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Daniel Knox

Director of the Institute for Systems Innovation and Improvement

Daniel Knox is the Director of the Institute for Systems Innovation and Improvement at the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH), which aims to build capacity and improve performance of NASH member systems to advance equitable student outcomes.  The Institute was among the first organizations to apply improvement science principles to the public higher education system context at scale.  In addition, Dr. Knox is leading NASH’s data and metrics initiative, which developed a novel baseline study of public higher education system impacts related to degree and credential completion, social mobility, and student debt.  Dr. Knox is also working on applying AI to transfer student advising in collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Computational Approaches to Human Learning Lab.   Previously, Dr. Knox held the position of Assistant Provost at the State University of New York, where he engaged in developing, implementing, and assessing broad-scale policy, research, and technology initiatives aimed at supporting student success and closing equity gaps, with a particular focus on transfer policy.  He holds a B.A. in English Language & Literature from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Leadership from the University at Albany, SUNY.   

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Erika Swain

Assistant Director of Academic Compliance and Authorization

Erika Swain is the Assistant Director of Academic Compliance and Authorization for the University of Colorado Boulder. In this position, she leads the university’s academic compliance efforts by ensuring the university meets regulatory, including accreditation, and state authorization requirements for educational activities delivered by CU Boulder in and outside of Colorado. Erika also serves as the Associate Director for State Authorization for the CU system, advising the CU campuses and system on state authorization and associated regulations and requirements. Prior to joining CU Boulder in 2019, Erika worked in institutional accreditation, overseeing training and federal compliance programs in her roles at both the Higher Learning Commission and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. She also previously served as the Registrar at North Country Community College in the northern Adirondacks (NY).

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Sarah Austin

Policy Analyst

Sarah Austin is a policy analyst at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA). Prior to joining NASFAA in 2018, Sarah worked in financial aid administration at Gonzaga University and Whitworth University in Washington state. She also served in various volunteer roles with the Washington Financial Aid Association (WFAA). Before her current role on NASFAA’s policy team, she held positions in business services and training and regulatory assistance.

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Cheryl Dowd

Senior Director, State Authorization Network and WCET Policy Innovations

Cheryl directs the activities of the State Authorization Network (SAN), including coordination of staff addressing interstate policy and compliance as well as other ancillary compliance issues. Additionally, she serves the overall WCET membership in addressing emerging and special regulatory issues related to digital learning in postsecondary education. Cheryl is a contributing author for a guidebook for understanding the legal basis for State and Federal compliance for activities of post-secondary institutions, State Authorization of Colleges and Universities.  Cheryl was awarded the 2024 Eagle Award by USDLA for demonstrating unique leadership in the public policy arena and has a long-standing record of educational technology support as well as the support of the USDLA mission, which includes serving the needs of the distance learning community by providing advocacy, information, networking and opportunity. Cheryl earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Richmond, a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Bowling Green State University, and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from James Madison University

Catherine Hofmann

Senior Vice President, Government and Public Relations, ACT

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Dale King

Senior Fellow

Dale is a leading authority on student privacy law and has 13 years of experience administering the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA). Prior to his current position as Senior Fellow, Dale served as Senior Policy Advisor on student privacy within the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development (OPEPD). Dale also served eight years as director of the Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office.

Dale’s federal experience extends well beyond student privacy. He served as director of Policy, Research, and Evaluation Services within the Department’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, which administers the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins Act) and Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA). He began his federal career in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services working to improve the services to individuals with disabilities. Dale started his career as a special education teacher and has held leadership positions at both the local and state levels. Dale has dedicated his entire professional career to the betterment of the education of our nation’s students. Dale earned an MS degree in Psychology from the University of Tennessee.

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Simon Anderson

Keynote Speaker

Simon Anderson is an international futurist keynote speaker, applied foresight expert, executive advisor, and award-winning author. With a mission to help executives and organizations move beyond resilience and become future-ready, Simon translates complex emerging trends and technologies into actionable insights and strategies using his Future Ready Formula™.

