President Kenneth Adams
Kenneth Adams is the fourth president of LaGuardia Community College. LaGuardia is one of seven community colleges of the City University of New York. Founded in 1971 in Long Island City, Queens, the college serves approximately 25,000 students per year.
Since joining LaGuardia in 2020, President Adams has led efforts to rebuild enrollment, improve student success, increase government and philanthropic support, and strengthen the college’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In 2021, President Adams launched a campaign to raise funds to help LaGuardia students and Queens residents recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The “Tomorrow Campaign” reached its $15 million goal in April 2022, enabling the LaGuardia Foundation to offer scholarships, stipends for internships, and emergency aid to thousands of low-income students from across the borough.
In March, 2024, President Adams announced that LaGuardia had received $116.2 million from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, led by philanthropist and New York Mets owner Alex Cohen, to build the Cohen Career Collective, a state-of-the-art workforce training center that will ensure economic mobility for New Yorkers while providing skilled workers for local employers. This extraordinary gift is the largest ever to a community college in the US, and the largest donation in the history of the City University of New York.
Before joining LaGuardia, President Adams was dean of workforce and economic development at Bronx Community College/CUNY.
Prior to joining CUNY, President Adams spent more than twenty years leading economic and workforce development organizations in New York State. He served as acting commissioner of the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, president and CEO of Empire State Development, commissioner of the NYS Department of Economic Development, and chairman of the state’s four affordable housing agencies.
He previously led the Business Council of New York State and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. He was also the founding executive director of New York Cares.
President Adams is a director of the Queens Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the Long Island City Partnership, and the Research Foundation of CUNY. He has served on boards, commissions, councils, and advisory groups on behalf of five governors and two mayors.
President Adams received BA and MA degrees and an Ed.D. honoris causa from Middlebury College. He lives with his family in Brooklyn.
Kenneth Adams is the president of LaGuardia Community College. LaGuardia is located in Long Island City, Queens, and is part of the City University of New York (CUNY). Since taking the helm in 2020, President Adams has led the college’s efforts to improve student success, strengthen its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and increase government and philanthropic support.
In 2021, he launched a bold fundraising campaign to raise funds to help LaGuardia students and Queens residents rise and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The “Tomorrow Campaign” reached its $15 million goal in March 2021.
Before joining LaGuardia, President Adams was dean of workforce and economic development at Bronx Community College/CUNY.
Prior to joining CUNY, President Adams spent more than 20 years leading economic and workforce development organizations in New York State. He served as acting commissioner of the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, president and CEO of Empire State Development, and commissioner of the NYS Department of Economic Development.
He previously led the Business Council of New York State and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. He was also the founding executive director of New York Cares.
President Adams is a director of the Queens Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the Long Island City Partnership, and the Research Foundation of CUNY. He has served on boards, commissions, councils, and advisory groups on behalf of five governors and two mayors.
President Adams received BA and MA degrees and an Ed.D. honoris causa from Middlebury College. He lives with his family in Brooklyn.