Chancellor

Ronald P. Gerhard is Chancellor of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District (CLPCCD), a two-college district serving the East Bay through Chabot College in Hayward and Las Positas College in Livermore. He began serving as Interim Chancellor in January 2019 and was appointed permanent Chancellor in May 2020. With 25 years of leadership experience in California’s community colleges, he has guided CLPCCD through pandemic-era disruption and recovery and into a position of greater enrollment and fiscal strength. 

During his tenure, CLPCCD increased reported resident full-time equivalent students by more than 30 percent from 2021–22 through 2025–26. Gerhard also oversaw the development of a holistic enrollment-management model and supporting data infrastructure that now guides district planning, financial-aid outreach, and student-success interventions.  

Core to Gerhard’s leadership is the conviction that excellent educational opportunities strengthen students’ lives, their families, and their communities. That belief drives his focus on student learning, equitable access, and success and shapes the district’s current strategic priorities. 

Gerhard has also championed the expansion of workforce and apprenticeship partnerships. CLPCCD’s behavioral-health-specialist apprenticeship enables students to earn an associate degree in social work and human services while gaining paid experience with community-based organizations. Support from the Kaiser Permanente Fund for Health Education provides living stipends for apprentices who might not otherwise qualify for state-funded assistance. Gerhard is also supporting the development of an earn-and-learn pathway with California State University, East Bay, extending from the associate degree through the Master of Social Work. 

Gerhard’s expertise spans financial and enrollment management, governance, collective bargaining, board leadership, capital programs and bond finance, accreditation, technology and organizational change, and advocacy for student success. Other California community colleges facing fiscal and organizational adversity have drawn upon his expertise to support institutional recovery, strengthen operations, and expand educational opportunities. 

Before becoming Chancellor, Gerhard served CLPCCD as Vice Chancellor for Business Services and as Vice President for Administrative Services at Chabot College. He previously served as Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration at both City College of San Francisco and the Peralta Community College District, as Chief Business Officer at Compton Community College District, and in progressively responsible roles at San Bernardino Community College District from 2001 to 2010. 

Gerhard remains active in statewide policy and leadership. He co-chairs the Community College League of California’s CEO Funding Policies Taskforce, a statewide group of chief executives examining the Student-Centered Funding Formula and related funding policies. He also serves as a strategic advisor to The RP Group Board, representing the Chief Executive Officers of the California Community Colleges. 

His statewide service has also included the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Advisory Workgroup on Fiscal Affairs, the Association of Chief Business Officers Board of Directors, the Student Attendance Accounting and Reporting Committee, and the Disabled Student Programs and Services Steering Committee. He has served on numerous Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges peer-review teams, including as a team chair. 

Gerhard earned a Master of Business Administration in finance and accounting from the University of California, Riverside, and a Bachelor of Arts in accounting from the University of Redlands.