Dr. Leigh T. Sata

Counsultant

Dr. Leigh T. Sata is a licensed, second-generation architect who practicing architecture for the first 15 years of his career.  He then moved into project management and has been a project and program manager, and facilities executive for over 20 years.  He was the University Architect at the University of San Francisco, where his responsibilities included planning, design, and project management.  Later, as a consultant to higher education clients, Dr. Sata honed his community college experience by working for several Bay Area Community Colleges as a program manager and team leader.  He has overseen close to $3B in capital project funding for various public agencies.

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Dr. Sata returned to an in-house role in 2013, first with the Solano Community College District as the Executive Director of Capital Projects, then with the Sonoma County Junior College District as the Senior Director of Capital Projects, the Peralta Community College District as the Vice Chancellor of General Services, and now as the California College of the Arts Vice President of Operations, Capital Projects, and Planning.  In these assignments, Dr. Sata oversees the capital program start up and facilities master planning process for each institution, among other responsibilities.

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In 2019, Dr. Sata received his Global Executive Doctor of Education from the Rossier School of Education from USC.  His dissertation topic evaluated a community college’s ability to create and implement a climate action plan.  His work recognized the drivers of sustainability in California and the ability of a college to implement a sustainability plan using a shared or participatory governance decision making structure.  He understands the decision-making culture of higher education institutions and is mindful about communication and transparency within organizations and to the community served.  He presented his research work at the 2021 ACSA (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) “Intersections” Conference and was published in the conference journal.