In her current role, Cynthia Sweet is responsible for operations and strategic direction for corporate engagement and economic partnerships. She has 13 years of experience in central administration for academia and a total of 23 years of experience in economic and business development for public and private sectors. Prior to joining Pitt, Cynthia was the Associate Vice President for Corporate and Government Relations at West Virginia University; before that, she was with University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of Corporate Relations. She has a M.S. degree in Planning and International Economic Development from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. degree in Economic Development from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.
Ms. Stephanie Soto-Pell has extensive development, marketing and sales experience from strategy to execution dedicated to seizing opportunities that drive revenue and sustain growth. With over 20 years of corporate experience, much of this obtained from The Walt Disney Company, she is an experienced team builder able to effectively tackle challenges and communicate clear strategies that result in win/win outcomes. Stephanie changed professions in 2011 to the non-profit arena with the American Red Cross and most recently with California State University, Los Angeles. She is now leveraging her experience from corporate strategy, branding and execution to advancing the mission of Cal State LA through engaging both new and existing partners to build larger, more impactful programs.
Deb has been with the University of Missouri for the past six years and leading the talent management program for the Advancement team for five years. Prior to this, Deb owned a nationally-known consulting firm for 25 years, Business Class, a company dedicated to training and development options for improving organizational performance. She has been a regularly featured speaker at annual meetings of the National Association of College Stores (NACS) and has presented programs at three of the International Conferences of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), now known as the Association for Talent Development (ATD), as well as numerous CASE conferences including the Strategic Talent Management conference. In June 2003, she joined the faculty of the United States Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management and taught courses at Institute locations nationwide. Mrs. Snellen is also an author on business related skills and topics. Over 100 of her articles have been published including a collection marketed by NACS in a book titled “Lead the Team: Effective and Inspirational Training for Supervisors.” Deb has also served as an instructor for the senior capstone class for the Department of Communication at Mizzou. Her work in talent management at Mizzou […]
Annie Ciaraldi, M.Ed. has been the Associate Dean of Students for Compliance and Violence Prevention at the University of Massachusetts Lowell since 2013 and has been at the University working in Student Affairs since 1990. The responsibilities of this position and her work at UMass Lowell has included working with students in crisis of many different types, including food, housing, and other resource insecurity. Annie created the “Student Resource Security and Success Strategic Infusion Team” and began tackling different resource issues of students, beginning with the expansion and resourcing of a food pantry and meal swipe program. Today, Annie is the University’s single point of contact for food and housing insecure students and works with each student holistically, addressing these issues in addition to mental, physical, and financial health, as well as transitioning from college to post graduation life. She has established effective collaborations within the University and Lowell communities, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. Annie and her team have been recognized by the Chancellor’s Pillars of Strength Awards for Excellence for their work on addressing food and housing insecurity.
With degrees in business and psychology, David Peck’s expertise lies in branding, marketing, public relations, social media, and visual storytelling. For 21 years, he has been responsible for promoting and protecting the brand at Azusa Pacific University. Peck and his team have received numerous CASE, Telly, and UCDA awards throughout his tenure. He has taught for the past nine years with Azusa Pacific University, Fielding, and UCLA. Prior to higher education, Peck was involved in distribution, exhibition, and marketing at Buena Vista Pictures Distribution (Walt Disney Co.) as well as United Artists Theatres (now a part of the Regal Entertainment Group).
Dr. Vardaman serves as Associate Provost for Academic Support at Troy University where he manages faculty personnel issues, budgeting, faculty contracts and certifications, legal issues, IT initiatives, the tenure and promotion process, and post-grant award activity for the Academic Division. In addition, he provides oversight of Continuing Education and Outreach as well as the financial aspects of the Confucius Institute. He also serves as an adjunct instructor of employment law in TROY’s Master of Human Resources program. Prior to his current position, Dr. Vardaman spent nine years leading the Human Resources Department for Troy after serving as both HR and IT manager for the Southeast Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission in Dothan, AL. Dr. Vardaman has held local, state, and national leadership positions in human resources professional organizations and has numerous national and international publications.
