Biography
David A. Greene arrived at Colby on July 1, 2014, as the College’s 20th president. Since then, he has led the College through a period of transformational change defined by academic innovation, expanded access and affordability, and deepened community and statewide engagement.
Through major investments to grow and diversify the faculty, Colby has added new academic programs in areas such as data science, computational biology, genomics, and environmental humanities, while expanding many core disciplines, including the study of the environment, performance studies, and creative writing. In 2021, the College launched the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence—the first initiative of its kind at a liberal arts college. Colby has also dramatically enhanced its arts programs through a historic expansion of the Colby College Museum of Art’s collection; the establishment of the Lunder Institute for American Art; and the construction of the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, Greene Block + Studios, and the Paul J. Schupf Art Center.
To more deeply connect the curriculum to the world’s most pressing challenges—and to ensure all students have access to meaningful global, research, and internship experiences—the College created and endowed DavisConnects, the Linde Packman Lab for Biosciences Innovation, the Buck Lab for Climate and Environment, the Halloran Lab for Entrepreneurship, the Lyons Arts Lab, and most recently, the Public Policy Lab. Through a partnership with the Wyeth family, Colby established a 500-acre island campus off the coast of Maine with the acquisition of Allen and Benner islands.
Investments in the broader student experience have been similarly robust, including the construction of new residence halls and state-of-the-art athletics facilities, the development of a comprehensive civic engagement program, and the expansion of staffing and programs to ensure all students can thrive at Colby.
These initiatives, along with a financial aid program that is among the most generous in the country for low- and middle-income families, have made Colby one of the most sought-after liberal arts colleges. In 2025, the College received over 20,000 applications for admission, up from approximately 5,000 in 2014. Colby has reached unprecedented highs on every measure of student preparedness and academic achievement.
Colby’s commitment to the community, especially to its home city of Waterville, has become a national model for partnership and reinvestment. To date, the College has invested over $85 million in downtown projects, catalyzing more than $160 million in additional public, private, and philanthropic investment. Colby’s projects include two art centers, the Lockwood Hotel, the Kirk & Greg Powell Building, the Bill & Joan Alfond Main Street Commons, and a wide-ranging streetscape and infrastructure improvement program.
Much of this progress has been made possible by Dare Northward, Colby’s $750-million campaign—the largest ever announced by a liberal arts college when launched in 2017. In November 2023, the College announced it had reached its campaign goal and would close the campaign in 2027 with a goal of $1 billion.
Before arriving at Colby, Greene was executive vice president of the University of Chicago and, prior to that, served in senior leadership roles at Brown University and Smith College. He serves on the boards of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, and the German Marshall Fund. He is a member of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness and the American Talent Initiative. He previously served on the World Economic Forum Knowledge Advisory Board, the City of Chicago Science Board of Advisors, the Arthur M. Brazier Foundation Board of Directors, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Board of Directors, the Harvard University Alumni Board of Directors, and was president of the University of Chicago’s China and India Corporations. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from Hamilton College and a master’s degree in human development and psychology from Harvard University before earning a second master’s and a doctoral degree in education and social policy at Harvard, where he chaired the editorial board of the Harvard Educational Review.