New Saddleback College Foundation director. Again. Really?
Donald L. Rickner was named the latest director of Saddleback College Foundation at the beginning of this semester.
If memory serves me right, he will be the second director within the span of a year.
And the last director, Dave Jese-Ross Jenkin, was only on the job for six months.
What is up with the frequent change of directors lately? Is the job really that bad? Does the pay not justify the workload?
Or is the Foundation in trouble?
With the budget cuts that have been made to all the college systems in California in the past several years, as well as the recent stock market drop in Sept., I, for one, will not be surprised if the Foundation ran into financial trouble.
A director’s job is to lead the foundation’s efforts to bring in additional resources for the college, and Rickner’s impressive credentials as well as extensive background in fundraising and consulting services definitely seem to make him ideal for the job.
Prior to his employment at Saddleback, Rickner has provided fundraising consultant services to 39 California community colleges and other community organizations as principal of The Magellan Group, a real estate investment and development firm.
He also served as dean of community relations at Irvine Valley College Foundation for 10 years. For the South Orange County Community College District, he was director of foundation, director of extended operations, dean of arts, languages, and humanities, as well as dean of outreach and community relations.
In addition, he sat on the board of directors of, and later acted as president for, the Network of California Community College Foundations, which earned him a lifetime achievement award in 2001.
He was president of California Community Colleges Community Services Association, member of the National Council of Planned Giving, and the California Council for International Education as well.
Although we have no idea what is happening with the Foundation director position, at least we seemed to have hired someone whose background tells us that he has the potential and skills to excel at the job this time.