Heidi Nicholas is the Executive Director of Enrollment Management & Operations at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. Previously she held several positions at Tri-C, including completion manager and interim assistant dean of students at both Eastern and Metro campuses. Prior to Tri-C, Nicholas worked in admissions and recruitment at several private colleges. Her achievements include the 2018 Cuyahoga Community College President’s Award and the 2013 Innovation of the Year Award by the League of Innovation. Nicholas is active in the Kent State University Alumni Association and is a College Now Greater Cleveland professional mentor. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree from Kent State University and her master’s degree in adult learning and development from Cleveland State University. She has completed coursework toward a doctorate in community college leadership from Ferris State University and is currently A.B.D.
Collaborative Decision Making and Shared Responsibility
Tim Dorsey, Ph.D., serves as Dean of Student Affairs at the Western Campus of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C). Previously, he served as director of dual enrollment programs and district director of enrollment management at Tri-C. He has been with the college for thirteen years. Prior to his employment at Tri-C, Dr. Dorsey worked at Lakewood City Schools (Ohio) as a teacher and administrator for ten years.
Vanessa holds a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Lebanese American University and a Masters degree in International Public Policy. Vanessa has been part of EducationUSA Lebanon since 2016, and she is currently the educational advisor. Vanessa has represented EducationUSA in several conferences such as EducationUSA Forum, EducationUSA MENA Forum, AACRAO.
In 2017, Vanessa was acknowledged by Marianne Craven, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs in Educational & Cultural Affairs Bureau, for reaching out to thousands of students in high schools all over Lebanon.
Vanessa also works with under-privileged students to attain admissions and scholarships to U.S. universities. During her position, Vanessa has secured admissions for over 40 students with a total financial aid and scholarship amount of over 10 million dollars. Vanessa finds her work exciting, she strongly believes in the power of international education.
Education & Member Development Division
Becky has extensive experience in marketing, project management, and operations in the nonprofit and for profit sectors. Prior to her career in business, Becky worked as a professional musician in the DC Metro area.
Becky received a Master’s Degree from Louisiana State University in Horn Performance, studied psychotherapy at New York University, and earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
A California native, Becky enjoys reading, long-distance road trips, the outdoors, and spending time with her husband and four children.
Becky leads and manages logistics related to the execution of AACRAO meetings and events, including contracting and sourcing meeting venues, registration process design, marketing, and materials procurement.
Jay Goff currently serves as the chief enrollment management officer and vice provost for enrollment and student success at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He has more than 25 years of experience as a university administrator, enrollment management leader, and higher education researcher. As an active member of the global enrollment management community, Jay has also functioned as a consultant with over 30 institutions in ten countries and a coordinator for AACRAO's Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) conference.
An Interview with Jay Goff
Paige currently works as a Customer Success Manager at Unibuddy, but before this job she held various roles within the Higher Education space. She worked at a large, public institution, where she managed a 120 person ambassador program, as well as overseeing recruitment events on campus. Additionally, she recruited for a small, liberal arts institution, while also managing the ambassador program on campus. She has a deep passion for access to education and, through her work at Unibuddy, hopes to continue to help students find their right fit when it comes to higher education.
Mark N. Cohen is a Product Manager at the California Community Colleges Technology Center (CCCTC) with a portfolio that includes eTranscript California, CCC Data (systemwide Data Warehouse), SuperGlue, and the Multiple Measures Placement Service. Mark is involved in the standards setting community, representing the CCC Tech Center at PESC (the PK20 Electronic Standards Council) where he serves as Co-Chair of the EdExchange Steering Committee and JSON Transcript Workgroup. Previously, Mark Co-Founded Parchment where he led product development for the company's first 10 years before serving as SVP Market Strategy with a focus on new initiatives.
Louis Soares serves as the Chief Learning & Innovation Officer at ACE. Soares incubates and scales ACE’s executive leadership networks, as well as catalyzes compelling research and innovation initiatives across the Council. Working with colleagues, Soares integrates the work of ACE’s leadership, research and innovation teams to optimize membership value for colleges and universities by developing programs and services to advance the success of senior leaders, diversify the executive talent pipeline, and facilitate partnerships to enhance institutional performance. While at ACE, he published landmark papers, including The Post-traditional Learners Manifesto Revisited: Aligning Postsecondary Education with Real Life for Adult Student Success and Evolving Higher Education Business Models: Leading with Data to Deliver Results.
John Panzica is a Product Solutions Specialist at CollegeSource who has served in higher education for more than 25 years. Starting out in Financial Aid, John progressively took on additional duties within Enrollment Management, making his way into Admissions and Records, College Registrar, and then on to University Registrar. John’s extensive experience on a variety of campuses gives him a unique perspective on transfer-related issues. Having worked at both 2-year and 4-year institutions, the issue of student transfer is central to John’s experience.
Jim has over 35 years of administrative, student service, and registrarial experience in various roles at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Athabasca University, and the University of Regina. He is currently the Registrar at the University of Regina, on the board of the Pan Canadian Consortium of Admission and Transfer, and a current member of the Saskatchewan Transfer Credit and Learner Pathway Council. Jim also sits on a large number of committees, councils, and task teams at the University of Regina. Jim is currently overseeing the centralization of transfer credit at the University of Regina and his background includes systems implementation and upgrade, project management, process review and improvement, as well as strategic and operational planning.
