A new trustee has been appointed to fill the vacant Area 1 seat during a special Board of Trustees meeting on May 12.

After being sworn into the position by Inglewood Mayor James Butts, Community Relations Manager Brett Roberts took his seat among the Board of Trustees during their May 15 meeting.

Roberts is filling the Area 1 seat, previously held by Kenneth Brown, who died on March 23. Roberts will represent Inglewood and Ladera Heights for the remainder of the current term ending on Nov. 5, 2024.

Roberts worked as the Metro community relations manager for 10 years and served five years as commissioner on Inglewood’s Board of Academic-based nonprofits.

Roberts is a proud community college and university alumni who took courses at West Los Angeles College, Los Angeles Southwest College and graduated from Santa Monica College before transferring to Pepperdine University.

As the 60-day timeline approval to appoint the newest trustee came to a close, Roberts said he applied for the position to help contribute his expertise and resources to El Camino College.

“When the opportunity, I’ll say unfortunately, arose I knew that it had to be filled by someone,” Roberts said. “With everything I’ve been doing recently [it] would put me in a position to be able to add value, contribute from day one, so I took a stab at it.”

Roberts said his goal is to increase the number of students from Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) coming into El Camino and to facilitate their success in transferring to four-year universities and Historically Black Colleges.

“I want our IUSD kids to look at El Camino and know that this a place that’s for them and it’s right in their backyard. It can be integral to their success just like Santa Monica College was for me,” Roberts said. “So if I can do that, that’s great.”