Brad Golson never planned to leave Louisiana. He was as Louisiana-proud as they come.
The through-and-through Baton Rouge native has deep roots in his home state that likely had many suspecting he would go on to run for political office. Not only was he the 2004-05 president of LSU's Student Government Association, he was also president of his high school student body at Catholic High in Baton Rouge and president of the statewide association of high school student councils, the Louisiana Association of Student Councils.
The winds of Katrina played a role in sending Golson beyond the bayou.
He needed one more semester to complete his undergrad degree after he finished his term as student government president in May 2005. When Hurricane Katrina hit just as his last semester was beginning, he got involved in the recovery effort at LSU.
"It was unprecedented — and that really changed the trajectory of how I looked at my career," Golson said from his office in Denver, where he works as a partner in Censeo Consulting Group, which specializes in working to make government operations more efficient to save taxpayers money.
Brad Golson, 2004-2005 president of LSU's Student Government Association.
He arrived in Denver by way of New York City after spending 14 years in Washington, D.C. — where he landed after graduating from LSU. In the nation's capital, he worked for the Department of Homeland Security and the Center for Presidential Transition, which prepared the Clinton and Trump teams for whoever was going to be elected in 2016. After the 2016 election, he worked in government for an additional year.
"I wanted to step away from D.C. and just catch my breath," he said. "So I moved to Manhattan and worked in the fitness industry for about a year — which was a lot of fun and just a break from the churn of Washington."
From there, he reconnected with contacts from his days in D.C. and accepted a position with Censeo, continuing to build on his career working for the federal government.
"Those were such formative years working at the headquarters of Homeland Security and stepping outside of the world that I had lived in — to just gain a broader perspective of our country and then, and our government holistically," Golson said. "It was very eye-opening for me."
During the remote work of COVID, Golson saw an opportunity to change his environment. He is an avid runner and loves the outdoors. He considered his options, trying to find a place that would best complement the lifestyle he was seeking.
"I had never lived out West. So I decided to try life in Denver," he said.
Golson uses Baton Rouge references to describe where he lives in Denver.
"Running through the middle of Denver is the Platte River, where the REI is, and the Bronco's Stadium, the Rockies' Stadium, I live on the other side of that, kind of the Port Allen, if you will. It's still technically Denver — just cause there's a river there and there's a bridge, it's still Denver."
Golson says he never would have thought he would be living in the mountains in Denver, Colorado, and being a partner at a consulting firm.
"I thought I'd still be in Baton Rouge," he said. "It's truly a testament of, 'You never know where life's going to take you.' Once I got over the fear of the unknown, it's amazing what opportunities present themselves."
At Catholic High, he was a runner on the cross country team. He has since run marathons and three Ironman triathlons.
"I'm loving this opportunity to experience life and other places, but my family, my best friends, my god kids, are all in Baton Rouge and in Louisiana," he said. "It will always be home at some, at some level."
What is an unexpected way being elected as SGA president helped Golson later in life?
The value of listening. When I was an undergrad at LSU, I had my group of friends. I had an amazing Greek experience being in a fraternity. But being in student government, you got to talk to people from all corners of the campus — and the value of listening to people and their perspectives, because in a school like LSU, it was a lot of different experiences.
Not everyone's experience at LSU is the same. I definitely didn't value or understand that until I was very active, if not president of the student body, which forces you to be faced with different perspectives, different experiences. Of the 30,000-ish students that were enrolled when I was there, everyone didn't grow up with the opportunity to live off campus or have their own place or have a car to travel to and from campus. Looking back, I applaud those students who had the courage to speak up and say, 'I know this is something being discussed, and I just want to share my perspective on it.'
And that's something that ultimately leads to being exposed to different opinions. Moving to D.C., I still didn't fully embrace that. In my experience, the first few years living in D.C. were very eye opening because I wasn't in the South anymore. I was meeting people from all over the world and everything from my attire to my slang, to the food I ate was not like the majority of other people. That was probably the first time in my life that I was not in the majority. Everyone wasn't like me. Being in government and serving in a leadership role introduced that to me — and so it made moving to D.C. not as much as a culture shock, but it was still a culture shock.
What accomplishment are you most proud of from your tenure as president?
When I was a student body president, I had the opportunity to be on the LSU Board of Supervisors and to sit at the table with very accomplished professionals who had the responsibility to influence the Louisiana system in such a manner that was very intimidating. I'm very proud of several of my contributions at the system level of representing the student voice at that table.
I had never been in an environment with individuals who are so accomplished in their career. I'm put at the same table with them to make such big decisions — whether it was talking about the price of football tickets for students, to starting an academic program or curriculum at LSUE and LSUA — to be at the table and have frank conversations that impacted decisions that the board made about campuses and students lives.
That would probably be where I learned a tremendous amount, but I also feel I had some impact.
Did it give you some little insight into adulthood — that adults don't always know the answer?
It gave me the insight to a lot, and that is one of the things. Also, how decisions are made in that level and that type of environment and how, and the importance of, having tough conversations. You know, it was intimidating to go to these meetings with very accomplished individuals who are CEO of this, founder of that, very wealthy individuals, and say, "I disagree with you."
I'm 21 and a kid from Baton Rouge who has never left. It was a very enlightening experience. Because yes, you think a lot of people at that level do have all the answers. It definitely took some understanding and mentors, frankly, from all aspects of my life, pushing me and saying, "You should call them and say, 'Can we have coffee?' or 'Can I meet you at your office?'"
And those are life lessons that have stuck with me: how to truly make an impact and to actually work through a tough issue is by sitting down and having hard conversations. I learned that through my experience on the board and through those conversations. I think, while not known by most people, I feel I made my greatest impact on LSU and the LSU system by that year, having those hard conversations.
