2023 National Conference on Trusteeship

Kemal Atkins, PhD, is an experienced higher education executive. He has more than 25 years of institutional leadership experience and is a recognized authority on enrollment management, student success, intercollegiate athletics, organizational and leadership development, strategic planning, and crisis management. Atkins is currently a senior consultant at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). His consulting work focuses on institutional strategy and transformation practices such as business model innovation, revenue growth, leading change, and risk management and crisis recovery. Atkins takes his professional experience and scholarly work into the classroom as an adjunct associate professor of educational leadership at Delaware State University.

Atkins has held vice president positions at Keene State College and Delaware State University. He has held administrative positions at East Carolina University, the University of North Carolina System Office, and Appalachian State University and is the founding director of ThinkCOLLEGE, a college access program of Communities In Schools, Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Atkins earned his BA and MA degrees in English from Appalachian State University, and his EdD in educational leadership from Delaware State University. He also completed the American Academic Leadership Institute’s Executive Leadership Academy, Gavin de Becker & Associates’ Advanced Threat Assessment and Management Institute, and the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).

Anthony Barbar is president and CEO of Barbar & Associates, a strategic advisory firm specializing in real estate, public-private partnerships, and business development. With over 40 years of experience serving South Florida’s real estate market, he is noted for exceptional ability to analyze, evaluate, and develop strategic plans that accomplish diverse objectives of many stakeholders.

Barbar has spearheaded the acquisition, planning, designing, financing, development, and sales of several large commercial mixed-use projects and upscale residential communities in the region. This background, combined with his work in public-private partnerships and strategic acquisitions, makes him a highly sought-after real estate consultant.

Barbar’s current role includes managing the corporate real estate needs for more than a dozen major employers, providing real estate investment planning for entrepreneurs of emerging companies, and consulting with a distinguished group of public and private clients located in the United States and overseas. Because of his ability to ease communications and eliminate complexity throughout the real estate transaction process, he frequently is tapped by community leaders to advise on development projects and is known for easing communications and eliminating complexity throughout the real estate transaction process. Under his leadership, the commitment of Barbar & Associates and its family heritage continues to be rooted in quality service and community support.

Barbar is the chair emeritus of Florida Atlantic University’s Board of Trustees and served as the executive chairman of the Boca Raton Bowl Committee.

A highly respected voice in higher education, Carol Cartwright, PhD, has had a career distinguished by innovative teaching, pioneering research, and national leadership. She was president of Bowling Green State University from 2008 to 2011. Her retirement in June 2011 marked a 45-year career in public higher education. From 1991 to 2006, Cartwright served as president of Kent State University, a role that earned her the distinction of the first female president of a state college or university in Ohio. Prior to her presidency at Kent State, Cartwright was vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of California at Davis, and dean for undergraduate programs and vice provost of the Pennsylvania State University. She served as a member of the Penn State faculty from 1967 to 1988, where she led a variety of research projects and authored numerous books, professional publications, and technical reports.

Cartwright held prominent leadership roles in higher education’s most influential national organizations, chairing the board of directors of the American Association for Higher Education and serving on the boards of directors of the American Council on Education, the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and the American Association of Colleges and Universities. She chaired the National Collegiate Athletic Association Executive Committee and served as a member of the NCAA board of directors and the Committee on Infractions. She served as a presidential appointee on the board of trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where she chaired the Fellowship Committee, and she was a founding board member of the National First Ladies Library. In 2012, she completed an eight-year term on the national board of directors for National Public Radio, serving as vice chair during her last two years. In December 2020 she retired from the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, having served for 20 years and as co-chair from 2017 to 2020. Currently, she serves on the board of directors for the Collegiate Women Sports Awards, the Napa Valley College Foundation, and the board of trustees of Heidelberg University where she is the chair of the Governance Committee.

Cartwright received her BS degree from the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater and her MA and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh.

For fifteen years, Ellen Chaffee, PhD, was president of Valley City State University and served nine of those years simultaneously as president of Mayville State University. Her leadership created an award-winning culture of innovation, change, and accountability. She then spent a year as president in residence at Harvard University. Previous positions include academic vice-chancellor for the North Dakota University System and director of organizational studies at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. She was president of the Association for Institutional Research and the Association for the Study of Higher Education, as well as the public member of the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education, the accrediting board for pharmacy.

Chaffee earned both her MA and PhD from Stanford University. She is a past member of Des Moines University’s board of trustees and served as board member and chair of a major health care system.

James F. Conneely, PhD, has 40 years of experience in higher education administration. He has served at a full complement of institutional types (public, private, single-gender, and religiously affiliated) as an administrator (e.g., president, vice president, associate provost), including serving as a president of two institutions (public and private), and is a tenured faculty member in the College of Education at the University of North Georgia. Conneely has also worked at the University of Maine at Augusta, Notre Dame of Maryland University, Eastern Kentucky University, the University of Arkansas, Emory University, Villanova University, and the University of Northern Iowa. He has also served as the superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky. Areas of expertise include working with governing boards and senior leadership on strategies for students’ success, including recruitment and retention; development of effective strategic planning processes in public and independent schools; and organizational effectiveness and executive coaching in the public and private higher education sectors and at religiously affiliated institutions.

