Board of Trustees

Georgia L. Mercer is the current President of the Board of Trustees. Ms. Mercer has been a member of the Board since 1998, having served twice before as Board President and three times as Vice President.

Ms. Mercer is the immediate past President of the statewide board of California Community College Trustees (CCCT), having been first elected by her statewide colleagues in 2002. Additionally, she serves on the Implementation Oversight Committee for the State Chancellor’s Strategic Plan.

Ms. Mercer earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Education at California State University, Los Angeles. She attended the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management Executive Program, was an instructor of Group Counseling for Women at UCLA, and taught at Danube Avenue Elementary School.

Before becoming a member of the Board of Trustees, Ms. Mercer served as Mayor Richard Riordan’s representative to the West San Fernando Valley and the citywide Women’s Community and Jewish Community. Previously, she was Director of Public Affairs and Communications for Planned Parenthood/Los Angeles.

In addition to her service as a college trustee, Ms. Mercer serves on the Advisory Boards of Careers In Culinary Arts LA (C-CAP/LA), the Valley Trauma Center and the Women’s Political Committee.

Previous community involvements include: Foundation Board of California State University, Northridge, Founding President of the New Reform Congregation, Board of Directors and Foundation President of Valley Presbyterian Hospital, President of the Juvenile Justice Connection Project, President of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission, Member of the California Task Force on Civil Rights, and Member of the State Advisory Committee on School Finance Equalization.

Ms. Mercer and her husband David have a son, Steven, daughter-in-law Nina, and grandson Joshua.

Miguel Santiago is now First Vice President of the Board of Trustees. Miguel has been a member of the LACCD Board since 2008.

A community organizer, educator and government representative, Miguel prides himself on working hard to empower Los Angeles’ working families. Born to immigrant parents, Miguel attended local public schools, community college and then graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) majoring in History.

A lifelong resident of the San Fernando Valley, Miguel has been an active, steady and consistent member of his community. He's a founding member and two-term past President of the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council. With his assistance, Canoga Park became a nationally recognized "All-American City".

As an educator, Miguel taught middle school at Guardian Angel Catholic School in Pacoima. Miguel also served in several capacities at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church. As Parish Director, his major accomplishments were establishing educational outreach programs for low income and immigrant communities, developing projects that increased political awareness and involvement and coordinating youth projects and charity programs. He also helped develop the church's English as a second Language Programming, Citizenship drives and voter education programs.

Miguel Santiago was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District on March 26, 2008 and was sworn in on April 9, 2008. He was elected to the Board the following year during the 2009 primary election.

Nancy Pearlman is now Second Vice President on the LACCD Board of Trustees. Pearlman was elected to the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees in 2001. She chairs the Infrastructure Committee, which is charged with reviewing all construction projects under Propositions A, AA and Measure J, passed by the voters in 2001, 2003 and 2008.

Ms. Pearlman is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist, environmentalist, college instructor, anthropologist, editor, producer, on-air personality, and outdoorswoman who has made safeguarding the earth’s ecosystems both a vocation and an avocation. For forty years, she has given her time and energy to the environmental cause. She was selected by the United Nations Environment Programme as a Global 500 Laureate and has received many other honors including the Chevron Conservation Award.

Since the 1970s when Ms. Pearlman coordinated the first Earth Day in Southern California, she has worked with and continues to be involved with hundreds of conservation organizations, serving as administrator, founder, member of advisory councils, participant, and member of boards of directors. She founded the Ecology Center of Southern California in 1972, Project Ecotourism in 1993, Earth Cultures in 2004, Humanity and the Planet in 2001 and Nancy Pearlman, the Eco-Traveler in 2007.

ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTIONS, her international weekly radio series, was started in 1977 and is now the longest-running environmental radio series in the country on broadcast and the Web. These half-hour programs, with one to three interviews per show, have featured leading scientists, authors, activists, and representatives from the business, academic, government, and nonprofit sectors.

