Dr. Rebecca Karoff joined the University of Texas System in February 2016 as Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. With more than 25 years working in public higher education at the system level, first in Wisconsin and now in Texas, she is dedicated to utilizing the power of the system as a catalyst for quality educational attainment, equity, innovation and transformation in the 21st-century global society.

Dr. Karoff is responsible for leading and supporting student success initiatives system-wide. Her work addresses the student success continuum, PK-20 and into the workforce, and recognizes the remarkable responsibility and opportunity of the University of Texas System to achieve more equitable access and outcomes for the state’s increasingly diverse students. She is the primary architect of the UT System’s student success framework, and collaborates with institutional colleagues across the UT System to ensure student financial well-being, effective advising, and students’ sense of academic and social belonging. Her work includes leadership of the UT System’s momentum-building strategy on Open Educational Resources (OER), strengthening curricular innovation, and working with faculty to embrace their roles in student success. All her work is data-informed, equity-centered and quality-driven, and she is interested in expanded approaches to measuring student success.

Beyond the UT System, she is a member of the Texas Transfer Alliance, a joint effort among the Charles A. Dana Center, the Texas Success Center, the Texas Association of Community Colleges, and four of the state’s public university systems (Texas A&M University System, Texas State University System, University of North Texas System and University of Texas System) to improve transfer student outcomes. She is active in NASH, the National Association of System Heads, and is a co-author of the NASH Equity Action Framework, a tool designed for university systems to assess their progress toward, and act on the adoption and integration of essential equity practices through sustained engagement. She chairs the Equity Work Group of DOERS3, the Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success Collaborative, work resulting in the OER Equity Blueprint and Equity Through OER Rubric, developed to aid institutions in intentional engagement with equity as they build capacity on OER.

Elmira Magnum, PhD, has served at the executive level of nationally recognized organizations of higher learning for more than 30 years. Currently completing a sabbatical with Washington University in St. Louis as a distinguished scholar-in-residence, she is working on a manuscript and case studies to inform the preparation of future leaders in higher education. She previously served as a visiting scholar at the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

Peter McPherson, Chair of the HarvestPlus Program Advisory Committee, is the President of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the oldest higher education association composed of public research universities, land-grant institutions, and state university systems in the United States. He has previously served as President of Michigan State University, Director of Economic Policy for the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq, Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury, Administrator of the US Agency for International Development, and Special Assistant to US President Gerald Ford in the White House.

Barry Munitz is currently Trustee Professor at the California State University, Los Angeles campus and Chairman of the statewide P-16 Council in California. He served formally as Chancellor of the California State University system, President and Chief Executive Officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust and Chancellor of the University of Houston. He now heads the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Advisory Committee and chairs the Sierra Nevada College Board of Trustees.

Dr. Laura E. Ortiz serves as the Provost and VP of Academic and Student Affairs at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, NY.

She is an authentic, bilingual (English/Spanish), comprehensive community college leader, educator, and administrator, who is passionate about education, social justice, and holistic faculty and student success through inclusive teaching and learning excellence.

Dr. Ortiz actively exercises her transformational leadership style to cultivate and nurture relationships, inspire change and growth through shared vision and collaboration, and communicate compassionately and effectively across complex environments to improve teaching, learning, and organizational excellence.

Dr. Ortiz is an intentional diversity, equity, and inclusion practitioner who is committed to creating brave spaces for courageous conversations where diverse ideas, perspectives, and lived experiences are heard, welcomed, and valued. She purposefully champions inclusive, equity-minded teaching, learning, and working spaces to foster learning, promote a sense of belonging and well-being, and support holistic success for students, employees, and community members.

An American by choice, Eduardo Padrón arrived in the United States as a teenage refugee in 1961. He is the President Emeritus of Miami Dade College (MDC), having served as its President for almost 25 years. He is credited with elevating MDC, the largest degree granting institution in America, into a position of national prominence among the best and most recognized U.S. colleges and universities. An economist by training, Dr. Padrón earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of America’s oldest and most prestigious organizations. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., for being a prominent national voice for access and inclusion in higher education. In 2020 the Florida Council of 100 awarded him the “2020 Grand Floridian” Prize. In 2009, TIME magazine included him on the list of “The 10 Best College Presidents.” In 2010, Florida Trend magazine placed him on the cover of its inaugural “Floridian of the Year” issue. In 2011, The Washington Post named him one of the eight most influential college presidents in the U.S. Also in 2011, he was awarded the prestigious 2011 Carnegie Corporation Centennial Academic Leadership Award. In 2012, he received the Citizen Service Award from Voices for National Service, the coveted TIAA Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence, and the Aspen Institute Ascend Fellowship. In 2015, he was inducted into the U.S. News & World Report STEM Hall of Fame.