Conneely has been active in the Southern Association for College and Schools and the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators, including chairing the James E. Scott National Academy for Leadership and Executive Effectiveness. He served as the president of the Southern Association for College Student Affairs and other professional associations. In addition to serving in leadership positions nationally and regionally, he has consulted in Mexico, Germany, Canada, and China in his areas of expertise. In addition to his professional involvement, Conneely has been active in his community, serving on nonprofit boards as well as trade and economic development boards. He received the Regional Services Award of the United Way of the Bluegrass, the John Koldus Award for Outstanding Service to National Association of Student Personnel Administrators – Region III, and the H. Howard Davis Jr. Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Southern Association for College Student Affairs. He also was recognized by the Commonwealth of Kentucky House of Representatives.

Conneely received his BA from Saint Bonaventure University, his MS in education from Alfred University, and his PhD from Georgia State University. Additionally, he received certificates from Harvard University’s Management Development Program and the Institute for Educational Management, and a certificate from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s Summer Institute at Dartmouth University.

Jill Derby, PhD, has nearly 30 years’ experience working nationally and internationally in higher education governance. Between 1988 and 2006, Derby served on the Nevada Board of Regents, including three terms as board chair. In 2015, she was a keynote speaker on the topic of governance at the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Higher Education Summit in Abu Dhabi. She is the vice chair of the Guinn Center for Policy Priorities, a centrist think tank for economic and educational policy in Nevada. As chair of the Nevada Board of Regents, she provided critical leadership during a period of rapid growth. She led the initiative to establish Nevada’s first state college, created a board development committee to improve board performance, focused the board’s attention on statewide strategic planning during a transition of system heads.

Derby received her BA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and both her MA and PhD from the University of California, Davis. Nevada State Board of Regents, 1988-2006. In 2011, Derby received a US Senate appointment to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which counsels the US Secretary of Education on higher education. Derby currently serves as the chair of the American University of Iraq in Kurdistan. Before and while serving on the Nevada Board of Regents, Derby was involved in policy making at the state level, serving on the Nevada Supreme Court Gender Bias Task Force, the State Judicial Selection Commission, and the Nevada Humanities Commission. She served on the gubernatorial transition team in 2007, the Nevada Blue Ribbon Task Force on Education Reform in 2010, and to a statewide Community College Task Force in 2011.

Lisa Helmin Foss, PhD, MBA is an experienced higher education leader, scholar and facilitator. She currently serves as Ambassador to AGB’s Council for Student Success. Her consulting and facilitation practice focuses on working with higher education boards and leadership teams in the areas of strategic and academic planning, brand strategy integration and branded student experiences, organizational design and change management, academic program portfolio management, and data strategy and performance measurement. She presents locally, nationally, and internationally on change management, innovation, institutional effectiveness, and the successful application of data analytics in higher education systems and institutions. Previously, she served as the Vice President for Planning & Engagement and Chief Strategy Officer at St. Cloud State University (MN), where she led SCSU’s strategic planning, assessment, accreditation, and analytics and institutional research functions and oversaw SCSU’s continuing and professional education unit. She has served as a senior advisor to multiple university presidents and chancellors and has engaged with institutions and boards in the challenging work of managing disruptive change and innovation. She served as the Chancellor’s Fellow for Reimagining Minnesota State, a board-level planning effort to identify and manage disruption through developing a system-wide capacity for strategic innovation. Her scholarly interests focus on the area of innovation in higher education and how innovation can be leveraged as a competitive advantage. She teaches graduate-level coursework in planning and change, institutional effectiveness, and continuous quality improvement.

Her academic credentials include a doctorate in Educational Policy and Administration – Higher Education from the University of Minnesota and a master in business administration and bachelors in mass communications from St. Cloud State University. She was an American Council on Education Fellow for 2015-16 and completed the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Management and Leadership in Higher Education Institute in 2011.

Richard M. Freeland is an expert on strategic planning and strategic leadership. His recent consulting work has supported campus leaders in navigating programs of institutional change, including discussions of mergers and strategic partnerships. Previously, Freeland served as president of Northeastern University for a decade, leading a major repositioning of the school. He has also been commissioner of higher education for Massachusetts, vice chancellor for academic affairs at the City University of New York, and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Massachusetts–Boston. He has published two books on higher education, Academia’s Golden Age, a study of change at universities in Massachusetts between 1945 and 1975, and Transforming the Urban University, an account of change at Northeastern during his presidency. He has also published numerous articles with an emphasis on presidential leadership, the educational value of work, and urban higher education.

Currently a trustee of the Davis Educational Foundation, Freeland has been a trustee and vice chair of the board at Clark University, a member of the Executive Committee of the State Higher Education Executive Officer’s Organization, and a director of the American Council on Education. As president of Northeastern University, he served on numerous Boston and Massachusetts boards, including the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and Fleet Bank. Throughout his career, he has had faculty appointments, teaching both academic leadership and American history. He currently is a Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University.

Freeland earned his BA from Amherst College and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Paul N. Friga, PhD, is one of the foremost higher education thought leaders and strategists. With 35 years of experience as a professor, researcher, and consultant at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and Indiana University, he understands how public education works and how it should change. His former experience as a consultant with PwC (earning CPA and CMA designations) and McKinsey (including projects in public higher education) round out additional relevant experience. Friga currently serves as the practice area leader for strategic transformation of public higher education at AGB. He is also a clinical associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.

