Dr. Charla Long is the Executive Director for the Competency-Based Education Network, an international consortium of higher education institutions and statewide systems seeking to design, develop, and scale new models of student learning.  Additionally, she leads C-BEN’s Consulting Services, which is dedicated to helping institutions with competency-based learning.  In 2016, Long was recognized by The Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the Top 10 Most Influential People in Higher Education for her work in competency-based education. Long is co-author of The Leader’s Guide to Competency-Based Education (2018). 

During 2015, she served as a consultant to Public Agenda on two significant CBE national landscape and field-building projects, funded by both the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation. In this role, she provided insights, tools, and support to individuals and institutions seeking to advance competency-based education in the United States. These tools included the CBE Ecosystem Framework, the Shared Design Elements and Emerging Practices Model and Research Report, and the CBExchange conference where hundreds of institutions learned how to build high-quality CBE programs. Prior to this, Long was the founding dean of the College of Professional Studies at Lipscomb University and the creator of their nationally acclaimed competency-based education (CBE) model and badging ecosystem.  Long has over 20 years of higher education experience at both public and private institutions in the United States.

Dr. Aisha Lowe is a passionate educator who has dedicated her life to improving education for all students and communities. As Vice Chancellor of Educational Services, Aisha provides leadership for Educational Services division activities including transfer and non-credit curriculum, technology strategic planning, global education, special project management, and system wide technical assistance delivery.

Prior to joining the Chancellor’s Office in 2020, Dr. Lowe served as Associate Professor of Education at William Jessup University, where she oversaw the thesis research of future teachers in training. She also served as the Dean of the Office of Academic Research, leading the university’s Strategic Academic Research Plan and academic grant making. Additionally, Aisha served the students of the Los Rios Community College District, Sierra College and CSU Sacramento as an adjunct professor for over eight years. 

Over the past 20 years, Aisha has worked with at-risk youth, taught middle school, lead educational research and policy efforts, instructed college students, and served as an university administrator. Her background includes serving as an independent consultant supporting the research and evaluation needs of schools, organizations and educators; serving as the executive director of STAND UP For Great Schools; and serving as director of research for the California Charter Schools Association. She brings expertise in program development and evaluation, strategic planning, research and data management, and grant-making. Dr. Lowe received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and her Master’s in Sociology from Stanford University where she also received her Ph.D. in Education. Aisha researches effective strategies for educating students of color to help faculty create classroom environments of acceptance and belonging to fully support the whole student and maximize their academic outcomes, and has been a featured speaker at various conferences and for faculty professional development programs nationally.

As a founding member of InSite Information Systems, Alan has applied his 20+ years of leadership, management and IT experience to build North America’s leading competency-based education and training platform. Alan’s multi-industry knowledge combined with strong communication skills, a pragmatic approach to problem solving, and an understanding of the many challenges facing educators and trainers contribute to InSite’s success in developing and commercializing tools and technology that transform the way organizations deliver educations and training.

Alexander Alonso, PhD, SHRM-SCP is the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) Chief Knowledge Officer leading operations for SHRM's Certified Professional and Senior Certified Professional certifications, research functions, and the SHRM Knowledge Advisor service. He is responsible for all research activities, including the development of the SHRM Competency Model and SHRM credentials. 

During his career, he has worked with numerous subject matter experts worldwide with the aim of identifying performance standards, developing competency models, designing organizational assessments, and conducting job analyses.   He was also responsible for working on contract task orders involving the development of measurement tools for content areas such as job knowledge (like teacher knowledge of instructional processes) and organizational climates (like organizational climate forecasting in military health care).

Dr. Alonso received his doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Florida International University in 2003. His works have been recognized for their contribution to real-world issues.  They include being recognized by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of the APA; SIOP) with the 2007 M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace for the development of the federal standard for medical team training, TeamSTEPPS; being awarded a 2009 Presidential Citation for Innovative Practice by the American Psychological Association for supporting the development of competency model for team triage in emergency medicine; and receiving the 2013 SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award.  

Throughout his career, he has published works in peer-reviewed journals such as Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, People and Strategy, Personality and Individual Differences, Quality and Safety in Health Care, and Human Resources Management Review.  He has also authored several chapters on community-based change initiatives in workforce readiness, as well as co-authoring Defining HR Success: A Guide to the SHRM Competency Model in Practice.

Dr. Alonso also served as a columnist analyzing major trends in the workforce for The Industrial Psychologist and HR Magazine. In addition, he has served on several professional society boards including the SIOP and the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington. 

Dr. Alison Kadlec is the co-founder of Sova, a mission driven organization focused on promoting upward mobility and closing equity gaps through reform of higher education and workforce development. Alison specializes in building healthy cultures for change, with a focus on accelerating implementation of evidence-based innovations. She has worked with over 300 colleges and universities to lower artificial barriers to equitable student success. She and her team also work with a wide range of national organizations, education researchers, state policymakers, and system leaders in more than half the states in the U.S.

Before launching Sova, Alison was Senior Vice President at Public Agenda where she led the Higher Education & Workforce program for over a decade. During her time at Public Agenda she was active in the design and launch of C-BEN, and advocated for competency-based education in federal and state policy conversations. 

Prior to her career in higher education reform, Alison was a visiting professor in the political science department at Macalester College and an adjunct professor in the political science departments at the University of Minnesota, Baruch College and Hunter College. Alison is the author of a book on the democratic theory of John Dewey, Dewey’s Critical Pragmatism. She is also the author or co-author of a number of reports and articles on subjects ranging from higher education reform, to deliberative democracy, to play science.

She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota and BAs from Michigan State University in Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy and English Literature.

Amy Laitinen is director for higher education with the Education Policy program at New America. She previously served as a policy advisor on higher education at both the U.S. Department of Education and the White House. She was named a top innovator for her work on federal policy and competency-based education by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her current work focuses on federal policies to increase quality and transparency in higher education as well as the politics of higher education reform.

Laitinen is the product of public higher education, holding an associate degree from Miami-Dade Community College, a bachelor’s degree from New College of Florida, and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California at Berkeley.

Amy Smith is the Chief Learning Officer at officer at StraighterLine, a provider of online college courses. She has taught and led online higher education for over two decades at several higher education institutions, including state land-grant, state regional, regional private, and for-profit universities.  

Amy did her doctoral work in American Intellectual History at Boston College, earned a Master’s in Teaching with Technology from Marlboro College Graduate Center, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). Since joining SNHU in 2011, she has grown with the university to support their commitment to access, affordability, academic excellence, and rapid expansion. She is currently the Vice President of Academic Resources and Technology, and Executive Director of Competency-Based Education. In former lives, she was an award-winning knitter, a published author, and the last of the winners in several triathlons.

