Rowan College at Burlington County Completes Leadership Structure

Burlington County Human Services Director and Willingboro resident Anna Payanzo Cotton will lead Rowan College at Burlington County’s (RCBC) workforce development and lifelong learning programs as vice president, RCBC President Paul Drayton said on Monday.

“Anna Payanzo Cotton is a proven leader and team builder who is widely-respected throughout Burlington County and our region,” Drayton said. “In her role as Human Services Director, Ms. Payanzo Cotton led the county’s workforce development programs and worked closely with Rowan College at Burlington County in many capacities, including serving as one of the chief architects of the innovative Workforce Development Institute.”

She will lead the institute, which includes business outreach and incubation services, corporate training, personal development, the Retired Senior and Volunteer Program, educational program development, grants, career and placement services, military and veterans services and workforce development.

“Helping people through workforce development is a real passion and I am excited to officially join the Workforce Development Institute that is becoming a national model on how education and government can partner to more effectively deliver workforce training and services,” Payanzo Cotton said. “With the Workforce Development Institute, Rowan University partnership and modernization of the Mount Laurel campus, Rowan College at Burlington County is quickly becoming the premier institution in our region. I look forward to working with all of the college’s talented students, faculty and staff who are making that vision a reality.”

She will start in her new position on Monday, Dec. 14.

The appointment fills out the new structuring team put in place as part of Burlington County College’s merger with Rowan University.

“Ms. Payanzo Cotton is uniquely qualified to provide the strategic vision for this important initiative and I am so proud that she will be the college’s first Vice President of Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning and the final piece of a very talented senior leadership team at RCBC,” Drayton said.

Payanzo Cotton has served as county Human Services Director since January of 2013. She was responsible for developing and managing a coordinated human services delivery system that includes several units focused on aging and ability, behavioral health, youth, community development and housing, employment and training, and military and veterans’ services.

“Anna has done an incredible job strengthening relationships within the county and our many community service partners,” Burlington County Freeholder Director Mary Ann O’Brien said. “We will miss Anna in our Human Services department, but are happy she will remain part of our Burlington County team at Rowan College at Burlington County. Everyone in the county looks forward to working with Anna in a new capacity and expects she will bring great success to the county through the Workforce Development Institute.”

Prior to serving as Burlington County Human Services Director, Payanzo Cotton served as director of program development, then housing, at Oaks Integrated Care. She was also a mental health specialist at McLean Hospital and a teaching advisor and office assistant at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University.

She graduated magna cum laude in social anthropology from Harvard University and holds a master’s of public health from the University of Pennsylvania.

The attached image of Anna Payanzo Cotton was provided by Rowan College at Burlington County