For the past 10 years, Friga has researched best practices in strategic resource allocation in higher education, presented at international conferences, and co-founded ABC Insights, a premier higher education benchmarking consortium designed to make universities more efficient and effective. HelioCampus acquired the firm in 2020. Over the past three years, Friga has authored over 20 articles and hosted numerous webinars for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and other journals, addressing strategies for change in higher education to survive the COVID-19 crisis and position universities for the long term. He has also conducted many strategic planning projects for universities, not-for-profit entities, and corporations. He has written two best-selling books on team problem-solving (The McKinsey Mind and The McKinsey Engagement) and is an award-winning teacher of strategy and consulting for undergraduates, MBAs, and executives. In summary, he is passionate about helping higher education transform for greatness.

Friga has also served as a trustee at Saint Francis University and the board chair at Saints Francis and Clare Church in Greenwood, Indiana, and he is on the executive board of the Rams Club at UNC at Chapel Hill.

Friga received his MBA and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His undergraduate degree is from Saint Francis University, where he received a double degree in management and accounting.

David Maxwell, PhD, served as president of Drake University from May 1999 to June 2015 and held a faculty appointment as professor of literature. He was awarded the title of President emeritus by the Drake Board of Trustees upon his retirement. He was director of the National Foreign Language Center in Washington, DC, from 1993 to 1999 after serving as president of Whitman College from 1989 to 1993. Dr. Maxwell was at Tufts University from 1971 to 1989 as a faculty member in Russian language and literature (chairing both the program in Russian and the Soviet & East European Area program). He served as the university’s dean of undergraduate studies from 1981 to 1989.

Since June 2015, Maxwell has been an AGB senior fellow and a senior consultant in AGB’s consulting practice. He is also co-ambassador (facilitator) for AGB’s Council of Board Chairs. Maxwell was a member of the Executive Committee of the Business/Higher Education Forum (BHEF) from 2004 until his retirement and is currently an emeritus member of BHEF. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), and the National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities (NAICU). He is the past chair of the Board of Directors of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Maxwell is a member of the National Leadership Council of AAC&U’s Liberal Education for America’s Promise initiative and the Iowa Advisory Council of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. Maxwell has served on the Grinnell College Board of Trustees since June 2016 and was elected for a two-year term as chair in May 2019. He began a term on the Board of Directors of the Fulbright Association in January 2022.

An internationally published scholar on the prose of Russian writer Anton Chekhov during his faculty career, Maxwell writes on higher education issues for professional journals and other media outlets. As a senior administrator, he has had significant experience in a broad range of areas that include program review and prioritization, institutional change, strategic planning, shared governance and board development, resource allocation and prioritization, internationalization and globalization, integration of liberal arts education with preparation for careers, fundraising, community relations, and diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Maxwell’s work with AGB as a senior fellow and member of the consulting practice has included board assessment and development, improvement in board effectiveness, the policies and practices of shared governance, board and presidential leadership, bylaws and policies review and revision, committee roles and structures, and campus climate and diversity.

In 2011, Maxwell received the Chief Executive Leadership Award from District VI, Council for Advancement and Support of Education. In 2012, he received the A. Arthur Davis Distinguished Community Leadership Award from the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute, the Robert D. Ray Pillar of Character Award from Character Counts in Iowa, and the President’s Award from Region IV–East of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). In 2014, Maxwell was the first college/university president inducted into the Iowa Business Hall of Fame. In 2015, he was named Person of the Year by the Chinese Association of Iowa and received the Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award.

In May 2011, Maxwell summited Mount Kilimanjaro with his two sons and members of the Drake University football team.

Maxwell earned his bachelor’s degree in Russian area studies from Grinnell College in 1966. He was a participant in the Critical Languages Program at Princeton University from 1964 to 1965. Maxwell received his master’s and doctorate degrees in Slavic languages and literatures from Brown University in 1968 and 1974, respectively. Selected as a participant in the official U.S.-U.S.S.R. doctoral candidate/young scholars academic exchange (35 Americans in the U.S.S.R. and 35 Soviets in the United States), he was a Fulbright Fellow in Moscow from 1970 to 1971 and conducted doctoral dissertation research on Anton Chekhov’s short stories.

Stephen Golding has over 35 years of experience in higher education financial affairs, investment management, strategic resource planning and government administration. He currently is a Senior Consultant with the Association of Governing Boards (AGB), the Treasurer for the Forum for World Education, and the Managing Partner for The 1782 Group, a higher education consulting firm he founded. Previously, Golding was the Vice President of Administration/CFO at Ohio University. Prior to Ohio, Golding was the Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration at Cornell University. While at Cornell, Golding served as principal advisor to the Governor’s Task Force on Diversifying the New York State Economy and developed strategies to sponsor and commercialize New York State universities’ technology to promote regional based economic development. Prior to joining Cornell, Golding served as the Chief Financial Officer for both the University of Colorado System and the University of Pennsylvania. Before his higher education service, Golding was Secretary of Finance and Budget Director for the State of Delaware.

Golding holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Delaware and a BA in History from Washington College, where he currently serves as Chair of their Board of Visitors and Governors.

Mark A. Heckler, PhD, served as the 18th president of Valparaiso University (IN) from 2008-2020. President Emeritus Heckler is a dedicated educator with 40 years of experience in private and public higher education as a professor, dean, provost, president, and trustee. His more than two decades of experience in organizational strategy and planning spans a wide variety of settings in the United States and several countries, working with boards and presidents from Research I universities to small private colleges, as well as nationally recognized non-profit and cultural organizations.

Under his strategic leadership, Valparaiso University diversified and expanded, launching numerous new undergraduate and graduate degree programs and growing enrollment to a 40-year high with historic levels of both underrepresented and international students. He also oversaw the groundbreaking and dedications of more than seven new campus facilities and established the Institute for Leadership and Service at Valparaiso University. Heckler led the successful $250 million Forever Valpo endowment-focused campaign, the largest fundraising effort in the University’s history, which concluded with over $300 million raised.

