BENTONVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas Community College has a new board member.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed Jerry Vest to the Zone 7 seat in a move his office announced last week. Vest replaces Michael Pearce, who resigned at the end of 2019 after one year in the position.
Vest, 65, lives in Rogers and works for Regions Bank as its market executive for Northwest Arkansas. He served on the college's foundation board since 2005 before resigning to accept the college board position, according to foundation director Treva Kennedy.
"I just look forward to serving the community," Vest said.
Vest serves on the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee. He has served on boards of other area organizations, including the Rogers Executive Airport.
He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma. He is one of four bankers on the college's board.
Vest said his support of community colleges stems from when he was growing up and his mother attended Fort Smith Junior College, which has since become the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. His mother went on to earn a bachelor's degree from Arkansas Tech University and a master's degree from the University of Arkansas.
"All that began with a community college close to where we lived in rural Arkansas," Vest said. "So the accessibility for the summer courses and ability to drive back and forth from our home to those night classes, that gave her the start to complete her bachelor's and master's degrees."
Vest's appointment expires Dec. 31. He would have to stand for election in November to retain the seat beyond this year. He said he intends to do that.
The board's nine members are elected by zone. Each member represents part of the college's taxing district, which consists of the Bentonville and Rogers school districts. Each zone had about 17,000 residents as of the 2010 Census.
Zone 7 is a part of Rogers extending from Interstate 49 on its western-most boundary to the downtown area and from West Hudson Road on the far north to New Hope Road on the south.
The zones will be redrawn based on results of this year's census. All nine seats will go up for election in November 2022. Winners of each seat then will draw for length of term, with three trustees getting two-year terms, three getting four-year terms and three getting six-year terms.
Board seats representing zones 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are up for election this November. Anyone interested in running may begin circulating petitions May 5. Petitions require 25 signatures of registered voters from the zone for which a person is running. The filing period is July 27 to Aug. 3. The general election is Nov. 3.
NW News on 03/08/2020