Don Venneberg is an Assistant Professor in the Organizational Performance and Change program at Colorado State University. His research and professional development interests are in workforce development, performance management and the leadership of change in organizations. His recent publications are in the areas of mentoring and the recruitment, development and retention of older workers. Don also holds a BA degree in Political Science from Colorado State University and Master's of Public Administration degrees from both the University of Colorado and the University of Southern California.
Don’s first career was with the federal government, and during the last 12 years of that career he was a member of the federal Senior Executive Service. His last position was as the Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the US General Services Administration (GSA), a multi-business line agency of 14,000 employees. As the Deputy CIO he led an organization of 120 professional and technical employees delivering internal computer support, data center services and local and wide-area networking for all GSA employees in the headquarters and 10 regions.
In this and prior executive and management positions, he successfully supervised, trained and developed people in technical and professional positions in both small teams and large organizations. During his career, he received the GSA Commendable Service Award and the federal Meritorious Executive Award.
Prior to his service with GSA, he spent two years as an instructor with the US Army Intelligence School teaching several intelligence subjects to senior enlisted and officer personnel. After completing his career with GSA, he worked for a company training supervisors and managers to work effectively with their team members to accomplish organizational objectives while offering a challenging supportive work environment.