Angela Ripley is a Competency-Based Education (CBE) and Assessment (CBEA) Consultant, a newly-created position to drive CBE initiatives at Bow Valley College. Angela comes to Bow Valley College as a former educator, learning development manager, and reviewer of competency based education programs. Angela’s role is to provide the necessary framework, guidelines, strategy, vision, and initiative to promote, socialize, and grow competency based education and micro-credential frameworks at Bow Valley College.

Angie Walker leads Salt Lake Community College’s online education division as the Director of SLCC Online & eLearning Services and teaches as an adjunct faculty member for Southern New Hampshire University. Additionally, Angie is the incoming Chair of the State Board of Directors of Utah Women in Higher Education Network (UWHEN) for the 2020-2021 year. As someone who is passionate about higher education and the positive impact it has on student’s lives, Angie has worked across university and college levels as an educational administrator, project manager, assessment and instructional designer, and teacher. Angie holds a Master of Arts in Art History from the University of Utah and a Master of Science in Education with an emphasis on Instructional Design from the University of Wisconsin - Stout. She also has a graduate certificate as a Higher Education Teaching Specialist from the University of Utah.

April Pennington is the Director of Professional and Organizational Development at Jefferson Community and Technical College in Louisville, KY, where she also serves as co-director of the college's Read & Succeed Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). With over 20 years of experience in higher education teaching and leadership in an array of roles and contexts, Dr. Pennington has led initiatives focused on adult learners, African American and Latino student success, academic advising, the first-year experience, and transforming developmental education. She holds a doctorate in English from Southern Illinois University and an MA in English from Ohio University.

Brooks Doherty is AVP of Academic Innovation at Rasmussen University and serves on the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN) Board of Directors. He is completing a doctorate in education at St. Mary’s University, earned an MA in literature from University College London, and graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in Political Science and English. His central areas of interest are competency-based education, developmental education, workforce preparedness, the relationship between liberal learning and professional learning, and Irish literature. Prior to his current work, Doherty taught remedial and college-level writing courses for students of varying disciplines.

Dr. Bruce Gover, Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness, Somerset Community College (SCC) in Somerset, Kentucky. He has over 20 years of higher education experience in a variety of instructional and administrative roles including Professor of Information Technology, Division Chair of Business and Information Technology, Dean of Academic Support Services, and he is currently Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness serving on SCC’s Executive Council. In his role as Vice President, he directs several departments and programs including institutional accreditation, grants development, institutional effectiveness and research, information technology, online learning, and professional and organizational development. Dr. Gover is also the Coordinator of the KCTCS LEAD Academy and the Chair of the KCTCS Technology Solutions Advisory Team. Dr. Gover has been a board member and two-term past President of the Kentucky Community/Technical Education Association (KCTEA). He is a certified Leadership Instructor for the Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies program and an alumnus of the KCTCS Innovative Educator and KCTCS Leading Educator Academies.

Carlos Rivers serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Competency Based Education at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Rivers is considered a subject matter expert in competency-based data analytics and has spoken on the subject at numerous conferences at both the state and national level. He has also assisted other universities in the development and implementation of their own CBE programs. Rivers serves on the National Advisory Board for Postsecondary Competency-Based Education and Learning Research by the American Institutes for Research and the Lumina Foundation. He was also selected for the Competency-Based Education Network’s Collaboratory project. Rivers has provided baseline data to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) that has served as a starting point for grant applications to fund additional competency-based sites in the state of Texas. His publications on competency-based education and data analytics have appeared in such venues as The Journal of Competency-Based Education, EDUCAUSE Review, WCET Frontiers and The Evolllution. 

Chantée Guiney is a Specialist in Academic Planning and Development in the Educational Services and Support Division of the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, the largest system of higher education in the nation, serving over 2.1 million students.

Chantée assists with leading state-wide policy reforms to support equitable outcomes and opportunities for students. Her primary areas include curriculum and instruction, with a specialty in programs such as prior learning assessment and competency-based education, with a focus on creating equitable opportunities for adult learners.

Chantée serves on state-wide advisory groups in support of the California Community Colleges Vision for Success. Preceding her twelve-year tenure in education public service, Chantée honorably served in the United States Air Force as a systems analyst. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in management and a Master of Arts in leadership from Saint Mary’s College of California and is pursuing a doctorate degree in education leadership. Chantée is a proud alum of the California Community College system and has a keen passion for maximizing opportunities for minoritized populations to succeed.         

Cheryl Aschenbach is an English professor and past Academic Senate President at Lassen Community College in Susanville, CA.  She currently serves as secretary for the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC), where her work since June 2015 has focused, among other things, on curriculum processes and standards, competency based education (CBE), equity and diversity, minimum qualifications, career education, noncredit curriculum and instruction, basic skills, online education, open educational resources, incarcerated education, and assessment.

Christina Amato is the Dean of eLearning at Sinclair Community College. Christi has dedicated her career at Sinclair to increasing student access, accelerating completion of college credentials, and redefining student experiences utilizing innovative practices in pedagogy and technology. Christi has implemented initiatives related to military student programming, online student case management and retention, and competency-based education, earning awards from the League for Innovation, Department of Labor, and Instructional Technology Council for her work. She is the co-chair of the Ohio CBE Network, a coalition in partnership with the Department of Higher Education, Ohio Association of Community Colleges, and the Inter-University Council.  Christi has a bachelor’s degree in English literature, and a master’s degree in public administration. She currently lives in Dayton, Ohio with her husband and two daughters. 

Dr. Christopher Sessums is Director of Academic Affairs at D2L where he works with higher education institutions across the globe to optimize learner success and institutional efficiencies. Prior to joining D2L, Christopher served as a faculty member and administrator at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, at the University of California Berkeley, and at the University of Florida. His research interests focus on educational technology and teacher professional learning.

Dr. Cori Gordon is the Chair for Northern Arizona University’s Online and Innovative Educational Initiatives division and an Associate Clinical Professor. She was part of the curriculum design team who launched Personalized Learning, NAU’s competency-based degrees. She designed the Liberal Arts major, the General Education curriculum, and the English coursework. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction, specializing in English Education and a masters in Theatre, both from Arizona State University. She has a bachelor’s in Secondary English Education from Indiana University. She has taught students in kindergarten through graduate school, in subjects including English, theatre, storytelling, literature, composition, communications, and the digital humanities.

Cori specializes in digital storytelling and innovative educational technologies. Cori has extensive experience with public speaking including academic presentations, professional development presentations, and theatrical performances. Her areas of professional expertise related to CBE include curriculum design, development, and implementation; faculty, staff, and executive development; organizational planning and preparedness; wrap-around student resource implementation; and digital storytelling, or sharing the CBE story.

Dave Clayton serves as senior vice president at Strada Education Network’s Center for Education Consumer Insights, which focuses on improving education after high school by hearing directly from individuals about its role in their plans and lives. The center gives all Americans a voice in the future of education and includes research gathered from hundreds of thousands of interviews. These insights inform work with education providers, employers, thought leaders, innovators, elected officials, policymakers, and community leaders that improves the education value equation for individuals and families. Clayton also leads the center’s work on Public Viewpoint, a research project aimed at better understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the education, work, and lives of American adults.

