Bryan Day

President

Bryan Day is the new President of Community HigherEd Institute (CHEI) which includes Community Care College, Clary Sage College and Oklahoma Technical College.

Mr. Day served as the Chief Executive Officer for 17 years at Oklahoma’s largest inpatient / outpatient addiction / behavioral health treatment center. His leadership provided documented competencies to expand services, revenue and the number of employees by 300% during his tenure while successfully maintaining stringent accreditations through the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities (ODMHSAS), Joint Commission (JCAHO), and the Commission of Accredited Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). Additionally, the organization developed and managed multi-million dollar contracts during his tenure with the Veterans Administration (VA), Native American tribes including the Cherokee Nation, and Muscogee Creek Nation, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and many others.

Mr. Day has developed and managed successful collaborative programs with higher education including the University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University (OSU). These included the development of ACGME accredited Addiction Medicine Fellowships and residencies. He has developed and managed public / private community partnerships with both the City of Tulsa and State of Oklahoma designed to improve outcomes, public safety and reduce costs.

Mr. Day has served on multiple Boards, Governance Councils, and community based collaboration initiatives including serving as one of nine founding members of the Alliance of Mental Health Professionals Board of Directors; the Board of Directors of Oklahoma Substance Abuse Service Alliance as the Legislative Chair for the statewide membership; and as Past Chair of the Governance Council, A Way Home for Tulsa including service as the Continuum of Care representative and Tulsa Mayor appointee for the HUD Development Committee Tulsa.

Mr. Day has successfully led and completed multi-million dollar capital campaigns. Additionally, he has raised millions of charitable dollars through grant writing and fundraising events. Mr Day’s leadership history also encompasses over twenty years as the Chief Executive and proven, successful business owner in ‘for profit’ publishing and retail ventures in Oklahoma.

Since 1994, Bryan and his wife, Connie, have lived on the outskirts of Sapulpa, near Pretty Water Lake. They attend First Presbyterian Church in Sapulpa and enjoy traveling to beautiful places, antiquing, attending concerts, and giving back to the community through a wide variety of charities.

Estrella Ramírez

Career and Life Development Department Head

Estrella Ramírez is a seasoned educator with over a decade of experience in education impacting thousands of students’ lives over the course of her career. She earned an Associates degree in Pre-Education from Tulsa Community College in 2013, a Bachelor’s degree from ORU in Modern Foreign Language Education in 2015 (Spanish Education), and a Dual Master’s degree in Administration of Education and Curriculum and Instruction in 2022 from Emporia State University. Estrella loves education and believes teaching to be her divine calling so she is very passionate about it. She personally used education to transform her life and has a desire to instill the importance of education in as many people’s lives as possible. She believes education to be the key to unlocking countless opportunities and is determined to help put the key of education into the hands of every student she is blessed to teach.

Paula Matthews

Barber Department Head

Paula Matthews is an Oklahoma Native who lives in Owasso with her husband. She has two daughters and three granddaughters and one grandson. Prior to developing the barber program at Clary Sage College, she spent 30 years in the industry as a barber stylist and 14 of those years as a licensed barber instructor. Throughout those 30 years of experience, she became involved with “Oklahoma Barber Advisory Board and The National Association of Barber Boards of America” and performed many tasks while being an active member of those boards. Her love for the industry has transformed into a passion, sharing her craft with talented barber students. Within the 12 years since the program started, she has been blessed in seeing students find great success in established shops, high end barbershops and salons, and some even became shop owners themselves. Paula has given back to her community over the years by going to John 3:16 men’s shelter, 12 and12 Drug Rehab Center and The Day Center and giving haircuts. Giving back to the community is a way for her to share her skills and passion that reflect her love for the barber industry.

Erica Parker

Esthetician Department Head

Erica Parker brings an extensive background in the beauty industry to Clary Sage College. After graduating from cosmetology school in Wichita, Kansas in 1989, she knew even then that she would eventually go into education.

Before becoming a Master Instructor, she worked in several different salon settings and owned her own full-service salon for 14 years. What she found the most fulfilling about that work was when she was able to equip tomorrow’s professionals. After taking time off from the beauty industry to focus on raising her two sons, she went into the medical field and worked in doctors’ offices before returning to her first passion–teaching. While Erica has taught cosmetology courses, she really found that her strength was in esthetics. Skin care and the science of skin are something that has always been a fascination for her, and she loves sharing that knowledge with her students.

