Dr. Keith W. Bird was appointed chancellor of Kentucky’s technical colleges on February 12, 1999. He previously served as president of Central Carolina Technical College and New Hampshire Community Technical College at Claremont and Nashua. He also was Deputy Commissioner of the New Hampshire Technical College System.
Throughout his career, Dr. Bird has been actively involved in workforce development and higher education/business partnerships. He has played key roles on the national and regional levels in workforce development and industrial modernization projects and developed a manufacturing extension partnership center for the state of New Hampshire in 1995.

He has directed several model projects involving business and industry, including a major U.S. Department of Education grant integrating national skills standards into two-year college programs. In addition, he is a co-author of The Industrial Consortia Strategy: A Successful Cooperative Effort Involving Education and Business. He has worked with a variety of companies ranging from major defense companies (Electric Boat, Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, Avco Lycoming) to large and small manufacturers and businesses providing on-site programs, education and training services and apprenticeships.

Dr. Bird received his B.A. from Alma College and his M.A. and Ph.D from Duke University. In 1969-70, he studied as a Fulbright Scholar and Duke University Exchange Student at the Free University in Berlin, and as a fellow of the Military History Research Office in Freiburg, funded by the West German Government Academic Fellowship Program, in 1975.