Andrew is responsible for providing senior leadership in support of leading system coordination for ONCAT’s mandate and strategic priorities. These include providing leadership for redevelopment and continuous improvement of ONCAT’s student-facing website (ONTransfer.ca), support for enhancing capacity and process efficiencies across Ontario’s postsecondary education institutions, and collaboratively supporting employees across the organization with improved technology/IT functions, research/knowledge mobilization, strategic communications, and sector engagement/collaboration. Prior to joining ONCAT, Andrew worked for over sixteen years at York University in various roles with the last seven years being focused on managing the transfer credit operations in the Office of the University Registrar.
Commercial Director, Digitary
Daniel Hibbert is a motivational, proactive and strategic thinking senior leader within Digitary, who provide technology solutions for the digitisation of academic credentials across the world.
Daniel has worked collaboratively with education institutions across K-12, vocational education and higher education to develop and deliver digital solutions that assist institutions administratively and empower learners throughout their lifelong learning journey.
Daniel has a strong background in accounting and finance; operations; customer management; commercial and sales; and senior management that has been focused over the last 10 years with strong technology solution providers to learners, job seekers, employers and education institutions.
Director, Product Management at Ellucian
I’ve worked in higher education for the past 16 years, and I’m passionate about access to education, working towards streamlining processing procedures, implementing new technologies, striving to improve student services, and strengthening our profession for the future. During my tenure, I’ve served as a financial aid coordinator at Missouri Western State University, and as Assistant Director of Financial Aid, and currently as Director of Admission Operations at Wichita State University, a mid-sized public university in Kansas.
I’ve served in various roles within KACRAO, including conference chair, Apply Kansas founder and coordinator, and most currently as President. I have a heart to serve, and a desire to extend my service beyond my state, and look forward to the opportunity of engaging further with our AACRAO membership to help ensure that we continue to look ahead at a wide array of diverse leaders, interests, and association activities that serves all of our community well.
This community has given so much to me, and I want to give back to our profession and encourage others to be involved! I would like to continue work to build out technology needs within the industry, professional credentialing for CRM management, networking, and engaging and encouraging our young professionals within our profession to be involved. I’ve personally grown the most when I’ve taken on more and stretched beyond my comfort zone and want to help others do the same.
I have worked as a manager in multiple university settings, selecting and training candidates for a wide variety of roles, and I would like to share that experience with colleagues to benefit my professional organization, AACRAO.
I am in my twelfth year as Registrar at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide, in Daytona Beach, Florida, and have previously served as Senior Operations Manager, Registrar’s Office, at Walden University; Registrar at DeVry University in the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. metro regions; and Dean of Administration at Bryant & Stratton College in central New York. I also currently serve as President for the Florida Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (FACRAO), and the Vice President for Topics in Higher Education, with the Southern Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (SACRAO).
I have presented sessions with expert colleagues at numerous state, regional and national conferences on topics including support of military and veteran students, working with non-traditional students, and collaboration between admissions officers and registrars. I have served as a contributing author to AACRAO publications including The Transfer Handbook: Promoting Student Success (2015), AACRAO Guide to Graduation Ceremonies (2017), AACRAO’s Professional Development Guidelines for Registrars: A Self-Assessment (2018), AACRAO’s Student Records Management: Retention, Disposal, and Archive of Student Records (2019), and The Academic Record and Transcript Guide (2020). In addition, I have also contributed to publications including The Chronicle of Higher Education Headcount Blog, AACRAO’s College and University journal, AACRAO Connect “Field Notes,” and The SACRAO Journal. I hold both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the State University of New York at Oswego.
I have worked in Higher Education for sixteen years. I began my career working on the front-line, processing applications for admission, and maintaining student records. I am now the Registrar at CalArts, where I focus on student degree progress and completion, and the interpretation and application of institutional policies and procedures. I have gained the ability to think strategically when faced with any given scenario, have a desire to learn and continuously improve, the capacity to stimulate personal and group excellence, and the capability to work with and lead a team. My commitment to the advancement of my profession is proven by my participation in AACRAO's Black Caucus and Women's Caucus, and PACRAO's Leadership Development Institute. I offer my unique skill set, knowledge, passion, and drive to further the mission of AACRAO by serving on the Nominations and Elections Committee.
Higher education and, more specifically, enrollment management are beyond moving the needle. Higher education is at a crux where it must redefine business practices that identify a clearly understood value proposition, diversified SEM methodology, personalized marketing, response to high levels of accountability, and evolutionary agility to change. After two decades in higher education, I recognize that I excel when designing and executing initiatives that cultivate collaborative people, culture, and user engagement. Participating in the AACRAO ASCEND Program introduced a framework for me to bridge my intersectional experiences across Academic and Student Affairs to contribute to the transformation of higher education. I define myself as a strategic organizational development practitioner who lives a minimalistic lifestyle and thrives when achieving well-being for others and myself. Johnika currently serves as the Vice Chair of AACRAO State & Regional Relations Committee.
Over my professional career, I have always been very active in professional development and an advocate for what it can do for people personally and professionally. I have no doubt that it is the connections to colleagues and experiences I have had from professional development opportunities that have made me the person I am today. I started, even back as an admissions counselor, serving on the state (TnACRAO) calendar committee and have continued to pour my time into the state and regional (SACRAO) level organizations in various roles. I recently joined the Public Policy Advisory Group for AACRAO as a way to begin to serve the national organization.
I began my career as a student worker and never left. I have been in the Registrar’s Office since 2012 have been active with Ohio ACRAO ever since. I am currently President of OhioACRAO holding multiples positions in the organization.
Sam Fugazzotto currently serves as the University Registrar of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. An active AACRAO member for many years, he also serves as the Program Committee Chair for the 2024 Annual Meeting in Columbus, OH.