The Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustees has formed a two-member ad hoc committee to oversee the search for a new superintendent-president for Long Beach City College (LBCC).

 

In mid-July, current Superintendent-President Eloy Ortiz Oakley was named chancellor of the entire California Community Colleges system. He begins his new duties on December 19.

In a Business Journal photograph from 2014, Long Beach City College President-Superintendent Eloy Ortiz Oakley is pictured with past presidents of the college district. He was recently named chancellor of the California Community College System. He starts his new post in December.

 

The board’s ad hoc committee consists of Board President and Area 5 Trustee Ginny Baxter and Board Vice President and Area 1 Trustee Jeff Kellogg. This month, they will review responses to a request for proposals they issued for a firm to conduct the search for Oakley’s replacement, according to Kellogg. “Those responses will be in later this month, and we, the ad hoc committee, will review those and make a recommendation to the board at our September 22 meeting for consideration,” he said.

 

The ad hoc committee and search firm will recommend the configuration of a group of city college stakeholders to provide input in the search and selection of a new superintendent-president. “It’s a very broad section of our community that is part of the process in selecting our next CEO,” Kellogg said.

 

The LBCC superintendent-president is the only employee the board is responsible for hiring, Kellogg noted.

 

Personally, Kellogg is hoping to find another leader for the college who will stay on long term. Its last two presidents, including Oakley, each stayed about 10 years, he pointed out.

 

Kellogg hopes the search process will be able to start in January or sooner. “We’ll get down to the finalists, and we’ll be able to have final interviews and selection to where the new superintendent-president will be hired by May or June of 2017,” he said.

 

The search firm will solicit specific candidates it identifies and will also advertise for the position, Kellogg said.

 

After Oakley departs in December, the board will have the option of hiring an interim superintendent-president or identifying an acting leader from within LBCC’s existing staff, Kellogg said.

 

The next superintendent-president will have to contend with funding issues related to the state budget, taking the Long Beach College Promise to the “next level,” and managing a recently passed $850 million construction bond, Kellogg said. Additionally, he or she will have to stay keyed in to student needs. “What students need today may not be what they need in the future, and that’s part of your leadership,” he said.

 

Kellogg said the next leader of Long Beach City College should not only be a manager but a visionary, as Oakley has been.