Slate Position: Vice President for Finance
Position Statement:
I am honored to have been nominated again for the VP for Finance & Investments role because being able to serve our Association in a strategic capacity to improve our financial standing to provide avenues to use our resources to give back is a tremendous responsibility. There are few opportunities that are more rewarding than being able to provide good stewardship for the causes and associations you care about, and is why I am excited to be given the chance again to serve in this capacity.
From a skills perspective, I have extensive experience with finance and investments. Functionally in the handling of finances for a non-profit association I have served as both the President and Treasurer for PACRAO. During my tenure as PACRAO treasurer, I reorganized the Association's financial planning strategy and book-keeping processes to provide more clarity to membership. These changes were also made to assist the PACRAO Board with understanding the P&L for their annual meeting and gain insight into board expenses. In my professional role as Vice Provost of Strategy at my university I have numerous accountabilities tied to managing our financial resources. Mainly, I am responsible for building and supporting multi-million-dollar annual operating plans on behalf of the academic division at my institution. This includes handling contract negotiations and relationship support for third-party vendors (LMS, EdTech, etc.) and strategic planning for internal initiatives to create opportunities for reinvestment through savings or greater efficiency. My efforts at my institution in this arena led me to be recognized by UPCEA in 2024 for their award in Operational Excellence for institutional business operations. My skills and competencies understanding both non-profit and for-profit financial, accounting, and negotiating principles on a practical basis make me an ideal candidate to serve AACRAO capably in this critical role.
Beyond my skills and experience in finance and investments, I continually desire to serve AACRAO to give back and advance the organization. If elected to the role of VP for Finance & Investments I would make my primary focus on finding ways to strategically capitalize on existing resources to find ways to invest more in member driven causes and supporting critical AACRAO learning mobility initiatives. I am humbled to be given this opportunity once again to serve you and the Association in this capacity.
Request Dr. Mark Booker as a speaker
AACRAO Bio
With nearly two decades of experience working with online and distance education students at the post-secondary level in admissions, registrar, and academic administration roles Marc Booker brings a unique perspective on the trends in higher education from a non-traditional student lens. As Vice Provost for Strategy at the University of Phoenix, Marc oversees critical path academic initiatives to improve the student experience such as learning platform implementations, curricular enhancements, and developing empathetic solutions to drive improved student outcomes through data.
Marc is actively engaged in the higher education community and in 2016 served as the President for the Pacific Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, and is currently a faculty member for the Association’s Leadership Development Institute. Since 2009, Marc also has been a regular speaker, contributor, and subject matter expert at national and regional conferences for AACRAO, PACRAO, CAEL, EDUCAUSE, and ACBSP sharing insight on various topics including leadership, process improvement, change management, prior learning assessment, transfer credit, and articulation. Marc has also contributed to several publications as a co-author for AACRAO’s Guide to Best Practices: Articulation Agreements (2019); writing a chapter on international admissions for the AACRAO International Guide (2016), and was a consultant and named contributor to the Transferability of Postsecondary Credit Following Student Transfer or Co-Enrollment (2014) study published by the National Center for Education Statistics within the U.S. Department of Education. In 2020, Marc received a Hall of Fame recognition from Blackboard for his contributions in providing thought leadership and innovation in education.
Marc has extensive experience with finances and investments. Functionally, he served as both the President and also as Treasurer for PACRAO. During his tenure as PACRAO treasurer, he re-organized the Association's financial planning strategy and book-keeping processes to provide more clarity to membership and assist the PACRAO Board with understanding the P&L for their annual meeting and board expenses more clearly. In his professional role at work as Vice Provost-Strategy, he is responsible for building and allocating multi-million dollar annual operating plans on behalf of the academic division at my institution. This includes handling contract negotiations and relationship support for third-party vendors (LMS, EdTech, etc.) consisting of several multi-million dollar partnerships.
Prior to joining the NISTS team in 2017, Emily held roles in testing, registration, and student orientation at a primarily transfer-sending, two-year campus. She has expertise in student development, instructional design, and teaching pedagogy, and is deeply committed to sharing information that is relevant, practical, and practitioner-focused. A self-professed nerd, Emily loves learning and is an avid consumer of podcasts, including the HBR IdeaCast, Business Made Simple (formerly Building a Storybrand), and Teaching in Higher Ed. Emily earned a bachelor of science degree in Psychology from the University of Central Arkansas and a master of science degree in Family Studies from the University of Kentucky.
Jennifer Causey is a Research Associate at the National Student Clearinghouse.
