Rick O'Donnell, who ran unsuccessfully as a GOP candidate for Congress from Colorado, is packing his bags for Austin, Texas, to become president of the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence [1]

"It is a great opportunity to marry two of my passions - higher education reform and how to do things better in our colleges and universities..." O'Donnell writes in an e-mail.

A Colorado native, O'Donnell said he is trying to sell his house here, but plans to buy a condo with his brother in Steamboat.

O'Donnell was a top policy adviser to former Gov. Bill Owens. O'Donnell lost in the 2002 GOP primary for the 7th Congressional District to Bob Beauprez, who went on to win the seat. Owens appointed O'Donnell in 2004 to be executive director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.

In 2006, with Beauprez running for governor, O'Donnell won the GOP nomination for his congressional seat, but lost in the general election to Democrat Ed Perlmutter.