The Hudson County Community College (HCCC) Board of Trustees has announced that Lisa Dougherty, the college’s senior vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment, will assume the role of interim president.
The appointment is scheduled to be formalized at the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting on June 9. Dougherty will guide the award-winning institution through its upcoming transitional period while the Board launches a comprehensive national search to secure a permanent successor.
The leadership restructuring follows the resignation of Christopher Reber, who served as HCCC’s president since 2018. Reber stepped down in late April to accept a new appointment as the president of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania.
Dougherty joined HCCC in 2016 as the dean of Enrollment before receiving a promotion to senior vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment in 2019. Over her ten-year tenure, she has championed multiple ground-level initiatives built around academic equity and comprehensive student wellness.
Her key contributions to the campus community include:
- Hudson Scholars: The college’s flagship, nationally acclaimed student success program that earned both Bellwether and League for Innovation awards.
- HCCC Hudson Helps Resource Center: A centralized hub dedicated to offering wraparound services addressing the holistic non-academic needs of the student population.
- Family U Initiative: Developed alongside Generation Hope to intentionally support and empower student parents juggling childcare and higher education.
- Mental Health Counseling and Wellness Center: Expanding accessible mental health resources across physical and remote campuses.
“It is our pleasure to appoint Dr. Dougherty to this position,” HCCC Board of Trustees Chair Jeanette Peña said. “As a first-generation college student, she knows and understands the challenges our students face and has worked collaboratively to remove roadblocks and help empower students so they can complete their higher education dreams.”
Hudson County Executive Craig Guy echoed the board’s confidence, emphasizing the widespread backing Dougherty commands across administration, union representatives, and academic departments.
“With the support of my Administration, the Board of Trustees, the Unions, and faculty, we know that Dr. Dougherty will maintain the access to opportunities and support our students have always enjoyed at HCCC,” Guy said.
Dougherty will be honored on June 10 with the New Jersey Council of County College’s prestigious 2026 Dr. Lawrence A. Nespoli Leadership Award. She also recently received the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society’s Distinguished College Administrator Award.
Prior to her work at HCCC, Dougherty served as the National Director of Admissions and Training at Ross University School of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, alongside executive administrative roles at DeVry University. She holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from Rowan University, a Master of Human Resources Management from the Keller Graduate School of Management, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Loyola University Maryland.
