Dr. James Walter Ross

Resume Executive Summary

• Served 25 years as a President or Vice President at colleges in three of America's most-respected community college systems. These positions included Vice President for Advancement and Public Affairs at Eastern Florida State College in Florida; Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Development at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Virginia; and President at Pamlico Community College in North Carolina.
• Gained extensive leadership experience in overseeing all aspects of community colleges, including instruction; sh1dent services; financial management; facilities; external funding; and community relations. Excelled in collaborative leadership that inspired outstanding team-oriented success that increased morale, enrollment, student success, instructional and workforce programs, community partnerships and service, private donations, governmental appropriations, positive media coverage, and national recognition for elite
• Served as Vice President of Advancement and Public Affairs at Eastern Florida State College, a large college with 25,000 students and four campuses on Florida's Space Coast. Initial responsibilities included media relations, community relations, the foundation, fundraising, and legislative affairs. Because of successful leadership, responsibilities expanded to include oversight of 184 full-time employees, half of all college departments, and $40 million annual budget. Additions included human resources; enrollment management; student services; workforce development; two performing arts centers; registrar; IT; security; five child-care centers; international education; board relations; and dual enrolhnent/early admissions.
• Gained success in every part of fundraising in raising $55 million, including in making the ask that gained six separate million dollar gifts; leading record-setting annual funds and special events; leading three successful capital campaigns; gained success in planned giving that includes a $20 million planned gift; establishing two colleges' alumni associations; and developing and overseeing 1,200 volunteers actively seeking donations.
• Developed exceptional governmental relationships with elected officials of both parties and utilized these and extensive legislative funding knowledge to secure $40 million in special state governn1ental appropriations. With that $40 million and the $55 million in fundraising, I have raised nearly $100 million in external These funds have been used to benefit students by adding classrooms, equipment, programs, and scholarships.
• Most recently served for seven years as President of Pamlico Community College (PCC), earning numerous national recognitions for elite excellence. Ranked number 1 for student success among all community colleges in the S. in 2021 and 2023 by WalletHub as it detennined top educational outcomes of students throughout the U.S. In addition, PCC was ranked the number 2 best overall community college in the U.S. in 2019 and 2021 by SmartAsset. U.S. Department of Education data was used to establish both rankings.
• Led efforts that improved morale of PCC faculty and staff by more than 55%. By 2021, a remarkable 95% of PCC employees had high At least 90% of employees had high morale as per accreditation surveys throughout last four years of my presidency.
• Owned and operated successful publishing Gained business and marketing skills.

Service

President

Pamlico Community College / Grantsboro, NC / 2016-2024

Oversaw all aspects of college including instruction; student services; financial management; facilities; and community relations with student-centered, optimistic, and inspirational leadership. I led an ambitious effort to help students achieve better lives by PCC increasing overall excellence. I met with every employee one-on-one for an hour apiece to develop a shared vision of becoming the best college anywhere and later had numerous collegewide follow-up events. Employees responded magnificently with outstanding team-oriented dedication. The uplifting results:

PCC earned the ranking of the number 1 community college in the United States in student success for 2021 and again in 2023 by WalletHub. WalletHub analyzes federal data on student education outcomes for community colleges across America in doing so. It analyzes graduation rates; first-year retention rate; transfer-out rate; student faculty ratio; and other federal data in determining national rankings.

PCC also earned elite rankings for overall excellence from SmartAsset. PCC was ranked twice during my presidency as the second-best overall community college in America. The PCC number 2 ranking was gained in 2019 and again in 2021. SmartAsset analyzed federal data on more than 800 community colleges in the U.S.

The PCC Board of Trustees has given me extremely high marks for leadership. In my 2023 evaluation, I received the highest possible score-a rounded perfect 4- from each one of the 12 Board members for each one of the 32 evaluation criteria. The Board in 2023 also unanimously voted to increase my annual salary by $25,000 for exceptional overall performance and extraordinary leadership as President.

I also met one-on-one with all community leaders to listen to their needs. PCC's community partnerships with schools, businesses, non-profit organizations, churches, civic organizations, media, government, and citizens have been vastly strengthened and expanded. We enjoyed a 300% increase in community residents coming to our campus to enjoy events; built nearly 100 new business and community organization partnerships; and added 40 new educational programs to serve community needs.

We ended all fees for all non-profit organizations in our service area to use our large and beautiful Delamar Center. These groups previously paid $800 per event and the center was seldom used. Now with free use of this facility for all our community's non-profit organizations, it is almost always in use by our churches, civic groups, and other non-profits. Community appreciation for this has created enormous goodwill.

The outstanding community partnerships helped bring important results. These include exceptional PCC enrollment growth of22% from 2016 to 2020 while community colleges nationwide suffered a steep 10% decline; 90% increase in positive media; and gaining special state budget appropriations for every state legislative session of my presidency. These ranged from $650,000 to $20 million.

After seven extremely fulfilling years, I left PCC a year ago to help my wife Pam battle liver cancer. She and I are so very thankful that she is now cancer-free!

Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Development Educational Foundation Executive Director

Piedmont Virginia Community College / Charlottesville, VA / 2013 - 2016

Oversaw all fundraising; adult student recruitment; media relations; grants; alumni relations; and community relations. Plam1ed and led record-setting ammal campaigns, exceeding previous high by 60%. Planned and led overall fundraising that generated a 40% increase. Oversaw 100% increase in generating grants, gaining $2 million in new annual revenues. Established the alumni association. Initiated emergency student fund initiative. Expanded Foundation funds gained for faculty stipends for classroom innovation. Made the successful ask for two separate million-dollar donations.

Owner and President

Ross Publishing Company / Slippery Rock, PA / 2011-2012

Authored The Only Way to Lead, a 149-page biography on a community college president. Wrote 152-page doctoral dissertation and completed doctorate degree.

Vice President for Advancement and Public Affairs

Eastern Florida State College / Cocoa, FL / 2006-2010

Oversaw 184 employees and became second-in-command to the President in this college with 25,000 students and four campuses. My position expanded dramatically because of the significant success enjoyed with the departments I led. I ultimately oversaw human resources; student services; enrollment management; IT; registrar; international education; early admissions and dual enrollment; business relations; fundraising; marketing; media relations; WBCC-TV; alumni affairs; legislative relations; community relations; two performing arts centers; security; five child-care centers; community relations; and workforce development. I oversaw a budget of approximately $40 million in supervising half of the college operations.

Vice President for Development

Crosswinds Youth Services / Cocoa, FL / 1998- 2006

Responsible for all fundraising, marketing, media relations, and community relations. Initiated a development department from its infancy, making it highly-successful in all aspects of fundraising. Planned and led two successful capital campaigns.

Provided leadership for successful state legislative initiatives. The Governor called me a state model for establishing and strengthening 500 business partnerships.

Associate Vice President for College Relations

Eastern Florida State College / Cocoa, FL / 1989- 1998

Responsible for all internal and external communications, marketing, and media relations. Assisted the College President in leading effort to be a national model for racial harmony. By providing community outreach encouraging all residents to know the value of education, helped the college earn an ACCT national award as one of the two best community colleges in the nation for equal opportunity for women and minorities. Earned CASE award for best media relations among all colleges and universities in the Southeastern U.S. Was host of an uplifting weekly TV talk show featuring students, employees, alumni, and business leaders. Praised by faculty leaders for "outstanding leadership" in improving faculty and administration relations.

Education

Building Inner Strengths of Successful Leaders Program Harvard Graduate School of Education

Institutes of Higher Education / Cambridge, MA

This Harvard program on its campus allowed my leadership abilities to soar to elite levels. It emphasized developing listening skills, emotional intelligence, self­ confidence, and resiliency in navigating crises with visionary, cahn, and optimistic leadership that allows the leader and organization to emerge stronger after a crisis.

Doctor of Education Degree

Nova Southeastern University / Fort Lauderdale, FL

Major: Organizational Leadership
GPA: 3.94

Doctoral dissertation: "Examination of the impact of state budget reductions on community colleges and entrepreneurial leadership utili;ed to successfully manage these reductions." I surveyed the community college presidents in Florida and asked what specific methods they had employed during the Great Recession when the Legislature reduced appropriations to community colleges by approximately 40% from 2006-17 to 2009-10, from $10,212 to $6,150 per FTE student. Nearly 90% of Florida community college presidents actively participated in my survey that asked what actions they took that were most effective to increase revenues and to reduce spending during that period. The survey was conducted in 2012, only two years after the Great Recession ended so their memories were still fresh. Their answers were very insightful. Ironically, later as President of PCC after the coronavirus pandemic­ induced enrollment declines that impacted virtually all of education, I was one of the best prepared leaders in knowing how to handle these issues step by step because I had written this dissertation. In fact, our efforts gained praise as we balanced our budget without impacting students by cutting any classes or in any other way.

I chose this dissertation topic because as Vice President at Eastern Florida State College during the Great Recession I was designated by the College President to oversee all aspects of the college managing the budget cuts of approximately 40% over three years. I recommended all spending cuts, which included an extremely successful innovation in implementing and overseeing a four-day work week that saved $1 million in energy savings alone, while also pursuing ways to add funds through nmdraising, grants, and enrollment increases. We managed all cuts successfully without cutting classes or impacting students in any way.

Master of Education Degree

Slippery Rock University / Slippery Rock, PA
Major: Social Studies
GPA: 3.8

Bachelor of Arts Degree

Slippery Rock University / Slippery Rock, PA  Major: Communications Second Major: Political Science
GPA: 3.4: Student Government President.

Quotes From Community and College Leaders

From Pamlico Community College (PCC) Board Chair Bob Lyon...
"Dr. Jim Ross is a visionary leader. He is an energetic leader with a passion for the transfomrntive power of higher education. Dr. Ross has done an outstanding job as President of Pamlico Community College for the past seven years. Dr. Ross' visionary leadership has brought out the very best in our faculty and staff and resulted in PCC being ranked number l in the United States for student success among all community colleges on two occasions in the past three years. In receiving national and state honors, Dr. Ross humbly never accepted personal credit but instead joyfully gave total credit to faculty and staff, who he enthusiastically praised every chance he got. This was one of many reasons employees showed very high morale. Dr. Ross did an outstanding job. He worked well with the Board of Trustees and he will be missed."

