​Mark J. Braun served as provost of Gustavus Adolphus College from 2011 to 2016, where he also previously served for eight years as associate dean and for seven years as department chair in communication studies. From 2007 to 2011, Braun was senior vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Augustana College (SD). He has served on the executive committee of the board of directors for the American Conference of Academic Deans and on the national board for the Broadcast Education Association. Braun has presented several times previously at CIC’s Workshops for Department and Division Chairs and the Institute for Chief Academic Officers, and he received the 2014 CIC Chief Academic Officer Award.

​Kenneth P. Carson, professor of business and coordinator of business program assessment at Grove City College, served as provost of Geneva College from 2005 to 2015. He previously served as a faculty member at Geneva College, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the School of Business at Arizona State University, and California Polytechnic State University at Pomona. Carson has published and presented on many topics in human resource management, organizational psychology, and statistics. He is a frequent presenter at CIC’s Workshops for Department and Division Chairs and the Institute for Chief Academic Officers.

​Ron Cole became provost and dean of the college at Allegheny College, his undergraduate alma mater, in 2015. Prior to this appointment, he served Allegheny as a faculty member for 20 years and held several leadership positions including chair of the geology department, moderator of the faculty, and member of the trustee diversity task force. As a faculty member, he actively engaged undergraduate students in research with funding from the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, and the American Chemical Society and was the recipient of an award for excellence in teaching. Before his career in higher education, Cole worked in the environmental consulting industry.

​Beth Tyner Jones is a partner with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice LLP in the firm’s Raleigh, North Carolina, office. Jones practices primarily in the areas of employment and education law and uses her experience as a human resources professional and in-house legal counsel to assist both public and private institutions of higher education. She has experience representing these colleges and universities in a broad range of issues, including tenure denial, faculty discipline and dismissal matters, discrimination and harassment, program closures, wrongful termination, student discipline, FERPA compliance, accommodation requests, investigations, and governance matters.

​Catharine O’Connell, provost and dean of the college for Illinois College, previously served as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Mary Baldwin College, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Defiance College, dean for academic affairs at Cabrini College, and chair of the English department at St. John Fisher College. Her scholarly work focuses on 19th-century American literature and issues in contemporary higher education. O’Connell has been a frequent presenter at regional and national meetings on such topics as global learning and citizenship, community-based research, outcomes assessment, and faculty-student learning communities.

​Kevin Reilly has served as the dean of the School of Social Sciences and Professional Studies at Ferrum College since 2010. He also is co-director of the Ferrum College Center for Community Engagement and co-facilitator for the Ferrum Cultural Competence Campus Conversations. Previously, Reilly was director of Ferrum’s Quality Enhancement Plan, coordinating both development and implementation of the plan’s critical-thinking theme. A psychologist by training, he is an associate professor and has taught a wide variety of psychology courses.

​Jeanine Stewart is a tenured professor of psychology at McDaniel College; her current work applies positive psychological concepts to employee evaluation models and metrics associated with organizational commitment. Stewart’s professional experience in psychology, neuroscience, and applied leadership spans more than two decades across three small independent college campuses. Her responsibilities have included direct oversight of all academic departments and academic support areas. Originally trained as a systems neuroscientist, Stewart often presents at conferences on topics related to higher education management and workplace dynamics.