Nicole Lovato

Nicole Lovato is fueled by her vision to create life-changing education opportunities that promote leadership roles and produce diverse representation across all sectors. Over the span of her career, she has developed leadership programs in business management, marketing, execution and contingency planning for various education programs in the financial, nonprofit and education sectors.

Nicole is a proud Colorado native born in Pueblo, Colorado, and her lineage extends to 17th century Mexico. Nicole’s path to higher education has been anything but linear. As a proud first generation, female student, she put herself through school by working in banking, quickly climbing the ranks from teller to senior underwriting and management. After earning her bachelor’s degree at the University of Colorado Denver, she also worked at Denver’s KUVO Jazz Radio as an on-air personality, DJ and co-host, playing/preserving historical music of the southwest and connecting with the community on the “Canción Mexicana” program. Through that newfound passion, she conducted her Master’s of Public Administration and nonprofit management research on the critical role that public radio serves to migrant communities across the U.S. She was invited to present her findings as an expert panelist at the 2011 Latino Public Radio Consortium National Summit—National Federation of Community Broadcasters conference.

Her combined interests and acumen in marketing, finance, and community outreach led to a career pivot into nonprofit leadership serving in marketing, development and program management roles for various organizations serving thousands of educators and youth in Colorado, including financial education, youth suicide prevention and training teachers in economics. Those work experiences set her on a career trajectory to district leadership roles with Denver Public Schools and Denver Schools of Science and Technology, where she strategized and integrated career pathway studies for students, 6th grade through postgraduate, including internship and apprentice opportunities with various organizations and higher ed scholarships. Following these roles and completing the University of Denver Latino Leadership Institute Fellowship program, she was invited to lead the LLI Fellowship program as director and worked closely with many DU staff and faculty members from various colleges. Nicole not only leads professionals to business leadership success but is also a proven entrepreneur in her own right, as the owner and manager of a residential real estate business.

Expertise

Workforce talent initiatives
• Partnership development
• Nonprofit management
• Communication
• Entrepreneurism
• Residential real estate and real estate investment
• Career readiness and economics
• Personal finance
• Student population trends
• Educational equity
• Community advocacy
• Youth suicide prevention

Education

• Master’s degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management, University of Colorado Denver
• Leadership Fellowship, Latino Leadership Institute, University of Denver
• MBA Business Essentials Program, Regis University, Denver
• Bachelor’s degree in Communication, Minor in Spanish, Cum Laude, University of Colorado Denver

Board Service

• Florence Crittenton Services
• Su Teatro
• Trendlines

Interests

• Spending time with her family & her two doodles
• Genealogy research & history of the southwest
• Travel