MCM’s February SBN: The Kirwan Commission

Dr. William Kirwan, Dr. DeRionne Pollard and Councilmember Craig Rice joined Kelly Leonard for Montgomery Community Media’s Small Business Network (SBN) session on Tuesday, February 18 at our studios in Rockville.

The series of monthly morning sessions facilitated by Kelly Leonard addresses topics of interest to small business owners in Montgomery County.

The February topic is “The Kirwan Commission: What’s Good for Education is Good for Business.”

Watch a video of their discussion recorded live here:

In 2016 the Maryland Legislature established the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education to determine how to make Maryland’s school system among the best in the world. This Commission is often referred to by the name of its Chairman, Dr. Brit Kirwan.

The Kirwan Commission is charged with making policy recommendations to enable Maryland’s schools to be of the best-performing in the world and to propose changes to the current funding formulas for schools.

Dr. William E. “Brit” Kirwan is chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland (USM). He is a nationally recognized authority on critical issues facing higher education. He served as chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM) (2002-2015), president of the Ohio State University (1998-2002) and president of the University of Maryland, College Park (1988-1998). Prior to his presidency, he was a member of the University of Maryland mathematics faculty for 24 years.

Dr. Kirwan is past chair of, among other boards, the American Council for Higher Education, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, the American Association of Colleges & Universities, the Business Higher Education Forum, the National Research Council Board on Higher Education and Workforce, and of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences. He also served as the co-chair and chair of Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics from 2004 to 2016.

Dr. DeRionne Pollard is the president of Montgomery College. In 2010, DeRionne Pollard assumed leadership of Montgomery College, a three-campus community college with 55,000 credit and noncredit students. She spearheaded the development of a new Montgomery College mission and strategic plan. She has partnered actively with Montgomery County Public Schools and the Universities at Shady Grove in the creation of Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES), a support program designed to help disadvantaged students transition from high school to college completion. The program now has 2,700 students enrolled. Montgomery College is also a member of Achieving the Dream network, a non-governmental reform movement for student success at community colleges.

Dr. Pollard formerly served as president of Las Positas College in Livermore, California. She served on the American Association of Community Colleges’ 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges and the Commission on Academic, Student, and Community Development. Dr. Pollard is a member of the Equity Advisory Board for Mission Partners and the Center for First-generation Student Success Advisory Board for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Community Colleges and as the president of the American Association for Women in Community Colleges. Locally, she also serves on the boards of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, Universities at Shady Grove, the Montgomery County Advisory Board of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, and the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area.

Craig Rice was elected in 2010 to the Montgomery County Council, after previously having served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2006 until 2010, where he was on the legislative body’s Ways and Means Committee. Rice represents District 2 which includes Barnesville, Boyds, Comus, Damascus, Hyattstown, Germantown and Clarksburg.

Rice chairs the Council’s Education and Culture Committee and also serves on its Health and Human Services Committee. He is on the National Association of Counties (NACo) Board of Directors. In addition, he serves as the Council’s representative to the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) in Annapolis and chairs MACo’s Education Sub-Committee. Rice is also the past chair and current member of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Chesapeake Bay and Water Resources Policy Committee.

Rice served on the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (Kirwan Commission) and led the Early Care and Education workgroup.

The Small Business Networking Series is held at Montgomery Community Media (MCM) studios in Rockville and typically begins at 8 a.m. and finishes promptly at 9:30 a.m.

Photos from the networking session:

About Montgomery Community Media’s Small Business Network Series

The series of monthly morning sessions address topics of interest to small business owners in Montgomery County.

Moreover, the series offers the opportunity to invigorate and innovate businesses with insight and information from regional business leaders’ presentations and question and answer sessions. Indeed, seminars and networking can enhance the success of local businesses in Montgomery County.

Montgomery Community Media is located at 7548 Standish Place in Rockville, walking distance from the Shady Grove Metro station. Free parking is available.

You can view previous speakers and events, here.

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