Senate selects Tayo Akins’ to Higher Education Coordinating Commission
Contact: Maria Ramirez
Salem, OR—Candidates for the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) testified at the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday, May 8th, 2019. The Senate Rules Committee interviews candidates nominated by the Governor and recommends to the full Senate regarding potential candidates to all statewide boards and commissions. Tayo Akins, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cascade Comprehensive Care (CCC) & Cascade Health Alliance (CHA), was officially selected by the Senate to represent Southern Oregon on the HECC on May 15th, 2019.
Akins has been the CEO at CCC & CHA since 2015. Due to Akins' leadership, CCC has successfully partnered with several educational institutions to not only address social determinants of health but improve the current workforce shortage of qualified professionals in Klamath County. Among other things, Akins has assisted Klamath Community College's development of their new Work Skills Technology Center that provides career technical training, certificate programs, and community educational opportunities for students. He has also fostered a public-private partnership between Oregon Institute of Technology and CHA in creating educational opportunities that enhance health care provider career development that not only attracts health care providers to Klamath County but caters to the needs of CHA's most vulnerable members.
The HECC is dedicated to sustainable high-quality and rewarding pathways to postsecondary opportunities and educational success for all Oregonians. Through coordinating a network of college and career training programs, HECC works to set policy, increase accessibility, and ensure affordability by convening public-private partnerships to achieve state goals.
Akins stated, "I am excited for the opportunity to participate on the HECC. Lack of education is one adverse effect of social determinants of health. It is an honor to participate in working towards a more accessible and equitable higher educational system to ultimately eliminate education as a social determinant of health for our state and our region."
Akins' term begins July 1, 2019 and ends June 30, 2023. For more information about the HECC, please visit their website at www.oregon.gov/highered/Pages/index.aspx.
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Pictured: CCC & CHA CEO, Tayo Akins