Executive Committee
2021-2022 Executive Committee
Purpose: Provide direction to the OCCA Executive Director between board meetings, annually evaluating the Executive Director, and any other functions on behalf of the Board of Directors as the board may authorize.
Stephen Crow
OCCA President
Board Member, Treasure Valley Community College
Stephen Crow has been in the beauty industry for 30 years. Salon and spa owner, artistic director and educator! Owner of two salons and consultant for a skincare product. He lives in Ontario, Oregon and enjoys gardening, horses and wine. He is the father of two adult sons.
His professional resume: Three years on a board of a private Catholic school, 15 years on a committee for Four Rivers Cultural Center, 2 years on the Saint Alphonsus Hospital board, and volunteers for numerous non-profits. Stephen has served two years on the Treasure Valley Community College board and also as the OCCA representative.
Kim Morgan
OCCA Vice President
Board Member, Columbia Gorge Community College
Kim Morgan grew up in The Dalles, Oregon, and spent 12 years in the computer industry doing sales, marketing, database and network consulting. She then became a Certified Equine Body Worker and Massage Therapist, and spent 10 years as an equine body worker and massage therapist for horses and humans. She moved back to The Dalles in 2009, and works as a legal assistant for a local attorney while also working as a professional photographer. She enjoys photography, horseback riding, reading, gardening and spending time with friends and family.
Mark Mitsui
OCCA Secretary
President, Portland Community College
Mark Mitsui became President of Portland Community College in August of 2016. He is the first Asian American president in the 58-year history of PCC, which educates over 60,000 students annually and is the largest higher education institution in the state of Oregon.
He was selected by the Portland Business Journal as an “Executive of the Year” in 2018 and currently serves on several boards: The Governor’s Workforce and Talent Development Board; the Portland Business Alliance board and the Greater Portland Incorporated board. He also serves on the board of the Community College Baccalaureate Association, the Higher Education Steering Council for Second Nature and the President’s Advisory Council for Phi Theta Kappa.
Prior to working at PCC he served in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges in the US Department of Education. In this role, he advanced the President’s and department’s community college agenda through strategic partnerships across federal agencies and with national stakeholders. He also served as President of North Seattle College, Vice President of Student Services at South Seattle College, Assistant Dean of Student Services at Green River Community College (where he was awarded an Exemplary Leadership Award by the Chair Academy) and Director of Student Success at North Seattle College. He entered into the community and technical college arena as a teacher at Renton Technical College, where he was awarded an Outstanding Faculty Award in 1994.
President Mitsui holds a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from Western Washington University, and completed a master’s degree and doctoral studies in Education at the University of Washington.
Jessica Howard
OCCA Treasurer
President, Chemeketa Community College
Jessica Howard is the president of Chemeketa Community College. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University in Performance Studies and, from Rice University, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in music and a bachelor’s degree in English.
Prior to joining Chemeketa in 2019, Dr. Howard served as the campus president for the Southeast Campus of Portland Community College in Oregon, guiding an academic center into a comprehensive campus and overseeing workforce operations district wide. Before coming to Oregon, Dr. Howard enjoyed a long tenure at San Antonio College in Texas. There she served as an assistant and associate professor, a faculty department chair, interim executive vice president, and ultimately as the vice president for academic affairs (VPAA). During her time as VPAA, in order to emphasize the importance of student completion and community college credentials, Dr. Howard earned her associate of arts degree.
Dr. Howard has held positions on multiple boards, including Campus Compact, the Oregon Workforce Investment Board, and the Latino Network. She has a history of service with the American Association of Community Colleges and the American Association of Community College Trustees, and serves on the Oregon STEM Investment Council and the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s Equity Leadership Council. Throughout her career and in a variety of contexts, Dr. Howard’s commitment to equitable student success, community- and future-focused workforce development, and innovative and collaborative solutions has shaped and driven her work.
Alan Unger
Member-at-Large
Board Member, Central Oregon Community College
Alan Unger, a retired Central Oregon government official and a former contractor, currently serves as the chairperson of the Central Oregon Community College board of directors.
