Kim Bobby is a principal with AGB Search, where she serves as the firm's senior advisor for Justice, Equity, and Inclusion and conducts executive searches for presidents, provosts, chief diversity officers, and vice presidents across higher education.

Before joining AGB Search, she directed the Inclusive Excellence Group at the American Council on Education (ACE), leading the 57-institution ACE Women's Network and the multi-association "Moving the Needle" initiative to advance women into senior higher education leadership.

Earlier, she was the first chief diversity officer at the University of Puget Sound, also serving as associate professor in its School of Education, and held roles as chief of staff at Prince George's Community College and in K–12 leadership, including a senior cabinet appointment under the New York City schools chancellor focused on systemic educational reform.

She has also consulted for the College Board, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the College Success Foundation on leadership development, college access, and organizational transformation.

Kim Brettschneider is the CEO and Founder of Brettschneider Executive Search, a boutique firm where senior principals personally lead every search from candidate development through final placement, with engagement volume intentionally limited to preserve focus and rigor. She leads C-suite and interim executive searches nationally, drawing on a longtime team and a network of executives she has previously placed or advised.

Before founding the firm, she led more than 200 CEO and senior leadership searches for organizations ranging from startups to enterprises with over $40 billion in revenue, having worked at a top-three healthcare and higher education search firm and a mid-sized firm partnering with boards and founders on placements across finance, revenue, marketing, HR, and strategy.

Earlier, she served as Executive Director of a $45 million services organization's West Coast office, advising its board on revenue strategy and policy. She has served on health, economic, and education-focused boards in New York and California and has received multiple leadership and community service awards.

Frank A. Casagrande is President of Casagrande Consulting, LLC. He has more than 40 years of combined expertise in executive compensation, education, and organizational consulting. He led the Higher Education Sector at Hay Group for a decade, contributing extensively to its work on executive compensation for tax-exempt organizations, following a 10-year tenure in tax benefits and actuarial services at KPMG and Buck Consultants.

His roots in education include work as a middle and high school teacher and as an adjunct professor at Rutgers and Montclair State Universities, and he remains a sought-after speaker at educational association events.

He holds a BS in Applied Mathematics and an MA in Teaching, along with an Executive Compensation Certificate, and is a retired Enrolled Actuary.

Nora V. Demleitner is a jurist, accomplished legal scholar, and academic administrator who currently serves as senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice. She held senior leadership positions in higher education, as 25th president of St. John's College (Annapolis) from 2022 to 2025 and as dean of two different law schools. She was the first woman to hold these offices.

Her research focuses largely on criminal law, sentencing and the long-term consequences of a criminal record, often comparing the United States and Europe. She is the lead author of Sentencing Law and Policy, a legal textbook now in its fifth edition, and the author of the narrative nonfiction Built to Punish: How the Criminal Justice System Undermines American Society (forthcoming 2007).

She has also published on higher education issues. With her J.D. degree from Yale Law School and an LL.M. in international and comparative Law from Georgetown University Law Center, she gained tenure at three law schools and was a visiting faculty member at teaching and research institutions in Europe and the United States. A former chaired faculty member at Washington and Lee University School of Law, she is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the European Law Institute, the International Academy of Comparative Law, and the Council on Criminal Justice. She also garnered accolades for her strategic leadership, fundraising, and talent in building partnerships.

Adrian Epps is an education leader whose career spans more than three decades across Birth-12 and higher education. He began as a classroom teacher and assistant principal before advancing into leadership positions with Atlanta Public Schools, where he directed mathematics and science initiatives and implemented large-scale federal and state grants.

In 2007, he transitioned to higher education, joining Kennesaw State University (KSU) as an associate dean in the College of Science and Mathematics, a role he held until 2019. In 2021, he was named Dean of the Clarice and Leland Bagwell College of Education and appointed the Chantal and Tommy Bagwell Endowed Dean's Chair, a position he held until his term concluded in late 2025. Under his leadership, Bagwell College achieved record increases in graduate enrollment, research funding, and fundraising, growing to serve more than 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students across five doctoral programs, and secured more than $60 million in grants and research awards over the course of his career. He also held an interim provost role at Dalton State College.

A passionate advocate for professionalizing the teaching profession, Adrian has influenced educational policy and helped strengthen teacher recruitment, retention, and development nationally. He co-founded EPPIC Innovative Solutions, an organization that brings together decades of C-suite expertise to serve as a strategic thought partner for leaders and organizations. He also serves or has served on the boards of the College Board, Achieve Atlanta, Purpose-Built Schools Atlanta, and several other civic and educational organizations.

He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry with a minor in African and African American Studies and a master's degree in Science Education from Emory University, followed by his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Clark Atlanta University.

Kyle Farmbry is a Senior Fellow with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). He is also serving as a Non-Residential Fellow at the Cornell University Center for Democracy, a Visiting Research Professor in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University, and a Senior Consultant with the Association of Governing Boards.