With expertise in psychology, market research, branding, and social impact marketing, Clayton has broad and deep experience in bridging research into action on many of our society’s most pressing needs—education, health, financial inclusion—and how to engage all stakeholders in pursuing shared solutions at global, national, local, and personal levels. 

Clayton completed his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Dr. Deborah (Deb) Bushway is the President and CEO at Northwestern Health Sciences University, where she previously served as Provost and Executive Vice President. She has also served as a consultant to the Lumina Foundation regarding Competency Based Education in Higher Education. She was previously an Advisor in the Office of the Undersecretary at the Department of Education in Washington, DC. Prior to this, she was an interim associate Dean at the University of Wisconsin – Extension and the Chief Academic Officer and Vice President of Academic Innovation, Provost and interim President at Capella University. She has long been interested in innovations in higher education designed to improve student success. In fact, she pioneered the development and implementation of a successful competency based, direct assessment program. This delivery model strives to improve transparency of learning outcomes while reducing costs and improving completion rates for adults working to earn postsecondary degrees. She has expertise in distance education and its surrounding technologies, including LMS, student success solutions, adaptive learning and financial aid delivery.

Dr. Bushway has more than 20 years of experience in higher education, including 17 years with Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she held a variety of faculty and leadership roles. She earned both her Master of Science and Ph.D. in Psychology from Iowa State University. She has authored numerous articles, book chapters and conference presentations throughout her career. She recently co-authored the book “A Leader’s Guide to Competency-Based Education: From Inception to Implementation”.  In addition to ongoing professional interests regarding adult learners in higher education, Bushway is currently focused on methods of innovation in established institutions, the application of action analytics to higher education and the power of competency-based education to support our nation’s educational goals.

Bushway has a Ph.D. in Psychology, and currently serves as the President at Northwestern Health Sciences University. She has previously served in a variety of roles including Provost, Vice President of Academic Innovation, Associate Dean and Professor at Capella University, University of Wisconsin – Extension, and Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, MN.

Debra is passionate about applying behavioral science with innovative technology to create learning experiences to supercharge leaders. She’s a Learning Experience Designer at Google focused on innovative ways to build coaching and sales capabilities. Recent projects focus on Manager development, coaching programs and skill practice using augmented reality. 

Debra is a consultant, concentrating on developing well-being and coach training programs and a coach for organizations and individuals.  Clients include BetterUp, Thrive Global and Ginger.io.

Prior to Google, Debra worked in digital health and education at startups including Altschool and Carrot Inc building programs to support behavior change through motivation science, coaching, education and technology.  

Before pivoting to industry, Debra spent 7  years as a Professor of Health and Behavior at The City University of New York where she ran the School Health PreK-12 Teacher Certification. She earned a Doctorate in Health and Behavioral Studies with a concentration in Health Psychology and K-12 Health Education from Columbia University. She is a Certified Health and Wellness Coach (Wellcoaches) and a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES).

Elisabeth joined Rasmussen University in 2014. In her role, Elisabeth works primarily with the Schools of Business, Technology, Justice Studies, and Design, as well as with other departments on initiatives related to Competency-Based Education, Transferable Skills, and Academic Program Review. She is also the Chair of the College Curriculum Committee. Previous to working with Rasmussen University, Elisabeth was an adjunct faculty with American Public University System's Master of Education program, and she also worked as a high school teacher for several years. Elisabeth holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Education with a specialization in Curriculum and Instruction from Capella University. 

With a deep experience in higher education and journalism, Elyse is a trusted strategist for higher education leaders, entrepreneurs, and researchers working at the forefront of education innovation. As part of Whiteboard Advisors’ Content Studios, she conducts research, drafts white papers and op-eds, and guides content strategy. She helps clients to identify, craft, and share thoughtful content that contextualizes clients’ innovative work in today’s ever-shifting education-to-employment landscape. 

Elyse began her career as a journalist, and served as one of the top editors at The Chronicle of Higher Education, where she oversaw stories on enrollment management and student success.  She then moved into higher education administration, heading up strategic communications and then serving as Chief of Staff to President Freeman Hrabowski at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, one of the nation’s most innovative research universities. Elyse earned her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and her Master of Public Policy at UMBC.

Dr. Emma L. Miller has been in higher education administration in the state of Texas for over 20 years. She has a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Science with a concentration in Leadership and Organizational Change from Walden University. Currently, Dr. Miller is the program chair for the Competency-Based Education Bachelor of Applied Science in Organizational Leadership program at South Texas College. As a researcher, she has focused on mentoring examining how it relates to student retention and attrition and its impact on the institution as well as Competency-Based Education. She has also served as Assistant Dean for the Bachelor Programs. In addition, Dr. Miller began serving as Board Member of the national organization Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN) fall 2019.

Dr. Eric Heiser is the Provost at Central Ohio Technical College (COTC). He has worked in higher education for the past 15 years. Eric was a full-time assistant professor at Central Wyoming College in Riverton, Wyoming for six years and taught in the areas of business, management, and criminal justice. Eric also spent time as a director and workforce training coordinator during his time at Central. He spent six years at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) as an Associate Dean and Dean and built one of the nation’s largest Competency-Based Education (CBE) Programs from which the college was recognized nationally by multiple outlets. The school transitioned 20 formerly non-credit, clock-hour programs into CBE. He has led award-winning efforts and established procedures for SLCC’s non-credit to credit conversion which allows students to transfer non-credit studies towards associate degrees. In his current position, Heiser oversees the Academic, Student Affairs, and Enrollment Management areas within Central Ohio Technical College. Prior to moving into higher education, he spent time as a general manager in the hospitality industry.

He is the principal/owner of Heiser Education Consulting, LLC, an education consulting firm specializing in change management in higher education. He has advised numerous colleges in the areas of change management, competency-based education (CBE), and leading change through innovation. Eric serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Lumina Foundation-funded Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN). He is also a founding member of the National Advisory Board for Postsecondary Competency-Based Education and Learning Research. In addition to his work in CBE, Eric also serves as Vice-President of the Board for the National Council of Instructional Administrators (NCIA), an affiliate council of the AACC. In 2019, Eric was appointed a content expert to the Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse to advise the department on best practices in career and technical education.

Eric has been a reviewer for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) in the area of CBE. He has delivered over three dozen conference presentations and key notes and published several articles on the topic of CBE and academic innovation over the past seven years. He holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from Colorado State University.

Hadassah Yang is the Associate Vice Chancellor of Institutional Research and Planning at Brandman University, part of the Chapman University System. She is responsible for the research, analysis, and reporting of data that supports Brandman University in its strategic decision-making. In particular, she has been involved with the initial planning and implementation of Brandman’s competency-based education (CBE) initiative, and continues to oversee the market research for new CBE programming and curriculum development. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) and her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).

James received his Ph.D. in organizational communication from the University of Utah and has been at Westminster College since 2008. James served as a faculty member in the Communication Department at Westminster until 2014 when he became the Director of Innovative Learning which oversees all online, competency-based programs and the creation and delivery of all new programs and certificates for corporate partners. James currently oversees the college’s Professional and Continuing Education Department which creates educational solutions for adult learners and the delivery of certifications and micro-credentials. 

Jeff Bohrer’s career has focused on supporting the mission of educational institutions through academic technology administration, support, and training. As technical program manager for digital credentials at IMS Global, Jeff coordinates a variety of projects and programs related to digital badges and comprehensive learner records.Prior to joining IMS, Jeff served for twenty years in academic technology positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dartmouth College, University of South Dakota, and Mahtomedi (MN) Public Schools. Jeff holds a master's degree in technology for learning and development and a bachelor's degree in secondary education, both from the University of South Dakota.

Jillian Klein is Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Strategic Education, Inc. where she works with internal and external partners on higher education policy, postsecondary innovation and federal financial aid compliance on behalf of Capella University and Strayer University. She was part of the team that created Capella University’s FlexPath program offerings, including the first bachelor’s and master’s level programs approved to receive federal financial aid by the Department of Education.

Jillian received a B.A. in business administration from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a M.A. in systematic theology from Luther Seminary, and is an alumna of the Policy Fellows program at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

For over a decade, Dr. Evans has been deeply involved in higher education and public health, including clinical, academic and administrative research. She is dedicated to producing an interactive and collaborative teaching environment that engages students and that helps give students a voice. She has co-authored multiple articles, presented at the state and national level and participated in various health-related research projects and clinical trials. Dr. Evans holds a PhD and Masters in Public Health, Masters in Administration, and Bachelors of Business. She completed Harvard University's Women in Education Leadership program and Cornell University's Executive Leadership and High-Performance Leadership certificates.

Kacey Thorne is the Director of Skills Architecture at Western Governors University. In this role, Kacey operates at the intersection of higher education and the future of work, where she is responsible for establishing a comprehensive network of competencies and skills that are aligned to workforce needs. This network serves as the foundation for the development of WGU programs and facilitates the ability to offer personalized, workforce-relevant learning pathways. To accomplish this transformative work at scale, Kacey has established an emergent ecosystem of partnerships, processes, tools, and technologies that continues to grow and evolve. Kacey is passionate about the urgent call to action for higher education to better meet the needs of students and employers. She is deeply invested in student success and creating higher education systems that support access, equity, and upward mobility.

During her time with Western Governors University, Thorne has served in multiple roles including the Director of Assessment Design and Development and Curriculum Director for Teachers College. Prior to coming to WGU, Thorne served as a high school teacher in health sciences with Canyons School District. Thorne holds a Master of Education, Instructional Design from Western Governors University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Utah.

Karin M. Norington-Reaves is a lifelong public servant with more than 25 years of experience in education, law, advocacy, community, and workforce development. In 2012, Karin became the founding Chief Executive Officer of The Partnership upon her appointment by then- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.  As CEO and change agent, she led the merger and restructuring of three diverse workforce systems into the nation’s most extensive workforce system managed by a non-profit administrative agency.  Since then, The Partnership has  placed more than 70,000 individuals in employment; collaborated with more than 2,000 employers; and administered more than $400 million in federal and philanthropic funds. The Partnership’s network of 50+ community-based organizations, 10 American Job Centers, and four sector-driven workforce centers serves more than 140,000 people annually. Learn more at www.chicookworks.org.

Kathryn Green is the Technical Program Manager at IMS Global. She assists in the facilitation, creation, and development of multiple digital curriculum specifications, adaptive learning initiatives, product development, operations leadership, and grant-funded projects championing lifelong learning.

Kathryn's career includes experience with CBE, product management, training, change management, vendor relations, software development lifecycles, non-profit startups, fundraising, and public speaking. Prior to IMS, Kathryn was a product leader at Capella University.

As a Senior Director at StraighterLine, Kevin Struckhoff has the honor and privilege of working with current and prospective college and university partners in the western U.S.  Struckhoff has over 35 years of experience working with higher education institutions in a number or capacities, including financial aid/educational financing, financial literacy, loan default aversion, financial aid management software and improving student outcomes. 

Building on a distinguished career developing ground-breaking Web technologies, Kyle founded HapYak in 2012 to transform passive videos into more engaging experiences. In his role as Chief Product Officer he brings bold approaches to HapYak’s solution, enabling anyone to create interactive video and capture unique insights into user-level behavior.

A veteran of several successful start-ups, Kyle led product strategy at RAMP Video (acquired by Cxense), and held senior engineering roles at mobile advertising company, Third Screen Media, Internet applications pioneer WebOs and Secure-Bank, one of the first Internet credit card processors.

Dr. Laurie Dodge is the Vice Chancellor Institutional Assessment & Planning and Vice Provost at Brandman University.  Dr. Dodge is the WSCUC Accreditation Liaison Officer and a member of the Substantive Change Committee.  She was part of the Brandman team who created the direct assessment competency-based education programs. Dr. Dodge is the inaugural and Past President of the Board of Directors for the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN).  Dr. Dodge was named one of the “The Sixteen Most Innovative People in Higher Education” by Washington Monthly (2016).  Dr. Laurie Dodge co-authored the book “A Leader’s Guide to Competency-Based Education: From Inception to Implementation” (Bushway, Dodge, & Long, 2018).  

Dr. Lisa McIntyre-Hite is Senior Principal of Learning Solutions at Guild Education. Prior to joining Guild, she was Vice President for Partner Strategy and Innovation at Pathstream, an ed-tech start up that was part of Entangled Solutions, where she also served as a Strategic Advisor focused on higher education’s future. Lisa was the founding Dean for Competency-Based Education at Walden University where she developed Walden’s direct-assessment offering, seeing it through from pilot-to-scale. Her professional passion is rooted in the desire to take measurable steps to address inequity in educational systems and to expand access to high-quality, personalized learning experiences for every learner. Prior to working in higher education, Lisa was a high-school principal and English teacher. Her research in CBE and learning innovation has been published by the Clayton Christensen Institute and is featured in several peer-reviewed journals.

Louise Edwards is a Competency-Based Education and Assessment (CBEA) Consultant at Bow Valley College. Prior to this role, Louise’s varied career has spanned academic research, institutional program design and governance, corporate training and, most recently, high school teaching. In her capacity as a CBEA consultant, Louise works with stakeholders both within and outside the College to develop the strategy, processes, guidelines, and tools for competency-based education at Bow Valley College.

Raised in the “Sunshine State,” Marissa completed her undergraduate at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida. From there she went on to lead Enrollment, Logistics & Recruitment efforts, domestic & international, at her Alma Mater as well as the Savannah College of Art and Design and Vista College. Being a military spouse, Marissa’s understanding for the necessity of distance/ untraditional learning lead to pursuing her Master of Science in Management, Strategy and Leadership at Michigan State University. The Boughner’s move in 2018 brought them to the great state of Texas, where Marissa oversees Admissions & Recruitment for MyWay, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s CBE programs (Org Leadership – RN to BSN) & Alternative Certification, TeachingMyWay.

For over two decades Mark has led the development and operation of innovative software companies. As HapYak’s CEO since 2015, he remains at the forefront of advancing technologies that improve the experience and economics of video-first business processes.

Prior to HapYak, Mark was General Manager of Online Video at Piksel, and President and CEO of The FeedRoom, which delivered one of the industry’s first OVPs to top enterprises and media companies. He also led corporate development at OpenText after the acquisition of TierTwo Systems, a content management middleware company Mark founded and spun out of Adobe.

Megan Arey is the academic coach and advisor for the FlexFORWARD program at Kirkwood Community College.  She has been in the coaching role at Kirkwood for just over a year.  Megan enjoys working with adult students and helping them achieve their goals that they may have started 20+ years ago.

Megan has been working in Higher Education doing Academic Coaching since 2017.  She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies and a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Communication both from the University of Northern Iowa.

Michael Collins is a vice president at JFF. He recently took the helm of a new JFF initiative to directly address the ways in which postsecondary education and training systems can help members of vulnerable populations advance economically—with a special focus on Black learners and workers.

In this new role, he will lead the development and implementation of a strategy that will serve as the foundation of a JFF effort to influence the practices of educational institutions, workforce organizations, intermediaries, associations, states, systems, and philanthropy.

For more than a decade and a half, Michael has led JFF’s participation in nationally recognized college completion initiatives such as Achieving the Dream, The Developmental Education Initiative, Completion by Design, and the AACC Pathways Project in collaboration with leading postsecondary reform organizations such as The Community College Research Center, The Aspen Institute, Achieving the Dream, The National Center for Inquiry and Improvement, SOVA Solutions, and many others.

Before joining JFF, Michael served as assistant commissioner for participation and success at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, where he collaborated with state and federal officials, educators, and other stakeholders to develop pre-K to postsecondary education policy. He is a graduate of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.

Michael is chair of the board of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center and is a member of the boards of the National Student Clearinghouse and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. He also serves on the Guttman Community College advisory council and on the steering committee for the Scaling Partner Network convened by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Michael says, “JFF’s mission of economic opportunity for all is perfectly aligned with my life’s mission to ensure that people have the opportunity to develop the skills and earn the credentials they need to lead self-directed lives.”

Outside of work, Michael and his wife, Dana, are devoted to their family. He says, “I spend the lion’s share of my time running after my son, Dashel, and his sister, a chocolate labradoodle named Nova, around our home in Shaker Heights, Ohio.”

Michele Sandlin is an AACRAO Managing Consultant.  Her 39 years as a higher education professional included successful tenures at Oregon State University, Pacific University, Portland State University, University of Oregon, and Western State College in Colorado.

Ms. Sandlin is known for her industry-leading expertise in holistic admissions, operations, partnerships, policy, accreditation, articulation, and structural realignment.   She has served in state, regional and national leadership positions within AACRAO and the International Baccalaureate Program.

Ms. Sandlin completed her Master of Science degree at Portland State University and her Bachelor of Science degree from Colorado State University.

Access to education and healthcare are overarching principles guiding my advocacy, program development and educational efforts for under-represented adults and children. My current role as the Executive Director of Strategic Programs at Mursion, builds upon my career in medicine, education and workforce development. At Mursion I support healthcare, workforce and corporate partners to collaboratively address the needs of diverse workers and communities in the US. The ability for clinicians, leaders and other employees to practice critical conversations in a safe and simulated environment can lead to increased productivity, create a positive work environment, hone interpersonal skills and ultimately lead to a better end-user, patient or client experiences.

As the former Assistant Professor and Director for Diversity and Inclusion at the Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, I created medical education and community-driven research centered on LGBTQ+ health, violence, outreach, disability and other public health topics. I mentored medical students to engage in these research efforts expanding their humanistic training and experiences with community/public health sectors. My work with marginalized groups such as BIPOC individuals, migrants, low-income families, LGBTQ+ and children further extended the COM’s reach into the local community.

Patricia Diaz is a strategic thinker, expert in the design, development and implementation of learning environments using emergent technologies and disruptive pedagogies. Patricia holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science and Music from Wellesley College and a Masters in Technology, Innovation and Education from Harvard University in the United States. For nine years she worked as Knowledge Manager for The Clubhouse Network based at the Museum of Science, Boston, where she co-lead the development of a online community for youth around the world in collaboration with the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. 

Patricia led the digital transformation of PASSA into PASSA Youth adapting the proven PASSA method for youth ages 13 to 17 conceiving them as change agents in the 21st century. This 3-year effort resulted in a transmedia toolkit available at passa.ifrc.org, train-the-trainers workshops and PASSA Youth implementation in Costa Rica and the Philippines and a 3-year strategy to reach thousands of youth in 70 cities. She has incorporated appropriate emerging technologies into the PASSA fabric with the conviction that young people should be able to dream their future with the best possible tools of their present.

In 2013, Patricia wrote ICT Competencies for Teacher's Professional Development. This was commissioned by the Innovation Office of the Colombian Ministry of Education as part of a country-wide $36M multi-year effort, in partnership with Korean experts, to create digital learning objects to support language, math and science education for K-12.

Patricia is currently based in Menlo Park, California where she works as LX Tech Operations Lead for the Mastery team at Google and advises organizations in User Experience for Learning Experiences. She's an avid musician and enjoys playing piano and electric bass.

Paul Fain, News Editor, came to Inside Higher Ed in September 2011, after a six-year stint covering leadership and finance for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Paul has also worked in higher ed P.R., with Widmeyer Communications, but couldn't stay away from reporting. A former staff writer for C-VILLE Weekly, a newspaper in Charlottesville, Va., Paul has written for The New York Times, Washington City Paper and Mother Jones. He's won a few journalism awards, including one for beat reporting from the Education Writers Association and the Dick Schaap Excellence in Sports Journalism Award. Paul got hooked on journalism while working too many hours at The Review, the student newspaper at the University of Delaware, where he earned a degree in political science in 1996. A native of Dayton, Ohio, and a long-suffering fan of the Cincinnati Bengals, Fain plays guitar in a band with more possible names than polished songs.

Dr. Paul J. LeBlanc is President of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU).  Under the 17 years of Paul’s direction, SNHU has more grown from 2800 students to over 152,000 and is the largest non-profit provider of online higher education in the country, and the first to have a full competency-based degree program untethered to the credit hour or classes approved by a regional accreditor and the US Department of Education. In 2018, SNHU acquired LRNG, a non-profit serving an additional 50,000 low income youth in 18 major American cities.

