Presidents on the move
Lisa Avery will be the seventh president of Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon, beginning July 1. She is currently campus president of Sylvania Campus at Portland Community College (PCC) in Oregon, a position she has held since 2015. Prior to PCC, Avery was vice provost for strategic partnerships at Community Colleges of Spokane in Washington and a professor at Eastern Washington University. Avery serves on the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) board of directors. She chairs AACC’s Commission on Public Policy, Advocacy and Advancement, and is a member of the AACC Public Policy and Government Relations Committee. Avery also served as a member of the inaugural AACC Commission on Structured Pathways. In addition, Avery is a member of the College Board’s Community College Advisory Panel and the Healthy Campus Advisory Council.
Karin Edwards is the next president of Clark College in Washington. She is currently campus president of Portland Community College’s Cascade Campus, a position she has held since 2014. In that role, her responsibilities include supervising the advanced manufacturing programs at PCC’s Swan Island Trades Center, a 20,000-square-foot facility housing the college’s apprenticeship and trades department, as well as PCC’s Maritime Welding Training Center at Swan Island. Her community service includes serving on the board of directors of Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives and on the advisory board of the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs, as well as being an active member of the Partners in Diversity Leadership Council and the Oregon Presidents Council of the Oregon Community College Association.
New CEO
Brent Gregory will serve as the ninth president of East Central Community College (ECCC) in Decatur, Mississippi, effective July 1. Gregory, a 1996 graduate of ECCC, is currently vice president for student affairs at Southwest Mississippi Community College. He also served seven years as associate vice president for enrollment management at Mississippi Delta Community College. In addition, Gregory served as an economics instructor, Workforce Investment Act coordinator and director of student life at ECCC.
Interim president
Lou Anne Bynum is now interim superintendent-president of Long Beach City College (LBCC) in California. She is the college’s former executive vice president of college advancement and economic development. Bynum joined LBCC in 1997 as dean of economic development. After 20 years with the college, Bynum retired in 2017 and currently serves as secretary of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, which sets policy for the Port of Long Beach and manages the harbor department. Over her career, Bynum also was an executive board committee member of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and served on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Appointments
Jason Bocchino is the new veterans services coordinator at Cape Fear Community College in North Carolina. He served in the U.S. Navy for 25 years before retiring in 2018. In the Navy, Bocchino was a chief religious programs specialist.
Aaron Reader is now vice president of student services at Highline College in Washington. He is an alumnus of the college. Previously, Reader was dean of student success at Renton Technical College. Prior to that, he served at Bellevue College as director of multicultural services.
Alan Wallace is now chief information officer at Gadsden State Community College in Alabama. Wallace has spent his entire career in higher education, most recently as director of Enterprise Information Systems at Jacksonville State University in Alabama.
Kudos
Julie Penley, El Paso Community College‘s vice president of research, accreditation and planning, has been elected to the Texas Women in Higher Education (TWHE) board of directors. The TWHE is part of the American Council on Education Women’s Network representing Texas.
