David Troutman

David Troutman, Ph.D. serves as the Deputy Commissioner for Academic and Workforce Initiatives at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), where he provides executive leadership for six divisions: Academic and Health Affairs, Workforce Education, College and Career Advising, Student Success, Digital Learning, and Data Management and Research. In this capacity, Dr. Troutman leads statewide efforts to strengthen alignment between postsecondary education and workforce needs, enhance student outcomes, and modernize the state’s higher education data infrastructure to support policy development and decision-making.

Troutman serves as the executive lead for the Texas Tri-Agency Data Team, advancing coordination across the state’s K–12, postsecondary, and workforce sectors to facilitate data sharing and inform longitudinal research. He is currently spearheading several major statewide initiatives, including the development and ongoing refinement of the Credential of Value methodology — which measures the return on investment of postsecondary credentials through earnings outcomes, workforce demand, and advancement opportunities — that underpins Texas’ new Community College Outcomes-Based Funding model, as well as the comprehensive review and modernization of the state’s general education requirements for public higher education.

At the national level, Troutman is the founder and chair of the Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) Coalition, a multi-state partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau that integrates education and workforce data to measure the economic outcomes of postsecondary credentials and inform policy and practice across the country.