Kent W. Colton

Kent W. Colton
Kent W. Colton
Born	November 21, 1943
Nationality	American
Occupation	Senior research fellow in Housing Studies
Known for	President of The Colton Housing Group
Board member of	National Housing Endowment
Spouse(s)	Kathryn
Academic background
Education	Utah State University
Alma mater	Syracuse University
Thesis	(1973)
Academic work
Discipline	Housing Studies
Institutions	Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University
Notable works	Housing in the 21st Century: Achieving Common Ground

Kent W. Colton (born November 21, 1943) is a senior research fellow in Housing Studies at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University.[1] He is also the president of The Colton Housing Group, a housing research and consulting company engaged in a wide range of housing and housing-finance activities. Colton has more than 30 years of experience as a housing scholar and expert in the field of mortgage finance and housing policy. In describing Colton, former HUD Secretary, Henry Cisneros said "Over the decade of a distinguished career in the housing field—in academic research and housing advocacy, in designing public policy and supporting private sector production—Colton has developed helpful prescriptives concerning the substance and the pathways of housing policy. More importantly for our nation's future, he is able to look ahead and establish guideposts for prospective housing initiatives.[2]

Background

Kent Colton is a 1967 graduate of Utah State University. He received an M.P.A. from Syracuse University in 1968 and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies and Planning from MIT in 1973. In 1974, he was chosen as a White House Fellow and served as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury.[3][4] Colton has been both a professor and an experienced leader, and he is also an author who has focused on the topics of housing finance and policies.[4]

Career

Since 1999 Colton has been engaged in a range of consulting and entrepreneurial activities related to housing as president of K Colton, LLC and now The Colton Housing Group.

Colton is the former CEO and executive vice president of the National Association of Home Builders, a position he left in May 1999 after service as the CEO for 15 years. During his tenure as the chief executive officer, NAHB grew from 120,000 to a membership of 199,000 and implemented a wide range of new programs. Colton was responsible for managing a staff of more than 330 and overseeing an annual budget of $55 million. He was also responsible for dealing with numerous major business and policy challenges facing the housing industry.[5][6]

Colton moved to NAHB in April 1984 from Freddie Mac where he served as executive vice president of policy, planning and economic research from 1982 to 1984. During this period he was responsible for the corporations strategic and corporate planning, corporate product development and economic, housing finance and policy research.

In June 1981, Colton was appointed staff director of the President's Commission on Housing. Ten months later, the commission sent its 275-page report to then-President Ronald Reagan with more than 100 major policy recommendations on housing and the nation's housing finance system.[7]

Kent Colton served as a professor of public management and finance at Brigham Young University's Graduate School of Management from 1978 to 1981. He also served as an assistant and associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Urban Studies and Planning from 1972 to 1978, and as an associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of MIT and Harvard University during much of this period.

He was also a member of the Millennial Housing Commission which was established by the US Congress and reported to Congress on May 30, 2002.[8]

Chairs/Boards

Kent Colton served as chairman of the Center for Housing Policy, National Housing Conference, Washington, DC. He also served on the board of Southern Virginia University, and as the chairman and member of the board of the National Building Museum.

Colton currently serves on the board of the National Housing Endowment,[9] and as a member of the National Advisory Council of the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.[4]

He was a member of the Board of Apple REIT, a public company, and Apple REIT Seven, Apple REIT Eight, and Apple REIT Ten (private Real Estate Investment Trusts headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.) He was also a member of the Board of Kimball Hill Homes.

Published works

Colton, Kent W. (2003). "Housing in the 21st Century: Achieving Common Ground". Harvard University Wertheim Publications Committee. Retrieved June 27, 2012. ISBN 0674010930
Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better: Lessons from the Harvard Home Builders Study (Dec 9, 2011). Lexington Books, Co-authored with Frederick Abernathy, Kermit Baker, ad David Weil.
Our Communities, Our Homes: Pathways to Housing and Homeownership in America’s Cities and States (Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, 2007). Co-authored with Henry G. Cisneros, Jack F. Kemp, and Nicolas P. Retsinas.
Opportunity and Progress: A Bipartisan Platform for National Housing Policy (Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, October, 2004). Co-authored with Henry G. Cisneros, Jack F. Kemp, and Nicolas P. Retsinas.
Colton, Kent W. (2002). "Housing finance in the United States: the transformation of the U.S. housing finance system". Marriott School, Brigham Young University. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
Computers and Banking, Electronic Funds Transfer Systems and Public Policy (Plenum Press, 1980). Edited by Kent W. Colton and Kenneth L. Kraemer.
Police Computer Technology (Lexington Books, 1978).
Housing finance in the United States: The transformation of the U.S. housing finance system (Working paper series/Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University, 2002).

Source:[10]

Colton has also written numerous articles on housing finance, the secondary mortgage market, housing policy, and a range of management issues.

Volunteer service

Colton served with his wife Kathryn as the president of the Washington DC Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2014 to 2018. He also served a three-year assignment as president of the Florida Tampa Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (2007–10).[11]

gollark: How immutable is it? Can you mutate items in it, thus creating apiohazardous conditions?

gollark: I can only be amazed by things with an amazingness quotient above or equal to 0.33338.

gollark: Depends what.

gollark: This is, of course, wrong.

gollark: That sounds plausible.

References

Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/search/content/kent%20w.%20colton%5B%5D
{Henry Cisneros, Introduction to Colton, Kent W. (2003). "Housing in the 21st Century: Achieving Common Ground". Harvard University Wertheim Publications Committee. Retrieved June 27, 2012. ISBN 0674010930}
Colton Bio from BYU Marriott School Advisory Board http://marriottschool.byu.edu/advisoryboard/detail.cfm?mem=1192&group=4&pid=3796
"Kent W. Colton Biography". Brigham Young University Marriott School. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
(Associated Press) (May 7, 1994). "Rising Loan Rates Threatens Jobs: Builders". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 27, 2012. (subscription required)
"Rate Volatility Deemed Likely for Long Term". The Sacramento Bee. May 10, 1987. Retrieved June 27, 2012. (subscription required)
Millennial Housing Commission Commissioners http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/mhc/commish.html#colton
Report of the Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission, May 30, 2002 http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/mhc/MHCReport.pdf
National Housing Endowment Board of Trustees http://www.nationalhousingendowment.org/generic.aspx?sectionID=1721&channelID=1407
Kent W. Colton Publications at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=kent+w.+colton
"Mission president assignments for 2010", Church News, February 13, 2010.