Heckler participated on numerous national and regional higher education boards and commissions, including serving as the chair of the Leadership Commission of the American Council on Education and board chair of the New American Colleges and Universities, the Independent Colleges of Indiana, Indiana Campus Compact, and the One Region initiative for Northwest Indiana. He currently serves as a board member and chairs the Committee on Directors for the Tuition Plan Consortium (the national Private College 529 Plan). He serves as a trustee on the board of Elizabethtown College (PA), his alma mater. He also serves as the Interim CEO of the College and University Sustainability Project (CUSP), a new multi-institutional, private-college shared-services organization with startup funding from the Lilly Endowment.

Prior to joining Valparaiso University, Heckler served the University of Colorado Denver for more than a decade, including five years as the inaugural provost and vice chancellor for academic and student affairs for the three-campus university, including its health sciences center. He was instrumental in the successful effort to consolidate the administration of the urban campus in Denver with the Anschutz Medical Campus. He also served the University of Colorado Denver as the founding dean of the College of Arts and Media and the Director of the International College at Beijing, China, a partnership with China Agricultural University. Prior to moving to Denver, he was professor of fine arts and director of theatre at Siena College (NY), where he directed, acted in, designed, and/or produced more than 100 academic and professional productions in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Heckler earned his PhD in educational leadership and innovation from the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado. He completed his MFA in drama with an emphasis in directing at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and earned his BA in communications summa cum laude at Elizabethtown (Pennsylvania) College.

Thomas Hyatt focuses on corporate, nonprofit regulatory, and tax-exempt organization issues for nonprofit private and public universities, colleges, and institutionally related foundations. He frequently works with boards of directors and senior management teams on governance, corporate structure, and strategic planning issues. He presents to boards of directors on current issues, conducts in-service training, and facilitates board discussions and retreats. Among his most recent presentations are regulatory compliance, fiduciary duty, conflicts of interest, bylaws development and revision, senior management compensation and benefits, CEO transition, succession planning, fundraising, lobbying and political campaign activity, board development, membership matters, policy development, and mergers and joint ventures. Hyatt also regularly lectures on business and tax planning issues for nonprofit health care providers and higher education institutions and associations. He has written books and numerous articles about tax-exempt organizations and nonprofit governance topics. Hyatt is particularly experienced in facilitating the process between governing boards and presidents for preparing and revising employment agreements and for undertaking an appropriate compensation analysis.

Hyatt earned his BA from Boston College and his JD from the University of Pittsburgh.

Richard J. Joseph is the former President of Babson Global, Inc., a wholly-owned education subsidiary of Babson College. As CEO, he advised the leadership of academic institutions in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Rick is also the former Provost-for-Term and Chief Academic Officer of Bryant University. There, he oversaw Bryant’s College of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, and School of Health Sciences. Before his term at Bryant, Rick served as Provost and Global Dean of Hult International Business School. As a key member of Hult’s leadership team, he played a major role in building branch campuses in Shanghai, Dubai, London, and San Francisco. Earlier, he served 13 years on the Faculty and Administration of The University of Texas at Austin, where he taught mergers and acquisitions and international taxation. Before embarking on his career in higher education, Rick worked as an international banker at Citibank, Riyadh; an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, New York; a securities trader at Becker Paribas, Dallas, and Bear Stearns, New York; and a mergers and acquisitions lawyer for the Bass Group, Fort Worth.

A graduate, magna cum laude of Harvard College, Oxford University, and The University of Texas at Austin School of Law, Rick is author of Bridging the Gap between the Abundance of American Higher Education Talent and the Immense Foreign Demand for it (Oxford University Press), co-editor of the Handbook of Mergers and Acquisitions (Oxford University Press), and co-author of Prentice Hall’s Federal Taxation (Pearson). He has written numerous commentaries in the Financial Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Tax Notes, and Tax Notes International. Fluent in Arabic and French, he is a member of the District of Columbia and Texas Bar Associations.

James E. Lyons, PhD, has served in a number of administrative positions in higher education, including three university presidencies. In addition, he has served as interim president at Concordia College Alabama, the University of the District of Columbia, and Dillard University. From 2007 to 2010 he served as Secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission, where he helped to establish policies for Maryland’s public and private colleges and universities. From 1999 to 2007, Lyons served as president of California State University Dominguez Hills, a Hispanic Serving university, making him one of the first presidents to have served at the helm of both an HBCU and HSI. Prior to moving to California, he served as president of Jackson State University and Bowie State University.

Lyons earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D from the University of Connecticut. He has also attended the Harvard Institute for Education Management. He has served on numerous boards, commissions, and committees including the American Council on Education, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, the National Institutes of Health’s Task Force on At Risk Drinking, the US Dream Academy, and two Blue Ribbon Commissions reviewing higher education in Louisiana. He has chaired regional accreditation teams, and evaluated the performance of presidents and Boards, both in the United States and abroad. Lyons is a former member of the Board of Trustees at Dillard University, and Thomas Jefferson University (formerly Philadelphia University). He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Alliant International University, and Columbia College Hollywood.

