Ross Gittell is the chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire. Prior to his appointment, he was the James R.Carter Professor at the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

Ross is the author of two books, Renewing Cities (Princeton University Press, 1993) and Community Organizing: Building Social Capital as a Development Strategy (with Avis Vidal, Sage Publications, 1998).  He is also the author of “Making Social Capital Work: Social Capital and Community Economic Development,” (with Phil Thompson) in Susan Saegert, Phil Thompson, and Mark Warren (eds.) Social Capital and Poor Communities (New York: Russell Sage Foundation Press, 2002) and  “Business Development and Entrepreneurship in the Inner City,” (with Phil Thompson) in William Dickens and Ronald Ferguson (eds.), Research Frontiers in Community Development (Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute, 1998). He has published in academic journals in a variety of disciplines, including the New England Economic Review, Economic Development Quarterly, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Regional Studies, National Civic Review, and Journal of Entrepreneurial and Small Business Finance.  He is the recipient in 2004 of the Outstanding Associate Professor Award and the 2002 Excellence in Public Service Award at UNH.  He is vice president and a board member of the New England Economic Project and is also on the board of the Children’s Alliance of NH and the Exeter Trust Company.

Ross received a doctorate degree from Harvard University, a master of business administration degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago.