Finalist selected for admin position

MHCC administration has selected Richard Doughty as the lone finalist for the open position of Vice President of Administrative Services.

Doughty spoke to Mt. Hood staff, students and community members in two open forums held on Wednesday. Attendees were urged to fill out an evaluation form. He was selected from among 22 job candidates, school officials said.

This full-time position has been vacant since 2011. A part-time employee, Bill Farver, held the job on an interim basis for nearly three years until he retired in January.

To fill the void, Bill Becker is currently serving as a temporary fiscal adviser for Mt. Hood President Debbie Derr. His contract expires at the end of June.

School officials anticipate meeting filling the position in time to meet their targeted July 1 start date. A hiring decision would be needed in the next few weeks.

Doughty is currently the associate director for administration and operations at the University of California, Davis, specifically its California National Primate Research Center, near Sacramento. His prior experience includes time as associate director for administration at Oregon Health Science University’s (OHSU) west campus (also home to a primate facility). He also is a certified management accountant.

During the second forum, Doughty emphasized the important of communication, collaboration and discussion to come up with “good, eloquent solutions.

“For leadership it’s extremely important for us to be able to communicate well, where we are at accurately… and also communicate in the area of ‘What is it that our finances support?’ ” he said.

In order to enhance that communication at different institutions, he has brought in faculty in from different groups once a month to administrative meetings to represent the importance of their departments.

Doughty said he believes in the power of errors.

“The best way we learn is error and error correction,” he told the audience. “I’m happy to admit an error. I’m happy to apologize for an error.”

Doughty explained that he has been responsible for programs with budgets in the $50 million range and that MHCC would be a step up in scope.

Given Mt. Hood’s objective to put a tax bond measure on the public ballot in May 2016, Doughty was asked about any bond experience.

He responded that he has none: That is something “I would have to dig in and learn,” he said.

The question did not come up as Doughty was screened by the MHCC search team.

“It was not one of the questions we had asked in the interview,” said  Corey Huston, Mt. Hood science lab coordinator and vice president of the Classified Employees Association who served on the school’s hiring committee.

Huston said he did not think Doughty’s lack of bond experience “was seen as a direct reason… to not bring him forward.”

At the forum, Doughty was asked how he would approach employee layoffs. He recommended distributing the (reshaped job) responsibilities to multiple people and redefining positions.

He acknowledged it’s tough to significantly cut a college budget, as Mt. Hood has done this spring, “without touching personnel.”

In case more layoffs are needed, he said he believes in pre-notifications, notifications and then providing an appropriate information packet for the affected parties.

Doughty was questioned on his experience with facilities or food services, and said he has overseen food services operations and construction work.

When planning maintenance, he told the audience, evaluating the expected lifespan of each building component and creating a schedule is key. When  that anticipated date comes near, it is critical to have the component evaluated before doing any further repairs, he said.

When new projects are being planned, Doughty said he has brought on a construction consultant to create accurate bids.

During a fiscal crunch, he said he is happy to say ‘No’ to requests that would endanger the finances of the institution. However, he said any good request will be considered, in due time.

Although Doughty has never worked on a labor negotiations team, he has had staff members serve who provided “good insights” into negotiations, he said.

Huston said all VP candidates under consideration were asked to describe their experience working in a union environment (such as at Mt. Hood).

“Personally, it’s nice to have someone who has a little more (management) experience, but he’s worked in environments where unions are present and contracts have been negotiated and he has worked and implemented the results of those contracts,” said Huston.

He said that Doughy “was one of the candidates who had a large breadth of experience. He had a lot of the direct reports from facilities, human resources, and all the areas that the current VP position would receive.

“I think that that was a key factor,”said Huston.

Doughty said he sees himself as a good fit for MHCC.

“My tool set seems to be very applicable here,” he said.

Doughty has a bachelor’s degree in business administration finance from the University of Oregon and a master’s degree in communication studies from Portland State University.

His wife is an educator in the Beaverton School District. He said both have a commitment to the Portland area. His wife intends to retire from the school district, and Doughty intends to retire from the whichever institution next hires him.