Dr. Gabriel
Mast

Prior to joining ATD, Dr. Mast served as vice president for planning and institutional effectiveness at Skagit Valley College, where he established the college’s first institutional effectiveness office and helped build a culture of data to improve student outcomes. Over more than two decades in higher education, he has advanced student success through evidence-based strategy, organizational change, and continuous improvement. 

A teacher, researcher, and leader, Dr. Mast has extensive expertise in organizational change management, strategic planning, guided pathways, enrollment strategy, developmental education redesign, instructional design, and institution-wide program review. 

He began his career teaching English at the Universidad del Quindío in Armenia, Colombia. A recognized leader in community college institutional effectiveness, he has served as a peer evaluator for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, a peer reviewer for the National Science Foundation, and a lead administrator and co-principal investigator on multiple student success grants. 

His dissertation on organizational factors influencing student success across Washington’s community and technical college system received the Washington Education Research Association Outstanding Dissertation of the Year award. He is a 2025–2026 Aspen Institute Rising Presidents Fellow. 

Dr. Mast earned degrees from Dickinson College, Brown University, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the University of Washington.