The Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board held a special meeting over the weekend to elect a new president. Board members unanimously elected Laurin Hendrix.
Past president Alfredo Gutierrez said while he was already planning to step down as president in September for personal reasons, he decided to move that up.
He explained new leadership was needed because disagreements about how recent employee allegations of HR department document tampering were handled were becoming divisive and unproductive.
"There was unhappiness on the part of some people that there was a report at all," Gutierrez said. "There was an unhappiness on the part of others that it was public. There was an unhappiness in general."
The board’s new president Laurin Hendrix has been serving on the college system’s governing board since January.
"I’m surprised as a new member. I’m happy," said Hendrix in response to his new role. "I hope I can bring some unity to the board. Beyond that it’s still a little new."
He said he’s still forming a plan for what he’d like to accomplish as board president, but adds he’d like to shift the role of board secretary to look more like that of a vice chair.
EDITOR'S NOTE: KJZZ is licensed to the Maricopa Community Colleges.
