Colleen Peterson

Colleen T. Peterson

Colleen Taylor was born in the rural upstate New York village of Central Square. Upon graduation from high school in 1969, she pursued a degree in Outdoor Education and graduated magna cum laude from SUNY Cortland in 1973. While a serious automobile accident derailed her plans to proceed with graduate studies, Colleen married her college sweetheart and launched an educational career as a Head Start teacher in Groton, New York. Her association with Head Start and Community Action Programs would migrate, along with the move of her young family, to Cumberland, Maryland where she worked as the grants-writer for the Human Resources Development Commission, under the strong influence of two key mentors, Jane Rees and Sue Straw Cerutti.

A divorce in 1981 prompted Peterson to seek employment opportunities which would provide the greatest security for her two young children and in 1985, she became the 2nd Director of Alumni Programs at Frostburg State University. Through the course of the next two decades, Colleen would advance several times in the University’s administrative structure, finally being appointed to the position of Vice President for University Advancement. She served in this role, gaining two additional mentors---Dr. Catherine Gira, President of Frostburg State University and Dr. Alice Manicur, Vice President for Student and Educational Services-- until her departure from Frostburg State University to launch a new career as the Executive Director of The Greater Cumberland Committee (TGCC), a post which she held until her retirement in September, 2011. In December, 2011, TGCC recognized Colleen Peterson as the recipient of their most coveted honor, The Greater Good Award. In 2010, Peterson was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women.

Colleen Peterson has been involved in a number of organizations in Allegany County, including the Allegany County Convention and Visitors Bureau (Board and President), Rotary Club of Cumberland (Board and President), Community Trust Foundation (Board and Secretary), Canal Place Authority (Board), Frostburg State University College of Business Advisory Board, Frostburg Girls’ Softball Association (Board and President), and the Allegany County Animal Shelter Management Foundation (Board and Fundraising Committee Chair). In addition, she enjoys regional and state-wide affiliations with Leadership Maryland (Program Committee), the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River (Maryland Commissioner), and the 32-county/4-state Power of 32 Implementation Committee. In 2015 Peterson was appointed to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Board of Directors.