The National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3) is excited to announce that Dr. Greg Hamann is being presented the 2020 NC3 Leadership Award for his dedication and commitment to career and technical education.

Dr. Greg Hamann is an exemplary individual who not only demonstrates NC3’s core vision, but also lives and represents the ideals that NC3 is working to accomplish. Dr. Hamann recently served as the sixth president of Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) in Albany, Oregon until his recent transition to a new position with the state of Oregon. He also served as the Vice-Chair of NC3’s Board of Directors from 2015-2016, Chair of the Board from 2016-2018, and still serves as a board member. Prior to Dr. Hamann’s presidency at LBCC, he served as president of Clatsop Community College and as chief finance and operations officer at Northwest College. He also taught middle school, and served 16 years in a variety of student services and administrative roles.

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“Greg is the type of leader that we all strive to be like,” Bryan Albrecht, President of Gateway Technical College and NC3 Board Member, proudly said. “He is compassionate, thoughtful, and shares an inspirational vision with his team for a better future for all, and that is what has made Greg such an important member of our NC3 team.” Greg’s acknowledgement of the value of technical education has been a catalyst for others to join the movement, and it’s positioned NC3 to increase access to both secondary and postsecondary educational institutions nationwide.

Bryan Schiedler, Automotive and Diesel Instructor at Linn-Benton Community College, fondly recalls voting Dr. Hamann onto the NC3 Board of Directors in 2014. “Greg was on a hike in South America when my supervisor, Fred Haynes, and I voted him onto the Board,” Bryan said. “Greg often used hiking references in his talks, and from them, many of us learned to push on with the work we do, so we too can see ‘what’s right over the next ridge.’” Voting Greg onto the Board seemed like the serendipitous next step.

Dr. Hamann’s leadership and dedication to CTE has been acknowledged time-and-time again throughout his career. In 2012, he was nationally recognized when LBCC was among just 30 community colleges nationwide to be selected to participate in the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Pathways Initiative, a collaboration by national leaders and organizations in higher education to improve student completion rates. In 2015, Greg was elected to serve on the AACC National Board of Directors where he worked closely with directors of state offices to inform and affect state as well as federal policy. Dr. Hamann also received the first-ever ‘Chair’s Award’ from the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments in 2017, which recognizes outstanding service to the Linn, Benton, and Lincoln county regions.

Frederick Brookhouse, NC3 Consultant and former Education Business Development Manager for Snap-on, Inc., kindly shared the story of how Dr. Hamann first became affiliated with NC3. Frederick recalled that when Dr. Hamann came to an NC3 benchmarking tour at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, he immediately understood the value a partnership with NC3 and Snap-on would bring to not only Linn-Benton, but also to the Pacific Northwest. Frederick recalls Greg having said, “If NC3 put a price tag on the value this partnership would bring to my automotive program, and later to other programs at LBCC, no college in America could have afforded it.” 

Since that moment, Greg has been an outspoken advocate for building and sustaining strong partnerships between industry and education. “Immediately after leaving his first NC3 benchmarking tour at Gateway, Greg Hamann had a plan,” Frederick said. “When Greg came to Kenosha, he knew he had the right people in his automotive department to do something big, but at the end of his tour, he knew what he was going to do, and how to do it.”

When Greg got back to Oregon, he put the wheels in motion, literally and figuratively. He hired architects to redesign one of his old automotive buildings, and he invited local businesses to the LBCC campus to unveil his plan. In an old, run-down building with dated automotive equipment, Greg uncovered an artist’s rendition of what that same building would look like in six months. Six months later, he invited that same group back into the building after new Snap-on equipment had been placed, his instructors had been retrained, and the perception students had of their campus had been transformed. In that moment, Linn-Benton and the NC3 Network forever changed.

After this initial transformation, the next phase of Dr. Hamann’s project was to break ground on Linn-Benton’s state-of-the-art Advanced Transportation Technology Center, and in just 5 years the doors to this new facility opened. “Greg’s leadership was instrumental in the development of this facility, which has since grown from an automotive technology program to a world-class diesel technology program,” Earl Bailey, National Education Partnerships Manager at Snap-on, Inc. said. To this day, LBCC’s Advanced Transportation Technology Center, an NC3 Center of Excellence, serves as a model for other colleges nationwide.

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Pushing for change in education, managing time, and overcoming adversity isn’t easy, but leaders like Greg strive to propel their communities, their business partners, their students, and their nation forward. “Greg constantly aims to make a positive impact nationwide,” Roger Tadajewski, Executive Director of NC3 said. “His guidance and leadership, as well as his ability to inspire other college presidents outside of the Pacific Northwest, has been instrumental in NC3’s growth as an organization, but more importantly it has built momentum that has led to the establishment of multiple NC3 Centers of Excellence, which now serve as models that will continue to inspire others for years to come.”

In the past, the NC3 Leadership Award has been presented to deans, college presidents, and master instructors who have helped NC3 build deep industry-educational partnerships, and who helped shape the trajectory of NC3.

Past recipients of the NC3 Leadership Award include:

• 2019: Pete Gregory, NC3 Master Instructor, Pitt Community College
• 2018: James King, President, Northeast State Community College
• 2017: Craig Foucht, Executive Director of Business and Industry, Wayne Community College
• 2016: Dr. Matt Janisin, former NC3 Instructor and Coordinator at Gateway Technical College (GTC), current Vice President of Business & Workforce Solutions at GTC

To learn more about Dr. Greg Hamann, please watch our short celebratory video below. Also, be sure to follow NC3 on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to further join us as we celebrate this visionary leader!

Want to learn more about the value a partnership with NC3 can bring to your institution? Contact NC3’s membership coordinator Hannah Peltier today.

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About NC3:

NC3 was established to help build a workforce prepared to meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s industries by connecting employers and educational institutions in synergistic partnerships that foster effective training, elevation of skilled careers, and employment opportunities. In fulfilling its mission, NC3 builds deep industry-educational partnerships and develops, implements, and sustains industry-recognized portable certifications built on national skills standards. We, along with our global industry partners Snap-on Inc., Trane, 3M, Festo, Lincoln Electric, Greenlee, Kubota Tractor Corporation, L.S. Starrett Company, Daniels Manufacturing Corporation (DMC), Palmer Hamilton, Tormach, Dremel, and Certiport, envision an industrial labor market where all workers have the jobs they need to thrive and all companies have the well-trained employees they need to operate and grow. Learn more at www.NC3.net.

About Linn-Benton Community College More than 18,000 students rely on Linn-Benton Community College each year for higher education including career technical education, transfer degree programs, professional development, corporate training, small business development, community education classes and more. Serving the mid-Willamette Valley with six locations including its main campus in Albany, LBCC partners with multiple businesses and industries to enrich the community and support economic growth. LBCC students choose from more than 80 programs and go on to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders, skilled workers and community builders.

Find NC3 and Linn-Benton Community College Online:

NC3

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Linn-Benton Community College

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