Maricopa 2.0
Martha Anderson, Dr. Mark Koan, and Dr. Eric Leshienski
In this session, you will hear an introduction from our Interim Chancellor and presentations from our Interim Provost, Chief Information Officer, and Chief Human Resource Officer to learn about Maricopa 2.0 and what the Maricopa Community Colleges will be working on to support student success. This plenary will highlight a number of our workforce programs, our plan to create stability in hiring and leadership across all 10 colleges, the new and exciting enterprise technologies being developed to support student engagement and success, and our plans for strategic enrollment management, the 4-year degree programs forthcoming, and Guided Pathways updates. Join us to learn how you can also support all of this amazing work across your campuses.
Session Materials
About Martha Anderson
Martha has 30 years of management and leadership experience in human resources for a variety of industries and for the 11 years she has been with Maricopa County Community Colleges District (Maricopa). During her tenure with Maricopa, she has served as the HR Director for Phoenix College for five years. Since 2017 she has served at the District Office Human Resources Department in the role of Associate Chief Human Resources Officer for HR Administration and now, serves in the role of Executive Vice President of District Human Resources, providing strategic direction and operational excellence across ten colleges. Before coming to Maricopa, she worked as a consultant to government and private agencies in Trinidad and Tobago to establish OSHA programs as the country was adopting an OSHA Act for the first time. Additionally, she implemented various HR programs and practices for the health authorities and private companies. Before that, she was the HR Director at Cold Stone Creamery. She graduated from Eastern Kentucky University, with a dual major in History and Spanish. Martha holds Senior Professional Certification from the Society of Human Resources Management.
About Dr. Mark Koan
Dr. Mark Koan is the Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Maricopa Community College District, a system comprising 10 colleges and 40 locations that serve more than 150,000 students each year. Collectively, the system adds nearly $7.2 billion dollars annually to the region’s economy.
Guided by a lifelong passion for education, Dr. Koan is committed to an ambitious IT vision and focused execution to better serve students and transform the delivery of enterprise services across the district. Dr. Koan has a broad teaching background composed of secondary, post-secondary, graduate and international courses covering a wide range of subjects. He has also worked with a number of grants, including his current role as the principal investigator on an award from the National Science Foundation to help modernize networks for higher education institutions to enhance STEM instruction. Already a published author, he was recently featured in a national publication from the Ada Center focusing on Advising Technology.
Dr. Koan has presented nationally and locally on a variety of topics including the use of enterprise systems to promote equitable student outcomes, enhancing the student experience through automation, and integrated systems for transforming the delivery of college services district-wide. Recently invited to present for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Koan was asked to speak about Maricopa’s innovative technology approach to student success with founder Bill Gates and his leadership team. Earlier in the year, he was honored by CIO peers across the state as a finalist for the Arizona CIO of the Year. Under Dr. Koan’s leadership, Maricopa’s IT team earned a global innovation award for their rapid deployment of advanced unified communication technologies for district-wide instruction and operations at the start of the global pandemic.
Before serving as the CIO for the Maricopa Community Colleges, Dr. Koan was appointed as an Associate Vice Chancellor (AVC) to lead the district's technology transformation efforts, launching the first system-wide mobile application for students and leading the development of Maricopa’s first comprehensive data lake. In other capacities, he also served as an AVC responsible for the strategic and operational direction of Maricopa's enterprise infrastructure and customer care divisions. During his tenure at Phoenix College, Dr. Koan and his IT team won the Innovation of the Year Award for the Maricopa Community Colleges and deployed state-of-the-art technology solutions across the college. Prior to working for the Maricopa Community Colleges, Dr. Koan was an IT Director at Arizona State University where he led several diverse teams across multiple locations and was chosen to help develop and advance strategic alliances for ASU's University Technology Office, including work with key industry partners such as Google, Verizon, and Amazon.
Dr. Koan earned his Doctorate of Education in Leadership and Innovation from Arizona State University (ASU). His dissertation focused on the development of communities of practice across organizations. He also received his Master of Arts from ASU, completed his undergraduate work at Northern Arizona University, and earned his Associate’s Degree from Phoenix College.
About Dr. Eric Leshinskie
Dr. Eric Leshinskie is the Interim District Provost of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), where he oversees curriculum; academic research and assessment; student affairs; strategic planning and institutional effectiveness; university relations, transfer, and articulation; grants development and management; international education; faculty professional growth and development; marketing; high-school-to-college pathways and outreach programs; integrated student support; and guided pathways.
Dr. Leshinskie has more than 20 years of experience in education in the areas of student success, faculty development, program management, instructional design, and classroom instruction. Prior to coming to the District Office, Dr. Leshinskie served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) where he collaborated with faculty and staff to advance PVCC’s mission of student success. He focused on promoting teaching excellence, fostering inclusive learning environments, championing innovation across the college, and developing strong internal and external partnerships to support students.
Prior to PVCC Leshinskie served as Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs at Glendale Community College (GCC), where he provided leadership to 18 academic departments and collaborated with faculty and staff to advance GCC’s mission of student success and completion. He also assisted in the development of its Academic Strategic Plan and successfully co-authored a Title V grant, which awarded the college $2.4 million over a five-year span.
Dr. Leshinskie earned his Doctorate of Education in Leadership and Innovation in May 2017 from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers’ College at ASU; his dissertation focusing on the impact of faculty peer observation in the developmental level community college classroom. He also received his Master of Education in Learning and Instructional Technology from ASU and completed his undergraduate work at the University of Richmond, in Richmond, VA, where he earned his bachelor’s in English.