The results are in.
The Chabot-Las Positas Community College District’s current Interim Chancellor Ronald P. Gerhard has been selected to move into a permanent position at the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting, which is scheduled for April 21 at 5 p.m.
Gerhard has been serving as the interim chancellor for CLPCCD since Jan. 22, 2019. Originally, he was supposed to lead the district until either August of this year or until the district hired a permanent chancellor. The district conducted a search and held forums in order to seek out a proper candidate. In the end, Gerhard was chosen due to his extensive and rich background.
Gerhard had started off his career as a Business Manager at the San Bernardino Community College District. He served there for eight and a half years before moving on as a Chief Business Officer at the Compton Community College District.
After that, he moved onto becoming a Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration at the Peralta Community College District. Gerhard stayed for about three years, after which he became the Vice-Chancellor of the San Francisco Community College District for almost four years.
Finally, in 2017, Gerhard found himself at CLPCCD. He had first served as the Vice President of Business Services at Chabot College, but only stuck around for 11 months. From there he upgraded to the Vice-Chancellor of Business Services and was eventually promoted to the Interim Chancellor after former CLPCCD Chancellor Jannett Jackson resigned in August of 2018.
He earned a Master’s of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Riverside in 2004, shortly after completing a Bachelor of Science degree in 1998 from the University of Redlands. Gerhard studied accounting at both universities, as well as studying finance at Riverside.
Guisselle Nuñez, the district’s public relations director, talked about Gerhard in a recent interview with Pleasanton Weekly.
“As a seasoned educational administrative leader having served for over 20 years for California community college,” Nuñez said, “Gerhard has provided strategic leadership that is student-focused and has demonstrated his ability to bring stakeholders together to achieve organizational goals.”
Gerhard had been competing against two other candidates, Santanu Bandyopadhyay, Ph.D. and Bryan Reece, Ph.D. Originally, the forums to introduce the candidates were supposed to be located at Las Positas College. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the forums were moved to online mediums.
All candidates had substantial experience and various backgrounds, but Gerhard will go on to lead CLPCCD for the foreseeable future.
Rebecca Robison is the news and campus life editor of The Express. Follow her @RebeccaRobiso19.
Brandon Byrne also contributed to this report. He is the public relations manager for The Express. Follow him at @brandonbyrne18.