A resident of Redmond since 1950, Unger was a Redmond city councilor before becoming mayor of the city for eight years, followed by two terms serving as a Deschutes County commissioner. He was appointed to the Oregon Workforce Investment board for seven years, where he represented many Oregon counties and statewide boards and committees, and also held the position of director for the League of Oregon Cities.
Representing the city of Redmond, or Zone 3, for the college’s district, Unger’s term of service as a COCC board member will continue through 2025.
Richard Emery
Member-at-Large
Board Member, Oregon Coast Community College
Richard Emery retired in June 2016 after 30 years of teaching accounting and taxation at Linfield College in McMinnville, including seven years as Business Department Chair and one year as Interim Director of Linfield’s Adult Degree Program. He is also a retired CPA and CFP, with 15 years public accounting experience in a small CPA firm in southern California. Emery moved to Lincoln County in 2003 and served on the Lincoln City Planning Commission from 2003-2011, the last four years as chair. He previously served on the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon’s Board of Trustees, and is currently on the Diocese’s Finance Committee as well as on the Diocese’s Personnel Committee.
Emery has been on the Oregon Coast Community College’s Board of Education since 2016 and is currently serving as Vice-Chair.
Emery is very active in community theatre, currently at Theatre West in Lincoln City. He acts, directs, and is currently on the Board of Directors and is Treasurer. He tries not to let his various obligations interfere with his other passion, which is traveling, both domestically and internationally.
Chris Breitmeyer
Ex-Officio Member,
Oregon Presidents Council Chair
President, Clatsop Community College
Chris Breitmeyer was appointed president of Clatsop Community College in July 2016. He has spent his career teaching, learning and collaborating with students, faculty and staff from his days as a high school biology teacher to his new role at CCC. Prior to coming to Clatsop County he served at Saint Charles Community College, first as Dean of Math, Science & Health and then as the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs.
Chris started his career in education as a high school science teacher in Bloomington, Illinois where he taught Biology. Following his love for learning and curiosity about the natural world, he enrolled in a Master’s Degree program at Arizona State University completing a M.S. in Zoology. From there he continued at Arizona State University conducting Ph.D. research in ecological genetics until he took a job as a biology faculty member at Yavapai College in Clarkdale, Arizona. At Yavapai, Chris worked with some excellent colleagues and found a true mentor in his Dean who showed him what a difference a good leader could make, and developed his beliefs that learning experiences, no matter what the discipline, are important to developing the skills learners need to become critical thinkers who will become productive members of our community.
Annette Mattson
OCCA Past-President
Board Member, Mt. Hood Community College
Annette currently serves on the boards of Children First for Oregon, Zenger Farm and the Clackamas County Business Alliance. She was a member of the David Douglas School Board for 18 years and on the Oregon School Boards Association Board of Directors for 8 years, including serving as OSBA President in 2009. She was also Chair of the Clackamas County Economic Development Commission in 2008 and the North Clackamas County Chamber of Commerce in 2007. Annette recently retired from Portland General Electric where she worked as a local government affairs and public policy manager. She is a former student of Mt Hood Community College and has a BS in Human Development from Warner Pacific College. Annette and her husband live in east Portland and have 4 adult daughters in the metro area.
Donna Lewelling
Ex-Officio Member
Director, Office of Community College & Workforce Development (CCWD)
Donna Lewelling serves as the Director of the Office of Community Colleges and Workforce Development (CCWD) for the Higher Education Coordinating Commission. In this role she directs the office forresponsible for coordination, leadership and resources to Oregon’s 17 locally-governed community colleges, adult basic skills providers, postsecondary career and technical education programs, and other partnerships to advance statewide goals.
Donna has years of experience with statewide community college policy and has served a variety of other important roles at the HECC since the agency was first formed in 2013, most recently serving as interim director of the HECC Office of CCWD since March of 2021. She served as deputy director of CCWD from 2016 to 2021, Oregon’s adult basic skills director, policy analyst, and numerous roles at the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development before it became an office of the HECC. She currently serves as the president for the Oregon Chapter of the American Association of Community Colleges, and is a recipient of the Howard Cherry Outstanding Community College Advocate Award by the Oregon Community College Association. Donna holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Management and Leadership both from Western Governor’s University.
