First elected to the District board in 1985, Howald was re-elected in November 2002 to serve a fourth four-year term. Howald has served on the Board during the successful passage of Measure C, the $370 million general obligation bond measure that provided funds to renovate and expand classroom facilities at the District’s three colleges. He also serves on the Board’s land development committee, and was actively engaged at the Board level in helping to sell KOCE-TV, Orange County’s public television station, to the KOCE Foundation in 2004.

        “It is an honor and a challenge to be elected by my colleagues to serve as president in the coming year,” Howald said. “This board will face some important challenges this year, including a growing state budget shortfall and an aggressive construction program to ensure we make the best use of our Measure C funds in this time of rising construction costs. I am confident that we can work together to meet these challenges and continue to effectively serve our students and our community.”

        Howald resides in the Coast District’s Trustee Area 5, which includes portions of Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and the Newport Coast. He served as vice president of the Coast District Board last year.

        He has been active in California’s educational community for many years. As early as 1966, he served as a consultant to the California State Assembly Higher Education Committee, helping to draft the Master Plan for Higher Education. Since then, he has served in various capacities as an attorney, arbitrator, Superior Court Judge Pro Tem and in local civic activities.

        He is also very active with the Newport Beach Public Library, serving as vice chair of its Board of Trustees, chair of the Library Distinguished Speakers Series, and chair of the Library task force on funding. Howald has served as a director for the Harbor Area Boys and Girls Club, Friends of the Newport Coast, the Orange County Schools Boards Association, and on the boards of several local corporations. He is a tireless advocate of several joint public and private projects to provide more efficient and broader utilization of local public assets.

        Howald is a graduate of the UCLA School of Law and president of his law firm, which has a primary emphasis on civil, business and trial law. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the California State Bar Association, the Orange County Bar Association and the American Trial Lawyers Association.

        Father of two children and grandfather to one grandson, Howald and his family have been residents of the community for more than 40 years.

        The district is the seventh largest community college district in the nation in credit enrollment, serving more than 60,000 full-time students each semester at its three colleges – Coastline Community College, Golden West College and Orange Coast College.

        Vice President Paul Berger, a resident of Costa Mesa, has served on the Board since 1987.

        Berger has spent 39 years of his career in education in Orange County. In 1965, he was hired as the first principal of Fountain Valley High School. He retired after a long career as an administrator for the Huntington Beach Union High School District, and has since worked as a public education consultant in Huntington Beach.

        Berger, who has a doctorate in educational administration from UC Berkeley, has served on the board of directors for several community organizations, including the United Way of Orange County, Kiwanis International, Friends of KOCE, and the California Retired Teachers Association.

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The Coast Community College District is the seventh largest community college district in the nation in credit enrollment, serving more than 60,000 students each semester. The district is comprised of Coastline Community College headquartered in Fountain Valley, Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, and KOCE-TV, the district’s public broadcasting station.