Paul is widely considered one of America’s most innovative educators. In 2012, the university was #12 on Fast Company magazine’s “World’s Fifty Most Innovative Companies” list and was the only university included.  Forbes Magazine has listed him as one of its 15 “Classroom Revolutionaries” and Washington Monthly named him one of America’s ten most innovative university presidents.   

In 2018, Paul won the prestigious IAA Institute Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence in Higher Education, joining some of the most respected university and college presidents in American higher education.  

He served as Senior Policy Advisor to Under Secretary Ted Mitchell at the US Department of Education, working on competency-based education, new accreditation pathways, and innovation.  He also serves on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) and served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Board on Higher Education and Workforce.  He is currently Board Chair for the American Council on Education.  

Dr. Rachel Christeson serves as Assistant Director for Research and Data Analysis at NC-SARA, where she provides strategic work on policy research and general data efforts, assisting NC-SARA’s annual data reporting and analysis work. Rachel also supports the collection, analysis, and reporting of qualitative and quantitative data efforts on a wide-range of projects in support of NC-SARA activities. She has extensive experience with data systems development and a strong understanding of database design, implementation, and utilization.

Previously, Rachel was a research associate at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), where she helped coordinate data analysis and analytics projects for various state level agencies, the Aspen Institute, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Complete College America, the Lumina Foundation, NC-SARA, and Strada Education Group. She has also served as a Data Analyst with Aurora Public Schools, Director of Institutional Research for the Colorado Community College System, and Assistant Director of Admissions for Data Management at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Rachel holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Northern Colorado; an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Denver, and a B.S. in Information Technology from Rochester Institute of Technology. Her areas of expertise include qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, program evaluation, college and career readiness policies, community colleges, and P-20 pipeline issues.

Raymond J. Rice has served as President and Provost at the University of Maine at Presque Isle since July 2016. He has also served UMPI as its Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs as well as the Chair of the College of Arts and Sciences. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Ray arrived in Presque Isle in August 1997 as an Assistant Professor of English; he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002 and Professor in 2006. He has been involved in multiple campus-wide initiatives at Presque Isle towards the implementation of a proficiency based curriculum, the development of an academic learning commons, revisions to the General Education curriculum, and dual-enrollment early college partnerships with Aroostook County high schools. He has co-chaired and/or served on a number of University of Maine System committees, including the General Education Task Force, the Distance Education Task Force, and the Chief Academic Officers of the University of Maine System. Most recently, he coordinated the successful regional accreditation approval process for delivery of competency-based (CBE) degree-completion programs in Business Administration, soon to be expanded into other disciplines. 

Richard’s academic training includes a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Davis as well as Master’s and PhD degrees from Cornell University. After graduate school, he spent over ten years in new product, process and business development in the food and beverage industry across the US and Canada. Dr. Nelson then directed a state-wide public non-profit institute for rural economic development providing technical and financial assistance to entrepreneurs and small businesses in the value-added agriculture sector.

After making higher education his career of choice, Richard served as Chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Division and as Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. He became Provost at Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondack region of northern New York State in 2006 and served in that capacity for nine years. In the summer of 2015, he was named to his current position as President of Nicolet College in northern Wisconsin.

Richard is a strong believer in higher education as the single most important contributor to sustainable prosperity and social well-being in our rural communities. He sees competency-based design, delivery and assessment models as our best answer to the challenges of delivering the quality, flexibility, affordability, and employability so many of today’s learners cannot do without.

Mr. Craig is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Achieve Partners. Mr. Craig also serves as Managing Director of University Ventures. His commentary on higher education and workforce issues regularly appears in the Gap Letter, Forbes, TechCrunch, Inside Higher Education, and VentureBeat, among others. He is the author of College Disrupted: The Great Unbundling of Higher Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), which profiles the coming shift toward competency-based education and hiring. He is also the author of A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College (Ben Bella, 2018), which describes the critical importance of Last-Mile training and the emergence of bootcamps, income share programs, and Employer-Down models as preferred pathways to good first jobs.

Previously, Mr. Craig led the Education & Training sector at Warburg Pincus where he was the founding Director of Zovio (Nasdaq: ZVO), which established one of the largest online universities in the United States. His prior experience in online education was at Columbia University. From 2004 to 2010, Mr. Craig founded and built Wellspring, a national network of boarding schools and summer camps for overweight and obese children, adolescents, and young adults. He began his career at McKinsey & Co.

Mr. Craig received bachelor's degrees summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University, and his law degree from the Yale Law School.

Sara Lamback is an associate director on JFF's workforce development team, providing project leadership, labor market analysis, and technical assistance on projects that help low-income adults train for and succeed in jobs with career advancement potential. Her work focuses primarily building alignment between innovative training and credentialing programs and local labor market needs. Sara has 15 years of experience across education and workforce development and has worked as a practitioner, researcher, and educational program evaluator. Immediately before joining JFF, Sara conducted research at Harvard University’s Achievement Gap Initiative, where her work focused on secondary-to-postsecondary transitions, effective school leadership, and developing systems-change initiatives. Sara has a Master’s in Education Policy and Management from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Sarita E. Brown is the co-founder and President of Excelencia in Education, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to accelerating Latino success in higher education by linking research, policy, and practice to serve Latino students. Over three decades she has worked at prominent educational institutions and at the highest levels of government working to implement effective strategies to raise academic achievement and opportunity for low-income and students of color. She started her career at The University of Texas at Austin by building a national model promoting minority success in graduate education. Coming to the nation’s capital to work for educational associations, Ms. Brown was appointed Executive Director of the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans under President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley. Taking her skills and experience to the not-for-profit sector she launched the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute and in 2004, co-founded Excelencia in Education in Washington, DC.

A tireless advocate for educational equity, she currently serves on the Advisory Council Center for First-Generation Student Success, the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine Committee on Addressing Women of Color in Tech and the Advisory Board for the Center for Education Consumer Value for the Strada Education Network.

Her efforts have been recognized by many including with the Medal of Service from Teachers College, Columbia University, the Harold G. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education for “innovative thinking, strong leadership and accomplishment by example”, the Harry S. Truman Award from the American Association of Community Colleges, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American Association of University Women. She has received Honorary Doctorates from Carlos Albizu University, California State University, Channel Islands, North Carolina State University, and the University of Saint Joseph.

Scott McCullough works on Emsi's higher education team and is helping a number of institutions start translating their curriculum into labor market skills. 

Emsi is proud to be partnering with Western Governors University, The Open Skills Network, Badgr, and a number of industry-leaders on this curriculum translating initiative.

Sharon Clough is a financial aid subject matter expert with 30 years of experience managing college and university financial aid departments. As a member of Regent Education’s product management team for nine years, Sharon uses deep compliance knowledge gained during work with both traditional and non-traditional structures to guide product development and ensure Regent understands client financial aid awarding and processing needs.

