Colette serves as the Senior Vice President for Operations and State Government Relations, overseeing the functions of the Office of the Architect, Business Services, Facilities Management, State Government Relations, and the University Building Official.

Colette began her career at UVA as a Budget Analyst in 1982. In 1986 she became the Assistant to the Director of the Budget, and in 1988 was named the Director of the Budget. She served as the Associate Vice President and Director of the Budget between 1991 and 1993, and as Vice President for Management and Budget from 1993 until 2015.

A native of Freehold, New Jersey, Colette earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Bucknell University and a Master's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in finance from Rutgers University Graduate School of Management.

She served on the Virginia Association of Management Analysis and Planning Executive Committee between 1990 and 1993; is an active member of Virginia's Council of State Senior Business Officers, serving as Vice President in 1998-1999 and as President from 1999-2000 and from 2013 until 2016; and is a member of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and of the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP).

Colette has been active in community affairs, serving as a volunteer for the United Way and a board member for the Leadership Charlottesville Alumni Association and the First Presbyterian Church. She served on the board of the Virginia Discovery Museum between 2001 and 2007, on the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development Board of Directors from 2005 to 2018, on the Virginia Retirement System Board of Trustees from 2009 until 2014, and the UVA School of Architecture Foundation Board of Trustees from 2015 to 2017. She is a former chair and current member of the Emily Couric Leadership Forum Board, and currently serves as a member of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

In 2021, Colette received the University of Virginia Thomas Jefferson Award for Excellence in Service, the highest honor given to members of the UVA staff. A member of Alpha Chi Omega, she served as the Chapter Advisor for the Zeta Lambda Chapter at UVA from 1997 until 2003, and the national sorority presented her with the Award of Achievement in 1998. In 1995, Colette was presented the Woman of Achievement Award from the University of Virginia Women Faculty and Professional Association. In 2000, she received the UVA Greek Outstanding Faculty Member Award.

Colette served as one of the chief architects and negotiators of the Higher Education Restructuring and Administrative Operations Act passed by the General Assembly of Virginia in 2005 - a law that created a new relationship between the Commonwealth and its public institutions of higher education.