WAYNE BURTON
North Shore Community College
2011 Essex Heritage Hero

President Wayne Burton’s decade of leadership of North Shore Community College has resulted in record student enrollments, two new buildings on the college’s Danvers campus, a college-wide commitment to diversity, climate control and sustainability, the only community college Public Policy Institute and a solid commitment to improving the economic and workforce development of the North Shore. Wayne’s passion for providing educational access and success for all propels him to work tirelessly at the college as well as at the regional, state and national level to enhance job creation and growth for NSCC graduates.

Higher education has always been Wayne’s professional calling. After serving as a captain in the U.S. Army in Germany and Vietnam, (which fueled a life long commitment to serving returning veterans and the college’s recent national designation as a military-friendly school), Wayne worked in several capacities during his years at the University of New Hampshire, his last 14 as Assistant Dean and director of Accreditation for the Whittemore School of Business and Economics. He came to the North Shore to become Dean of the School of Business at Salem State College, before becoming President of NSCC in 2000.

Wayne is a strident ambassador for the value of community colleges which has earned him the honor of being named to many state and national initiatives. He is one of 16 appointees to the U.S. Department of Education Committee on Measures of Student Success and also serves on the Massachusetts Commission on the Study of In-State Tuition.

A frequent visitor to Beacon Hill, Wayne has been very successful in securing funding for major projects that contribute significantly to the viability of the North Shore, including: construction of the state’s first zero net energy building, which when it opens in January 2012, will consolidate the college’s allied health programs and student services; the Frederick E. Berry Building; and planned expansion of the college’s Lynn campus. He turned an operating deficit into years of surplus and helped to grow innovative grants and fundraising to new heights.

Knowing that the vast majority of NSCC graduates live and work on the North Shore, Wayne is renowned for his efforts to ever enhance regional economic and workforce development. He serves on Governor Patrick’s Small Business Roundtable, was a founding member of the North Shore Alliance for Economic Development, has chaired and been an active member of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce and is very involved with the North Shore Workforce Investment Board and North Shore Innoventures Advisory Board. He is a former board member of the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce and Trustee Emeritus of the Essex National Heritage Commission. He was pleased to have the college serve as a resource to ENHC through providing space of ongoing trainings and forums as well as sponsoring the “Friendship Sails to Lynn” in 2007. Wayne’s far-reaching involvement has ensured that the college is firmly entrenched and participating in the communities it serves.