How to Lead Through Change with Intention with Dr. DeRionne Pollard
About This Episode
When Dr. DeRionne Pollard talks about leadership, she doesn’t begin with titles or institutions. She begins with memory: a two-year-old child clapping cymbals in a community college classroom, a six-year-old sitting outside a glass-paneled door while her aunt trained to open an in-home childcare center, a young girl learning generosity from neighbors who showed love through casseroles and practicality through labeled Tupperware. These early stories might be sentimental details—but even more important: they form the foundation of a life devoted to service, community, and purpose.
This week, Carrie welcomes Dr. Pollard at a moment of meaningful transition. After leading Nevada State University through a period of growth and change, she has stepped into a national role as President of the American Association of Community Colleges. The shift has asked her to reflect on the shape of her career, the communities that raised her, and what it means to lead with intention in a system that touches every corner of the country.
Dr. Pollard shares how she prepared herself for the move—literally mapping out her goodbyes and thoughtful introductions on a whiteboard—and why leaving a campus was both a professional milestone and a personal test. She speaks openly about legacy, shaped in part by the loss of her mother at a young age, and how that experience continues to guide her toward work that feels both meaningful and deeply human.
As she steps into this new chapter, her perspective on community colleges offers both clarity and optimism. She describes these institutions as engines of opportunity: responsive, resilient, and built to serve learners across every age, background, and ambition. Her vision for their future isn’t theoretical—it’s grounded in lived experience and in the communities that shaped her.
Closing out the season, Carrie reflects on the generosity woven through this conversation. The entire arc of “hellos, goodbyes, and the space between” comes into sharper focus through Dr. Pollard’s story—one that reminds us that intention, humility, and connection can shape the work long before strategy ever appears on a page.
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Carrie Fox
Hi, and thanks for joining us for this episode of the Mission Forward Podcast. You are joining us at the tail end of our very special 11th season. in which we've been exploring hellos, goodbyes, and what to do with that space between. For those new here, we have been at this podcasting thing since 2020, and we are so proud to have featured people from all over the world who are committed to moving missions forward in smart and creative ways. These are the people who admire me, and I have loved to share their insights and intentional leadership with you. Today's guest is no exception. In fact, today's guest sits atop my list of most intentional leaders. Dr. DeRionne Pollard is currently the president of the American Association of Community Colleges, a new role that she has just moved into, and most recently she was the president of Nevada State University. But first, I crossed paths with her back around 2010, when she was president of Montgomery College. And not just crossed paths, but I had a chance to learn from her in that role and to watch her in that role and to see the shared commitment that she and I both had to moving missions forward. She did it with such grace. And such leadership, and there was so much I could just feel I was learning from her simply by being in her presence. Dr. Pollard's wisdom and grace and steadfast commitment to student success is something that has always inspired me. So, Dr. Pollard, knowing it is a very busy time as you are just coming into your new role, I am delighted to have you here on Mission Forward. Welcome to the show.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Well, thank you, Carrie. Your introduction is so generous and gracious. Let me just return it by saying when I think about the people who I choose to spend my time with, you are one of those. I learn every time I'm with you And the way in which you carry yourself and choose to show up is something that is both admirable and inspirational. So thank you for inviting me to be here today
Carrie Fox
Thank you. Well, we've got a good conversation ahead because I've been watching you. I've been watching these incredible messages that you've shared with your community from that moment you decided to leave and announce leaving Nevada State, and then an editorial that was written about you that I'll read a little excerpt from that was just so beautiful. And then more recently, how you decided to announce your showing up at this new incredible job. And more than a job, really. I mean, it's a calling, it seems like, as I, as I listen to you all, but Um, I I wonder if you just start a bit by by bringing me to where you are. What has this last year of transitions, moving from goodbyes to hellos been like for you?
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
You know, it's interesting. Uh my mother died when I was very young, and I was four, so I've always had this kind of intensity around how Do I want to be remembered? And how do I want to live a life so that I am remembered when I'm no longer in this space? So as a result of that, I've always been drawn to mission forward organizations and have really used that as a way of helping me, I think, make sense of my own issues. I think my work becomes my therapy in a lot of ways. And for a lot of us, I'm sure that we do that. So for me, this moment of transition uh was this last year Really, I think um it was a defining one. Uh I have a birthday coming up this week and I'll be fifty-five. And I think about You know, realistically, hopefully, if I've planned this well, this next decade of of ten years is going to be the last part of my working formal life. So I thought about what are the ways in which I want to show up most deliberately for that. I had a phenomenal job at Nevada State, uh a state that is really uh still defining what it's going to be when it grows up and and trying to define this relationship with higher education. So I got to do that for a fairly new state university And then in the midst of that, I got a call about this job. And I had several colleagues and friends from across the nation who knew that uh for twenty some odd years I've been in community colleges and and love that work. That mission it saved me, you know, be in a lot of ways. And I went into the four year space to kind of see what was there and I had this institution that I fell in love with. But there's always been this calling, this yearning, you know, to bring me back into the community college space because I understand this mission is profound for me. So as a result of that, uh when the position became open, I thought, as you just said, where can I give the most impact? Uh, where can I show up most authentically Where can I be where I think my skills, talents, and experiences may be most useful and where I still have time to grow? and space to grow. So that's what this this is. Our son, my wife and I have an 18 year old who was going off to college. So I knew that if I took this role on, I'd have uh an inordinate amount of time to focus on this work. And it's been glorious in the 30 days that I've had on the job thus far.
Carrie Fox
That's great. So let's actually look at, I'm gonna read a short piece of uh an editorial that the editorial board at the Las Vegas Sun wrote uh when you announced your departure and they said As she embarks on this next chapter, we reflect not just on what she has accomplished, but how she has pursued those accomplishments. With empathy, courage, and an unwavering belief in the transformative power of education. Nevada State University is stronger for her leadership. The state is better for her service. And soon, community colleges across the country will benefit from the same visionary stewardship.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
I I couldn't believe it. My eyes just welled up again hearing that because I didn't have any idea uh that it would be observed or recognized. You know, you just kinda go in and you do the work and I knew that There were a number in the folks in the state who were very congratulatory about the transition. And I also wanted to be very thoughtful about how I announced it, when I would be leaving, and I had that long goodbye. So, you know, I just kind of thought I was gonna kinda ease on out the way. And I saw that as a matter of fact, I hadn't even seen the editorial. One of my colleagues and friends forwarded to me and said Did you see the paper this morning? I said, no, I haven't seen the paper yet. I'm just getting out of bed. And I read that editorial and literally just broke down crying because if you think back to even just that first part of what I just said, the idea Uh for me it's not always the work you do but how you do it. And what I loved about that editorial was unsolicited. I didn't know I to this day I don't know who wrote it. I know the editorial board did it Um, I don't know what what made them do it, but one of my friends said to me, you made them do it. And how you chose to show up and do the work, how you've tried to leave it better, and more importantly, I think that people in the state felt your commitment to the mission of higher education. So I I hope that uh when it's all said and done, that is the type of impact that I'm remembered for.
Carrie Fox
Dr. Pollard, you have something in you that is so greater than you. You have this incredible ability to think beyond the moment that you are in. And to think about the context and the environment that you are within. And and we even said before we started recording this is thinking about what we leave behind. And as you think about your birthday coming up, what you leave behind. Where do you find that center? Because I think a lot of us want that, right? We want to say, how do I make the most of the short time I have here? And then there's life. And that life just pulls us in so many directions. And it's hard to feel like we can stay focused on that. thing that is so much bigger than us. How do you do it?
