Four Finalists Selected in Search for Next Superintendent Of PCC

PASADENA, April 8, 2024—Following a nationwide search, and drawing on input from a broad cross-section of on- and off-campus constituency groups, the Board of Trustees of the Pasadena Area Community College District announced four finalists for the role of Superintendent/President of Pasadena City College.

The finalists are:

• Carlos Cortez, Ph.D., who most recently served as Chancellor of the San Diego Community College District;
• José Gómez, Ph.D., Interim Superintendent/President of Pasadena City College;
• Thuy Nguyen, J.D., Partner at Garcia Hernández Sawhney, LLP; and
• Lena Tran, MBA, Ed.D., President of Columbia College.

“These four individuals are each eminently qualified to lead PCC into its next century,” said Kristine E. Kwong, President of the Board of Trustees. “Their backgrounds and experiences speak highly of their ability to build on the college’s strengths and ensure its growth. We are very pleased with the potential for excellence we have witnessed in these candidates.

“My colleagues on the board and I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in this search, with a special thanks to the members of the Screening/Application Reading Committee and the Candidate Interview Committee. This process has brought forward much valuable input, and we are glad to have had a thorough dialogue on this vitally important decision.”

The four candidates’ biographies cover a broad range of higher education administration:

• Carlos Cortez, who most recently served as Chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, has more than 18 years’ experience as a college administrator – including 13 as a chief executive. He has worked at public, private, and charter schools in Washington, D.C., Houston, New York City, Los Angeles, Berkeley, and San Diego, and has been on the faculty at John Hopkins University, National University, New York University, and UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego. Throughout his career, Dr. Cortez has elected to work primarily with underserved, ethnically diverse student populations from systemically marginalized communities.

• Prior to his appointment as PCC’s Interim Superintendent/President, José A. Gómez, Ph.D. served as Executive Vice President, Provost (the university’s chief academic officer), and Chief Operating Officer at California State University, Los Angeles. At Cal State LA, Dr. Gómez was instrumental in strategic efforts to enhance student success, elevate fundraising, and deepen engagement with the region through partnerships with government and industry. Dr. Gómez led major initiatives to expand opportunities for students at Cal State LA, including Cal State LA’s downtown campus; the Prison Graduation Initiative, California’s first bachelor’s degree program taught in state prison; and Cal State LA BioSpace, a regional incubator promoting inclusive entrepreneurship. He also established a partnership with the Los Angeles Football Club to renovate the university’s stadium field and construct a professional soccer training and operations facility on campus. As an educator, Dr. Gómez has taught courses at Chaffey College, Mt. San Antonio College, Cal State LA, and USC. He previously served as higher education adviser to the president pro tem of the California Senate, Executive Director of the California Educational Facilities Authority, and held senior positions in the California Department of Justice and the State Treasurer’s Office. Dr. Gómez is a Pasadena resident, and his experience as a first-generation college student, raised in the San Gabriel Valley, has inspired his three-decade career in education and government. He received Cal Poly Pomona’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2019.

• Thuy Thi Nguyen J.D. is currently a partner at the law firm of Garcia Hernández Sawhney, providing legal advice to community colleges, serving as General Counsel to the African American California Community College Trustees and Administrators (Black Caucus), and serving as Commission Counsel to the Oakland Police Commission. In 2016, Nguyen became the first Vietnamese American college president in the country, serving over five years as President of Foothill College. Nguyen was General Counsel to the Peralta Community College District (a four-college district) for more than eleven years since 2003. From January to June 2015, she took leave from Peralta CCD to serve as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of the Community College League of California. Nguyen then served as Interim General Counsel for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office from July 2015 to June 2016. Nguyen was an adjunct instructor teaching education law at CSU East Bay. Nguyen has served on many boards, including the American Council on Education (ACE) in Washington D.C. She is currently board chair of Cal LAW Pathways and board member of Cal Medicine Coalition — both organizations she co-founded to diversify the legal and medical professions. Nguyen earned her Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Yale University and Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law. Nguyen is a Paul and Daisy Soros for New Americans Fellow. A refugee from Vietnam, Nguyen was one of 38 individuals honored in 2017 as part of Carnegie Corporation’s “Great Immigrants” tribute in The New York Times.

• Lena Tran, MBA, Ed.D. currently serves as the President of Columbia College in California, bringing with her over 27 years of experience dedicated to serving and inspiring students from diverse backgrounds. She is deeply committed to offering a rich array of educational opportunities for personal growth and career advancement, fostering a community of inquisitive, creative, and thoughtful lifelong learners. During her tenure, she successfully cultivated partnerships with industry leaders such as Apple CAL FIRE, Fresno Workforce Connection, Microsoft, MIT, and UC Berkeley, leading to the development of innovative dual enrollment, transfer, and workforce pathways in coding, artificial intelligence, fire and forestry, and healthcare. Additionally, Dr. Tran has served in the role of manager and director for student affairs, outreach, and residence life. Dr. Tran has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including an Aspen Rising President Fellowship, Stanford University Educational Leadership Initiative Award, and John & Suanne Roueche Excellence Award. Furthermore, she was an honoree of the Fulbright Scholar College Administrators Seminar to Russia and has been named among the “100 Women of Influence in Silicon Valley.” The Silicon Valley Business Journal also recognized Dr. Tran as one of its “40 Under 40” rising stars in Silicon Valley. Dr. Tran strives to cultivate and preserve a culture of acceptance, celebration, and connectedness. We can grow and learn better together with the collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, self-expression, and talent.

Members of the public and the college community will have an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates this week. Each finalist will take part in an open forum with the PCC community on Wednesday, April 10, in Westerbeck Recital Hall, on the following schedule:

10 a.m.

José A. Gómez

11 a.m.

Lena Tran

11:55 a.m.

Thuy Thi Nguyen

12:50 p.m.

Carlos Cortez

Questions will be invited from the audience, with representatives from the executive search firm moderating the event. The events will also be live-streamed and recorded. More details are available on the college’s website.

Pending selection by the Board of Trustees, the final candidate will become PCC’s 17th Superintendent/President, taking the reins as the college celebrates its centennial year in 2024-25. They will assume the chief executive position at a college that consistently ranks among the state’s best community colleges in transfer to four-year institutions and career education.

Pasadena City College is home to the Los Angeles Regional Consortium, a labor and education hub for Southern California’s 19 community colleges that coordinates the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars in state workforce development resources. PCC has been recognized as one of the top ten community colleges in the nation for six consecutive years.