As Executive Producer and Host of the three-time EMMY-nominated environmental television series ECONEWS, Ms. Pearlman covers every ecological issue. Since 1984, she has presented her programs weekly to more than 35 million homes via cable and broadcast television and over the Internet. More than 550 shows air on local origination, public access, governmental, school, and university channels, as well as on satellite to PBS stations.

Television specials that have won awards include “Gem in the Heart of the City” (the definitive piece on the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area), “Wind: Energy for 90’s and Beyond,” and “Population Crisis USA .” Television show honors include ACE-nominations (Award for Cable Excellence), Hometown USA Video Festival, and Diamond Awards. Nancy’s public service announcements have won numerous Buccaneer Awards from the Public Interest Radio and Television Educational Society.

As Executive Director to Educational Communications, Ms. Pearlman has edited for 37 years the bimonthly “Compendium Newsletter” and edited for 29 years the “Directory of Environmental Organizations.” She is also president of a media consulting firm which creates audio-visual materials. She has taught Cultural and Physical Anthropology, Broadcasting, Journalism, and Mass Communications at the college and adult level.

Nancy Pearlman is a member of the Gypsy Folk Ensemble, performing, and teaching ethnic world dance. Her athletic achievements include completing the Western States 100-mile run, finishing the Ironman Triathlon, climbing more than 100 listed peaks in California, winning long-distance races such as the 1980 Regional Championship 50-mile race, and performing in equestrian events.

Kelly G. Candaele was was first elected to the Board in June of 1997. He was re-elected in 2001 and again for another 4-year term in 2005.

Mr. Candaele received his M.A. degree in Counseling and Psychology from California State University, Chico in 1980. He is a product of the California community college system; attending both Hancock Community College and Butte Community College.

Upon graduation from Chico, Mr. Candaele traveled to Fairbury, Nebraska to work as a Counselor, Instructor of Psychology and athletic coach at Southwest Community College. Returning to California, he worked with disadvantaged and abandoned adolescents at the Deveraux Foundation in Santa Barbara before moving to Los Angeles in 1982.

Since the early 1980s, Mr. Candaele has worked extensively in the area of labor relations, politics and writing. He was Public Policy Director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor before establishing his own consulting firm. During his tenure at the Labor Federation, he was appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley to "Workforce Los Angeles," a school-to-work organization established to help non-college bound youths prepare for emerging job opportunities. He was also a member of the City's Strategic Planning Committee.

Mr. Candaele is an accomplished writer and filmmaker. He has written extensively on public policy and history for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The Nation magazine and National Public Radio. With a deep personal interest in Irish history and culture, he is also a frequent contributor to Irish America magazine.

Mr. Candaele has produced a number of award winning documentary films, including "A League of Their Own," about his mother's experience as a professional baseball player in the All American Girl&'s Professional Baseball League. His mother was a lifetime .290 hitter. Candaele wrote the story for the Columbia Picture&'s feature film, "A League of Their Own," which stared Tom Hanks and Geena Davis. He also produced and directed an award-winning film on the life of assassinated Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme and a film on the Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu.

For eight years, Mr. Candaele taught classes in history, politics, economics and collective bargaining in the Labor Center at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. He has a particular interest in the areas of job training, career ladders and business labor partnerships.

Mr. Candaele is on the Executive Board of Kids in Sports, and a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the Pacific Council on International Policy.

July 2005

Mona Field has served on the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees since 1999, and has been elected by her colleagues to serve as President twice (2009 and 2004) and Vice President (2002). She was first elected by the voters of the LACCD in 1999, and reelected in 2003 and 2007.

A lifelong resident of Los Angeles, Ms. Field received a B.A. degree in Social Relations at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, and an M.A. degree in Social Sciences at California State University. Throughout her professional career, Ms. Field has been a leader in furthering causes of social responsibility, positive labor-management relations, and excellence in education.

