Bill Thomson to Seek Re-Election as Pasadena Community College Trustee

Bill Thomson, who ran for Mayor and lost earlier this year, announced Monday that he will seek a third term to the Pasadena Area Community College District Board of Trustees for Area 4, which covers most of Pasadena.

Thomson says he wants to build on advances over the past eight years in making stronger ties with cities and school districts in the PCC area, enrolling more local students, improving career and technical programs, maintaining fiscal integrity, and striving for higher levels of educational excellence.

“Through the Pathway Project that I helped initiate, PCC has moved students from high school through Pasadena City College and on to four-year colleges and universities,” said Thomson. “We’ve made good progress with Pasadena high schools, and I want to keep that progress going with other high schools in the PCC college district and with other universities.”

“PCC is a great college,” said Thomson. “I’m committed to continue working to make this great college even greater.”

Recently, Thomson helped raise more than $1 million dollars in scholarships for PCC students through the first-ever “PCC Celebrates Student Success” Gala that he and his wife, Carol, chaired in May. By all standards, the Gala was a tremendous success, not only in raising money for scholarships, but in bringing more than 500 people to the PCC campus and spreading the word of the outstanding work that PCC does for its students and our community.

First elected to the board of trustees in 2007 with more than two-thirds of the vote, Thomson garnered almost 85 percent of the vote in 2011. He will stand for reelection on November 3.

Thomson has a background as an intellectual property litigation attorney. He is currently with the intellectual property firm of Brooks Kushman in its Los Angeles office.

He also has a distinguished record of civic leadership, having served as the Mayor of Pasadena (1988-1990), as a Pasadena City councilmember (1981-1997), and as the chair and member of the Rose Bowl Operating Company and the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, among many civic activities.

Thomson earned a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Bucknell University.

Thomson and his wife, Carol, have lived within a mile from PCC for more than 40 years, and they have been actively involved in the Pasadena community throughout that time.