Renee Esparza is the Transfer Resources Director at Austin Community College. Over the last 15 years, Renee has been a recruiter, advisor, adjunct faculty member, program coordinator, and analyst. Renee has served on many ACC, university, and statewide committees during her time at ACC. Most recently, Renee is a member of the Texas Transfer Alliance and the Equity Transfer Initiative grant work team which both aim to improve transfer rates and ease the transfer path ACC students navigate as they progress to earning a bachelor’s degree.
Renee has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas, a Master’s of Arts from Texas State University, and recently earned a Post-Master’s Certificate in Transfer Practice and Leadership from The University of North Georgia.
Professor and Founding Inaugural Dean, Founder's 2-yr College, Butler University (formerly Assistant Vice President for University Academic Policy, Director of Transfer, and Director Academic Policy at Indiana University System)
A leader in transfer at the state and university level in Indiana, Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty is well-known in her field for innovation, partnership, and valuing what students can buy with their transfer credit. She has launched and sustained various transfer initiatives, from making transfer a priority through Caucus action, gaining data and student experiences for policy and practice decision-making to removing localized barriers with sending and receiving institutions, and engaging in state policy implementation to finesse pathways and articulations in degree approvals. She served as IU’s lead on reciprocity agreements, feeder school relationships, guaranteed admissions pathways, credit evaluation and sat on the State-wide Transfer Articulation Leadership Committee, the Core Transfer Library Committee, Leadership member on all 20 Transfer Single Articulation Pathways Faculty panels for the state and served as the State’s representative to the Western Regional Higher Education Council. She was a key consult on the American Council on Education’s task force on transfer credit. She is a tenured university full professor.
A Challenge to Self-fulfilling Systems: Recognizing Transfer Currency, Exposing Equivalencies, and Tracking Outcomes
Cristen Moore is a senior associate supporting HCM Stategists postsecondary education work on behalf of clients such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation’s Strategy Labs. Cristen provides a portfolio of services including supporting the development of strategic plans, elevating the importance of equity-minded leadership, serving as an intermediary and facilitating evaluations. She also works across all 50 states providing technical assistance as states look to implement strategic policy to increase educational attainment in their state. Her work spans institutions, higher education systems, state-level agencies and nonprofit organizations. A graduate of Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in legal communication, Cristen also earned her master’s of public administration degree from George Washington University in 2014.
Janet L. Marling, Ph.D. has been affiliated with NISTS since its establishment in 2002 and was named executive director in 2011. In this role and through her extensive speaking, training, and consulting activities, Dr. Marling works with individuals, higher education institutions and associations, state agencies, foundations, and legislative bodies to improve transfer policy, practice, and research. She edited the New Directions for Higher Education volume titled, Collegiate Transfer: Navigating the New Normal, published by Jossey-Bass, and has been involved as a project director and/or co-principal investigator for multiple research grants focusing on transfer student success. Dr. Marling is a past appointed Board Member for the National Association for College Counseling (NACAC) and an affiliate member of the Council for Standards in Higher Education (CAS) board of directors where she acted as the lead content expert in the collaborative effort to develop the Standards for Transfer Student Programs and Services. Dr. Marling has previously served as vice president of student affairs and held professional positions in orientation and new student programs, personal and career counseling, peer mentoring, leadership, and learning support. Dr. Marling holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of North Texas, an M.S. in counseling psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a B.S. in psychology from Texas Christian University.
Kent Phillippe serves as the associate vice president for research and student success where he oversees the association research efforts of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). These responsibilities include overseeing association surveys, data collection and analysis, and providing formatted data to both internal and external audiences. In addition, he oversees the association’s efforts on the Voluntary Framework of Accountability and the data tool development for the Achieving the Dream initiative. He joined the AACC staff in 1994.Phillippe serves on many national research advisory boards, including technical review panels that oversee Federal Postsecondary data collection for IPEDS, NPSAS, BPS, and B&B. He serves as the staff liaison for the Commission on Research, Technology, and Emerging trends, as well as liaison for two AACC affiliated councils: the Council for Study of Community Colleges, and the National Community College Council for Research and Planning.Phillippe earned a master’s degree in clinical and family counseling from Southern Methodist University, a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hamline University, and earned doctoral credits in the child and family clinical psychology program at Michigan State University.
Linda Braddy is President of Dallas College - Brookhaven in Farmer's Branch, Texas, where she is responsible for leading initiatives which contribute to the vibrancy, growth, and economic stability of Dallas County. She also recently served as interim Provost for Dallas College as they transitioned to from seven independently accredited colleges to a singly-accredited college. She previously served as Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) at Tarrant County College (TCC) Northeast Campus near Fort Worth, Texas, where she oversaw the library; academic support services; academic divisions, including both credit and non-credit technical programs; dual credit, and early college high schools. Prior to her role as VPAA, she served as Deputy Executive Director of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) in Washington, D.C., a professional association for mathematics faculty, where she oversaw programs, public policy efforts, the Competitions Department, and the Meetings and Facilities Department. While at MAA, she increased the externally funded programs portfolio from $8 million to $14.5 million and co-authored A Common Vision for Undergraduate Mathematical Sciences Programs in 2025 (https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/curriculum%20resources/common-vision) and the MAA Instructional Practices Guide (https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/InstructPracGuide_web.pdf).