David Maxwell, PhD, served as president of Drake University from May 1999 to June 2015 and held a faculty appointment as professor of literature. He was awarded the title of President emeritus by the Drake Board of Trustees upon his retirement. He was director of the National Foreign Language Center in Washington, DC, from 1993 to 1999 after serving as president of Whitman College from 1989 to 1993. Dr. Maxwell was at Tufts University from 1971 to 1989 as a faculty member in Russian language and literature (chairing both the program in Russian and the Soviet & East European Area program). He served as the university’s dean of undergraduate studies from 1981 to 1989.

Since June 2015, Maxwell has been an AGB senior fellow and a senior consultant in AGB’s consulting practice. He is also co-ambassador (facilitator) for AGB’s Council of Board Chairs. Maxwell was a member of the Executive Committee of the Business/Higher Education Forum (BHEF) from 2004 until his retirement and is currently an emeritus member of BHEF. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), and the National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities (NAICU). He is the past chair of the Board of Directors of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Maxwell is a member of the National Leadership Council of AAC&U’s Liberal Education for America’s Promise initiative and the Iowa Advisory Council of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. Maxwell has served on the Grinnell College Board of Trustees since June 2016 and was elected for a two-year term as chair in May 2019. He began a term on the Board of Directors of the Fulbright Association in January 2022.

An internationally published scholar on the prose of Russian writer Anton Chekhov during his faculty career, Maxwell writes on higher education issues for professional journals and other media outlets. As a senior administrator, he has had significant experience in a broad range of areas that include program review and prioritization, institutional change, strategic planning, shared governance and board development, resource allocation and prioritization, internationalization and globalization, integration of liberal arts education with preparation for careers, fundraising, community relations, and diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Maxwell’s work with AGB as a senior fellow and member of the consulting practice has included board assessment and development, improvement in board effectiveness, the policies and practices of shared governance, board and presidential leadership, bylaws and policies review and revision, committee roles and structures, and campus climate and diversity.

In 2011, Maxwell received the Chief Executive Leadership Award from District VI, Council for Advancement and Support of Education. In 2012, he received the A. Arthur Davis Distinguished Community Leadership Award from the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute, the Robert D. Ray Pillar of Character Award from Character Counts in Iowa, and the President’s Award from Region IV–East of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). In 2014, Maxwell was the first college/university president inducted into the Iowa Business Hall of Fame. In 2015, he was named Person of the Year by the Chinese Association of Iowa and received the Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award.

In May 2011, Maxwell summited Mount Kilimanjaro with his two sons and members of the Drake University football team.

Maxwell earned his bachelor’s degree in Russian area studies from Grinnell College in 1966. He was a participant in the Critical Languages Program at Princeton University from 1964 to 1965. Maxwell received his master’s and doctorate degrees in Slavic languages and literatures from Brown University in 1968 and 1974, respectively. Selected as a participant in the official U.S.-U.S.S.R. doctoral candidate/young scholars academic exchange (35 Americans in the U.S.S.R. and 35 Soviets in the United States), he was a Fulbright Fellow in Moscow from 1970 to 1971 and conducted doctoral dissertation research on Anton Chekhov’s short stories.

Shannon McCambridge, JD, LLM, senior consultant, joined AGB in 2014. She serves private institutions in the dual capacity of providing governance consulting and partnering with governing boards in presidential search and leadership transition. McCambridge brings many years of higher education experience to her work as a governance consultant. She served four terms on the Gonzaga University Board of Trustees in several leadership positions and is now trustee emerita. She also knows higher education, having taught employment and business law at three universities, most recently in the MBA Program at Seattle University.

In addition to co-facilitating AGB’s Institute for Board Chairs and Presidents, McCambridge often leads institutional workshops on effective board governance, bias awareness, and ethical decision-making for AGB’s clients and has been an invited speaker at AGB’s National Conference on Trusteeship, the Hispanic Leadership Institute, and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.

McCambridge frequently partners with governing boards from across the country in leading presidential searches and successful leadership transitions. Her employment law background perfectly positions her to advise clients on avoiding mistakes in the selection process and promoting presidential success through effective transition planning. Her insights appeared in a recent AGB Trusteeshipmagazine article titled “What Is Key to a New President’s Success?” Her presidential search clients include institutions across the country, from the University of San Diego and the University of Portland to Saint Joseph’s University (New York) and Princeton Theological Seminary (New Jersey).

McCambridge graduated with honors from three institutions: Gonzaga University (BA), William Mitchell College of Law (JD), and John Marshall Law School (LLM).

David Rowe, PhD, helps boards and presidents develop the strategies, resources, and governance practices necessary to achieve their aims while adapting to a disruptive educational landscape. With more than 30 years of leadership experience including as a trustee, president and vice president for advancement, Rowe was one of the youngest higher education CEOs to lead a financial turnaround in the wake of the Great Recession. During his presidency, Centenary College of Louisiana increased its unrestricted net assets by over 200%, while expanding undergraduate participation in international study to nearly 100% and moving into the ranks of the top ten most diverse national liberal arts colleges. Previously, Rowe successfully completed a comprehensive campaign for one of the first LEED certified libraries in the state of Georgia and led the strategic and master planning processes for Oxford College of Emory University. During the global pandemic, Rowe led Lancaster Theological Seminary as interim president through its first full year of online instruction and remote work while finalizing a definitive agreement for a merger with Moravian University.

Rowe earned a BS in Chemistry from Southwestern University in Georgetown Texas, an MDiv from Emory University and a PhD in Educational Policy Studies from Georgia State University. He holds certificates in Ecumenical Studies from the University of Geneva and in Disruptive Strategy from Harvard Business School Online. He has served as board chair of the Louisiana Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and on numerous other boards, including the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Associated Colleges of the South and three NCAA Division I and Division III athletic conferences.

