The Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees appointed David Wain Coon as interim De Anza College president on April 17, following President Omar Torres’ resignation earlier that week.
Coon accepted the position and will begin virtually on May 4 before working in-person on May 11, Chancellor Lee Lambert emailed to college employees.
Coon was San Jose City College’s interim president from October 2024 to June 2025. He was also president at Evergreen Valley College from 2005 to 2010, then at College of Marin from 2010 to 2023.
Lambert said Coon was selected over former West Los Angeles College President James Limbaugh, who retired in December 2025.
“He’s familiar with the Bay Area,” Lambert said. “When you add all that up, it’s not a surprise (that the committee chose him).”
Lambert also said the selection process “reflected strong support from the hiring committee” and prior experience, in both the Bay Area and in basic aid districts.
“We (the district) are still working out the details of the exact date,” Lambert said.
Until Coon begins, Lambert remains administrator in charge alongside existing interim leadership.
“Once I assumed that role, there’s no more authority that (Torres) can exercise,” Lambert said.
Coon will also co-chair the district-wide Somos Uno Task Force on Resource Allocation with Foothill College President Kristina Whalen.
Torres resigned 465 days into his term, making him the shortest-term president in De Anza history:
De Anza Student Government President Jayven Huang, 20, business administration and computer science major, sat on a committee to choose the interim president and said Torres had good intentions but concerning execution.
“President Torres had a lot of good ideas, and his heart was in the right place,” Huang said. “He was a little bit too fast when implementing his policies. I think he didn’t take the necessary procedures.”
Late into his term, Torres called off a planned realignment that would have merged divisions and shifted departments around amid faculty backlash.
As Coon prepares to step in, Huang said he has high expectations.
“He’s an amazing pick,” Huang said. “He has a lot of good experience, especially when De Anza is transferring from its current system to a basic aid institution.”
Anita Muthyala Kandula, dean of the Biological, Health and Environmental Sciences Division, said her initial impression is based on publicly available information.
“Like everyone else, I Googled him,” Kandula said. “He seems very promising and like a good leader, so I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Kandula said she hopes Coon will prioritize rebuilding trust after what she called a “difficult period.”
“Listening to what the constituents have to say, whether they’re staff, whether they’re faculty, whether they’re students … not just hearing, but listening and respecting that,” Kandula said.
“They (new leaders) have to smooth the waters,” Kandula said. “I think we’re all hoping.”
Lambert previously wrote in an email that the district has not yet set “a detailed timeline for the permanent presidential search” and that it “will take several months to complete.”
