Dr. Kent W. Colton is a 1967 graduate of Utah State University. He earned his master’s degree from Syracuse University and his PhD from MIT. He is currently senior scholar in housing studies at Harvard, where he is also the Jacob Wertheim Research Fellow for the Betterment of Industrial Relations at the Joint Center for Housing Studies. He has more than 30 years of experience as a housing scholar and expert in the field of mortgage finance and housing policy. He is a member of the Millennial Housing Commission established by Congress.
He has served for 15 years as CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, responsible for a staff of more than 330 and overseeing an annual budget of $55 million.
Dr. Colton is president of K Colton, LLC, and is engaged in a range of housing-related consulting and entrepreneurial activities. He has written numerous articles and books on housing finance, the secondary mortgage market, housing policy, and a range of management issues. He is now completing a book entitled Achieving Common Ground: Housing in the 21st Century.
Brother Colton was a professor of public management and finance at BYU before being appointed staff director of the President’s Commission on Housing in 1981. He also accepted a position in 1982 as an executive vice president of Freddie Mac. Currently president of the McLean Virginia Stake, he and his wife, Kathryn, have five children.
