News & UpdatesAt the 2021 DREAM virtual conference today, Dr. Karen A. Stout, president and CEO of Achieving the Dream, announced new leadership for the organization’s board of directors.
Dr. Alex Johnson, president of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®), assumes his new role as chair of the board at the Feb. 24, 2021, Board of Directors meeting. Dr. Johnson has served as president of Tri-C, an ATD Leader College of Distinction, since July 2013, where he has promoted access, equity, success and completion for more than 50,000 credit and noncredit students who attend the College each year. Previously, Dr. Johnson was president of the Community College of Allegheny County, a multi-campus college in and around Pittsburgh, during which time he served a term as president of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges. Prior to that, he was chancellor of Delgado Community College in New Orleans.
Dr. Johnson serves on a number of local and national boards including United Way of Greater Cleveland, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Jobs Ohio’s Cleveland Area Business Retention and Expansion Council, the American Association of Community Colleges (immediate past chair), the Association of American Colleges and Universities, League for Innovation in the Community College, and the President’s Advisory Committee of Phi Theta Kappa.
“From an organization focused on individual students to one concerned with the success of all students through pronounced faculty engagement and whole-college transformation, ATD’s evolution has been nothing short of miraculous. I look forward to working with the outstanding leaders who serve on the Board of Directors and to helping move the organization forward,” says Dr. Johnson.
Dr. Johnson succeeds Dr. Pam Eddinger, Bunker Hill Community College president, who has served as Board Chair since February 2018. “ATD is grateful for Dr. Eddinger’s exceptional leadership over the last two years,” said Dr. Stout. “She has helped advance the organization’s thinking around students supports and, more recently, provided critical guidance as the organization faced our current national crises.”
The new slate of Board officers also includes Odessa College President Dr. Gregory Williams who will serve as Vice Chairman; Community College of Spokane Chancellor Dr. Christine Johnson as Secretary; and Lou Testoni, most recently former managing partner of the Lake Erie Market of PricewaterhouseCoopers, continuing in his role as Treasurer.
“These leaders bring vast and diverse experiences, and a deep commitment to educational equity and student success,” Dr. Stout said. “We are fortunate to have these leaders continue the critical work of ensuring that community colleges remain the engines of innovation that support educational equity and economic opportunity to all students, especially our most underserved learners.”