William E. Troutt. PhD, brings 35 years of experience as a college president. In July 2017, he became president emeritus of Rhodes College, having led the college as president since 1999. During his tenure, Rhodes was twice named the “Most Service-Oriented College in America” by Newsweek. The year 2015 saw the completion of a $314 million Campaign for Rhodes to support student scholarships, faculty recruitment, community engagement, and campus enhancements. Prior to Rhodes, Troutt served as president of Belmont University. During his 17-year tenure, Belmont evolved into one of the region’s outstanding teaching universities, increasing enrollment by 75 percent and doubling the size of the campus. Prior to Belmont, Troutt served from 1978-1980 as a senior associate with McManis Associates, a Washington, D.C. higher education consulting firm. As an assistant director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission from 1975-1978, he served as an academic program officer and budget analyst for the commission that coordinates the program offerings and budget recommendations for Tennessee’s public universities, colleges, and medical schools. A nationally recognized leader in education, Troutt has been named one of America’s most effective college presidents and in 2009 received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College.

Troutt earned his BA degree from Union College and his PhD from Vanderbilt University. He has chaired the American Council on Education, The National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Program. He currently serves as a trustee of the St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Rod McDavis, PhD, brings more than 45 years of institutional leadership to his role as managing principal of AGB Search. As a professor, dean, provost, university vice president, and university president, he is uniquely qualified to help higher education boards, trustees, and executives navigate their challenges.

Based on his experience as the first African American president of Ohio University and in his other leadership positions, McDavis is recognized as an authority on:

• Strategic planning
• Developing programs to increase diversity and educational opportunity
• Achieving environmental integrity and sustainability
• Establishing educational partnerships
• Designing and implementing funding models for university systems
• Establishing new institutions, divisions, departments, and related businesses
• Organizational, executive, and team development

McDavis applies his experience in these areas and the day-to-day management of large institutions to his engagements as an AGB consultant. His clients have included major public universities, university systems, HBCUs, and independent institutions.

Before assuming the presidency of Ohio University, McDavis served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University; dean of the College of Education at the University of Florida; dean of the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; and associate dean of the graduate school and minority programs at the University of Florida. He served as a professor of education at the University of Florida, the University of Arkansas, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

McDavis earned his BS degree in social sciences in secondary education from Ohio University, his MS degree in student personnel administration from the University of Dayton, and his PhD in counselor education from the University of Toledo. He was elected to three terms as chair of the Ohio Inter-University Council. He served as chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Committee on Academics. He was a member of the NCAA Board of Governors, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, and the Ohio Third Frontier Advisory Board. He has received numerous awards for his work on diversity, sustainability, and institutional development.

Kim Bobby, EdD, has had a distinguished career in the field of higher education. She is a Principal with AGB Search, an affiliate of the Association of Governing Boards for Colleges and Universities (AGB). She also serves as the senior advisor for Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for AGB. Bobby leads the internal JDEI work across all areas of AGB to facilitate the establishment of JDEI frameworks and metrics. Her work includes working with AGB members to advance their JDEI agenda through workshops and consultation.

Before AGB, Bobby served as chief of staff for Prince George’s Community College and as Inclusive Excellence Group (IEG) director at the American Council on Education (ACE). The goals of the IEG included advancing women and people of color into senior leadership roles in higher education and, ultimately, college presidencies. Before joining ACE, Bobby was the inaugural chief diversity officer and associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Puget Sound (WA).

Bobby has written and spoken on leadership development, creating an inclusive campus climate, appreciative inquiry, and developing effective leadership programs as a pathway to achieving diverse campus leadership teams.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Bobby received her Doctorate in Educational Administration and Policy Studies from the University of Washington, Seattle, her Master’s in Educational Administration from California State University, Sacramento, and her BA in Business Administration Management from California State University, Fresno.

Melissa K. Trotta, Ed.D., joined AGB Search as Associate Managing Principal in 2017. She spent more than 25 years in higher education administration at universities including Harvard, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins in leadership roles that spanned admissions and enrollment, program management, executive education, and strategic planning. Her previous executive search experience was at Neumann Executive Search Partners (formerly Brill Neumann Associates), where she was a Vice President focused on both academic and administrative leadership searches. She has partnered with institutions on searches for presidents, provosts, deans, vice presidents and a variety of other senior leadership positions, always with an eye to the alignment of the candidate with institutional needs and priorities.

Dr. Trotta’s recent searches include:

• Barry University (FL) – President
• Broward College (FL) – President; Provost/Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Services
• Blackburn College (IL) – President
• Bucknell University (PA) – Associate Vice President/Treasurer and Controller
• Indian River State College (FL) – President
• Kent State University (OH) – Senior Vice President and Provost
• St. John’s University (NY) – Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs; Dean of the School of Education
• Thomas More University (KY) – President
• University of Central Florida Foundation – Chief Financial Officer

Dr. Trotta’s other clients have included Allegheny College, Edmonds Community College, Emory University, Georgetown University, Northeastern University, Rice University, Rider University, Stony Brook University, the University of Dayton, the University of New Hampshire, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Wayne State University.

Dr. Trotta has presented as a speaker and panelist at a variety of meetings and conferences of education-related professional organizations, including the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), the American Council on Education’s Women’s Leadership Forum, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Higher Education Leadership Conference.