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
I think you have to do the work. And this is I I think a really interesting notion to me. I would never forget one of a mentor of mine. I think when I finished my doctorate, he gave me this book. It was some uh, you know, postmodern self-help type of book. And He knew I was kind of the I'm the kid that collects them. In fact, my wife puts me on quote unquote Amazon punishment every once in a while because I just buy books and they're stacked up on the side of the bed and I may never read them, but I feel better because I'm surrounded by them. And I remember he wrote in there, you need a self-help book less than anybody I know. He said, because you're always trying to do the work of making yourself better. And I think that's that that that to me is what grounds it Um, I spend a probably too much time to be quite frank, Carrie, thinking about how do I make an impact. And I really believe it comes. I read this book a long time ago uh from uh motherless daughters and it talks a little bit about the age you are when your mother uh leaves this earth how that impacts your trajectory as an adult. And there's this phase, I'm in the, I think in the group thing four to six. I was four, my mother passed. And there is this kind of tragic um desire to always know what if because you aren't able you you don't have that reflection in front of you and you're constantly in your life journey. So I know for me that it took me a long time to do the work of a lot of good therapy, a lot of good reading, a lot of good journaling, always writing, you know, at the same time. And and to be uh a reflection of all of the leaders that I had in my life. I grew up on the south side of Chicago, as you know, and I had phenomenal mentors and sponsors and folks who community, you know, community means a lot. uh when I introduce myself I always talk about being this little black girl from the south side of Chicago and contrary to what is oftentimes portrayed right now in contemporary media about Chicago These close-knit communities were intentional. I remember when Precious across the street, her grandmother died, and we all the h her whole front porch was covered in Tupperware. with names on it 'cause everybody wanted the Tupperware back. But you would put that on it because we wanted to feed the family. Or when Melba and I were walking home that uh from school one day and she didn't have gloves and I gave her my gloves and I came home I told my dad and my father was like, Oh Yeah, 'cause I always lost my gloves, at least but I had a good reason this time why I didn't have 'em. And he said, Baby, if it's if you're always giving your gloves to somebody else, then that's okay if you need more. And we would go and get some more. So those are the types of things those people and those ex experience has profoundly shaped me. And then I understood the purpose, which is why I love your newsletter. You know, we're crazy, but I keep it, I have it flags. When it comes in these mission moments when you talk about the intentionality of of the intersection of the personal, the professional, and the community. That's really what it is. So I always wanted to work. and live in a space where those intersections I could get to amplify and magnify to make it better for the next person. And that's what I've been able to do, I think, in the work that I've engaged in, whatever state or institution I've been at.
Carrie Fox
Your story of losing your mom was part of your welcome, part of your introduction. to your new role. And you talked about how being a a young girl, you remember, I think, walking through the wall through the hallways of a community college.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
I tell people all the time that it it is providence that I would have worked in community colleges for 20-something years because really my earliest memory, literally the earliest memory I have, is clapping cymbals at Kennedy King College. and I was doing that. I had couldn't have been any more than two and a half, three, but I remember that thinking this is the best thing since sliced bread. I'm clapping cymbals and I'm standing here with my friends doing that and I looked forward to going to my school every week. where my mother was taking classes there to become a library technician. And then on the other end of that, probably four years later after she passed, not even four, because I was probably six, so maybe two years later My aunt who was helping my father care for my sister and I, she decided that she wanted to run an in-home child care center because she had us and her four older daughters were out and about So she thought I can help other folks. And we were living in the projects of Subdice Housing. A lot of folks were working and she could help take care of their kids. So what does she want to go do? In the state of Illinois, you have to go get licensed by your community college. And I remember sitting in the hallway, my sister and I, and there would be these glass panes in the door. and there would be a bench right outside that glass pane and we could not leave that bench. We had to sit there on that bench and my aunt and a couple of her daughters would be in there. They were working to get their certification. But Carrie, I sat there and I thought This is a college. I love school at that moment and it has never changed. So it is, I think, you know, whatever divine uh aspirations or beliefs you have, it is not lost on me that the work that I do now on behalf of the nation's community colleges comes because I had those intersecting moments as a child and it has influenced me consciously and unconsciously since that time.
Carrie Fox
I imagine Uh one, thinking about coming into this job was such an exciting opportunity to be able to think about broadly all of community colleges across the US. And at the same moment, was it sad to be thinking about leaving a campus? You're not on a campus anymore, right? And so I'm curious if there, I imagine there will be plenty of opportunities for you to be on campuses But that connection to being inside the place, to seeing the students feels so important to a role like this.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
I completely agree with you. And it's actually one of the things that I have kind of put in my own professional development plan, how to be on a campus at least once a month. because there is a rhythm to a college campus. There is a community. And to be quite frank, one of the critiques I often have of those of us who move into leadership roles uh is that we oftentimes forget what things look like in the field up front. And this idea, when I was at Montgomery College in Nevada State, whenever I was having a bad day or a bad moment, I would literally go on campus and walk around. And I had a couple things that was purposeful in that. Obviously, we know physical movement helps move endorphins and all those things, but I got to see I got to see the mission up front and up close. And I got to hug a student. I got to watch a faculty member deliver a phenomenal teaching. I got to uh see a community member trying to navigate the campus and I could maybe help them. I love watching students who brought their children on campus and The first day of class is always the best because you see them all together and you could see these little people thinking about this is my campus or stop by the child care center on a campus. So all of those things were a part of the work or when I'm really good and quiet, I can just go sit and observe. And I think listening, I believe, is my deepest competency. Listening comes from a place of observing. And if you can observe people without thinking about yourself It makes you do the work more intentionally. So my my greatest concern, as you talk about right now, is not being on the campus and being in a spaces where I'm talking with elected officials, other influencers, and we're talking about the work, but we're not talking of the work. And that's the thing that I have to fight to protect and ground myself. Unfortunately I have lots of good friends and uh they will remind me, Darren, you're you're sounding, I'm sure they'll tell me, you're sounding like DC right now. You're not sounding like the campus. So I'm gonna keep that in mind uh each and every day when I try to do the work.
Carrie Fox
That's a great that's a great lesson for everyone to hear. Go back and rewind 30 seconds and listen to that again. That's an important lesson on being grounded in mission. Tell us a bit about the mission that you're carrying forward now.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
This mission of community colleges, I think, is the most profound thing, is the most clear representation of the American dream. Here's this notion that almost a hundred years ago we were founded, the first one, Joliet Community College. And then when you look at the Truman Commission, it actually called for the network of community colleges to be created. So this was in 1947. And this commission came forth and said we're in a po period where we have profound national identity issues. We have a underemployment of an under skilled workforce and education. We don't have a very clear understanding of how we will um uh segregate or even move uh different levels of education in this country. Uh we have national strife, we have identity issues, all of those things. And the president and the federal government said for the first time we're going to actually articulate a mission for higher education in this country. And from that, there was a call to create this network of institutions that are locally based that help the returning veteran and the working reservist, that helps the work stay-at-home dad and the working mom It's for the new 18-year-old who's graduated from high school and the returning adult who's trying to figure out what their next or second, third, or fourth career is going to be. It's for the highly gifted and talented student and it's for the student who is coming to learn basic English and math. Those are all the spaces and we wanted to be deeply locally connected. And that's what our nation's community colleges are about. uh we deliver education in the communities of which we're part and our success and our wellness as a as an institution is dependent upon the health and wellness of our community. So here we go, Carrie, it's full circle. For me, it's always back to community. I am a product of powerful communities and that's what community colleges are. And now I get to advocate for them at the federal level. I get to talk with our decision makers and elected officials about the value proposition. I get to ask for resources to help support that. I get to think about how we bring people through the pipeline to lead these organizations. And if I do it really, really well, AACC actually starts to become invisible and then we promote our institutions more. So a thousand community colleges across this country who are members of this association. While I have the pleasure of leading the association, I'm very clear that I work for them. And that's what we're going to be doing, hopefully, while I'm in the seat for the next several years.
