Joyce Cacho, trustee
“We’re standing at a crossroads,” is how our new distinguished trustee Joyce Cacho, PhD described why she joined the board of trustees for the College of the Atlantic. “COA has incubated how tertiary education should be done, which is particularly valuable during this moment in time defined by a global pandemic and racial reckoning for which the US is the epicenter.”
Uniquely suited for this moment and opportunity, Cacho is a change catalyst who brings broad and deep expertise to the board, coupled with a clear and dynamic vision for COA’s future. Fluent in five languages, she has leveraged her background in multiple industries nationally and internationally, including Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. She is a recognized leader in innovation, growth and business culture transformation, while also being a passionate sustainability advocate by meaningfully embedding ESG enterprise risk management in business growth strategy.
Cacho notes that COA’s history, vision, and numerous accolades, which include being the first college to be carbon neutral, one of the first to divest fossil fuel holdings from its endowment, and being named the greenest college in the country by The Princeton Review, align with her own experience, vision, and passion. During her time with COA working with fellow trustees, she hopes that COA will become a post-COP 26 leading education institution by embedding Environmental, Social, and Governance and Task Force on Financial-Related Financial Disclosures metrics into its operations and finance policies to capture COA’s culture and goals.
Drawing from a rich familial legacy of engagement and investment in education, she was additionally drawn to COA’s innovative and integrative approach to teaching.
“COA is exemplary of education that prepares our talent pipeline for the US and abroad, where integrative thinking and respect for ‘other’ is paramount in both business and personal decisions,” says Cacho. Cacho hopes that COA will work to normalize BIPOC and other currently under-represented communities throughout the complexity of private and public education. Doing so is integral to COA being a welcoming, inclusive ecosystem and a champion of normalizing the broad base of diverse perspectives that student populations bring, and which is required of course and academic program content today.
Passionate about financial accounting governance and its role in creating business and community resilience, Cacho is a board director of Sunrise Banks, NA, an OCC-US Treasury regulated financial institution, one of 950+ Community Development Financial Institutions, a Certified Benefit Corporation with national and Minnesota charters, and a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. The bank offers financially inclusive products and embraces social entrepreneurship and innovation on the cutting edge of the rapidly emerging fintech industry across the country.
Previously, she served as a board director of Land O’Lakes, Inc., a Fortune 200 company and one of the nation’s largest farmer cooperatives. She is among Savoy Network’s 2017 and 2021 Most Influential Black Corporate Directors, and Directors and Boards Magazine’s 2018 Directors to Watch.
Cacho and her husband recently moved to Massachusetts and enjoy summer sailing in Rockland, ME. She enjoys hiking, snowshoeing, tennis, golf, and volunteering to support ecosystem and community health. Joyce’s Cardamom and Crystalized Gingerbread Pudding is a family favorite!