Drawing on his extensive experience in applied foresight with executive leadership and a global perspective gained from speaking on four continents and his travels to more than 35 countries, he empowers leaders across industries to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities created by rapid change. As the co-author of the award-winning book Foresight 20/20: A Futurist Explores the Trends Transforming Tomorrow and former advisor to technology startups and a multinational education non-profit, Simon has established himself as a global expert in emerging technologies and trends.

Simon’s insights have been featured in a wide variety of publications worldwide, including CityWire’s New Model Adviser, Commercial Factor, Crain’s Business News, and Executive Connections, a publication of the International Executive MBA Council

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Collise Dupont

Executive Director of Enrollment Services

Request Collise Dupont as a speaker   

Collise Dupont grew up in a small rural community along the Gulf of Mexico in Southwest Louisiana, where he embraced everything the outdoors and small-town life had to offer. in 2013, whi9le attending McNeese State University, he fell in love with education and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. He also has a Master of Business Administration from McNeese State University as well. He completed his last degree in 2022.

In 2013, Collise began his enrollment management career as an admissions representative at Unitech Training Academy, where he began to present professionally. Every student focused presentation was conducted and completed by the admissions representatives at the Lafayette campus. He later served as a financial aid representative before being promoted to Director of Admissions, where he led admissions teams at seven campuses across Louisiana. In this role, he developed and trained the teams across all locations with the college. Every new admission representative and financial aid representative was onboarded and coached by Collise in a training program developed by him, and every quarter, the admissions team would attend workshops developed by him to cover a wide range of topics regarding students at the college but also national trends in enrollment management. He would present and provide training to Campus Directors, Directors of Education, etc.

In 2019, he made the decision to leave proprietary education and begin working with public institutions. He started working with his alma mater, McNeese State University, as the Assistant Director of Admissions, and eventually he ran the college’s One Stop, Student Central, as the manager. Through work with his alma mater, Collise developed student-centric programming that he used to train staff across the college regarding best practices in customer service and enrollment management.

Currently, he is with South Louisiana Community College (SoLAcc), and during his tenure, he has served as the Associate Director of Admissions, Interim Director of Enrollment Management, Associate Dean of Students and Enrollment Management, and, currently, the Executive Director of Enrollment Services.  He currently leads the strategic enrollment management initiatives for his college, and while he presents frequently to his colleagues at the college, he has also co-led trainings with the Louisiana Community & Technical College System regarding best practices in enrollment management (such as follow up techniques, task management, etc.), and he is sometimes requested to discuss best practices using CRMs with institutions that are not familiar. Also, during his tenure, he has conducted several television and radio interviews to highlight SoLAcc and the events around campus.

Collise also has public speaking experience in other areas through volunteer work, organizational membership, and committee appointments. He is an alumnus of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, a former team reaffirmation team member for the Council on Occupational Education, and he has served on various advisory committees throughout his tenure.

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Lara Medley

Assistant Vice Chancellor and University Registrar, University of Colorado Denver

Lara began working in higher education in 1985, becoming a registrar in 2003. She volunteered in many roles for AACRAO including Co-chair of Volunteers, author, and committee chair; and she spent three years serving as Vice President for Records and Academic Services on the AACRAO Board of Directors. Lara completed a BA in International Spanish for the Professions as well as a Master of Public Administration. Her current role is at her alma mater, University of Colorado, as the Assistant Vice Chancellor and University Registrar for the Denver campus.

Hopeton (Hope) Smalling

Functional Business Analyst in Retention and Student Success at Syracuse University

Hopeton (Hope) Smalling, Ed.S., is Functional Business Analyst in Retention and Student Success at Syracuse University. Supporting student success initiatives, Dr. Smalling provides expertise to manage people, technology, and business process. He is the key administrator for the student success platform Orange Success and data custodian for related data. Exceptionally adept at leveraging educational business intelligence to optimize operational needs and student success, his professional career reflects more than 20 years of experience in higher education, enhancing teaching and learning effectiveness in and out of the classroom.

Hopeton earned a master’s degree in business administration in enterprise resource planning and administration from Le Moyne College. Additionally, he has earned his sixth-year degree as an educational specialist (Ed.S.) and is a Ph.D. candidate exploring the phenomenon of learning analytics in higher education.

Transforming Student Success: A Strategic Approach at Syracuse University

Kalpana (Kal) Srinivas

Director of Retention and Student Success at Syracuse University

Kalpana (Kal) Srinivas, Ph.D., is Director of Retention and Student Success at Syracuse University. As part of SU’s larger commitment to creating an inclusive student body, Dr. Srinivas works with all schools, colleges, and divisions to further the ideals of supporting all students with the underpinning concept being that all students receive the individualized services and support necessary for their success through graduation. She assists campus stakeholders in thinking critically, analytically and creatively to meet the needs of a diverse student population, through programs, services and efforts. She supports success of all students by working collaboratively to identify areas of needed change that would increase student success and retention, discovering what causes attrition, developing recommendations, in addition to alternating systems and procedures to increase retention.

Dr. Srinivis provides leadership and strategic direction for designated co-curricular and functional units, as well as across all schools and colleges to expand the University’s visibility and reach, which support student retention and success. The pervasive nature of assessment culture that she creates in the unit helps implement innovative student retention strategies effectively to support student success.

Transforming Student Success: A Strategic Approach at Syracuse University

Gala M. Ledezma

Ph.D. Student, UC Irvine School of Education

Gala M. Ledezma is a Ph.D. student in the UC Irvine School of Education, specializing in Education Policy. She earned her master’s in public policy from the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. Her research interests involve higher education policy and program evaluation, with a specific focus on community colleges and understanding student trajectories.

Predicting Enrollment Melt Among Community College Applicants

Micah Kamrass

Adjunct Professor of Higher Education Law at Vanderbilt University

Micah Kamrass, Ed.D., practices higher education law, real estate law, and election/campaign finance law. In his higher education law practice, Kamrass serves as general counsel and special counsel to numerous international fraternities and sororities and their affiliated entities. In his real estate practice, Kamrass provides counsel on a wide range of real estate matters to clients ranging from small family-owned businesses to some of the largest companies in the world. In his election/campaign finance law practice, Kamrass provides trusted counsel to many of Cincinnati’s elected officials and other civic leaders.

Kamrass attended The Ohio State University for undergraduate, graduate, and law school. While there, he served as student body president where he represented 40,000 students. Kamrass was also President of the Ohio State University chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi and served as a member the Alpha Epsilon Pi international Supreme Board of Governors. In addition to his law degree, Kamrass has a doctorate in higher education leadership and policy from Vanderbilt University. He also serves as an adjunct professor of higher education law at Vanderbilt University.

The Impacts of Financial Aid on Student Success at Model College

Meghan Grace

Researcher, Consultant, Speaker, and Podcast Host

Meghan Grace, Ed.D., is a researcher, consultant, speaker, and podcast host. As a consultant for Plaid, she oversees research and data strategies and provides project and program management. Her research interests include generational studies with a current focus on Generation Z (born 1995–2010), higher education, student life, and campus and organizational climate. She also serves as a co-lead for the Institute for Generational Research and Education with her research partner, Dr. Corey Seemiller. Dr. Grace completed her undergraduate degree in communication studies with a leadership studies minor at Chapman University, her master’s degree in higher education at the University of Arizona, and her doctorate in higher education leadership and policy at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Grace resides in Nashville, TN.

The Impacts of Financial Aid on Student Success at Model College

Jerry Ross

Vice President for Enrollment Management at Marshall University

Jerry Ross currently serves as the Vice President for Enrollment Management at Marshall University and previously served as the chief enrollment officer at California State University, Chico. He has three degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi including Doctor of Education where he wrote a dissertation on the educational life of Frederick Douglass. His primary research interests are leadership, strategic planning, change management in enrollment management, and collaboration with campus partners.

Application of Leadership Challenge Principles to Strategic Enrollment Management: Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

Heidi L. Bishop

Higher Education Researcher

Heidi L. Bishop, M.Ed., in 2022, earned her M.Ed. from Graduate School of Education, College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University where she specialized in data and learning analytics. Her educational background includes a B.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Education (Pacific Lutheran University) with an emphasis in secondary science education. Through her continued collaboration with Northeastern University, her current research areas include the curriculum design and adult learning methodologies in bioinformatic programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Ms. Bishop contributed as co-author to research at the national conference for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) in March 2023.

Independent from her research, she is employed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and works in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCCHHSTP) in Atlanta, Georgia as a lead health scientist specializing in data informatics. Prior to her graduate work at Northeastern University and her employment with the CDC, she has fifteen years of experience working in corporate learning, environmental health, and data informatics positions in the private and public sectors, to include two Fortune 100 companies, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the Navy. To further pursue her research interests in health science informatics, she is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Health Informatics Program at Rutgers University.

Data-Driven Methodology to Identify Untapped Student Populations for Marketing, Recruitment, or Program Expansion

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Sean Bridgen

Associate Director for External and Institutional Partnerships at NACADA

Dr. Sean Bridgen is the Associate Director for External and Institutional Partnerships at NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising and a graduate faculty member in the Department of Special Education, Counseling, and Student Affairs at Kansas State University.  Prior to working full time with NACADA, Sean worked on college campuses for over 20 years in various roles in academic advising and registrar’s offices.

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Steve Downing

Dean of Enrollment Management at Bellevue College

Steve Downing is currently the Dean of Enrollment Management at Bellevue College, a role he has held since 2022. He has been a part of Bellevue College’s enrollment services team since 2001, serving in various capacities over his 23 years in higher education, with a focus on community college admissions and registration. As Dean, Steve leads strategic initiatives to enhance student access, persistence, and success. He is deeply committed to fostering a student-centered approach and is passionate about leveraging technology to support students throughout their educational journey, ensuring that systems and processes meet their needs effectively. 

Steve has been involved at the state and regional level by serving in leadership roles for both PACRAO and WaACRAO. Additionally, Steve is currently a Co-Chair of Volunteers for AACRAO 2025 in Seattle. 

Steve holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master of Science in Student Affairs and Higher Education from Indiana State University. 

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Chantel Black

Director of Admissions and Registration/Registrar at Spokane Community College

Chantel currently serves as the Director of Admissions and Registration/Registrar at Spokane Community College located in Eastern Washington. She has worked in higher education for almost 23 years in student services areas such as Admissions, Registration, Dual Enrollment, Veteran’s Benefits, Testing and Placement, International programs, and TRIO programs,  in addition to teaching both ESL and Computer Applications.  

Chantel has been a member of AACRAO since 2006 and attended her first Annual Meeting in Seattle in 2011. She is currently one of the Co-Chairs of Volunteers for the 2025 Annual Meeting in Seattle and previously served on AACRAO’s Accessibility Task Force. She is a member of the Women’s Caucus and the Community College Focus Committee.

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Kelly Hoyland

Director, Post-Secondary Education & Workforce Programs at 1EdTech

Kelly Hoyland is the Director for Post-Secondary Education & Workforce Programs at 1EdTech, where she leads initiatives to advance digital learning and credentialing. In this role, she collaborates with members to address the challenges they face in the evolving digital learning landscape, focusing on making life achievements more accessible, personalized, and equitable for all learners across K-12, higher education, and corporate sectors.

Kelly brings extensive experience in educational technology leadership, having served in director-level roles in both higher education and K-12 settings. Her passion for equipping learners with the skills needed for success in the workforce is evident throughout her career, from her early experience as a Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher supervising youth apprenticeships to her role as Director of Learning & Client Technology Services at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where she oversaw a large student employment program.