Douglas B. Houston most recently served as the Interim Chancellor of the State Center Community College District; his third CEO role in Community Colleges.

He is Chancellor Emeritus of the Yuba Community College District in Northern California with colleges in Yuba and Yolo Counties and campuses in Colusa, Lake, and Sutter Counties. He has served in this role for ten years.

His 45-year career has been in various leadership roles: as an administrator to several community colleges, as commander of various military units, as a Boy Scout leader, and in various leadership roles in his church and community. He has taught full and part-time at the university and community college level, including as a Physics Professor at West Point. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master of Science in Physics from the University of Florida and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Pepperdine University.

He has served as the Co-Chair of the California Community College Veterans Caucus and as the President for the Board of the Association of California Community College Administrators. He currently serves on the Advisory Board for Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research at U.C. Davis, and has previously served as an Advisory Board Member for the CSU Sacramento Educational Doctorate program. He was also a long-serving member of the California Community Colleges’ Economic Development Policy Advisory Council. Dr. Houston Co-Chaired the development of the California Community College CEO Strategic Leadership Program, providing comprehensive professional development growth and support programs for the state’s community college leaders, including the annual “CEO Leadership Academy” and the recently launched “Aspiring CEO Program.”

Higher Education is his second career; he retired from the U.S. Army Reserves having served in various Reserve and National Guard assignments after a decade on active duty as a Regular Army Officer. With California Community Colleges, he has served in various administrative positions at Barstow College, at Butte College in Oroville, and then as the President of Lassen College in Susanville, California where he successfully led the College’s accreditation and fiscal recovery.

Doug’s home is on a small ranchette south of Paradise, California, where he lives with his wife Kathryn, and a dozen, or so, animals including horses, dogs, cats, chickens, and several birds … Kathy is a veterinarian! Doug and Kathryn have two children. He enjoys the outdoors and working with his hands, but most of all he enjoys the fellowship of family, friends, and his church brethren. The Houston family has twice defended their home and those of neighbors from two major wildfires: the Humboldt Fire in 2008 and the Camp Fire in 2018 that destroyed nearly the entire town of Paradise.