Carrie Fox
I'm sure you've felt this when you've gone through that urgent call to act and to form the organization, that that may has may have well been written today. I mean the the call to act in terms of what we are solving for, the issues that our communities are facing are in some ways exactly the same as what you just outlined for the founding. And I I think so often about the challenges facing higher education, particularly I'm I'm gonna think about for a moment just the traditional four-year university is the the cost challenges with that, the changing demographics associated with that, the ability to pivot in education to be able to deliver what is needed in the moment. It seems like community colleges can do all of those things. They can meet those moments.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Yes, we can. And the part about this, we just actually on October 1st released a new report called Resilient by Design. And in this report, we actually talk about exactly what you're saying right here. All of the things that we see that are affecting higher education, they're affecting each sector differently. Shifting demography, that's affecting us, changing economic realities. uh the impact of uh technology, the business model for all of our organizations has to change. And in this report, we actually encourage our four-year partners and our two-year partners and everybody in between to actually become resilient by design and to and think deeply about how we do this work. So we're asking our influencers to be actively engaged with this work. We're asking philanthropy to be engaged with us. It is indeed, as you describe, a unique moment for higher education. And community colleges, I believe, are the solution.
Carrie Fox
Resilient by design. It's another great phrase to hold on to. Applies to both institutions and individuals, the importance of being resilient. All right, we are coming to the end. So I'm going to ask, I've got two more things to ask you. And the first one is really about as you reflect, you you haven't even been there all that long yet in this new role that you were just telling us about, but as you reflect on First having said goodbye and then publicly saying hello, what you would share with others who are considering going through a similar moment, right? Maybe they're thinking, Is this my time to say goodbye? Is it my time to say hello? What might you share with someone who's questioning that that in their own lives?
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
A couple of things I would say is that one, goodbyes and hellos are constant. You're doing that big and small. And I think for me, when you make the big hellos and the big goodbyes I think you have to be very intentional about how you did it. So the moment that I announced at Nevada State that I was taking this role, I literally had a whiteboard that sits in my office and I wrote down seven or eight things that I wanted to do. And I wanted to be intentional about how I exited. And then I also want to be very intentional about how I entered into the new space. So as you're contemplating, I think anyone, these types of transitions. I'm a planner by nature. And I think the idea of actually being intentionally planful about how you do that work is So important, both for you, but remember that hellos and goodbyes are not just about you. They're about the community of folks who are around you. It's about those who will be acted upon by your acting. Uh it's going to be all those who are going to be uh mourning your loss or excited or some people who are not even sure what to make sense of this transitionary moment for you. So I am of the opinion that being planful Understanding what your compass is and what your skills and your strengths are. I'm very, I've done the work of to know what I'm good at. I also have done the work to know what I'm not good at and how to then build teams around you to hopefully be successful. And at the end of the day, have some fun at it too. I mean, hellos and goodbyes are oftentimes a lot of tears, a lot of anxiety in your belly and all the things. There should also be joy. And at the end of the day, I knew that when it was time to leave and I was leaving, that I felt at peace. for what I had done at Nevada State? Th Was I excited about the anticipation of what happened with AACC? And did I have joy for both experiences? And that is where I feel right now, like, okay, I'm I'm ready for this and let's just see how it's gonna go.
