and co-director of the Stakman-Borlaug Center, part of the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.
Ann Claycomb
Chief of Staff and Director for Presidential and Administrative Communications
Ann Claycomb is Chief of Staff for President Joyce McConnell and Director for Presidential and Administrative Communications in the Office of the President at CSU.
In this role, she oversees strategic implementation of presidential initiatives and communicating President McConnell’s vision and the initiatives of the President’s office to the campus and wider university community. She previously served five years in this same dual role in the Office of the Provost at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. Claycomb earned her BA in English literature and psychology from Wellesley College, her MA in English literature from the University of Maryland, and her MFA in fiction writing from WVU. Her first novel, The Mermaid’s Daughter, was published by the William Morrow imprint of Harper Collins in 2017.
Somer Gomez
Administrative Assistant
Somer Gomez is the receptionist for the Office of the President. She provides administrative support for the office staff as well as assistance to internal and external constituents of the University. Somer is an alumna of the University.
Wayne Hall
Information Technology Manager
Wayne Hall manages the IT needs of the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and CSU System offices. He has served in CSU several roles, most recently with Academic Computing and Networking Services (ACNS) where he partnered with the Linux System Admin group and the Middleware group. Wayne is an alumnus of CSU, earning his Master’s degree from the College of Business and three graduate certificates (Project Management, CIS, and Business Intelligence).
Wayne is also serves as Vice Chair of the Classified Personnel Council, an elected position.
Jean Jenes
Associate Chief of Staff
Jean Jenes serves as Associate Chief of Staff for the Office of the President. She has been a member of the President’s Office staff since 1994 and currently manages office staff and operations. She is responsible for oversight of budgets, human resources, and office and division projects.
Emily Lewis
Executive Assistant to the President
Emily Lewis serves as the Executive Assistant to the President. Prior to joining the President’s Office, Emily held various roles within the Office of the Provost at West Virginia University. She has experience with project coordination, executive-level support, and accreditation.
Mark Luebker
Senior Content Developer and Editor
Mark Luebker got his start drawing rock ‘n’ roll posters and other advertising for nightclubs in the Twin Cities, where he ran his own studio, then worked as an art director for a direct marketing firm. He joined the Foreign Service in the late 1980s to do “public diplomacy” and learned to sling words as well as ink. After leaving government, he ran his own communications consulting business, then found his way to academia. At three land-grant universities (and one that wanted to be), his portfolio has included strategic communications, speechwriting, media relations, website management, publication design, public relations, marketing, and institutional advocacy.
Nik Olsen
Assistant Chief of Staff for Communications and Outreach (he/him)
Nik Olsen is the Assistant Chief of Staff for Communications and Outreach. He provides direct writing and editorial support for Administrative Communications, manages various communications initiatives for the administration, provides social media advisement, and handles constituent issues brought to the Office of the President. Nik is an alumnus of the University.
Scott Shrake
Assistant Vice President for Strategy
Dr. Scott Shrake serves as Assistant Vice President for Strategy and is responsible for assisting the President’s strategy officer to ensure the successful and timely implementation of Colorado State’s Courageous Strategic Transformation plan, including assessment, annual recalibration, and reporting. Additionally, Scott serves as the Executive Director for the Institute for Entrepreneurship in the College of Business at Colorado State University. As the Director of the Institute, he promotes entrepreneurship, innovation, product development, and commercialization for students, faculty, and community members.
Scott is also an affiliate faculty for the Richardson Design Center, teaching both the introductory and capstone courses in Design Thinking. Previous to Colorado State, Scott served as an engineering faculty member and the Executive Director of Entrepreneurial Advancement at Arizona State University, and co-founded and served as COO of Vicinity Health Inc. Scott received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh’s Sustainability and Green Design Group.