Dr. Stephanie Bernoteit is Executive Deputy Director with the Illinois Board of Higher Education.  She oversees the agency’s regulation of postsecondary institutions and is responsible for the agency’s initiatives to promote postsecondary student success and workforce development.  She also leads, and is co-author of two publications about, an Illinois effort to enact a competency-based system of educator preparation, professional development, and credentialing in the field of early childhood education.  A National Board Certified Teacher in Early Childhood from 1996-2016, Stephanie previously worked at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards as staff liaison to higher education.  

As Director of Learning Design, Stuart oversees the creation, curation, and management of curricula, courses, and content. Stuart has over 20 years of experience in K-12 and higher education leadership, instructional design, and educational technology. Prior to joining LearningMate, Stuart was the Vice President of Instructional Design and Academic Technology at Zenith Education Group and Chief Design Officer at Everest College Phoenix. Stuart holds a bachelor’s in English from Winona State University in Minnesota and a master’s in humanities from the University of Chicago.

Terry Keller serves as the Provost at Lourdes University and is responsible for leading the overall direction of academic programs. He served Lourdes in increasing leadership roles including Dean of the College of Social Sciences. Prior to joining Lourdes University, Dr. Keller instructed courses at Michigan State University, Wayne State University and Aquinas College. He earned a PhD in Social Work from Michigan State University, a Master in Business Administration degree from Webster University, a Master in Social Work degree from Saint Louis University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Communication from Aquinas College.

Tom Green is the Associate Executive Director for Consulting and Strategic Enrollment Management for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO).  He comes from an over 30-year background in higher education administration, where he spent over 20 years as vice president or dean of enrollment management at private and public colleges and universities.

He is editor-in-chief of SEM Quarterly, a peer-reviewed journal, and oversees the AACRAO SEM Conference, the world’s leading meeting of enrollment managers, now in its 30th year.  Green holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership, Management and Policy from Seton Hall University. 

Denton currently serves as the Chief Assessment Officer of The QuILTSS Institute in which she leads the design and build of competency-based education programs. Additionally, she serves as a consultant with the Competency-Based Education Network, working with institutions nationwide to design Competency-Based Education programs. Related to her work in healthcare, Denton has specifically consulted with a project funded by the Massachusetts Commonwealth Corporation, a quasi governmental entity, to support three Community Colleges with the buildout of competency-based healthcare programs, including Pharmacy Technician, Addiction Counseling, and Practice Assistant programs. Currently, Denton also serves as the President for the Tennessee Association for Behavior Analysis. In this role, Denton leads an Executive Committee of 9 voting members, 7 Subcommittee Chairs, the Director of Operations, and Lobbyist to hold regular meetings at the organization, regional, and state levels, advocate for members, provide workshops, inform legislation, among other priorities in the field.

Prior to her current role, Tiffany served as Assistant Dean in the College of Professional Studies at Lipscomb University where she led the Curriculum and Academic Team to the launch of PACE, Lipscomb’s 126-credit hour competency-based program. She also served as an assistant professor, administrator of Lipscomb’s behaviorally-based CORE Assessment Center, as well as engaged multiple employer partnerships. Tiffany spent six years studying at The University of Memphis earning the Master of Arts and Education Specialist degrees in School Psychology, as well as the Doctor of Education degree in Applied Behavior Analysis. She is recognized as a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst with doctoral designation.

Wil Del Pilar is the Vice President of Higher Education at the Education Trust where he works to advance Ed Trust’s higher education advocacy agenda by developing and implementing strategies to leverage research, policy, and practice to improve accountability, affordability and student success for low-income students and students of color.

Wil has experience at both federal, state and institutional levels. Most recently, he served as deputy secretary of postsecondary and higher education for the Pennsylvania Department of Education but has also worked at a variety of institutions in admission, financial aid and development.

Christy Hill, Ph.D., is Professor of Spiritual Formation and Women’s Ministries, has a passion for facilitating the holistic development of men and women into mature disciples of Jesus Christ, who are transformed by the experience of God’s love and truth. Saddened by the discrepancy between accurate theology and living faith, she seeks to help her learners acknowledge that their operant belief system (behaviors, values, attitudes, motives) reveals their true beliefs. She then seeks to aid spiritual formation by resolving the gap between one’s professed belief system (correct theology) and actual beliefs. Christy manages accreditation and assessment for Grace Seminary.

Emily Askew teaches theology at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky. She helped transform LTS’s traditional F2F seminary curriculum into a hybrid online competency-intensive curriculum in 2008. A member of the LGBTQIA community, Dr. Askew has co-authored, with Dr. O. Wesley Allen, Beyond Heterosexism in the Pulpit a tool for preachers to learn to be more inclusive of LGBTQIA people in preaching and teaching. She also writes on theology and Latinx immigration. Her courses include an immersion experience to the US/Mexico border in Tucson/Sonora, Theology and Disabilities, Theology and Domestic Violence, Environmental Theology and Queer Theology.

Erik Ireland is the Director of Kingswood Extended, a distance education division of Kingswood University that delivers credit and non-credit coursework. Erik is completing a DMin degree through Asbury Theological Seminary in the field of CBTE. At home in Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada, are wife Ashley, and children Eli (24 months) and Eleanor (15 days).

Freddy Cardoza, Ph.D., is the Dean of Grace Theological Seminary and the School of Ministry Studies at Grace College, where he seeks to advance the Kingdom of God by expanding the size, reach, and impact of the school, faculty, staff, and the dynamic programs GTS offers. He also serves as Professor of Christian Ministry and Leadership, where he equips Christian leaders for ministry impact, and trains disciples to wield the Word of God and the power of God, for the glory of God. His most recent scholarship includes Christian Education: A Guide to the Foundations of Ministry (2019, Baker Academic).

Gabe Tribbett, M.B.A., M.Div., serves as the Director of Deploy, a competency-based theological education program offered by Grace Theological Seminary. As Director, Gabe gives oversight to program operations, including the following areas: student recruitment, retention, and support; mentor recruitment, training, and support; curriculum development; faculty orientation and development; industry partnership development; marketing and financial management, and program accreditation, assessment, and innovation.

A recognized thought leader in theological education, Greg Henson has worked with the team at Sioux Falls Seminary to revolutionize financial and educational models within theological education by launching the Kairos Project. Now the largest accredited CBTE program in North America, Kairos serves students on four continents and in multiple languages. In partnership and conversation with seminaries, denominations, and ministries around the world, Greg is working create integrated systems of theological education that are affordable, accessible, and relevant while remaining faithful to the transformational essence of such an educational journey.

Dr. Sulfridge is an alumnus of Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, the institution he currently serves as Dean of Academic Affairs. After undergraduate work at Clear Creek, he earned a Master of Divinity degree and PhD in Christian Higher Education from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has worked in Higher education for 17 years. Dr. Sulfridge is published in two peer-reviewed journals and has contributed chapters to two books. He built Clear Creek’s first graduate program, a competency based Master of Arts in Ministry. The program has been approved by ABHE and is under review by SACSCOC.