Carrie Fox
I love that. And one thing I'll reinforce I hear from people a lot is I want to go, but I don't know if I can. And I think there's a few things behind that, right? Will the organization be okay without me? What will I do? Because so much of me is wrapped up in the identity of this organization. And I think what you are such a good reminder of is you led that organization, as we heard in the editorial. so remarkably well. And the organization does okay without you too.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Because it's not about me. And that's the part, the moment we remember it's not about us in these spaces. We do so much better. So I even literally just said this. I saw my former chancellor at a conference uh last week and I said, well, you know, when you leave, there's one of two things that happen. You're going to either be a villain or a hero. I said, and we all know the truth is somewhere in between. So you have to remember in these moments when you transition out, it is not about you anymore. The moment you make that announcement and when you transition in. It's not good. It'd be about you for a little bit, but then it's about what you do. So I I try to stay humble. Humility is really the part of the work.
Carrie Fox
All right, last question, or maybe three, but they're very quick. Rapid fire questions. Just a chance to learn more about you. So first, how do you say hello? Is it a hug? Is it a handshake? What's your go-to?
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
I'm a go-to hugger. Uh I get that energy from other people all the time. But I'm also trying to be respectful that some people don't like to be hugged. And that's also recognized. And if I see somebody stick a hand out first That lets me know that okay, Darian, shake your hand, or maybe it's just a fist bump.
Carrie Fox
Mm-hmm.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
That could be it too.
Carrie Fox
Nice. Great. And what are your favorite words or language to say hello?
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Usually, hey, how you doing? And that's usually how it comes out with um so happy to see you. Um, thank you for sharing space with me right now. That those are the ways that that I do it. And I again it goes back to the hook. But it's the face too. I believe when you can do that, you can convey that, that I'm fully present in this moment with you. That's the best gift of hello.
Carrie Fox
Mm-hmm, that's true. What is the one thing you never leave home without?
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Well it depends on who you ask, but I would probably Uh physically, I probably never leave home without my karmix. Um I'm obsessed with moisture on my lips. It's the truth.
Carrie Fox
Good one
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
It's like I can't stand it when your lips get dry. But I probably say it more emotionally. I never leave home without a clear understanding of who I am in that moment. I really work hard at that Mindfulness has been a practice that I've been working on for a long time. If I am fully grounded when I walk out the door that day as to where I'm going, who I am, and what I'm trying to accomplish, it makes my day a lot easier.
Carrie Fox
Exactly why I said you're top of my list as an intentional leader. All right, last one in this great big game of life, what do you hope to leave behind?
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
So you know one of our colleagues who did Leadership Montgomery and we asked one of the things you would do is to write your obituary at the end and that would traumatize me. But I remember at that point writing My tombstone. And what I don't want it to say is phenomenal college president. I don't want it to say that. I wanted to say she was a hell of a girlfriend. She was a dedicated parent. She was a generous lover. She had great laughs. She liked good tequila. She could play a mean game of spades. And at the end of it, Carrie, literally, they could say all the other things about it. At the end, I hope it says that she served through leadership institutions that made a difference. And she made her community better. That's what I wanted to be, Avery said.
Carrie Fox
I was on a show recently and someone asked me that, which is why I'm now asking it to everyone. And my answer was, uh, what I hope I leave behind is that the folks who knew me know that I really loved them.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Oh, you're gonna make me cry. That's it right there.
Carrie Fox
And you're among them. You're among them.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Oh, thank you.
Carrie Fox
Well, thank you for what a special way to start my day today.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Hmm.
Carrie Fox
And thank you for giving us your your wisdom, your generosity, and all the good things you put into this world.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Thank you, Carrie. It was a moment. I adore you and I'm so glad that I had to have this opportunity to share with you. It is everything.
Carrie Fox
Oh, right back at you.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard
Thank you.
Carrie Fox
And that brings us to the end of this show and this season of Mission Forward. It has been a delight to share this space with you and these episodes with you and these remarkable people with you. Today's episode with Dr. Pollard reminds me why I do this work and why I love absolutely bringing the Conversations to you. So while we're going on break, don't you worry, there are more shows coming into the future. But for now, spend some time going back to where we've been, from those hellos to the goodbyes, and certainly the space between. And wherever you are, wherever you are going, just keep moving that mission forward. See you soon, friends.
