Two longtime employees of the Colorado State University System have been promoted to top leadership positions. The CSU Board of Governors recently tapped Susy Serrano to head up the Office of Internal Audit starting in July, and Jason Johnson now oversees the system’s legal team as General Counsel. Both Serrano and Johnson will lead offices that work directly with the system’s three campuses: CSU, CSU Pueblo and the online CSU Global.
Serrano to lead Internal Audit
As CSU’s incoming Director of Internal Audit, Serrano will lead independent and objective appraisals of operations, risk management, governance and internal controls – such as policies and procedures – across the CSU System and its three institutions. Her appointment to the director position begins July 1, 2017.
The team of auditors also provides consulting to the institutions to help improve internal controls and operations, safeguard CSU’s assets, provide solutions to protect the institutions by minimizing risk, and to ensure that the institutions use their resources efficiently and economically.
Serrano, who joined the CSU System as an auditor in 2008, currently serves as the system’s principal auditor. Before she joined CSU, Serrano worked in the federal service for nine years, as an auditor and a budget analyst with the Office of Inspector General. In July, Serrano will step into the role Director of Internal Audit position currently held by Allison Horn, who is retiring after 17 years with CSU.
Serrano earned her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from CSU with an accounting concentration in 1999 and her CPA certification in 2000. She is also a Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Fraud Examiner.
Johnson steps into top legal role as General Counsel
Colorado State University’s longtime Deputy General Counsel Jason Johnson is now the General Counsel for the CSU System and its three institutions. The Board of Governors appointed Johnson to the system’s top legal position Jan. 1, upon the retirement of General Counsel Mike Nosler. Nosler spent 10 years as General Counsel for the CSU System before his retirement in December.
In his role as General Counsel, Johnson serves to protect the legal interests of the CSU System and the Board of Governors, and oversees the Office of the General Counsel, which provides legal services to the System and to each of its institutions. Johnson is also Special Assistant Attorney General to the State of Colorado.
Before joining CSU’s Office of the General Counsel in 2008, Johnson practiced commercial litigation, real estate law, and corporate law in Denver. Johnson earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Denver in 1999.
About the CSU System
The Board of Governors of the CSU System has nine voting members, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate, and six non-voting members who are faculty and student representatives from CSU, CSU Pueblo and the CSU Global. The board provides oversight to ensure effective management, accountability, and leadership at all the CSU System universities – Fort Collins, Pueblo, and the online Global Campus.