Jeromey Martini is president and professor of New Testament at Horizon College & Seminary, Saskatoon. He earned his PhD in New Testament and Christian Origins from the University of Edinburgh, MTS from McMaster Divinity College, and BA from Briercrest College, where he also taught for two years. In addition to education, Jeromey also led a church plant in Calgary and is an Ordained Minister with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.

Joel Liechty is a Director of Ministerial Education for The Wesleyan Church World Headquarters. He is leading a denomination-wide initiative to move towards a competency-based approach to clergy education and credentialing. Joel lives in Flagstaff, Arizona with his wife Stephanie and three boys Eli, Paxton, and Wesley.

Kajle has served in Innovation and Operations at Northwest Seminary since 2017. Kajle brings a background in local church ministry, discipleship and leadership development to the role. In that ministry, Kajle served as the ministry mentor for a student in Northwest’s Immerse program and now fulfills the role as academic mentor on a number of other mentor teams. Kajle moved to the role at Northwest to explore the intersection of the local church and theological education and has been focused on helping to develop resources to aid schools, networks, and institutions in developing their own CBTE programs and curriculum.

Dr. Karla McGehee serves as Assistant Professor of Christian Education at Leavell College and Associate Director of Institutional Effectiveness, where she has an instrumental role in building a culture of assessment at her institution. She has a significant role in overseeing and coordinating the institution's accreditation and assessment processes. She is a member of the institution's Assessment Oversight Committee and both the Leavell College Program Assessment Committee and General Education Assessment Committee. She has two master's degrees (one advanced) and PhD in Christian Education. She has done further study on CBE and assessment-related issues.

Kenton Anderson is President of Northwest Baptist Seminary and Professor of Homiletics at ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University. He was the lead architect of the Immerse program, the first fully competency-based degree program accredited by the ATS. Kent’s most recent book, Integrative Preaching displays his interest that our work integrates the various dimensions that allow our students and movements to flourish.

Dr. Kevin Peek has held professorial and/or administrative positions at the University of Nevada, Vista College, North Western Michigan College, the Victoria College, and South Texas College (STC). His experience with competency-based education (CBE) includes two-years as the Chair of the CBE Bachelors Program in Organizational Leadership at STC, project director for seven separate grant-funded projects to develop CBE bachelor’s programs in different colleges/universities, and national recognition for his work in CBE. He is currently publishing a handbook on best practices in CBE and organizing four regional symposiums in Texas for colleges and universities interested in implementing CBE programs.

Larry W. Caldwell is Chief Academic Officer and Dean, and Professor of Intercultural Studies and Bible Interpretation, at Sioux Falls Seminary in Sioux Falls, SD. In addition, he is Director of Strategy and Senior Missiologist for Converge Worldwide. Prior to this he and his family were missionaries with Converge for 21 years in Manila, Philippines, where he was Academic Dean and Professor of Missions and Bible Interpretation at Asian Theological Seminary. Larry teaches regularly on contextualization and cross-cultural Bible interpretation (ethnohermeneutics). His latest book is Doing Bible Interpretation: Making the Bible Come Alive for Yourself and Your People.

Rev. Michelle Owens is the Principal of the Centre for Christian Studies and a Diaconal Minister in the United Church of Canada. She has previously worked in congregational and denominational ministry. The Centre for Christian Studies integrates field based and competency models with progressive Christian theology.

Dr. Melinda (Mindi) Thompson is Associate Professor and Director of Distance Education for the Graduate School of Theology at Abilene Christian University. She is currently serving as President of the ACCESS Association of Christian Distance Educators.

Dr. Nathan Hitchcock has helped launch an array of competency-based programs. He played a key role in designing and implementing Kairos at Sioux Falls Seminary. In 2018 he started Sevensided Consulting, which comes alongside organizations to design competency-based systems using network-based supervision. Through Sevensided he works with seminaries, denominations, missions agencies, and other non-profit organizations to set up architecture for CBTE programming. Hitchcock was a team leader of the ATS Peer Group on Competency-based Education. He received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh.

Nicole Lanigan serves at Northwest Seminary as Administrative Assistant to the Chief Operations Officer and Coordinator of the Specialization in Children’s Ministry. She has used her administrative abilities to support various projects at Northwest since 2008 and has been involved in church-based children’s ministry for 25 years. Throughout the CBTE 2020 conference she will provide administrative and technological support to the CBTE track.

Rev. Dr. Dan Haggar has fulfilled his call to ministry in the role of pastor, currently serving First Reformed Church as Senior Pastor in Rock Rapids, IA.  Pastor Dan’s role includes preaching and teaching God’s Word, listening and giving counsel, administration, and leadership. He believes the foundation of his ministry is based on his personal relationship with Jesus Christ, his call to pastoral ministry, and being led by the Holy Spirit.  He is a graduate of Bethel College in MN, Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois and completed his Doctorate of Ministry at Sioux Falls Seminary, SD.  His project research question: To what extent does the personal mentor assist the M.Div. student in the Kairos program in attaining the educational outcomes?

Ruth McGillivray, M.A., is Chief Operations Officer for Northwest Seminary in Langley, BC, where she oversees CBTE program operations and new partnership development, participates in new program development, and provides oversight to quality control for competency-based programs. Prior to her role at Northwest, Ruth spent 25+ years designing, developing and leading competency-based learning and assessment programs in technology and trades. She served in Canada’s trades training system, providing direction to provincial certification and contributing to national Red Seal programs, and has also developed competency-based programs for a variety of technology, health care and HR organizations. Ruth’s keywords for program design: scalable, sustainable solutions that meet client needs.

Stephen R. Graham is Senior Director of Programs and Services at the Association of Theological Schools in Pittsburgh. From 2008-2013 he served as Director of Faculty Development and Initiatives in Theological Education at ATS. Prior to joining ATS, he served as the Dean of Faculty and Professor of American Church History at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. He is currently directing the ATS Educational Models and Practices in Theological Education project, the most comprehensive study of the work of theological schools in the Association’s history. He holds an MA from Wheaton College and a PhD from The Divinity School of the University of Chicago.

Susan Reese life call and training are summed up in the questions of “Who is God, who and I, and what is God doing through me?” Her BA in Religious Studies greatly shaped her knowledge and awareness of God, her MA in Counseling brought great insight to being Christian, human and the dynamics of change. Her Doctorate in Adult and Higher Education informed and influenced her belief in and love for adult education. Susan is a certified spiritual director and teaches in the SFS Listening People to Life: Training in Spiritual Direction.

Tom Sweeney is a professional program mentor, working for several Bible colleges and seminaries as a CBTE faculty or academic mentor. He holds a DMin in Spiritual Formation as well as a masters degrees in instructional design and church history.