After years of experience with executive searches before his retirement, Dr. Benjamin T.Duran came to PPL in 2012 as an Associate Consultant. The PPL Board conferred his Senior Associate appointment in 2013. In April of 2015, Dr. Duran became an owner of PPL and on January 1, 2016 became President. Dr. Duran is a highly respected community college leader, teacher and former president of Merced Community College in California. . He recently retired as superintendent/president of the Merced Community College District after serving 22 years in the district with the last 14 years as the CEO. He is a faculty member in the Ed.D. program at California State University, Stanislaus.
As a statewide community college leader, Dr. Duran chaired the California Community College League’s Commission on the Future and was appointed by Chancellor Jack Scott to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Student Success Task Force. During his tenure he chaired the Community College League’s CEO Board, which led to his participation in the development of the Chancellor’s Office Statewide Strategic Plan. He served for twelve years on the Chancellor’s Office Economic and Workforce Development Advisory Committee. As a regional leader, he chaired the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium, an organization that brought together 25 community college and university CEOs to collaborate on higher education issues in the Central Valley of California.
Dr. Duran has participated in executive searches at Feather River, Bakersfield, Oxnard, and other colleges throughout California. He has also provided Board training and assistance in executive evaluation among other consulting activities.