MiraCosta College Superintendent/President Dr. Sunita V. Cooke has received the San Diego Business Journal’s 2016 Women Who Mean Business Award. Dr. Cooke received the award at a luncheon held Nov. 9. Each year, the San Diego Business Journal recognizes dynamic women business leaders who have contributed significantly to San Diego’s businesses. 

Dr. Cooke’s accomplishments are many. Among Dr. Cooke’s most recent projects at MiraCosta was securing passage of Measure MM, a $455 million bond measure that was approved by North County voters this week. She also helped secure a $250,000 federal grant to establish Southern California’s only Veterans Business Outreach Center, a center charged with supporting service members from San Diego to Santa Barbara who are leaving the military and embarking on self-employment or entrepreneurship.

Since 2012, she has represented all of the San Diego and Imperial Counties community colleges on the Workforce Investment Board and is now the liaison with the State Chancellor’s Office regarding economic and workforce development efforts at the regional and state level. She is the chair of the statewide “Doing What Matters for Jobs and the Economy” campaign, a community college and industry collaboration that aims to close the skills gap.

 Dr. Cooke chairs The Task Force on Workforce, Job Creation and a Strong Economy, a group tasked by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors to consider strategies and recommend policies and practices to meet the state’s estimated shortage of one million workers for rapidly evolving business and industry needs.

 In addition to her work at the community college level, Dr. Cooke has also distinguished herself in the greater San Diego County community by serving as board member of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, the San Diego Economic Development Corporation, Biocom, and the San Diego Workforce Investment Board.