Dr. Trotta holds a B.A. in communications (Phi Beta Kappa) and an M.A. in higher education administration, both from Boston College. She earned a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania, where her dissertation research focused on building the administrative leadership pipeline on college and university campuses. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Alumni Advisory Board of the Executive Doctorate Program at the University of Pennsylvania and was previously on the executive committee of the Education Alumni Association at Penn’s Graduate School of Education.

Shannon McCambridge, J.D., LL.M., brings proven expertise in the selection process and many years of higher education leadership to her work at AGB Search. Since joining the firm in 2014, Ms. McCambridge has focused on serving the executive search needs in Catholic Higher Education across the country. A sampling of the colleges and universities she has assisted includes:

• Barry University (FL) – President
• Benedictine University (IL) – Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost
• College of St. Scholastica (MN) – President
• Gonzaga University (WA) – Executive Vice President for Administration
• Marymount California University (CA) – President
• St. Catherine University (MN) – President
• Saint Joseph’s College of New York – President; EVP/Provost; Vice President for Advancement; Executive Dean Brooklyn & Executive Dean Long Island
• St. Mary’s College of California – President
• Thomas More University (KY) – President
• University of San Diego (CA) – President

In addition to an advanced degree in employment law, Ms. McCambridge’s professional background includes many years of practicing and teaching graduate and under-graduate employment law at three Catholic Universities. As an employment law attorney in a large law firm, she advised clients on a wide spectrum of employment-related and human resource issues. She also mediated and litigated before state and federal administrative agencies and courts on employment law matters and has published in the employment law field. In 2013, her article, “Third-party Retaliation: The Shoes of an Employer,” was published in Atlanta’s John Marshall Law Journal.

Ms. McCambridge also provides anti-bias awareness workshops for AGB clients. These workshops are designed to educate participants on the existence of implicit bias and provide safeguards in order to keep bias in check and create a more diverse and welcoming workplace. They also encourage adopting an ethical decision-making process to preserve the integrity of human resource practices when addressing challenging situations.

In addition to her work with AGB Search, Ms. McCambridge serves as a consultant on best practices in board governance with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). In this capacity, she has regularly co-facilitated AGB’s National Institute for Board Chairs and Presidents. The Institute is designed to assist new chair-president teams in developing robust partnerships and creating focused agendas to best position the institution to meet strategic leadership objectives. Ms. McCambridge’s governance work is informed by her experience in serving four terms on the Board of Trustees of Gonzaga University (GU) and chairing the Governance Committee. She is now trustee emerita at GU.

Ms. McCambridge is a Truman Scholarship finalist and graduated with honors from three institutions: Gonzaga University (B.A.), William Mitchell College of Law (J.D.), and John Marshall Law School (LL.M).

As AGB’s president and CEO, Henry Stoever is responsible for the leadership and operations of the AGB enterprise spanning AGB and AGB Search serving more than 1,300 boards, and representing more than 40,000 individual trustees, across more than 2,000 member institutions, systems, and foundations. Prior to joining AGB, Stoever spent nearly 10 years at the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) – the largest association of corporate directors in the United States. Prior to NACD, Stoever spent five years at Brazos Higher Education Service Corporation as SVP StudentLoans.com. He has also held several marketing leadership positions for CoStar Group, Inc., Sprint-Nextel Corporation, LexisNexis Group Inc., and Kraft Foods, Inc. Stoever also served for five years in the United States Marine Corps, resigning at the rank of captain.

In addition to his service as a trustee for the United States Naval Academy Foundation’s Academic and Scholarship Programs board, Stoever is a member of the board of directors for the Boulder Crest Retreat for Wounded Warriors, and previously held positions on the board of directors of the Chesapeake Bayhawks and Bethesda Lacrosse. He was also a visiting professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business from 2010 to 2014.

Stoever holds a BS in economics from the United States Naval Academy and an MBA in marketing and strategy from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Merrill P. Schwartz, PhD, is senior vice president for content and program strategy at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). As a member of AGB’s leadership team, she contributes to achieving the organization’s strategic goals. She is a frequent presenter at AGB and other higher education association conferences and a regular contributor to Trusteeship magazine. Previously, Schwartz served as the senior vice president of AGB Consulting, and as director of research for AGB and was responsible for conducting research on and writing about trusteeship, governance, and the academic presidency. She has also managed book projects and conferences, and served as the liaison to AGB’s Board Professionals Leadership Group, a corps of volunteers that develops professional development opportunities for members. Prior to joining AGB, Schwartz worked for almost a decade as a faculty member, director of institutional relations, and ultimately director of internships at The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, a nonprofit educational organization with an experiential learning curriculum in Washington, DC.

Schwartz earned her BA and MPA degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her PhD from the University of Maryland.

As the AGB vice president for membership experience, Patricia “Patti” M. Kunkle is charged with developing and implementing strategies that result in membership growth, robust retention rates, and dynamic engagement with member presidents/CEOs, board chairs, board members, and board professionals. Kunkle has over 25 years of executive experience working in healthcare administration and with nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions and governing boards.

Prior to rejoining AGB in 2018, Kunkle served as the AGB director of board education and consulting services from 2007 to 2011. Kunkle holds a master of science from Gallaudet University and a bachelor of science from Elizabethtown College.

Please complete the form below or stop by the Membership Experience booth in the AGB Experience to meet Kunkle, say hello, and share your membership journey so far—or learn more about how to make sure you’re getting the most out of your AGB Membership.