Prior to Dr. Braddy’s transition to the non-profit world in D.C., she served as dean of the Division of Health and Natural Sciences at TCC South Campus, during which time she assisted with the transition of the Nursing program to the Trinity River Campus, and subsequently served as dean of the Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the South Campus. Immediately prior to her tenure as dean at TCC, she chaired the Department of Mathematics at East Central University (ECU) in Ada, Oklahoma, where she was a tenured, full professor. At ECU, she directed professional development programs for K-12 mathematics teachers and other grant-funded initiatives to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics, directed initiatives to redesign courses and programs, and won multiple teaching awards at the local and regional levels. She has raised a total of $18.5 million in gifts and grants over the course of her career. She also ran her own successful small business for eight years prior to entering graduate school, employing two staff members and providing monthly merchandise inventory service for convenience stores.
Dr. Braddy received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Oklahoma, and her research area is undergraduate mathematics education. She has worked throughout her career to promote the use of evidence-based teaching practices that improve student learning outcomes, particularly in developmental and gateway mathematics courses, and in recent years has focused on promoting social justice in society via equity and inclusion in higher education across the board.
Dr. Braddy has lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex for seven of the past ten years. She has four children and four grandchildren, most of whom also live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Her favorite pastime is spending time with her family, but she also enjoys volunteering in the community, reading, playing golf, and working out.
Géraldine Fauville is a researcher at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning. The focus of her research originates from her background as marine biologist and her deep interest in the impact of increased carbon dioxide (CO2) atmospheric concentration on marine environments. Her research, rooted in sociocultural traditions, aims to provide knowledge about how digital technologies support the development of ocean literacy with an emphasis on communicating about the ocean.
Géraldine has also been managing marine education projects in collaboration with Stanford University for the past ten years developing several types of digital learning resources for high school students focusing on marine education (Inquiry-to-Insight and Virtual Marine Scientist).
Géraldine is also a co-founder of the European Marine Science Educators Association aiming to empower formal and informal educators to teach about the marine environment but also to create a network of marine educator stakeholders willing to establish a more ocean literate future for our society. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S. National Marine Educators Association (NMEA).
A Professor at Lansing Community College and Davenport University, Dr. Davis has his Ph.D. in International and Comparative Education from Michigan State University and has taught for 50 years, 14 in the K-12 system, to include founding Pamoja-Na-Shule (Saturday School) for neighborhood children, and 40 years as an Adjunct Professor. He has spent 40 years in Public Health as a Consultant in areas of Health Education, Statistics, Chronic Disease Control, Community Organizing, Quality Control for Medicaid Screening and Minority Health. He has published in several journals and books and has traveled extensively to Africa and the Caribbean as well as to Australia, Europe, South America and Asia gathering material for the All Around the African World Museum and Resource Center of which he is the Curator/Director. He has also served as a board member of an African Centered School named after Malcolm X – El Hajj Malik El Shabazz,for 25 years and in the naming of a street Malcolm X Blvd in Lansing, Mi. He has coordinated tours to Tanzania and Jamaica and helped develop Sister and Friendship City relationships in Ghana and Tanzania respectfully. He retains active membership in many African and African American organizations and others including the Lansing Juneteenth Scholarship and Education Committee and enjoys the distinction of attending as a vendor, for every Juneteenth Celebration.
With twenty years in his only registrar position, Ed has become the institutional memory he once would have consulted. Prior to Concordia for nearly a decade he was Cooperative Extension faculty for the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, holding BS and MS degrees in Agricultural Economics also from UNL. Ed is retired from the Nebraska Army National Guard. He and Brenda have two daughters and a son, all with degrees from AACRAO institutions.
After serving in the U.S. Air Force for 26 years, Bill began teaching at the post-secondary level, primarily in technical schools. He held Associate Dean and Academic Chair positions before becoming a registrar and academic scheduler. Most recently he was the campus director of a career school in Jackson, MS. Bill has a B.S. in Physics from the University of Kentucky and an M.A. in Procurement Management from Webster College. He and his wife Colleen have two sons, one daughter, and three grandchildren.
