Ryan West Elected Next Board of Directors President

DENVER – Ryan West, the principal of Englewood High School, has been elected to serve as the next president of the Colorado High School Activities Board of Directors, as announced Tuesday during the April meeting of CHSAA’s Legislative Council.

For the next two years, West will lead the Board, which represents member schools, leagues, districts and associations with the collective goal of fostering the health and development of high school activities in Colorado. West’s term is set to cover the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.

“Ryan brings a tremendous amount of educational leadership experience to the Board of Directors,” said Luke DeWolfe, the outgoing Board of Directors President and Athletic Director at Steamboat Springs High School. “Ryan is a servant leader who truly understands the positive impact educationally based athletics and activities can make in the lives of students across the state of Colorado. I can’t think of a better fit for the next CHSAA Board of Directors President than Ryan West.”

West brings more than 30 years of experience working in public education to the role, as he’s been a teacher, coach, assistant principal and principal. He’s currently in his 18th year as a school administrator and has served as the principal at Englewood High School since 2016.

“I am very excited to represent the Board of Directors in this role,” West said. “The CHSAA staff are doing amazing things right now, and it is my hope to be able to continue to support all of their efforts through the lens of doing what is best for all of the participants, coaches, sponsors and administrators that come together to create an amazing experience for students in the state of Colorado.”

A member of the CHSAA Board of Directors since 2019, West has also served on the Colorado Association of Secondary School Principals (CASSP/CASE) Board of Directors since 2016. In 2015, he was named the SHAPE Colorado Administrator of the Year.

“I think our immediate priorities moving forward are to continue our efforts to recruit and retain the best officials that we possibly can, to continue to emphasize sportsmanship across all sports and at all levels, and to continue to look at the classification process in a way that is fair and equitable to all of our member schools.”

In addition to his administrative work, West was an assistant varsity football coach for the Columbine High School team that won four State Championships between 1994-2006. He was recently inducted into the CHSAA Hall of Fame as a member of the 1999 football team.

West also has officiating experience, as he served as an NCAA Division I baseball umpire for the Mountain West Conference, a professional baseball umpire for Minor League Baseball at levels Rookie Ball through AAA, and as a varsity football and baseball official for CHSAA. He officiated the 8-man state championship football game between Caliche and Granada in 2014 and was an umpire for the 1995 state championship baseball game between Eaton and Salida.

A resident of Highlands Ranch, West is married and has four children, all of whom are actively involved in competitive sports.