Ms. Field has been a professor of political science at Glendale Community College. She has taught courses in American Political Ideals, California Government, Introduction to Sociology, Introduction to Community Volunteerism, and Introduction to Social Science.

She also teaches and lectures at other venues, including UCLA Extension, California State University–Sacramento in the Community College Leadership Program, and the California School Employees Association Leadership Training Program.

A prolific writer, Ms. Field writes extensively on a variety of topics relating to social, education, and political issues, including a best-selling college text, California Government and Politics Today, 12th Edition. She is also co-editor of the essay collection, The People and Promise of California. She is a sought-after facilitator of workshops and panels for a range of organizations including the Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges, the Community College League of California, and the California Studies Center.

Some of her writing topics include:

• “Leadership: Getting a New College President: Who? How? When?”
• “Should Colleges be Forced to Teach the Constitution? Think of it as a Teach-In”
• “Outside Experts or Hired Guns: How does your District Handle Labor Negotiations?”
• “AB 982: Student Health Centers: It’s Controversial, It’s Signed, and Now What?”
• “Keeping Track of Sacramento: An Ever-Challenging Task.”

Ms. Field has been the recipient of numerous awards including: Health Centers Association of the California Community Colleges Leadership Award, March 2006 for support of local funding for college health centers; Emil Freed Award for Advancing Educational Justice, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, March 2004; California Association of Leadership Programs Distinguished Leadership Award, March 2004; Playa Vista Jobs Vision Award, November 2002, for commitment to placing at-risk individuals in job training and work.

Ms. Field has worked on projects in the community college system to promote green building and sustainable campuses; to move welfare recipients into higher education; to develop a new generation of elementary level teachers who simultaneously gain tutoring experience and college credits; and to develop service learning curricula which encourages students to volunteer in the community while attaining academic goals.

Ms. Field has served as President of the Glendale College Guild, member of the Board of Governors of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, member of the Advisory Committee of the Center for California Studies (CSUS), and member of the Benchmarks Task Force of the Southern California Association of Governments.

Tina Park is the youngest woman and the first Korean-American elected to the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District. She is also the first Korean-American elected countywide in Los Angeles history.

Ms. Park was raised in a family of Christian educators, who instilled in her from an early age the importance of a quality education, as well as the need to help others and to give back to the community. She has volunteered in soup kitchens, mentored children in after-school programs, and has been active in Christian outreach services.

Ms. Park is grateful for the community college education that prepared her for Hofstra University in New York, where she majored in accounting.

After graduating from Hofstra, Ms. Park became a financial auditor at the New York Stock Exchange. In 2003, she participated in a $1.4-billion global conflict-of-interest settlement and enforcement agreement between the SEC, NASD, NYSE, and 10 of the largest U.S. investment firms.

Ms. Park continued her work in auditing and financial analysis when she became a consultant at the downtown Los Angeles office of one of the world's largest private consulting firms.

While campaigning for the Board of Trustees seat, Ms. Park received a great deal of support and encouragement from Angelenos throughout the District. To show her gratitude, she promises to work diligently with fellow board members, the chancellor, and the presidents of the nine LACCD colleges. Her goal is to help improve the quality of education for current and future students in the 36 cities served by the LACCD.

Educator and community activist, Ms. Sylvia Scott-Hayes was first elected in 1999 and is the first Latina to serve as President of the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District in its 32-year history. She has now served three terms as President of the Board and three terms as Vice President of the Board.

Under Ms. Scott-Hayes' first term as President, the Board adopted a nationally recognized environmental sustainability building policy for which the Board received the prestigious Green Cross Millennium Award from Global Green USA, in recognition of its leadership in launching an extensive program to transform the nine Los Angeles community colleges into energy-efficient, sustainable campuses. In addition, the Board also adopted an ambitious Project Labor Agreement for the District's three bond measures.

Ms. Scott-Hayes currently chairs the Board’s Planning and Student Success Committee, to ensure each of the colleges are meeting current accreditation standards.