Over the past ten years, she has served in various registrar office roles, including as an Associate Registrar at George Mason University and Deputy Registrar at George Washington University. Dr. Arias has spent her professional career in higher education focusing on serving students and working to remove barriers to their success. She earned her M.S. in Education Psychology and Ph.D. in Education with a primary focus in Higher Education Administration and secondary specialization in Education Technology from George Mason University.
Holly Duckworth, CAE, CMP, LSP is a trailblazing keynote speaker and applied mindful leadership advisor. As a contributor to the New York Times, Producer/Host of the Everyday Mindfulness Show, and columnist to countless industry publications she works with stressed-out leaders to create, peace, presence, and profits. Holly’s career began in the world of non-profits and volunteer leadership teaching thousands of association staff and volunteers how to “reboot” for success. Today she takes the best of her strategic vision expertise, blends it with mindful leadership practices and her event background to curate experiential events that change hearts, minds and companies.Our world has become mind less. Through mindfulness training Holly works with you to know what mindfulness is, what it is not. Then apply your mindfulness techniques to produce more productive and profitable organizations.Holly’s was named Meetings Today 2018 Trend Setter for her applied mindfulness work and 2016 Smart Meetings Woman of the Year. Her podcast the Everyday Mindfulness Show and book were named top resources for mindful leadership in 2018. Holly’s current book Mindful Leadership: The Stress-Free Guide to leadership is a best seller and her award-winning book Ctrl+Alt+Believe: Reboot Your Association For Success has won two national awards. Holly believes mindfulness builds leaders and organizations that work for everyone.For more on her thought leadership visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/hduckworth/www.hollyduckworth.com
Charmaine Hack is an accomplished higher education professional, leader of award-winning teams, and champion of new and emerging technologies. She has spent thirty years at MetropolitanToronto University (formerly Ryerson University) in a variety of roles, including thirteen years as Executive Director of Admissions and Recruitment and nine years as University Registrar. She has served four years on the RU Board of Governors and has served at the provincial and national levels as President of the Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada (ARUCC), President of the Ontario University Registrars Association (OURA), Chair of the Ontario University Council admissions (OUCA) and inaugural Chair of the Ontario Universities Fair. Today, she serves as Director of the groundbreaking ARUCC National Network Project (MyCreds.ca). In October 2021, she joined Centennial College as the inaugural Vice-President of Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM).
Her capstone was a white paper that provided details for an approach to launching the SEM Framework at Centennial College.
Kathleen is a knowledgeable and experienced senior leader in student affairs, with a history of leading the design and implementation of innovative student success and service initiatives and a strong commitment to supporting student mobility, nationally and internationally.
She is the current president of the Groningen Declaration Network (GDN), an international, non-profit and voluntary network based in the Netherlands that supports academic and professional digital credential mobility and recognition. She is also a past-president of the Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada (ARUCC), the lead organization in the development of MyCreds.ca, Canada’s new official digital credential wallet for post-secondary learners and graduates.
Kathleen is the Associate Vice President (Students) at the University of Lethbridge in Canada. Having held prior senior positions at McGill University, the University of Calgary, Centennial College, and York University, she has strong leadership experience in the Canadian postsecondary context.
Jacqui Rogers is the Coordinator of Transfer and Articulation at the College of Southern Maryland. In May 2019, Jacqui completed her Master of Arts Degree in Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution from Salisbury University. She has previously worked at Salisbury University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and Wesley College. Jacqui also serves on the AACRAO Transfer Success Workgroup, the NACADA Advising Community on Transfer Students Directorate, and Communications Coordinator for the Maryland Community College Transfer and Articulation Affinity Group.
Joanne Duklas is an award-winning leader in higher education who leads her own consulting firm in higher education providing research and consulting support to governments, institutions and sector organizations. She also currently serves as the executive lead for the ARUCC National Network project which has created MyCreds™ | MesCertif™, a national document exchange highway and credential wallet for learners that delivers digitized badges, micro-credentials, documents, transcripts, and diplomas on behalf of Canadian colleges and universities.
Joanne has been formally recognized in her field provincially, nationally, and more recently, internationally with the Distinguished Service Award (2020) by the American Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC). She is considered an expert in the higher education field and has authored several publications, presentations, and keynote addresses to advance best practice, standards, transfer, and student mobility.
Joanne is a member of several national and international organizations including the Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada (ARUCC - Honorary member), AACRAO, and PESC. Both her firm and the Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada are signatories to the Groningen Declaration Network, an international organization dedicated to student mobility through data mobility. Her career includes serving as the vice president and president of ARUCC (2010 - 2012), as a past member of the 2020/21 TAICEP Strategic Task Force, and as a former registrar and assistant vice president at one of Canada’s largest post-secondary institutions.
Joanne is also a practicing fine artist who dedicates a portion of every week to bringing beauty to people’s lives through her mixed media and paintings.