News: Five Community Leaders Join Board of Trustees

CCU Board of Trustees Announces Five New Members

Five prominent business and community leaders have been appointed to the Colorado Christian University Board of Trustees. Jeffrey H. Coors, Dr. Biff Gore, Sen. D. Michael Kopp, John Pittman, and Robert E. Warren Jr. bring decades of combined experience and expertise to the board in ministry, higher education, business, law, and medicine.

“These new members of the Board of Trustees bring invaluable knowledge, experience, and perspective to Colorado Christian University as we seek to build and grow our academic community of committed Christian believers rooted in a profound respect for higher learning, framed within the Christian worldview,” said Tim McTavish, chairman of the board. “The unprecedented global pandemic has made it more important than ever before to have a wide breadth of knowledge and experience to draw upon when setting the course for the University.”

Coors, Gore, Kopp, Pittman, and Warren join 18 fellow Trustees in advancing the institutional Mission and Strategic Priorities. CCU's Board of Trustees meet at least three times each year. The Board of Trustees exercises ultimate authority of the University and within the board, working committees and sub-committees oversee vital areas of University governance.

“I'm pleased to welcome our new trustees, whose range of professional experience, extensive expertise in their respective fields, and wealth of service to the cause of Christ will bring new voices to the Board as CCU continues to strive to be a leader in Christian higher education in America,” said Dr. Donald W. Sweeting, CCU president.

The new Trustees joined their fellow board members Oct. 15 and 16 for the board’s annual fall meetings, which were held remotely in light of the global pandemic.

  • Jeffrey H. Coors is vice chairman of Fiskeby Holdings US LLC, which operates a recycle paperboard mill in Norrköping, Sweden. He has served as executive chairman, executive vice chairman, chairman, president, and CEO of Graphic Packaging Corporation, and enjoyed a 25-year career with Adolph Coors Company which encompassed a broad range of management responsibilities, including board member and president. Coors currently serves on the boards of Fiskeby, CoorsTek LLC, RW Beckett Corporation, Mercy Ships, Hillsdale College, Independence Institute, Intercessors for America, and Adolph Coors Foundation. As a Christian called to serve God in the sphere of business, Coors seeks to hear God’s voice and obediently follow Him. Leadership through godly values has been his heart’s cry.
  • Dr. Biff Gore is the associate pastor of worship and congregational care at Highline Community Church in Centennial, Colorado, and also serves as president of Colorado Right to Life. Dr. Gore has a Ph.D. in public health and has worked in the field of transplant for more than 20 years. Prior to his transplant career, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corp as a surgical technologist in Nuremberg, Germany, and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Washington, D.C. Dr. Gore was later trained as a surgical physician’s assistant.
  • Senator D. Michael Kopp is the president and CEO of Colorado Concern, the state’s most influential multi-industry business advocacy organization. Kopp’s career began as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Kopp was later elected to the Colorado State Senate, where he served as caucus chairman and minority leader. He later ran for governor in 2014. Currently, Kopp sits on board for Face it TOGETHER, The Barton Institute of Philanthropy and Social Enterprise at the University of Denver, the Regional Economic Modeling, Inc., Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development, Executives Partnering in Childhood education, Griffiths Centers for Children and is an usher and communion server at St. Frances Cabrini Church.
  • John Pittman serves as the president of Fransen Pittman General Contractors, a firm he co-founded in 1994. Pittman holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Colorado State University and a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Oklahoma. Raised in the home of Baptist deacon and Sunday school teachers, Pittman’s faith has always been with him and an important part of his life.
  • Robert E. Warren Jr. was a partner for 25 years with the law firm of Gorsuch and Kirgis and thereafter with Pfeiffer and Warren concentrating on corporate litigation, sports law, and municipal law. He has been committed to the cause of higher education for many years as a previous trustee of Southern Methodist University, president of the SMU Alumni Association, and a former member of the board of The International Institute of Education and the Denver World Affairs Council. He has also served as a trustee of Trinity United Methodist Church for over 30 years, founded the Trinity Second Century Foundation, and for many years was a board member of Denver Urban Youth Ministries.