Two veteran HCC employees will share the leadership of the HCC Black History Committee (BHC), whose year-round efforts center on securing college scholarships for African-American students attending HCC.

Fheryl J. Prestage, HCC’s Chief Information Officer of the college’s Information Technology division, and Donnell Cooper, Campus Manager of the Acres Home Campus, were elected on September 22 to serve as co-chairs by the Black History Committee’s Executive Council.

Dr. Michael Edwards, interim Associate Vice Chancellor of Government and External Affairs and BHC chair since December 2016, is stepping aside to prepare for HCC’s legislative agenda in the Texas biennial session, which begins in January 2021.

Both Cooper and Prestage have extensive experience in community service, fundraising and leadership with non-profit organizations. Prestage, who has more than 25 years’ experience in IT leadership – 17 of those years with HCC – began her career with such Fortune 100 corporations as Shell Oil, ExxonMobil, Ford, Aerospace/NASA, Wells Fargo, Dynegy and Enron Corporation. Prestage, wife of Fort Bend County Commissioner Grady Prestage, earned her undergraduate degree from Southern University and an MBA from Texas Woman’s University.

A published author, Cooper is president of the Greater Houston Frontiers Club, Inc. (GHFC), a Houston non-profit organization that began in 1983. In the past 30 years, the GHFC has raised more than $2 million dollars for college-bound students in Harris County. A graduate of Southern University, Cooper earned an MPA from Texas Southern University, and successfully lead BHC’s Virtual Scholarship Breakfast Showcase, a one-day, all-online fundraiser that netted more than $31,000 in BHC scholarships last month.

HCC has a long history of commemorating Black History. The HCC Black History Committee is an affinity group of the HCC Foundation (www.hccsfoundation.org) The group’s signature event is its annual HCC Black History Scholarship Gala, which, since 2006, has provided college scholarships for HCC students by featuring world-class speakers and performers during Black History Month. For more information on the BHC, please visit: www.hccs.edu/blackhistory or via social media: Facebook: @hccblackhistorycommittee| Instagram: hccblackhistorycommittee | Twitter: @black_hcc | LinkedIn: hcc black history committee.

Houston Community College (HCC) is composed of 14 Centers of Excellence and numerous satellite centers that serve the diverse communities in the Greater Houston area by preparing individuals to live and work in an increasingly international and technological society. HCC is one of the country’s largest singly accredited, open-admission community colleges offering associate degrees, certificates, workforce training and lifelong learning opportunities. To learn more, visit hccs.edu.