As the Marketing Coordinator for Academic Impressions, Deidra works with the marketing team to ensure smooth execution of events and the overall marketing strategy. Having worked with small businesses to build branding, marketing, social media, and email marketing strategies, she is thrilled to diving into the world of higher education. Deidra received her Bachelor’s in English and her MBA from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. When not in the office, Deidra spends a considerable amount of time exploring the world with her partner Greg and their dog Luna. The three can be found hiking, skiing, gardening, camping, and canoeing (not a favourite of Luna’s). Having travelled to many countries, she’s in search of the best local cuisine wherever she goes. Although, in her humble opinion, nothing can beat a really great poutine.
Evan is a full stack developer at Academic Impressions where he works on both internal and external software and helps ensure the company’s technology stack runs smoothly. He loves working with other members of the team and learning from their diverse skill sets and backgrounds. Before coming to Academic Impressions, Evan received degrees in Math and Computer Science from Kalamazoo College, and studied Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he also worked in an experimental physics lab. In his free time, you can find Evan contributing to open source projects, playing soccer, and spending time with his partner and two dogs.
Patricia leads Academic Impressions’ coaching programs, aimed at helping leaders successfully navigate the changing landscape of higher education. She integrates her experiences in academics, entrepreneurship, coaching, and the arts into her work. Patricia has been immersed in higher ed throughout her career and has held faculty and leadership positions in private and public universities and liberal arts colleges. Guided by a systemic approach, she is deeply committed to helping customers think and act critically based on a sound understanding of their institutional cultures. Patricia grew up in South Africa and has a doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She loves the ocean and wide open spaces and enjoys music, dancing, tennis, martial arts, and hiking with her family and much-loved dog.
Nick is a Learning & Development Manager in Advancement at Academic Impressions. Prior to joining AI, Nick served in AmeriCorps as an instructor in adult literacy, in institutional research at the American Council on Education, and as the Assistant Director of Professional Certificate Programs at the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies. Nick is a first-generation college graduate, having first earned his Associate’s from Rogue Community College. He went on to earn his Bachelor’s from University of Oregon, and his Master’s from The George Washington University.
As a child, Lisa was fascinated with the art of storytelling just as much as understanding how the world worked. She was that curious kid who would ask “why” a million times to understand the root cause of everything and then tell you an epic tale about what she had just learned. Flash forward, not much has changed. Having spent most of her career in leadership positions focused on operations and training within the education and healthcare industries, she carved a career path that allowed her to ask “why” to solve business problems and train others to do the same. She’s a proud alumnus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) two times over, having received both a Bachelor of Science, Biology and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. She also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Now at Academic Impressions, she enjoys sharing her passion for learning with others by creating exciting training opportunities for leaders in higher ed. A focus of her work includes working with Department Chairs and Academic Deans. When she is not designing and facilitating professional development programs, Lisa can be found wandering with her camera, photographing the world. Her number one bucket […]
Elizabeth Zavala-Acevez, Ph.D. is an experienced career services professional with over 15 years of experience working within Higher Education. As the Director of the Career Center at California State University, Fullerton she provides strategic direction to all facets of the Career Center, is involved with several programming efforts that pertain to CSUF’s retention cluster, and serves as the lead on career readiness within the university’s Student Success Team structural framework. As a career services professional she has been actively involved in the Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers (MPACE), and previously served as a Board Member for the association, co-chaired the 2015 annual MPACE professional conference, and was awarded the NACE Management Leadership Institute Scholarship by MPACE in 2013. Elizabeth’s involvements also include being an active member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) and has been selected and attended both the NACE Leadership Advancement Program and the Management Leadership Institute. Additional professional memberships and involvements include the National Career Development, Association and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). As a professional in higher education, she was also awarded the NASPA Region VI Mid-Level Student Affairs Professional Award in 2015. She has a B.S. in […]
Tom Dowd joined Muhlenberg College in February of 2016 as executive director of Career Services. He is a career development educator and career coach with more than 12 years of experience creating and delivering career programs for diverse audiences in higher education, nonprofit, and corporate environments. Prior to Muhlenberg, Tom was the director of career & professional development at Lehigh University. He received his undergraduate degree from Dickinson College and his master’s degree in instructional design & technology from Lehigh University. Tom also has done additional coursework in organizational development at Temple University.
Marques Clark is an educator and lover of anything pizza-related. He is the Program Manager of the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act grant at Waubonsee College in Aurora, IL. After attending Northern Illinois University, and earning his Master of Science in Higher Education, Marques began conducting research on how pop culture can be used as a tool to educate, train, and engage students. In 2017, Marques launched ClarkHouse, a publishing company that combines pop culture and education to create career resources for young audiences. Marques’ blog MOREPOPCULTURE is a platform that highlights useful tools and resources in pop culture and career development. Marques is currently working on his Doctorate in Counseling and Higher Education at Northern Illinois University. His mission is to empower students by providing them with the tools to market their strengths and experiences in order to achieve their unique career goals.
Brian Parish has over 25 years of experience in enterprise data systems, data governance, and integration, and reporting. As CEO and Founder of IData Inc, a data management firm primarily working with higher education institutions he has worked with over 500 colleges and universities to help them access, understand, connect, and effectively use their organization’s data across all systems. In 2008, Brian led IData in the development in the Data Cookbook, a data governance solution built to support the best practices of pragmatic data governance. Brian lives and works in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and 3 daughters.
Jill Thomas has been a national educator and trainer specifically for Title IX in Higher Education. She was formerly the Title IX Coordinator and Director of Equity Investigations at Stanford University. In that role, she oversaw the investigations and three-person panel hearings. Jill came to Stanford in 2018 after a career as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) where she prosecuted child exploitation cases, including cases involving sex trafficking, sextortion, sex tourism, and online exploitation. Before gaining her expertise in child exploitation, she prosecuted terrorism cases, gangs, and cartels. Jill was a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice for over 11.5 years. Jill has recently returned to the Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor. Before joining the Department of Justice, Jill served in the U.S. Air Force as a JAG for nearly 10 years doing tours both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney. She remains active in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, JAG Corps as a military judge. Over the course of her career as a trial attorney, Jill has taught and mentored hundreds of lawyers on trial advocacy skills and trained many law enforcement agents on investigations.
