Meet Barbara Viniar

As her career progressed from paraprofessional to president, Barbara paid it forward by identifying and nurturing talent.  Those she has mentored credit her with recognizing their leadership potential even before they did, and helping them set and reach new goals. She is proud to count several successful college presidents among them.

While chairing boards such as the Maryland-DC Campus Compact and Page Turners: Girls Read to Achieve, she provided direction for new CEOs in strategic planning, board relations and fundraising. She is dedicated to coaching the leaders of the future.

As Executive Director of the Institute for Community College Development at Cornell, Barbara gained national prominence for developing a comprehensive suite of leadership programs for sitting presidents and aspiring leaders based on the AACC Leadership Competencies for the 21st Century.  

Because she understands that leadership development is a lifetime endeavor, Barbara has planned and hosted national women CEO’s retreats and led the planning for the 2017 President’s Academy Summer Institute. Her reflections on leadership were most recently published as “Learning to Lead” in the Community College Journal. She was elected by her peers to lead the Massachusetts and Maryland state-wide associations of community college presidents and to serve on the AACC Presidents Academy Executive Committee.

Throughout her career she has been selected for prestigious leadership programs including the Kellogg National Fellowship, Leadership Maryland, and the Fulbright Administrative Seminar to Russia. She was a participant and mentor in Leaders for the 80’s, the premiere leadership program for women in community colleges and a frequent presenter on collective bargaining and conflict resolution for its successor program, the National Institute of Leadership Development.