Brandon Protas serves as a Strategy Director with Complete College America. He has spent his career working in public education with particular focus on developing educational opportunities for students historically underserved in higher education.

Prior to joining Complete College America, Brandon worked for nine years as the Director of College Pathways at Community College of Denver (CCD). There he oversaw a dedicated staff that more than doubled the size of the concurrent enrollment program helping to address gaps in the academic pipeline that exist for students of color and first generation students. During his time at the college, Brandon led multiple college-wide initiatives, including leading CCD to become the first college or university in the state to be accredited through the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP). He also served on both the NACEP and Colorado concurrent enrollment advisory boards.

Earlier in his career, Brandon worked for more than a decade in the Sunnyside Unified School District (SUSD) in Tucson, Arizona. His experience in K-12 education includes social work and counseling services, community building and college readiness programming. For his doctoral dissertation, he conducted a program analysis of the SUSD AVID program which is designed to prepare students for college success.

Brandon earned a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Brown University, a Master of Social Work from Arizona Sate University, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University.

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