At Clary Sage College, Erica fully involves herself in the inner workings of education and assists in the creation of the best quality education. Her students are now her best customers and Erica strives to provide exemplary customer service everyday. After 35 years in the beauty industry, Erica appreciates that her diverse knowledge and experience continue to contribute to everything she can share with her students.

Katherine Ashby

Makeup Artistry Department Head, Nail Technician Department Head

At a young age Kat knew that she wanted to grow up to work in a field where she could be creative; to surround herself with likeminded people and all come together to create the bigger picture. She has been a licensed Cosmetologist since 2009, Master Instructor since 2013, two-time award-winning Makeup Artist, and Clary Alumni! Kat loves to work with all things beauty but has specialized in the Production scene since 2015. She loves working in film because it gives her the opportunity to create something new every time she’s on set and it also gives her time to meet and connect with people.  A nerd to the core, she loves to create a look from hair, makeup, props, wardrobe, and everything in between. When Kat is not running the Departments of Makeup Artistry and Nail Technology you can usually find her hanging out with her kids, cat, or starting a new project to stay busy and learn new things.

Bridget Brock

Massage Therapy Department Head

Bridget Brock, AOS, LMT grew up in Northern Wisconsin and has lived in a few states before settling down in Oklahoma 15 years ago. She lives in Coweta with her husband and fur babies. Her passions are traveling, dogs, natural healing and, of course, massage therapy.
Bridget came into Massage Therapy after seeing so many people in pain and only receiving treatment with medication. She enrolled in the Massage Therapy Program in Florida, but two months later moved to Tulsa and transferred to the Massage Therapy Program at Community Care College. Bridget has worked on the front lines as a therapist, as well as managing salons and spas, and even running her own business. Bridget also currently holds a certification in Massage Cupping.

Derek Ball

Director of Operations

Derek is an Oklahoma native, and has lived and worked in Tulsa since the age of 17. A Licensed Massage Therapist by trade, Derek graduated from Community Care College in 2007 with his Associates of Applied Science Degree in Massage Therapy. Derek came to work for Community HigherEd in 2014 in the massage therapy department, and has held multiple leadership roles, leading to his current position working for all 3 college campuses. In his free time, Derek loves traveling with his partner, taking care of his 40+ plants, cooking and trying new cuisine, and playing with his Corgi. Derek has a passion for helping others, in many different ways. He is an active member of the community, serving on local organization’s boards and donating time to local initiatives. Derek gains immense pleasure from organizing and putting on various events for Community HigherEd.

Sara Breland

Director of Career Services

Sara graduated from Northeastern State University with a degree in Marketing and joined Community Care College in Admissions in 2007. She fondly recalls when both OTC and Clary Sage opened their doors for the first time to students. In 2010, Sara took on a new role as Evening Team Leader at Clary. She was able to use the skills that she learned from her Marketing degree to read people in order to really get to know how to help them.

In 2011, Sara married and moved to Texas to begin a career in banking. While there, she ultimately decided that she truly missed the connection with the students that she had, so she returned to Clary Sage in 2020 as a Career Services Representative. Her favorite part of what she does is watching someone pursue what they truly want in life, and then watching that dream become reality.

Sara was promoted to Career Services Director in 2022, where she continues to use her talents to help students achieve their career goals with her servant’s heart and love of giving to others.

In her spare time, Sara enjoys spending time with her husband and animals, crafting, listening to live music, and she’s never met a patio she didn’t like!

Pallavi Agarwal

Chief Financial Officer

Pallavi “Polly” Agarwal serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Community Care College, Clary Sage College, and Oklahoma Technical College. Polly is a true servant leader and loves the college’s CARES culture. Polly has her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting with a major in Accounts/Finance. While pursuing her bachelors, she worked as an intern at a CPA firm for several years. A few years later she earned her Master’s in Business Administration at Oral Roberts University (ORU), Tulsa OK. During her M.B.A. program, she started working at Community Care College as an Accountant, and was then promoted to the Accounting Manager position. Polly has been serving as the CFO of the colleges since January of 2016. Throughout her 10+ years with the colleges Polly has been dedicated to serving others and developing leaders.