The role of the community college board is to establish policies that guide the institution, to partner with the college CEO to oversee institutional outcomes while not involving themselves in day-to-day operations, and to monitor the CEO's performance in according with the board's strategic goals. The board must support the CEO and trust them to lead and manage the college, offering guidance, collective support, and oversight that involves regular performance reviews and feedback.
The college CEO, who may be referred to as the college president, the president/CEO, or the chancellor, is responsible for administering the institution and providing day-to-day leadership. While the board sets the mission, vision, and strategic goals of the institution, the CEO is responsible for translating these into active programs and services, prioritizing these according to the college's mission, strategic goals and sometimes current events, and reporting progress transparently to the board and to the community.
The board and CEO must work in harmony to accomplish the stated mission, vision, values, and goals of the institution. The board is a collective body that benefits from the multi-faceted views of multiple individuals who contribute diverse insights; however, the board must speak with one concerted voice, and it must support the college president as a unit. The ability of the college CEO to perform well depends in great part on the board's ability to make and commit to collaborative decisions so that the CEO can then carry out work based on those decisions. The board then must trust the college CEO to do this work, and offer guidance—but not interference—as useful and needed.
Because the basis of an effective board-CEO relationship is trust, effective and respectful communication among all board members and then between the board and the CEO is necessary for the CEO's success. This trust requires bold transparency, including regular, honest CEO performance reviews, feedback from the board to the CEO and vice versa, and general goodwill among all parties. For this reason, allocating necessary time, attention, and financial resources to CEO placement processes are essential to identify college CEOs who are imminently trustworthy and effective leaders.
ACCT can assist member boards in need of guidance and support through services including board and CEO evaluations, retreats, workshops and strategic planning sessions, institutional assessments, CEO searches, and others.
More in-depth resources, including educational videos, articles, worksheets and more are available to members in our governance resource library at ACCT Connect.