Purpose: To understand the experience of community college career and technical education (CTE) industry advisory committee members. Methodology: Using the qualitative research tradition phenomenology, participants included advisory committee chairs and institutional programme department chairs to help create a composite description of their lived experience. Findings: Themes included, effectiveness is not about complacent governance, board members are not given adequate time to review material before a meeting, board recommendations are not being implemented, and members feel that they are not truly integrated into the academic culture. Research Implications: Community colleges could use the data to revise their advisory committee policies and meeting governance. Another implication of the research is that appropriate and effective industry advisory partnerships strengthen the institution's position in the community and career and technical programming. Practical Implications: not integrating meaningful industry partnerships into developing and facilitating CTE programming will result in outdated curriculum and graduates who hold competencies and skills that do not align with industry needs. Originality and Value: This paper contributes to the literature about the value of community college CTE programmes in society and the importance of industry -- institutional partnerships regarding technical curriculum development.