Debbie Novak, assistant to the president and CEO of Colorado Mountain College and secretary to the college’s elected board of trustees, was recently named the recipient of the 2016 Western Regional Professional Board Staff Member Award by the national Association of Community College Trustees. She is the sole nominee from the western region, and one of four nominees nationwide, for ACCT’s prestigious Professional Board Staff Member Award, which will be announced in October.
Novak holds leadership roles on many Colorado Mountain College committees, including the 50th Anniversary Planning Team and, for multiple years, the central committee for CMC Day, an annual gathering of hundreds of employees that rotates to different campuses.
Similarly, she has provided outstanding service to ACCT’s Professional Board Staff Network, holding positions from regional member-at-large, to secretary, vice president, president and immediate past president. She facilitated a three-hour workshop for her peers at the 2014 ACCT Annual Congress.
Her award nomination pointed out that she has held a steady hand in supporting the college president and elected board of trustees through a decade of great change, and has led to the board to adopt more technologically advanced practices, from the use of laptops, to electronic board packets, to a board portal that is under development.
The Association of Community College Trustees is a nonprofit educational organization of governing boards, representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern over 1,200 community, technical and junior colleges in the United States and beyond. Located in Washington, D.C., ACCT is a major voice of community college trustees to the presidential administration, U.S. Congress, the Departments of Education and Labor and more.