Janet Holston is the Assistant Dean of Applied Research and Director of the Herberger Institute Research Center (HIRC) in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. She is responsible for identifying and developing new research initiatives, supporting sponsored research processes in the institute, and administration of the center's general operations. She also owns a consulting company and has worked with small businesses in grants consulting, writing, editing, and project management services.  

Holston has an urban planning degree from Virginia Tech and an MBA from ASU. A former director of the Bureau of Housing in South Bend, Indiana, she managed the federally funded housing programs for the city and has also worked for the Town of Gilbert Economic Development Department in the Community Development Block Grant program.

She served for several years on the board of directors of the National Association of Women Business Owners Phoenix Metro Chapter and the Women's Enterprise Foundation. Currently, she is a board member of CoreNet Global, Inc., and a member of the American Association of Grant Professionals, National Council of University Research Administrators, and the ASU W. P. Carey School of Business Alumni Council.

Married to an OU Sooner alumnus, Holston has two daughters and a son with college loyalties to the UNC-CH Tarheels, UofA Wildcats and ASU Sun Devils.