Tim Flood is the man in charge at Southwestern College —for now.
Flood, the vice president of business and financial affairs at SWC, was named acting president/superintendent of the college last week.
He will remain in that capacity until an interim president/superintendent is selected. The interim will then hold that position until a permanent president is in place.
“My goal is to help the college move forward and continue the progress that we’ve been making so that the interim president comes here and feels like the college is moving in the right direction,” Flood said.
Flood replaces former President Melinda Nish, who after five-years at the helm, resigned to “take time off to pursue a sabbatical for personal and other professional development opportunities.”
Flood,54, said he is honored that the governing board thinks highly enough of him to give him the acting presidential reins, though he is not interested in the permanent job.
“I do not anticipate being in the acting seat for very long, a month, maybe two,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of goals that I’ve set that I want to accomplish as the vice president before I think about moving forward on a permanent basis.”
Those goals, Flood said, are to strengthen and improve existing business practices and processes, to work with the college constituent groups to help strengthen the connection between the planning and budgeting process, and to improve communication regarding the college budget and financial information.
In his role as vice president of business and financial affairs, Flood is in charge of the operational areas of the campus such as the bookstore, food service, all of the business processes, budget, and ancillary support services.
As the acting president, he is responsible for running and operating the college. A contract is not needed for an acting president since the job is only for a short period of time.
Flood is not involved with the search for a new president but said as someone he would have to report to everyday he looks for the new superintendent to be able to have a great vision for the college who can work with the governing board and improve student success.
“A new president does give you the opportunity to start fresh and to maybe revitalize some areas,” he said.
Prior to coming to SWC, he worked at Grossmont College for 15 years where he last served as vice president of administrative services, He also was appointed to interim president for six months when the president at Grossmont left to work for another college.
Flood said he is enjoying his current role even though it is for a limited time.
“It’s extremely rewarding to help the institution move forward, to serve the community and help students meet their educational goals and work to improve student success,” he said. “So it is a very rewarding job, albeit I’ll only be doing it for a short period of time
Flood holds a Bachelors of Science in Accountacy and a Master’ in Public Administration with an emphasis in finance. He obtained both degrees from National University.
