On Tuesday, September 29, 2020, at their regular governance meeting, the Peralta Community College District (PCCD) Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Carla Stalling Walter to serve as the District’s Interim Chancellor effective October 1, 2020 and continuing through February 2021 or until a permanent chancellor is hired. The Board approved the contract including an annualized salary of $314,943. Interim Chancellor Walter previously served as the District’s Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration and started serving as Acting Chancellor for the District this past July. She brings more than 20 years of successful experience in financial administration and in higher education, including leadership posts at Chabot-Las Positas Community College District and State Center Community College District.
“We are impressed by the calm professionalism Dr. Walter brings to her work,” said Board of Trustees President Julina Bonilla. “She also brings a fresh perspective to our District with over 20 years’ experience in higher education and municipal finance leadership. She has served in diverse roles—as professor, director, dean, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and chief executive officer—and in diverse organizations–in community colleges, public and private universities, and municipal finance. In addition, Dr. Walter is an accomplished author, speaker, and advocate for the role of the arts in community and personal improvement.”
The District has made substantial progress in addressing concerns about high risk of insolvency raised June 2019 by the Fiscal Crisis Management & Assistance Team (FCMAT). At a California Community Colleges Board of Governors meeting in May 2020, the state-assigned fiscal monitor confirmed that PCCD is now well within a low risk rating on the FCMAT assessment. In addition to improving its FCMAT score, the District recently refinanced an ambitious bond program to save taxpayers nearly five million dollars, earned a higher credit rating from Moody’s, and secured millions in grant funding to provide services for students.
“I’m very honored to serve the Peralta Colleges and the District,” said Dr. Carla Walter. “I’m thrilled to continue working with the Board and the community to maintain the best possible educational opportunities and support services for students. I want to thank all Peralta employees for their hard work this year. Thanks to the efforts of truly dedicated faculty, professional staff and administrators, we’ve made tremendous progress in addressing and resolving concerns raised about our finances while also moving our classes online to keep students and employees as safe as possible during the pandemic.”
“Dr. Carla Walter’s background in both education and finance is critical to the District’s path forward in improving our fiscal health,” said Board of Trustees President Julina Bonilla. “Serving as Acting Chancellor, the appointment of Dr. Walter as Interim Chancellor allows the District to maintain a seamless transition in CEO leadership as the Board initiates the permanent Chancellor search."
Dr. Jennifer Shanoski, President of the Peralta Federation of Teachers, said, “I’m really excited that the Board chose to select a Chancellor who has expertise in finance which we all know needs attention and support, and who has shown us a great ability to work together to try to solve problems collaboratively and collectively, and to do so in a really calm helpful manner. I think we all need a little more calmness in our days so I’m grateful for that. Congratulations!”
The Board will continue its search for a permanent Chancellor and looks forward to working with the entire District community to select the best candidates for the role.
More About Dr. Walter
Dr. Walter also served as a tenured associate professor in business at Missouri Southern State University, coming to the field after being Chief Operating Officer in the public finance industry. As a leader in public finance, she partnered with public agency executives in California to issue and administer over $30 billion in bonds. Both her BA in economics and her PhD in Dance History and Theory were earned from the University of California, Riverside. She earned her MBA from the California State University, San Bernardino. Dr. Walter is proud to be a graduate from Riverside Community College, where she earned an Associate in Science. Dr. Walter is a native of Los Angeles, now living in Hayward.
