(FLINT, Mich, April 4, 2023) — Mott Community College (MCC) President, Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea was named CEO of the Year for 2023 by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) April 3 at their annual meeting in Denver.
The AACC’s CEO of the Year award is given annually to the president of one of the nation’s almost 1,200 community colleges. The criteria for receiving the honor include demonstrated excellence in leadership, service, advocacy, community engagement, commitment to students and employees, strategic planning and professionalism.
“I am deeply humbled and grateful to receive the CEO of the Year Award and for this recognition from my peers across the country and from the people at my home institution who nominated me,” said Dr. Walker-Griffea. “For almost nine years now, my dedication and drive as a president has been laser-focused on student, employee and community success and how Mott Community College can drive and promote these shared aspirations. I am always, always looking forward!”
Walker-Griffea has served as Mott Community College’s seventh president since August 2014. She is the first female and first African American leader in MCC’s 100-year history. Before 2014, Walker-Griffea was the senior vice president for Student Services at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland.
In addition to Dr. Walker-Griffea, MCC had three additional finalists for several other AACC awards:
- Wanda Brown, Bursar, for the AACC Rising Star – Manager Award
- Marcus Matthews, assistant vice president, Workforce and Economic Development, for the AACC Rising Star – Executive Award
- Mott Community College — as an institution — nominated for the AACC Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award.
The mission of the American Association of Community Colleges is to “build a nation of learners by advancing America’s community colleges.” In service since 1920, the AACC has been called the “voice of America’s community colleges.” The association represents and advocates for nearly 1,200 associate-degree granting institutions enrolling more than 12 million students—almost half of all U.S. undergraduates.
AACC’s Awards of Excellence program, of which the annual CEO of the Year Award is a part, underscores the association’s priorities and brings national visibility to promising practices among its member colleges. Nominees are judged by a select committee of the AACC Board of Directors. In 2022, the AACC CEO of the Year Award was given to Dr. Curtis Ivory, chancellor of the Wayne County Community College District in Wayne County, Michigan.
