Editor’s note: This message is being sent on behalf of AACC board chair Sunny Cooke (president of California’s MiraCosta College) and AACC board chair-elect Leigh Goodson (president of Tulsa Community College in Oklahoma).
Dear AACC Member Colleagues:
It was great to see many of you at the 105th annual meeting in Nashville! We hope you had an opportunity to reconnect with friends, build new relationships, and pick up new ideas to return to your institution. It’s always great to come together and learn from each other. For those of you who were not able to attend, please know that you were missed. We hope to see you next April in Seattle for our annual conference.
You are probably aware that our association CEO, Dr. Walter Bumphus, has announced his retirement. He sent a correspondence earlier this year and also announced his retirement during the opening plenary at the conference. Dr. Bumphus has served as our association leader for almost 15 years. He is to be commended for the advocacy and the ideas he developed to advance our association and the community college sector. He was celebrated in a beautiful dinner tribute during the conference. We wish him well as he moves forward to retirement by the end of the calendar year.
As you may know, the search for our next CEO is well underway. We have retained Spencer Stuart as the search firm, bringing us experience with large, non-profit organizations, including ACE. We invited the AACC general membership to complete a survey to inform our search process. We have also conducted several listening sessions to gather input and ideas about opportunities and challenges for the next CEO of AACC. If you were unable to attend any of the previous listening sessions, please know that another session has been added:
Thursday, 4/24 from 4-5 pm ET via Zoom.
Meeting link: https://spencerstuart.zoom.us/j/97938638975?pwd=w2fFZhhdx2dYtNV6FDxB0Pb4FYVfaM.1&from=addon
Meeting ID: 979 3863 8975
Passcode: 295928
It is important to the board that we hear the voices of our members.
The position has been posted on the AACC website, in the Chronicle of Higher Ed, and Inside Higher Ed. For those interested, you may also seek information by contacting AACCCEO@spencerstuart.com
The search timeline ensures that finalist interviews for the new CEO will be completed by the full, current board of AACC by June 30, 2025. This will allow the new CEO an opportunity to provide notice to their existing employer and some transition between the new CEO and Dr. Bumphus. This is also necessary since one-third of our board members transition out of their roles on July 1. This timeline will allow the same board that has worked with Dr. Bumphus over the last year or more an opportunity to participate and be a part of the final selection.
Our goal is to ensure a transparent process and provide every person who is interested in serving in this position the opportunity to be considered. We hope that you will be able to attend the listening session. If not, know that you may email the Co-chairs of the search, Chair Sunny Cooke or Chair-elect Leigh Goodson, with any thoughts or ideas that you may have regarding the search. Our contact information is below.
We look forward to staying in touch.
Best regards,
Sunny Cooke and Leigh Goodson
Co-chairs of the AACC CEO Search
