Jack Quinn, EdM '78

Jack Quinn, EdM, joined Erie Community College (ECC) as its 10th president in April 2008. Prior to coming to ECC, Quinn was the president of Cassidy & Associates, a leading government relations firm located in Washington, DC. He previously served as a congressman for the 27th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993–2004, representing a majority of the Western New York area, including Chautauqua County. He was also the supervisor of the Town of Hamburg from 1984–1992. Quinn taught English at Orchard Park Middle School from 1973–1983.

Quinn graduated from Bishop Timon High School in South Buffalo, NY in 1969. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English education from Siena College and a master’s degree in English education from the University at Buffalo, as well as a New York State school superintendent license from the State University College at Fredonia.

Quinn has served as a director of the Science in the Public Interest program at Georgetown University; a director of fundraising of the American Ireland Fund; a corporate advisory board member of the So Others May Eat program; and was a board director of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation.

Currently, Quinn is a trustee for the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust; a member of the board of directors of the Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, headquartered in Foothill Ranch, CA; a member of the board of directors of the Catholic Health System Network of Western New York; and is a member of the Rare Books Commission at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.

He also serves on the board of directors at the ECC Foundation and is a member of the Western New York College Connection Executive Committee. Quinn is a member of the executive committee for the New York Community College Association of Presidents and serves as the chair of its legislative subcommittee.

In 2010, he served as co-chair of New York’s Empire State Summer Games. Also in 2010, Quinn was invited by President Barack Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to participate in the White House Summit on Community Colleges.