Johnathan M. Holifield

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Term: 2022-2027
Residence: Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Johnathan M. Holifield to the Kent State University Board of Trustees. He will serve through May 16, 2027.

Trustee Holifield is senior vice president for new economies at Bitwise Industries, leading the venture-backed, tech training company’s expansion into underestimated cities across the U.S. He is a senior executive with 20 plus years of diverse local and federal government and private sector experience and expertise in strategy formation and execution, effectively translating concepts into presidential policy, federal law, and organizational and local development plans.

Trustee Holifield served as executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). A Non-career Senior Executive Service appointee, he directly advised the President, Secretary of Education and Executive Office of the President, leading a presidential interagency policy coordinating committee and chairing a federal interagency group of 34 agencies. Trustee Holifield helped deliver the largest ever federal HBCU investment of $2.5 billion, enshrined decades of presidential executive orders into new federal legislation, and produced the first, government-wide competitiveness strategy.

In addition to achieving landmark government and education reforms, Trustee Holifield also led formation of a $40-million venture capital fund, enabling $250-million network of early-stage risk capital, and designed community benefits for $1.4 billion of development projects. He co-founded ScaleUp Partners LLC, an economic competitiveness consultancy, and authored the groundbreaking book, The Future Economy and Inclusive Competitiveness, a seminal treatise for the first-time linking inclusion and American competitiveness.

A national competitiveness leader, the Ohio governor appointed Trustee Holifield to the Midwest Governors’ Association Investments for the Knowledge-based Economy Project, where he co-chaired the Increasing  Research Capacity team, and to the Ohio House and Senate Joint Commission on High-Tech Business, resulting in $1.6-billion state investment.

Earlier in his career, Trustee Holifield was vice president of inclusive competitiveness at NorTech, founding executive director of CincyTech, vice president of new economy enterprise at the Cincinnati USA Chamber, chief executive of the Cleveland Urban League and a member of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.

He has served on several federal, national, and local governing and advisory boards, including President’s Board of Advisors, Northeast Ohio Economic Policy Advisors, Federal HBCU Capital Financing Program, The University of Oklahoma's Economic Development Institute, Cincinnati NAACP, and The Greater Cincinnati Foundation.

Trustee Holifield holds a bachelor's degree in political science from West Virginia University, going from football walk-on to elected team captain and earning All-East honors, as well as a master's in education and law degrees from the University of Cincinnati.