Richard H. Ekman
President

Richard Ekman has been President of the Council of Independent Colleges since 2000. He previously served as Vice President for Programs of Atlantic Philanthropies and, from 1991 to 1999, as Secretary of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. From 1982 until 1991, he was a member of the staff of the National Endowment for the Humanities, first as Director of the Division of Education Programs, and subsequently as Director of the Division of Research Programs. His previous experience includes service as Vice President and Dean of Hiram College, where he was also a tenured member of the history faculty; and Assistant to the Provost at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He currently serves as a member of many boards, including the National Advisory Committee of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, the Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins University Press, and the Council of Harvard University’s Graduate School Alumni Association. He has been awarded honorary degrees by Marywood University, and Alderson-Broaddus, Bethany, Georgetown, Hastings, Otterbein, and Ursinus Colleges. He is co-author, with Richard E. Quandt, of Technology and Scholarly Communication (University of California Press, 1999). [link to more detailed bio]

Russell Y. Garth
Executive Vice President

Russell Garth has been Executive Vice President of The Council of Independent Colleges since 1987, responsible for overall program planning and general administration of CIC. From 1976 to 1987, Garth was Program Officer and (acting) Deputy Director of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education within the U.S. Department of Education, and before that, he served as a professional staff member for the California Legislature’s Assembly Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, where he conducted studies and developed legislation on independent higher education, student financial aid, collective bargaining, a statewide innovation fund, and alternative forms of education for adults.

Allison Blackburn
Director of Conferences

Allison Blackburn joined CIC as Director of Conferences in October 2005. Blackburn brings with her a wealth of experience and training, including a master’s degree in Tourism and Travel Management from New York University, professional certification in meeting planning, and more than 15 years of experience in planning events. Prior to joining CIC, Blackburn served as Manager of Conferences and Meetings for the International Life Sciences Institute where she worked for eight years with responsibility for managing multiple international conferences each year, both large and small.

Stephen R. Gibson
Director of Projects

Stephen Gibson, CIC’s Director of Projects since May 2006, oversees a wide range of projects, including the Davies-Jackson Scholarship, Learning Spaces Workshops, Ancient Greece Seminar, and Teaching about Islam and Middle Eastern Culture Seminar. He began at CIC in 2001 serving as Projects Coordinator, and later Projects Manager, for an array of CIC programs, including assisting with the Consortium for the Advancement of Private Higher Education. Before joining CIC, he served as editor and office assistant at Swobo Clothing in San Fransico, California, and earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington, Seattle.

Harold V. Hartley III
Senior Vice President

Hal Hartley, Senior Vice President since November 2007, provides leadership and direction for CIC’s data initiatives, including the KIT and FIT benchmarking reports, the Making the Case website, and the Collegiate Learning Assessment Consortium. He also has lead responsibilities for CIC’s annual Presidents Institute and manages the Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission program. He joined CIC in January 2005 as Director of Research and was in June 2007 promoted to Vice President for Research and Evaluation. Hartley came to CIC from Nashville, where since 1995 he had served with the General Board of Higher Education & Ministry of The United Methodist Church. He earlier served as chaplain at Ohio Northern University and Emory & Henry College (VA). Hartley completed his EdD degree in higher education, leadership, and policy at the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He earned his undergraduate degree at Westminster College (PA). Hartley’s research interests and publications, based in part on his analysis of large datasets, have focused on such topics as the relationship between the undergraduate experience and persistence to degree, and the impact of college attendance on students’ religious faith.

Barbara Hetrick
Senior Vice President

Barbara Hetrick, who was appointed CIC’s Vice President for Advancement in May 2007, is now Senior Vice President. She is responsible for the cultivation and solicitation of corporate and foundation support, and oversees membership, communications, and selected CIC programs. Previously she served as vice president for academic affairs and professor of sociology at Catawba College (NC). She is very familiar with small colleges, having served as vice president for academic affairs at The College of Wooster (OH) from 1997 to 2002 and in a similar role at Hood College (MD) from 1985 to 1995. Hetrick also served as vice president of the Maryland Independent College and University Association, and currently serves on the board of directors of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS). She has been an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow, helped to begin the Associated New American Colleges (ANAC), served on the deans’ councils of the Annapolis Group and the Great Lakes Colleges Association, and was chair of the American Conference of Academic Deans.

Christoph M. Kunkel
Chief of Operations

Christoph Kunkel is Chief of Operations and is responsible for various operational, technological, and data activities at CIC. A native of Germany, Kunkel studied political science, economics, and history at Heidelberg University and the London School of Economics, crossed the Atlantic on a Fulbright Fellowship, and received a master’s degree from Cornell University (NY) in government. In his life outside CIC, he serves as an adjunct professor for Cornell’s Summer in Washington program. Kunkel joined CIC in February 2004 as Assistant to the President and later also served as Assistant Director of Research.

Mary Ann F. Rehnke
Vice President for Programs

Mary Ann Rehnke has served on the conference staff at The Council of Independent Colleges since 1986. She has primary responsibility for the Institute for Chief Academic Officers, the Spouses Program at the Presidents Institute, the Department/Division Chairs Workshops, and the Transformation of the College Library Workshops. From 1983 to 1985, she was Associate Dean of the College at Daemen College. She also has been Associate Dean for Faculty Relations and Academic Programs at the College of St. Catherine. Rehnke began her career as an English faculty member in the Department of Literature and Languages at Northern Kentucky, where she later held the position of Director of Summer Sessions.

Sarah Stoycos
Program Officer

Sarah Stoycos, CIC’s Program Officer since September 2006, oversees several programs, including the Network for Effective Language Learning, the American Graduate Fellowships, and the International Partners Program, and assists with the Transformation of the College Library Workshops, the Department/Division Chair Workshops, and the Institute for Chief Academic Officers. She is also involved in a variety of grants-related activities at CIC. From 2002 to 2006, Stoycos was an assistant professor of music at Centre College (KY). She holds a BA degree from Bowdoin College (ME), where she also served first as a visiting instructor and then as visiting assistant professor. She received her PhD in musicology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Keith A. Wallace
Director of Administration

Keith Wallace has been Director of Administration at CIC since 2001. He assists with staff hiring, acts as liaison with the building manager and engineers, and oversees office management, administrative, and technical issues for CIC. Prior to joining CIC, Wallace was office manager for the American MidEast Education and Training Services (AMIDEAST) and Phillips Publishing Inc. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of the District of Columbia.

Laura A. Wilcox
Vice President for Communications

As Vice President for Communications, Laura Wilcox oversees CIC publications, electronic communications, and media and public affairs. She came to CIC as Director of Communications in December 2000 from the American Council on Education, where she had served since 1994 as Assistant Director for Public Affairs and Managing Editor of ACE’s public policy newsletter. Prior to joining the higher education association, Wilcox was a Public Affairs Associate at the Urban Institute, a public policy and research organization in Washington, DC, and she worked on Capitol Hill for eight years, as Deputy Press Secretary for Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) on the Senate Finance Committee, and on the staffs of Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ). She started as a news anchor and reporter-producer for radio stations in Jacksonville, Fla., and Herndon and Manassas, Va.