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# SMC bolsters leader search
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/smc-bolsters-leader-search/
- Published: 2005-05-11T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:02:16.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Search committee will consist of 16 members*

SMC — Santa Monica College has taken a major step towards finding a permanent leader, approving a search committee to help the school locate a new president.

The SMC board of trustees on Monday unanimously approved the creation of a search committee to assist the community college in its presidential pursuit. The committee — to be comprised of students, faculty, classified and managerial employees and members of the public — will meet with a consultant on May 24 to begin discussing what qualities and attributes they’ll seek in a new president.

SMC interim president Tom Donner was chosen by the board of trustees in December to serve this year as a temporary replacement for SMC president Dr. Piedad F. Robertson, who retired Jan. 31.

Robertson has accepted the chief executive position at the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.

The search committee will work with the Association of Community College Trustees — a national non-profit group hired to assist the college in its search for a new president — by developing a profile statement of the candidate desired. The ACCT will promote recruitment materials, identify prospective candidates throughout the nation, write background reports on top candidates and conduct reference checks.

The search committee will assist ACCT in the national search for candidates, selecting between three and five top choices who will then be presented to the SMC board of trustees in either October or November. The trustees will then choose the new president from among the candidates presented. The search process is expected to last the remainder of the year, with a new president selected in the beginning of 2006\. The ACCT’s fee will range from $20,000 to $25,000, plus expenses.

SMC trustee Nancy Greenstein said — half jokingly — that the incoming SMC president will have to be all things to all people.

“People are looking for the perfect person to lead us into the future, who is able to pull disparate groups on campus together,” she said. “The person needs to have strong leadership skills, have a grasp of financial oversight, student outcomes, and be skilled at the administration of a higher education institution. People want someone who understands the system and is willing to learn and whose opinions and skills prove to be a problem solver.”

The search committee will be comprised of 16 members, including three SMC classified employees, faculty members, managers and students, and four members of the community. The community members include former Santa Monica Mayor Judy Abdo, also a member of the SMC General Advisory Board; Dr.

Matt Dinolfo, a physician, GAB and Associates member who ran unsuccessfully for the Santa Monica City Council last November; Malibu City Councilwoman Sharon Barovsky; and Dr. Monika White, executive director of the Center for Healthy Aging, past president of the SMC Associates and current Associates board member.

If these candidates cannot serve on the search committee, the SMC board of trustees also agreed upon some replacements.

SMC trustee Susan Aminoff said the search committee is comprised of individuals and groups involved with the college.

“We have good representation of people who have demonstrable ties to the college who are also active in the city,” Aminoff said.

The approval of the search committee comes three years into contract negotiations between campus union groups, which are nearing completion.

Giovanni Vela, president of Chapter 36 of the Classified School Employees Association, said it is important for the new president to treat all groups at SMC equally.

“I would think the most important quality as far as the relationship between classified, faculty and administration would be for the new president to treat everyone on the same level,” Vela said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 11, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/051105.pdf?ref=smdp.com)