Board hires Jessica Ventress as director of academic affairs after executive session

The CareerTech board moved from executive session and voted in open session to hire Jessica Ventress as the agency's director of academic affairs, with an effective date of Oct. 1, 2023.

The chair announced the motion to hire and the board conducted a roll-call vote after returning to open session. "I would recommend that we hire Jessica Ventress as the director of academic affairs effective date, October 1, 2023," the chair said before the vote. Board members recorded their affirmative votes and the motion passed.

Context: The agenda listed the executive session as a discussion of the hiring for this position and asked that attorney representation be retained for the discussions in executive session. After the executive session, the board confirmed there were no votes or other topics discussed beyond the agenda items while in closed session, then proceeded to the open-session motion and vote.

Outcome and next steps: The motion carried in open session; the chair congratulated Ventress and noted onboarding steps. The board did not record substantive debate in open session beyond the motion and second.