In his current role, Adam provides data-driven decision support to institutional senior leadership in the areas of academic program costing, competitive and peer analysis, and institutional rankings. He oversees the economic performance model for the institution, and provides valuable insights into the economic and financial health of the institution. Before joining the Office of Institutional Research last year, Adam spent ten years in the Office of Strategic Planning and Analysis. He also participated in the Business Intelligence team as a data analyst. Throughout this time he has managed peer analysis systems, developed an administrative assessment program, and facilitated the development of an academic program financial review process. Adam holds both a Bachelor and Master of Science in Aeronautics degree in addition to an Associate’s of Science in Aviation Maintenance from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Adam is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Higher Education Leadership at Nova Southeastern University.
Roger Lumpp is an experienced consultant in the financial, accounting and not-for-profit arenas. He began his career with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., leaving after four years to become the first chief financial officer of one of his clients. This began a twenty-year period of increasing officer level responsibilities with two publicly held insurance centered conglomerates. Lumpp then entered the twenty plus year consulting phase of his career where he served major financial services clients as well as clients in the retail, consumer products and healthcare industries. He created Arthur Andersen’s Midwest insurance consulting practice in the 1990’s and more recently KPMG’s Midwest advisory account relationship corps. Throughout his career, Lumpp has served as president, chairman, and board member of numerous not-for-profit organizations. He served as President of the Wabash College National Association of Wabash Men and Vice President of The University of Michigan’s Alumni Society. He is currently Treasurer of the Bexley Seabury Foundation, an Episcopal seminary. He also is Chairman of the Board of Mather LifeWays, which is dedicated to improving our understanding of how to age well. In these capacities, he has witnessed and influenced the full spectrum of governance, strategic planning, and operational execution, as well […]
David Haynes has a wide and extensive background in higher education, serving as faculty, board member, and administrator, as well as management and strategic consulting in the not-for-profit and corporate worlds. Most recently, he has served as a faculty member and administrator at Northern Michigan University. In July 2014, he retired as President of Northern Michigan University. His undergraduate and graduate teaching is in public administration, leadership, public policy, budgeting, and political science. He served as the Co-Director of the Center for Rural Economic and Community Development and the Director of the Master of Public Administration program. He organized the department’s Public Policy Symposium Series that brought international, national, state, and local presenters to campus. He also chaired the Faculty Senate’s Graduate Program Committee and served as a member the of the university’s Committee on Diversity, Honorary Degree Committee, the President’s Budget Committee, and President’s Cabinet. For several decades, he was a partner at Public Affairs Associates (PAA) and a member of the Board of Directors. PAA was one of Michigan’s top three corporate and not-for-profit public policy, crisis management, and strategic planning companies. It represented a broad cross section of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies, world class universities and […]
Terry Franke is a strategic consultant, certified executive coach, and consultant/trainer with expertise in the not-for-profit world as well as large corporations. Franke started his career at Lawrence University, worked as a Commercial Banker for Continental Bank, and spent most of his career at Hewitt Associates, a top human resources consulting firm where he was a senior partner. Franke has helped numerous organizations create visions of the future and map strategy to realize those visions. An accomplished curriculum developer and executive-level trainer and coach (certified through The Newfield Network), Franke created and hosted the Hewitt Associates monthly talk show and has been at guest expert on broadcast interview shows. He has been a guest speaker at two recent Association of Governing Boards conferences. The March/April 2014 edition of Trusteeship Magazine contains an article by Franke: “Needed: A New Style of Leader for the New Era.” He was also a contributing author to the recently published Effective Board Chairs: A Guide for University and College Chairs (AGB Press). Numerous board positions reflect his leadership and management talents. Franke is the former chairman of the board of trustees at Lawrence University. Since joining the Board in 1993, he has served under three […]