She has spent a great portion of her career as an educator at the college and university levels. Before retiring, she was the Director of the University Testing Center at California State University, Los Angeles where she was responsible for the management and administration of assessment, placement, and professional school examinations. She was also involved in counseling and advisement and appropriate uses of examinations.

In her positions as Associate Director of a University Writing Center, Director of a Learning Resources Program, and Coordinator of a Learning Technology Lab, she has expertise in developing and establishing successful student support programs to increase student retention. In addition, her teaching experience has been focused on assisting students to develop college-level research and writing skills.

An active participant in the community, Ms. Scott-Hayes has received many community service awards. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund honored her for her steadfast mission to increase the number of students transferring to four-year institutions by establishing a scholarship in her name. She has received the Community Service Award from the National Chicano Health Organization, Outstanding Service Award from the Hispanic Women's Health Organization, Visionary Leadership Award from the Los Angeles Women's Appointment Collaboration, and Outstanding Women Award of California State University, Los Angeles.

Ms. Scott-Hayes is a staunch proponent of mentoring and has served as mentor for several programs and projects. These include the Pat Brown Institute Gang Youth Violence Bridging Project, the Scholar Athlete Program, and the Young Women at Risk Violence Intervention Program--a joint pilot program through the City of Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women.

Directly committed to the improvement of race relations and the betterment of communities, Ms. Scott-Hayes has served on the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations and currently serves on the Los Angeles County Judicial Procedures Commission as an appointee of Supervisor Gloria Molina. She is Past-President of the Los Angeles Women's Appointment Collaboration and co-founder of the Staff Literacy Program.

Since her retirement from CSULA, she has been a Consultant with Community College Search Services and helped several community colleges in the hiring of Superintendents and Presidents.

Ms. Scott-Hayes received a B.A. degree in Sociology and an M.A. degree in Urban Education from California State University, Los Angeles and in addition engaged in doctoral coursework in Politics at Claremont Graduate University. She is married to Dr. Ronald Hayes, and they have three sons.

With a strong background in community service and a desire to pursue a career in community planning and economic development, Rodney D. Robinson has been elected Student Trustee for the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District.

As Student Trustee for the nation's largest community college district, Robinson's agenda includes providing full accountability for fees paid by students, increasing accessibility for disabled students, getting involved in environmental issues by promoting recycling and the use of public transportation, assisting low-income students and helping student government leaders achieve their goals.

Robinson passionately believes that students should assist their community. A participant in the welfare-to-work program Gain/Cal Works, Robinson says: "I often wonder where I would be without these programs. That is why I will often express to students the importance of giving back and knowing their community."

Born in Indianapolis in 1968, Robinson attended school in that city and Fort Wayne, Ind., before moving to Georgia, where he began pursuing his goal of public service at the Grant Park Community Center. In four years there, he was responsible for the day-to-day operations, activities and fundraising.

He also has done volunteer work for a number of efforts, including the Hosea Williams Feed the Hungry & Homeless Thanksgiving program in Atlanta, the AIDS Walk Atlanta, a community radio station, the Compton Community Center and several political campaigns.

Robinson has worked as an art-store manager, has been a concert promoter and has managed the careers of recording artists.

Upon moving to Los Angeles in 2003, he got his high school equivalency certificate and enrolled at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, where he is completing his second year.

As senior director of public relations for the Black Student Union, Robinson worked to give the Spirit of Excellence Award to such community leaders as then-state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, Councilman Bernard C. Parks, and Councilwoman Jan Perry. He also played a role in bringing then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to the campus in 2008.

Robinson has served as director of public relations for Trade-Tech's Associated Student Organization and been a student assistant in the admissions and records office.

He currently serves as chairman on the Board of Trustees' Student Affairs Committee, which is made up of student body presidents from the District&039;s nine colleges.

"It is not what a person receives in life, but what he or she gives to their fellow man and the environment that makes a strong community," Robinson says.