MCCC board elects Mason chair; Edwards and Goodman sworn in

At its regular meeting on Jan. 23, the Monroe County Community College Board of Trustees elected Aaron Mason chair. Two other officers also were elected at the meeting, and two trustees were sworn-in.

Mason will serve a two-year term. He has been a trustee since 2015 and previously served as vice chair. He succeeds Trustee Lynette Dowler, who served as chair since 2017.  

Mason is vice president and chief lending officer at Monroe Community Credit Union, a position he has held since April. Mason has a long history in Monroe's local financial service industry. He served as vice president, Michigan Region, at First Merchants Corp., where he worked for nearly 25 years until joining MCCU. Prior to that, he worked for the former Security Bank in Monroe for 10 years. 

Mason previously served as a trustee on the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education for seven years. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Toledo where he also attended UT's College of Law on a dean's merit scholarship and earned dean's list and civil procedure honors. 

"I am very connected to MCCC, which is why I'm so passionate about the college," Mason said. "I attended MCCC for both transferable credit coursework and workforce development classes, my father taught as adjunct instructor of mathematics for nearly 30 years, and my wife completed a 3+1 program to earn her bachelor's degree, all on campus. All six of our collective children attended MCCC through various programs, like dual enrollment, direct college, Monroe County Middle College, traditional college and trade certificate programs, as well as benefited from scholarship programs. My family ties to MCCC are very strong, and I'm deeply committed to its mission to enrich lives through student-focused, affordable, quality higher education."

Krista Lambrix was elected vice chair. She was previously secretary. Florence Buchanan was elected secretary. Each will serve a two-year term.

Lambrix has been an MCCC trustee since 2019. She has been patient care supervisor for the surgical services department at ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital since 2016. A registered nurse, she was charge nurse of the hospital’s post-anesthesia care unit in 2015-16 after serving as a staff nurse/nurse educator in that unit from 2006-2015. Prior to that, she was a staff and charge nurse in the emergency department for nine years at ProMedica Monroe. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Spring Arbor University and an Associate of Science degree in nursing from Lorain County Community College.

Buchanan was sworn in as a trustee with Lambrix in 2019. She is president and founder of Customer Experience 360, a comprehensive customer experience management consulting services firm in Monroe. Prior to that, she spent nearly 30 years as an executive in the cable/broadband industry, most recently as vice president of competitive marketing for Buckeye Broadband from 2013-16 and vice president of sales and marketing from 2002-13. She was general manager of Monroe Cablevision Inc. from 1990-2002. Buchanan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in retail management from Pennsylvania State University.

Also at the meeting, Julie Edwards and Nicole Goodman were sworn in as trustees, joining Mason, Dowler, Lambrix, Buchanan and Mary Kay Thayer on the seven-member board.

Edwards and Goodman will serve six-year terms.

Edwards is executive director at Glen Abbey Assisted Living and Memory Care in Canton. She has served on the MCCC Alumni Association board of directors since 2010. From 2010-19, she worked as director of Siena Heights University at MCCC as well as director of on-campus recruiting for its Registered Nurse-Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (RN-BSN) program. Edwards holds an associate degree from MCCC and a bachelor's degree in business administration and master's degree in healthcare leadership from SHU. She completed her SHU bachelor's degree on the MCCC campus.   

Goodman is the nursing director for two intermediate care units at ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital, one of which is the COVID-19 unit. Prior to that, she served as manager of an intermediate care unit at ProMedica Monroe from 2019-20 and stroke coordinator from 2018-20. She is a registered nurse and started her nursing career at the hospital as a medical-surgical nurse in 2013. She holds an Associate of Science degree in nursing from MCCC and a Bachelor of Science degree from Wayne State University. Goodman also took dual enrollment classes at MCCC while attending Ida High School.