Benjamin Duran

Dr. Benjamín T. Durán is executive director of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC), an organization that brings together community college, independent, and university CEOs to collaborate on higher education issues in the Central Valley. He retired as superintendent/president of the Merced Community College District in 2012. As a statewide higher education leader, he chaired the California Community College League’s Commission on the Future. He also chaired the Community College League’s CEO Board, which led to his participation in the development of the Chancellor’s Office Statewide Strategic Plan. He served for twelve years on the Chancellor’s Office Economic and Workforce Development Advisory Committee. As a member of the University Committee and Friends of UC Merced Committee, he helped to bring the University of California, Merced campus to the Central Valley. He also served on the UC Merced Board of Trustees; the California State University, Stanislaus Community Advisory Board for Stanislaus State’s Educational Leadership EdD program; and as a faculty member in Stanislaus State’s Education Doctoral program. He is an alliance lead for Complete College America, a national advocate for dramatically increasing college completion rates and closing institutional performance gaps. He earned an EdD in organizational leadership – education at the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in education at Chapman University, and bachelor’s degree in Spanish language and literature at California State University, Stanislaus.