He previously served as President of Guilford College from 2022 to 2025, following a career at Rutgers University-Newark as a professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration and Dean of the Graduate School, with earlier faculty appointments at UT San Antonio, San Diego State, and Grand Valley State, and international work as an ACE Fellow at the University of Pretoria, a Fulbright Fellow in Malta, and a Fulbright New Century Scholar in South Africa.

He holds a BA, MPA, and Ph.D. from George Washington University and a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law, and is currently completing an LL.M. at Northeastern University School of Law. He has authored four books on diversity, disaster response, migration, and poverty, and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a former Trustee of the George Washington University, and a current Trustee of the College Board. 

Catherine Koverola is a clinical psychologist and higher education leader with more than 30 years of experience spanning academia, clinical practice, and international development.

She built her academic career across leadership roles including president of the University of Pittsburgh's Bradford and Titusville regional campuses, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Cambridge College, and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Lesley University, while also supporting the launch multi-campus universities in Africa and delivering clinical services in underserved communities in Baltimore, East Los Angeles, and Indigenous communities across Canada and Alaska.

She holds a B.S. from the University of British Columbia, an M.A. from the University of Western Ontario, and both an M.A. and Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary.

An internationally recognized scholar on interpersonal victimization in cross-cultural contexts, she co-authored Building Trust between Faculty and Administrators:  An Intercultural Perspective, and she was honored with the 2014 Massachusetts American Council on Education Women's Network Leadership Award, and currently provides therapy and executive coaching to accomplished professionals navigating high-pressure careers and major transitions. 

Rachel Pauletti leads the higher education consulting practice at Forvis Mazars, bringing more than 15 years of experience as a quantitative and qualitative researcher and consultant helping institutions make data-driven, sustainable decisions. She joined the firm in 2023 after eight years as a faculty member at Lynn University in Florida and subsequent work leading strategic planning and market analysis engagements at a higher education consulting firm.

She holds a Ph.D. from Florida Atlantic University and draws on her classroom experience to inform her consulting work on program economic analysis, financial and scenario modeling, strategic planning, and market analysis.

She regularly contributes to Forvis Mazars' FORsights publications on topics such as college mergers, shared services, fiduciary duty, and regulatory change in higher education. 

Brett Powell is Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration at Tarleton State University, a role he assumed in mid-2024. He joined Tarleton after five years in executive administration at Baylor University, most recently as Associate Vice President of Finance, and before that spent 21 years in higher education leadership roles at Ouachita Baptist University, the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and Henderson State University.

He holds his Ed.D. and an MBA from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, along with a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. A certified public accountant, he was named a finalist for Arkansas Business's Education CFO of the Year in 2017. He is currently serving as a board member of the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers.

Michelle Curtain Stewart joined Caldwell University as its Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs on July 7, 2026. She has spent more than thirty years in higher education in faculty or leadership roles. Prior to her appointment, she served as President of the Institute for Clinical Social Work (ICSW) in Chicago, and as Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lane College in Tennessee and Interim Provost at Adler University in Chicago. She was a faculty member and department chair in sociology at Lane College where she was tenured. Prior to joining Lane College, she was at the Ostrom Workshop at Indiana University-Bloomington and served as Executive Director of the International Association for the Study of the Commons. In that role, she worked with an interdisciplinary team of researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and donors to support the organization’s global mission in countries like Australia, India, Mexico, Zimbabwe, and the UK. In addition to holding various executive leadership positions, Michelle has participated in the following regional and national leadership development programs: Tennessee’s Executive Leadership Institute, Higher Education Resource Services, the American Council on Education, the Harvard’s Seminar for New Presidents, and the Anchor Institute Taskforce.

Michelle is an accomplished administrator and passionate advocate for higher education, focusing on student access, social justice, and sustainable community development. She has received regional recognition such as the Sterling Award for the twenty most influential women in West Tennessee and Woman of Impact for the American Heart Association. She has maintained an active involvement in her community through several civic and social service organizations including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., The Imagination Library, and Rotary Club One of Chicago.

Lamont Anthony Wells is the executive director of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities (NECU), a role he assumed in January 2023, leading collaboration among the ELCA's 26 colleges and universities. He previously served as program director for ELCA Campus Ministry beginning in 2019, providing leadership to the Lutheran Campus Ministry Network (LuMin), which spans more than 240 colleges and universities.

Wells served as the national president of the African Descent Lutheran Association (ADLA) for 8 years (2025-2023). He earned bachelor's degrees in sociology and religion from Morehouse College in 1995, followed by a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in Christian Education from Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center in 2003.

In 2007, he completed a Level II certification residency for clinical pastoral education (CPE) at Emory University Healthcare. Throughout his ministry, he has focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education and campus life, and continues to serve as a global fellow in the United Nations Fellowship Programme for People of African Descent since 2021.