From Former Eastern Florida State College Board of Trustees Chair Alberta Wilson ...
"He was a highly-successful Vice President overseeing vast parts of the college on all four campuses, second only to the President in scope of responsibility. He constantly displayed remarkable leadership as the second-in-command with exceptional planning abilities, creativity, and decision-making. He assumed leadership over half of all college departments because his leadership brought outstanding results in each area he led and resulted in an enormous role he confidently excelled in... He eventually supervised 184 full-time employees who helped serve our 25,000 students well. He is a joyful man of deep faith who continually uplifts and brings out the best in all around him."

From Former Eastern Florida State College Board of Trustees Chair Jim Handley ...
"Jim is an outstanding executive, he is very personable, hard-working, and relates very well with everyone he comes in contact with. As V.P. of Advancement and Public Affairs, Jim was the college contact with the public and media. He did an outstanding job of representing the college to the outside world. Jim was asked to add numerous other college departments to his duties because his areas exceeded all expectations. Then he was asked to add even more. And again and again. The areas he ultimately oversaw added up to half of all college departments and 184 full-time employees. During my Chairmanship, Jim was second in command to the President for our college serving 25,000 students, one of America's largest colleges. He routinely met with the President and me during all our meetings and was instrumental in achieving many nationally-recognized successes. I believe the exceptionally large role Jim exceled at prepare him extremely well to be an outstanding President at any large college similar to Eastern Florida State College with up to 30,000 students."

From Former Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) Board Chair Ava Pippen ...
"In addition to Dr. Ross' knowledge, his communication and interpersonal skills are exceptional. He connects easily with people with his sincerity, warmth, and positive demeanor. He has an excellent sense of humor and is an engaging conversationalist. He has the unique ability to inspire a diverse range of people to pursue and achieve high goals. He is spectacular at making the ask for major gifts. He gained two million-dollar gifts for PVCC, and one was from a retired hairdresser. I introduced him to two business leaders at a luncheon and before we said goodbye, he gained a large gift... "

From Former Piedmont Va. Community College Foundation Board Vice Chair Bob Gest...
"He has a remarkable gift for establishing relationships. I consider hin1 an extraordinary leader who truly cares about people and brings out the best in all he works with, and this is the basis for the tremendous success in fundraising he has achieved."

From Former Florida State Senate President and Current U.S. Congressman Mike Haridopolos ...
"Jim Ross represents an ideal higher education President for today's new era of budget accountability. He has exceptional fundraising, legislative relations, business relations, and enrolhnent management skills to generate new revenues. Importantly, he also has an entrepreneur's innovative mindset with an ability to expertly manage budgets to get the most out of every dollar while still achieving excellence. His communication and people skills are extraordinary... "

From North Carolina State Senator Norman Sanderson ...
"Few community colleges in NC have an advocate like Jim Ross. He is a man with extraordinary vision and the passion required to make those visions a reality. When others say it can't be done, Dr. Ross uses his creativity and proves them wrong. He is a most effective communicator, a problem solver, and a man who loves people and wants only the best for them. He has used his extraordinary people gifts to win the hearts and admiration of our citizens. He has become more than my community college President, he has become a trusted friend."

From Boeing Florida Employees Community Fund Board Past President Paul Cummins ...
"He is one of the most effective communicators I have ever seen or heard. His words have the unmistakable glow of honesty and sincerity. He has a very unique ability to persuade people to give extraordinary, and even unprecedented, amounts of money and support..."

From Eastern Florida State College Past Faculty Leader Randy Eastep...
"I deeply admire the outstanding leadership he has demonstrated in improving the faculty and administration relations... As an official of the faculty union, I had many opportunities to meet with Jim. There was never a single moment that I felt he was less than honest and less than interested in bringing successful resolutions to conflicts. I have never met a person with greater compassion or a greater ability to bring two sides together..."

From PVCC Donor Relations Director Simone Alley Who Reported to Dr. Ross...
"Dr. Ross is a visionary and a true servant leader. In a room full of students, faculty, colleagues, staff, board members, and donors, he makes every person feel beloved, respected, and special."

From Pamlico Community College Former Acting President (Now Deceased) Michelle Willis...
"I found Dr. Ross an absolute joy to work with. As my supervisor, he was also my mentor. He believed in me, challenged me to be better than I ever thought possible, respected me tremendously, listened to my opinions and concerns on all issues, truly cared about my family and me, and always treated me and all around me with dignity and respect. He treats employees as treasured professionals. I believe he is a leader that comes around once in a lifetime."

From Pamlico County Business Owner Gloria Cowell ...
"He has made opening the PCC campus to our community a top priority. I view his professionalism and interaction between his staff, faculty, and students to be the best I have ever seen. However, I believe his biggest asset is his compassion and service to our community."

From Former Florida Today Executive Editor Ken Paulson ...
"Jim was constructive and not confrontational, striving always to build a bridge of better understanding and communications. Jim was forthcoming and truthful... We found him to be both responsive and reliable in his relationship with the press and public."