Cristin Toutsi Grigos joined AGB in 2008 and currently serves as the vice president for content and program strategy. She is responsible for identifying and optimizing the content and program needs of AGB members, from enduring to cutting-edge issues, as well as prioritizing and overseeing the creation of new content and the development of programs. Toutsi Grigos works collaboratively to provide AGB members with the resources and programs they need to fulfill their responsibilities and advance higher education. She also works on AGB’s public policy and advocacy initiatives, collaborating with external partners to ensure that AGB is positioned as a vital resource on higher education governance.

Toutsi Grigos has 20 years of experience in higher education, including 14 years of progressive experience with AGB across the programs, communications, consulting, and content teams. She is in her eighth year of board service for the Association for Collaborative Leadership, where she serves as chair of the Governance Committee. She is a trusted partner and is committed to effective governance and leadership in higher education.

Prior to joining AGB, Toutsi Grigos served as a Governor’s Fellow for Virginia Governor Tim Kaine in the Office of Commonwealth Preparedness, which included supporting the governor’s campus security conference after the mass shooting at Virginia Tech. She also worked for Virginia’s finance secretariat and the Department of Planning and Budget on state policies and funding formulas for public institutions in the commonwealth.

Toutsi Grigos held various positions at the College of William and Mary in the Office of the President, the Office of the Dean of Students, and the Office of Academic Support for Athletics. Additionally, she worked at Christopher Newport University in the Office of the President and for the President’s Leadership Program, where she served as program coordinator and a teaching assistant.

Toutsi Grigos has a master’s degree in higher education from the College of William and Mary, and baccalaureate degrees in political science, government administration, and leadership from Christopher Newport University.

Andy Lounder, PhD, is responsible for major components of AGB’s event-based education strategy, including conferences, institutes, advisory councils, and more. He joined AGB in 2013 as staff to the National Commission on College and University Board Governance and has subsequently directed a variety of initiatives resulting in AGB thought leadership and member learning. Lounder holds a PhD in higher education organization and leadership from the University of Maryland College Park, where he is a special faculty member in the Graduate School. He earned his master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his BA from Wheaton College (Massachusetts), where he serves on the board of trustees.

Chris Moloney, PhD, serves as AGB Consulting’s senior director. In that role, he leads the development of external engagement and business development strategies, manages a national portfolio of higher education clients, and is a key voice and creator of AGB Consulting’s digital initiatives, including webinars and Ask the Expert sessions. Prior to serving as the senior director, Moloney held the role of Director of the Strategy and Transformation consulting group at AGB, overseeing the development of complex, multi-month consulting engagements with a national portfolio of higher education clients. He also led the development of digital initiatives. Moloney began his tenure with AGB in a business and partnership development role under the affiliated entity AGB Institutional Strategies, with significant responsibility for operations.

Prior to joining AGB, Moloney served as the associate director of the College Division at Global Maximum Educational Opportunities (GMEO), an international education company, where he led sales, business development, and partnership initiatives with colleges and universities across the United States.

Moloney maintains an active presence as a teacher and scholar in higher education, serving as an instructor for multiple institutions, including Colorado State University, where he earned his PhD in sociology. His research agenda sits at the intersection of organizational transformation, innovative leadership, and technology. His current work focuses on the digital transformation of public safety agencies and the digital literacy skills and capabilities of public safety industry professionals. Moloney served for five years as the manager of the Sociological Quarterly, a peer-reviewed academic journal with 1,200 institutional subscribers, and as the study abroad program director for Norwich University in the Far East. His research and publication background includes developing and implementing quantitative and qualitative studies in partnership with government agencies and NGOs, and publishing articles and books on a variety of topics within the sociological, criminological, and criminal justice fields.

Moloney holds a BA from the University of Miami, an MA from the George Washington University, and a PhD from Colorado State University. He has co-authored three books and many other publications.

Lesley McBain, PhD, is the director of research at AGB. Previously, she held research and/or policy analysis positions at the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). She has also worked for the U.S. Department of Education (Federal Student Aid Program Compliance), the College Board, and the New School.

McBain’s research interests in addition to board governance topics include veterans education policy and related civil-military relations issues, U.S. adult education policy, public scholarship inside the Beltway, endowment trends, and financial aid and tuition issues.

McBain earned her PhD in higher education and organizational change from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She also holds an MA in education from UCLA and an MS in higher education organizational administration from Drexel University.

Natalie Boehm joined AGB in 2022. She focuses on connecting member institutions with AGB’s consultants and supporting the development of projects specific to the needs and goals of the institutions. Boehm’s work primarily centers on governance, including board assessments, presidential assessments, and board workshops. Boehm also supports consultants with the development of new offerings that focus on educating boards about how to lead through current topical issues on their campuses.

Boehm has a master of public administration from Old Dominion University and a BA in political science from Roanoke College. Her professional background includes supporting higher education research centers and institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom, including the Office of the Provost at the University of Houston–Downtown and the Centre for SMART at Loughborough University.

Meg Evans joined AGB as the assistant director of programs in March 2022. She is the former board liaison for the Portland State University Foundation (PSUF). She served as the primary liaison to the foundation’s board of trustees, responsible for compliance with the bylaws and policies, preparation of meeting materials and minutes, and staffing the board and committee meetings. Prior to PSUF, Evans spent seven years as the board coordinator for the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation Board of Directors. She is a past member of AGB’s Council of Board Professionals and served on the Professional Development Committee of the Board Professionals Leadership Group. Evans has a BA in government from Clark University.