The District is now on its third interim chancellor in six months.
Thomas Fallo, who served as interim during the fall semester, is out as the fill-in leader of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District. Ronald Gerhard, previously the Vice Chancellor of Business Services for the district, was recently named the latest interim.
“Mr. Gerhard has a long history with the California Community Colleges,” Board President Edralin Maduli said, “and will help us stay the course until such time that we can launch another national search for a permanent chancellor.”
The search for a new chancellor began when Jannett Jackson resigned in August. Susan Cota was the first interim, taking over in July during Jackson’s initial leave of absence. Fallo followed, coming out of retirement to serve as chancellor for the fall 2018 semester. None of the three candidates who were finalists from the nationwide search were picked by the Board of Trustees.
Insert Gerhard, the latest to substitute chancellor.
Gerhard started as the Vice President of Administrative Services in July 2017 and became the Vice Chancellor of Business Services in June 2018. He got his MBA in accounting and finance from the University of California Riverside.
He has worked at several community colleges over the past 18 years. He was a Business Manager at San Bernardino, the District Business Officer at Compton, the District Chief Business Officer at Peralta, and the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration in San Francisco.
“I look forward to working with you on these important endeavors and hope to see you on campus. I’m confident that our commitment and passion to serve students will continue to guide our work and decisions. Thank you for your support and collaboration,” Gerhard said in a email to all employees at the district.
He is scheduled to serve until August 2020, giving the Board of Trustees more than 18 months to find a permanent chancellor.
Currently, there is no search ongoing for the permanent chancellorship, according to Interim President Roanna Bennie. After a search team helped narrow it down to three finalists, in Dec. of 2018, the Board of Trustees ultimately opted not to hire any of them. Shortly after that decision was made, the office of Fallo was made aware that the Board of Trustees had failed to post the meeting, which was open to public comment. This was in violation of the Brown Act, which guarantees the public’s right to be aware of and participate in meetings at the local legislative level. To correct the error, public comment on the issue was pushed until the Jan. 8 board meeting. At the time of publication, the minutes from this meeting were not yet available.
Some of Gerhard’s new responsibilities will be to help the district adjust to and plan accordingly for Calif. Governor Gavin Newsom’s new funding formula, help the district meet the new mandates from the state and help guide timelines for filling positions including president of Las Positas and a permanent chancellor among others.
“I’ve had a chance this last six or eight months to get to know him,” Bennie said. “I’ve had the chance to see his reasoning, and he’s very smart and very capable.”
