November 14, 2022
Contact: Melissa Villarin
Office: 916-327-5365
Office E-mail: MVillarin@CCCCO.edu
Amy Costa to Serve as President, Hildegarde B. Aguinaldo Selected Vice President
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Community Colleges Board of Governors on Monday unanimously elected Amy Costa as the governing board’s president and Hildegarde B. Aguinaldo as vice president.
“I’m honored to be selected by my colleagues,” Costa said. “I look forward to our continuing to work on behalf of our students. As we begin to feel economic headwinds, our continuing mission to ensure our decisions are centered around our students and their needs is paramount.”
The Board of Governors elects a president and vice president every November to serve one-year terms. Costa, who previously served as vice president, succeeds Pamela Haynes, who served for two years as board president.
“I am tremendously grateful to my fellow board members and honored to work with President Costa to advance the Vision for Success, centering students and equity in our work,” Aguinaldo said. “As leaders, it is imperative that we meet these crucial times with the energy, inquisitiveness, collaboration, and determination to improve student success and strengthen our state.”
“I would like to congratulate President Costa and Vice President Aguinaldo on their election to these critical leadership roles,” said Interim Chancellor Daisy Gonzales, PhD. “I look forward to working with both of these talented and committed leaders as we continue to advance equity and student success across our system and build a culture of unconditional belonging for every student.”
Costa, who was appointed to the board in 2018, is the founder of Full Moon Strategies, a firm focused on public policy, public affairs, and organizational strategy. She served as deputy county 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.
Aguinaldo, who was appointed to the board in 2018, serves as senior director and associate general counsel for DaVita Inc., an international healthcare company, where she provides strategic counsel as lead of a litigation team and ongoing support to its enterprise-wide Diversity & Belonging efforts. Prior to DaVita, Aguinaldo served as litigation counsel on the governing board of numerous public and private healthcare entities, ranging from hospitals to health plans to regulatory and advisory boards. In advocacy of the API community, Aguinaldo has been active in efforts to promote judicial diversity and mentorship, having served as president of the Philippine American Bar Association (PABA) and currently serving on the board of the Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance (APAWLA).
The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation, composed of 73 districts and 116 colleges serving 1.8 million students per year. California community colleges provide career education and workforce training; guaranteed transfer to four-year universities; and degree and certificate pathways. 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, Instagram and Twitter.
###
