Former Oklahoma Education Secretary Phyllis Hudecki and Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan Join National Nonprofit’s Board of Directors
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Complete College America today announced that Phyllis Hudecki, former Oklahoma Secretary of Education, and John Morgan, Chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents, have been appointed to the organization’s board of directors. The board is chaired by former Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer.
“Both Phyllis and John embody our commitment to improving higher education in this country, and they serve as standout national leaders in efforts to put the education of our students as a top priority,” said Complete College America President Stan Jones. “We are honored to have them join our board and look forward to their partnership as we work to boost college completion rates and close attainment gaps for underrepresented populations.”
Former Oklahoma Education Secretary Phyllis Hudecki currently serves as the executive director of the Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition (OBEC), a business-led coalition established in 2000 to improve and strengthen education in Oklahoma. The organization has partnered with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education on several initiatives aimed at system education reform in Oklahoma, including the design and enactment of Achieving Classroom Excellence legislation, which raised standards and increased requirements to receive a high school diploma.
In 2010, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin selected Hudecki to serve as secretary of education, calling her “one of the leading education-policy minds in Oklahoma and in the nation.” During her time as secretary, Hudecki played a key role in efforts to boost student performance and accountability in Oklahoma’s public schools. Hudecki was also instrumental in the implementation of Complete College America in Oklahoma, an action plan which includes working with K-12 to focus on college readiness, transforming remediation, expanding collaboration with CareerTech, enhancing adult degree completion efforts, and tracking and rewarding improvements in degree completion.
Hudecki previously served as the associate director of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education at the University of California-Berkeley. She has also held positions with the Iowa, Missouri, and Massachusetts state departments of education, as well as the U.S. Department of Education. She began her career as a teacher in Norwich, Connecticut and served as a high school assistant principal in Kansas City, Missouri.
Hudecki received her doctorate of education as well as her bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University. She holds an educational specialist degree in education administration from the University of Missouri–Kansas City and a masters degree in education from the University of Connecticut.
“I’m honored to join the board of Complete College America, an organization that is at the forefront of efforts to dramatically improve higher education throughout the country,” said Hudecki. “We have an obligation to ensure more of our students not only attend college, but that they are able to complete their degrees and pursue fulfilling and rewarding careers. Complete College America is showing dynamic leadership in determining how we can best close the skills gap and boost student success, and I’m thrilled to be a partner in that work.”
John Morgan has served as chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents since September of 2010, having previously served as deputy to Governor Phil Bredesen. Morgan has served the State of Tennessee in a variety of roles for more than 30 years, including a 10-year period as Comptroller of the Treasury.
In his role as Deputy to the Governor, Morgan served as chief of staff and advisor to Governor Bredesen on statewide issues, including education. He played a significant role in the development and subsequent adoption of the Complete College Tennessee Act and the First to the Top Act in the historic January 2010 special legislative session.
He helped organize the Governor’s working group of state higher education policy decision makers that led to the development of the state’s new postsecondary completion agenda. It was during his time in the Governor’s office that Morgan began serving as liaison for Tennessee’s participation in Complete College America.
Morgan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and history from Austin Peay State University. He is a member of the American Society of Public Administration and former member of the Association of Government Accountants.
“It is an honor to be a member of the board and to serve with a prestigious group of higher education leaders dedicated to broadening the numbers of students who reach their education goals, aligning those goals with the workforce needs of their communities and ensuring underrepresented students are afforded equal opportunities,” Morgan said. “By providing support, expertise and a forum for collaboration, Complete College America has changed the landscape of higher education across the country. A new enthusiasm for identifying best practices aimed at achieving success for all students is being cultivated, and I am proud to be part of it.”
In addition to Morgan and Hudecki, the Complete College America board consists of Juliet Garcia, president of the University of Texas at Brownsville; Jim Geringer (chair), former governor of Wyoming and director of policy and public sector strategies at the Environmental Systems Research Institute; Cheryl Hyman, chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago; Woody Hunt, chairman and CEO of Hunt Companies, Inc.; and Stan Jones, president of Complete College America.
