John J. “Ski” Sygielski, Ed.D., is the seventh president of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, and the immediate past chairman of the American Association of Community Colleges Board of Directors.

Before coming to HACC, Ski was president of Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore. Since his arrival at MHCC in 2008, he developed and established institutional planning strategies resulting in the development of the College’s strategic plan, a facility master plan, a technology plan and a security and continuity of operations plan, increased the College’s reserve fund from $100,000 to $4 million, secured legislative funding for many capital improvements, led the successful completion of the College’s accreditation process, increased donations by 26 percent over the past year, instituted new academic programs and led efforts to increase outreach efforts within the region’s growing Latino community.

Prior to 2008, Ski served as president of Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC), a multi-campus learning community, for five years. While president, he established a third College location, chaired the Virginia’s President’s Committee on Governmental Affairs, led the successful completion of the College’s ten year accreditation process, served on accreditation visiting committees, facilitated the creation of the College’s strategic plan, enhanced distance learning opportunities with a four-year institution, upgraded the College’s technology infrastructure, increased outreach to high schools, implemented the College’s first intercollegiate sports program, oversaw capital projects totaling more than $22 million, enhanced the focus on institutional effectiveness, planning and enrollment management, appointed by the Governor to the Virginia Manufacturing Development Commission, raised more than $4 million and developed/implemented the first College-wide participatory governance system.

From 1999 until 2003, Ski served as the first vice chancellor for workforce and economic development of the Virginia Community College System. In this role, he was responsible for coordinating the workforce development efforts of 23 community colleges and developing numerous new credit and non-credit classes and programs. In addition, he worked closely with legislative leaders to successfully pass a $900-million general obligation bond package for educational facility capital projects throughout Virginia, co-developed Virginia’s Middle College program and served as a program assessment evaluator for community college programs.

Prior to 1999, he was an adjunct faculty member and administrator at College of DuPage (COD), Illinois’ largest community college, for nearly a decade. At COD, he developed the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy, significantly increased community and business outreach activities, developed and implemented new classes and programs, taught credit and non-credit business courses, received numerous federal and state grant awards, participated in the development of a community college in Bangalore, India and served on a variety of state, regional and local committees.

The recipient of Phi Theta Kappa’s Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction, Ski is an author, speaker, university lecturer and former adjunct business faculty member. He most recently joined the Higher Education Research & Development Institute (HERDI) Advisory Board, which is comprised of 30 community college presidents and chancellors. HERDI helps clients gain access to the decision makers, allowing them to market their ideas to a roundtable of community college presidents in a more efficient and successful manner and gain unprecedented insight into the needs of community colleges.

Ski has an honorary associate degree and earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, two master’s degrees and a doctorate. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Ski is the only member of his working-class family to graduate from college. Ski is also a biking enthusiast.