Those who were to look in City College’s directory under administration would find that instead of a name under the position for vice president of administrative services, it reads “vacant.”
City lost an important leader in administration to cancer before the beginning of the spring semester. His name was Jerry Davis.
In 2009, Davis officially became part of the administration at City and “was responsible for everything that was business, the budget, facilities, resource allocation, and public safety,” according to Mary Bernard, vice president of instruction.
Because of his impressive fiscal and administrative background, he was responsible for $37 million in business operations at City.
Before his time at City, he served as vice president of administrative services at Mesa Community College in Arizona and held the same position for four years at Los Angeles Harbor College.
On top of that, Davis served five years as the management services officer at the UC Davis School of Medicine Department of Neurology, as well as six years as the director of the Medical Center Finance at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, where he managed the development and implementation of a $250 million operating budget for clinical operations.
Davis earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at UC Riverside, a master’s degree in finance and management at the UCLA Graduate School of Management and a master’s degree in health administration at the UCLA School of Public Health.
He completed graduate work in computer science and information systems at UC Irvine and earned a doctorate in public administration at the University of Southern California School of Policy Planning and Development.
Although not all students may be aware of what Davis contributed at the administrative level, “he was the one administrative person at the district who really provided oversight to all the different departments,” said Tom Fine, campus project manager.
“He was instrumental in really providing leadership on the part of all the faculty, the students, the staff, anyone that actually teaches at City College or come to school here,” he said.
Currently, a hiring committee is considering applicants for the position while other staff members hold down the fort.
“Mary Granderson assumed responsibility for many of the functions that Dr. Davis performed in the business office,” said Bernard. “The vice presidents, Peter White and I, band together and try to cover different meetings or different events and we all just divided it up and pitched in.”
The district is expected to find a new vice president of administrative services by July.
“He empowered people. In a sense because he was a good leader even if he is gone his people will continue,” said Fine. “The legacy he left really demonstrates his leadership ability and that people will carry on and succeed because he empowered them to succeed.”
