California Community Colleges Board of Governors Vice President Haynes Elected Board President

November 17, 2020
Christina Jimenez
cjimenez@cccco.edu
T 916.322.4004

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Community Colleges Board of Governors Vice President Pamela Haynes has been elected to assume the role of board president, and board member Amy Costa was selected to serve as vice president. Haynes is the first African American to lead the governing board of the nation’s largest system of higher education, and this is the first time two women will serve as president and vice president.

“Our system stands at a critical intersection requiring a response: a world-wide pandemic, the dislocation of workers across multiple industry sectors that has resulted in an economic downturn and demands for social and racial equity and the removal of barriers within our institutions," Haynes said. "My focus will be on advocating for our students and ensuring the passage of an equitable budget that recognizes the vital importance of California's Community Colleges to the economic recovery of the state."

Haynes replaces board president Tom Epstein, who served in the position for the past two years. The board elects a president and vice president every November to serve one-year terms. 

“I’d like to thank my board colleagues for supporting me,” Costa said. “As we look ahead to an uncertain economy and ongoing public health crisis, I look forward to further advocating for each of our California community colleges. Our community college students, faculty and staff will be pivotal in ensuring California’s economic recovery is equitable and expedient.”

Haynes has served on the Los Rios Community College District Board of Trustees since 1999, including four terms as board president. She also sits on the Board of Trustees for the Community College League of California and the Los Rios Foundation Board. Before retiring from state service in 2012, she served for eight years as a deputy director and senior consultant for the California State Assembly, Speaker’s Office of Member Services. Prior to that, she was the legislative director for the Capitol Office of Assemblymember Mark Ridley-Thomas. Haynes has also worked for the California Labor Federation, ALF-CIO; the City of Sacramento; the Bureau of State Audits; and Department of Health Services. A Santa Monica College transfer student, she has a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University.

“I am incredibly proud that in the year of incredible achievements for women that the California Community Colleges Board of Governors selected the first African American woman to lead the board,” Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley said.

Amy Costa serves as deputy administrator for the county of Alameda and was chief deputy director for budget at the California Department of Finance from 2016 to 2018, where she served as advisor to the director on higher education from 2014 to 2016. She was an account lead at Blue Beyond Consulting from 2012 to 2014 and director of state and local government relations at Safeway Inc. from 2010 to 2012. Costa served as associate director of advocacy and state relations at the California State University Chancellor's Office from 2009 to 2010. She served as policy director in the Office of California State Senator Dean Florez from 2008 to 2009, as a policy consultant in the Office of California State Senate President pro Tempore Don Perata from 2005 to 2008 and district director in the Office of California State Senator Don Perata from 2001 to 2005.

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation, composed of 73 districts and 116 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year. California community colleges provide career education and workforce training; guaranteed transfer to four-year universities; degree and certificate pathways; and basic skills education in English and math. As the state’s engine for social and economic mobility, the California Community Colleges supports the Vision for Success, a strategic plan designed to improve student success outcomes, increase transfer rates and eliminate achievement gaps. For more information, please visit the California Community Colleges website or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

###