MISSION VIEJO : Former Chancellor Back at Saddleback

Robert A. Lombardi, a former chancellor of the Saddleback Community College District, has been selected to fill the job again by the district’s Board of Trustees.

Lombardi, 60, has been superintendent-president of College of the Sequoias in Visalia since 1991. He is expected to take over the Saddleback district’s top post in four to six weeks.

In a closed session Wednesday, Saddleback trustees unanimously chose Lombardi out of six finalists gathered in a nationwide search, said board President Marcia Milchiker.

“People on the committee remembered him for doing exceptional things for the district,” Milchiker said. “They thought he had great honesty and integrity.”

Lombardi will receive a compensation package worth $145,000, although the details of his salary and benefits are yet to be negotiated, Milchiker said.

Lombardi has a long history with Saddleback. He was superintendent-president from 1974 to 1981 and was named chancellor in 1981 when the district reorganized to a multi-campus arrangement.

During his tenure, Saddleback’s enrollment quadrupled to 30,000 and its number of class sections increased from 500 to 2,500. To accommodate the county’s growth, the district also added a campus in Irvine.

Lombardi left the district in 1982 to take a job as vice president of Datascan, a firm with a division in Irvine that developed educational computer programs.

In announcing his resignation as chancellor at that time, Lombardi said he needed a career change after being in education for 25 years.

But in 1990, Lombardi returned to Saddleback for a one-year assignment as acting vice chancellor of human resources. The following year he was hired for the top position at College of the Sequoias.

Lombardi could not be reached for comment.

In a statement released by the district, he said he was “excited about this opportunity” and “looking forward to returning to Orange County.”

Lombardi replaces Richard Sneed, who retired in August. Anna L. McFarlin, president of Irvine Valley College, has been serving as interim chancellor.