He was awarded the Harry Truman Award from the American Association of Community Colleges. Dr. Padrón’s energetic leadership extends to many of the nation’s leading organizations. He is the past chair of the board of directors of the American Council on Education (ACE) and is a past chair of the board of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and former chair of the Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF). During his career, he has been selected to serve on posts of national prominence by five American presidents. Internationally, President Padrón’s accomplishments have been recognized by numerous nations and organizations including the Republic of France, which named him Commandeur in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques; the Republic of Argentina, which awarded him the Order of San Martin; Spain’s King Juan Carlos II, who bestowed upon him the Order of Queen Isabella; Spain’s Prince and Princess of Asturias, Felipe and Letizia, who presented him with the Juan Ponce de Leon 500th Anniversary award; Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, who appointed him Honorary Consul in Florida of the Kingdom of Morocco in 2016, and the Amicus Poloniae from the Republic of Poland.

Dr. Padrón’s pace-setting work at Miami Dade College has been hailed as a model of innovation in higher education. He is credited with engineering a culture of success that has produced impressive results in student access, retention, graduation, and overall achievement. MDC enrolls and graduates more minorities than any other institution in the United States, including the largest numbers of Hispanics and African-Americans. Under Dr. Padrón’s leadership, Miami Dade College has received national recognition for its longstanding involvement with its urban community, its catalytic effect for social and economic change, and the marked difference the College has made in student access and success through pace-setting initiatives. He has served on several national commissions including Aspen Institute, Council on Foreign Relations, Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Century Foundation, National Science Foundation, National Governors Association, American Bar Association, Lumina Foundation, and others.

He currently serves on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations; Urban Institute; Spencer Foundation; Education Trust; ACT; College Promise (Chair); National Commission on Inclusive Capitalism; Dream.US; Concordia Leadership Council; and World Strategic Forum (Chair). In past years he has held leadership positions on the boards of the Federal Reserve Board of Atlanta, Miami Branch (past Chair); the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Achieving the Dream; Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (Chair); the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; the White House Commission on Educational Excellence; Campus Compact; Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute; The College Board; and the White House/Congressional Commission of the National Museum of the American Latino.

He is the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates and prestigious awards. Dr. Padrón is a prolific writer with several publications and articles to his credit.

Kevin Reilly is President Emeritus and Regent Professor with the 26-campus University of Wisconsin System.

He has been a member of the ACUE Board of Advisors since 2014. He has had the opportunity to incorporate some of ACUE’s research-based best practices in teaching a graduate seminar he developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on “Major Challenges in American Higher Education.”

Laura Rittner serves as Executive Director of the Success Center for Ohio Community Colleges at the Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC). In this role she oversees the OACC’s student success initiatives including Ohio’s guided pathways project for community colleges, the Student Success Leadership Institute, and the Completion by Design statewide policy and scaling work. The Student Success Center’s portfolio of grants has grown to include over $10 million in state, federal and private foundation investments under Laura’s leadership. She has engaged many national partners in the OACC’s student success efforts and served as an inaugural coach for the American Association of Community College’s Pathways Project from 2016-2017.

Laura has 14 years of experience in community college leadership. She joined the OACC in 2013 as Director of Research and Data Analysis after working for 7 years at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, OH as Director for Institutional Research. Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Psychology from Miami University in Oxford, OH and a Master of Public Policy from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Charles Rose represents private and public colleges and universities, community colleges, K-12 school districts and private schools, corporations, education-related businesses, private equity firms, state government agencies and municipalities, foundations, and tribal nations.

Kristina Ruiz-Mesa, PhD is a Professor of Communication and director of the national award-winning oral communication program at California State University, Los Angeles. Prior to Cal State LA, Dr. Ruiz-Mesa worked as a college bridge program director, retention advisor, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) researcher, and organizational trainer at Villanova University.

Dr. Ruiz-Mesa has published dozens of articles and book chapters on organizational communication and DEI and is the lead author of Inclusive Public Speaking. As a sought-after consultant and keynote speaker, she has advised organizational leaders across North America on creating more equitable workplaces and classrooms through inclusive communication.