EvCC president appoints Josh Ernst to vice president job
Press Release
Date: Nov. 1, 2023
Contact: Jenny Marin, Director of Public Relations, 425-388-9203; jmarin@everettcc.edu
EVERETT, Wash. – Everett Community College welcomed Joshua “Josh” Ernst as vice president of human resources and compliance, starting Sept. 11.
EvCC President Chemene Crawford appointed Ernst to the position. He leads the college’s human resources department and oversees college-wide activities related to legal compliance, policy, and meeting regulatory standards.
“Josh comes highly recommended and has the qualifications and experience required to provide executive leadership for our future human resources and compliance needs,” Crawford said.
Ernst previously served as human resources director at North Seattle College, where Crawford was president and CEO. At North, he guided Seattle Colleges through the COVID-19 pandemic and orchestrated the return of students, faculty and staff to campus. He also was the primary negotiator with labor partners. He serves on the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges’s data governance and demographic committees.
“This is an exciting time to join Everett Community College,” Ernst said. “There is an energy at the college around our shared goals around student success. Our employees are the key to reaching these goals. My first few months will be paramount to evaluating organizational structures and determining how we can reduce barriers to employee success, which will in turn help our students succeed.”
Before transitioning to human resources, Ernst’s career centered around civil rights compliance, directly serving students and employees impacted by sexual violence, discrimination, and harassment. He has worked at Colorado State University-Pueblo, Central Michigan University, Winston-Salem State University, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and is an attorney licensed in North Carolina.
Ernst earned a law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law and bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and sociology from Case Western Reserve University.