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Janet N. Bandera serves as a director of wealth planning strategies for TIAA, providing wealth transfer, estate, and tax planning services for clients with complex needs. Prior to joining TIAA, for 18 years Bandera was an attorney, author, lecturer, and teacher working with families and business owners on estate and business succession planning.

Michael Collins coordinates the new business development, portfolio management, and client service capabilities for institutional clients of TIAA. He also acts as a subject matter expert on topics including investment policy design, spending policy, and nonprofit governance issues, and he helps educate and update board members and nonprofit organizations across the country. Collins joined TIAA-CREF in 2010 and recently began his 25th year in the financial services industry.

Prior to joining TIAA-CREF, Collins was a director for Russell Investment Group, leading the Northeast region. He also has held positions at MFS Investment Management and Putnam Investments where he began his career.

Collins received his bachelor of science in finance from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He is a Certified Investment Management Analyst and holds the Accredited Investment Fiduciary designation.

Richard Ekman has overseen the growth of CIC membership by more than 40 percent. He previously served as vice president for programs of Atlantic Philanthropies and as secretary and senior program officer of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Earlier, he was at the National Endowment for the Humanities, successively as director of the Division of Education Programs and the Division of Research Programs; vice president and dean of Hiram College; and assistant to the provost at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He serves as a member of many boards, including those that provide guidance to the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the American Academic Leadership Institute.

Elizabeth Jansen serves as academic program director for the Mayo Innovation Scholars Program, a collaborative program between the Mayo Clinic, 12 private colleges and universities in Minnesota, and the Minnesota Private College Fund. She has been a faculty member at Macalester College for 20 years, where she teaches neuroscience and reproductive biology. She currently serves as inaugural director of The Stem at Macalester, an office that assists students in exploring research opportunities and career pathways in science fields. Jansen is the author of peer-reviewed articles about the Mayo Innovations Scholars Program in the Journal of College Science Teaching and the Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly. She received her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Minnesota following undergraduate studies in biology and psychology at the University of St. Thomas (MN).

John Meslow is the founder and program director of the Mayo Innovation Scholars Program, which helps students from Minnesota private colleges research potentially marketable medical inventions developed by the Mayo Clinic. Now in its 12th year, this successful program has benefited more than 600 students and serves as a legacy for Meslow’s lifelong passion for medical entrepreneurship.

Meslow entered business after graduation from St. Olaf College and service in the U.S. Air Force. He held a variety of positions at Medtronic, Inc. during its rapid expansion, including as vice president of human resources, followed by 15 years as president of Medtronic’s neurological business, which during his stewardship grew from $7 million to $1.2 billion in revenue.

​J. Michael (Mike) Pressimone has been president of Fontbonne University since July 2014. He previously served as vice president for advancement of Alvernia University, Belmont Abbey College, and Elizabethtown College. Pressimone serves on the boards of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, St. Louis Regional Chamber of Commerce, Chaminade College Preparatory School, and St. Joseph’s Academy as well as on the academic affairs committee of the Incarnate Word Academy. He has been an active voice on issues of diversity and racial justice and in the interfaith community where he works to promote harmony among all people of faith. Pressimone holds an associate of arts degree from Catonsville Community College (now the Community College of Baltimore County), a bachelor of fine arts from the Catholic University of America, a master of arts in leadership in higher education from Regis University, and a doctorate in higher education and organizational change from Benedictine University in Illinois.

Frank Romeo serves as vice president of the UPS Foundation and is responsible for the operations and management of its global philanthropic and corporate relations programs. He has more than 43 years of experience with UPS and has held positions in operations and human resources. Like many UPSers, Romeo began his career while in college as a part-time package handler. Before specializing in HR, he worked in several operations management positions and in industrial engineering. He also spent more than 11 years in UPS’s international operations, helping the company expand in Europe and the Americas. In 2004, Romeo became head of UPS’s Global Employee Relations group. He assumed his current role in 2012.

Romeo will discuss the UPS Foundation’s long partnership with the State Councils in advancing the foundation’s commitment to expanding college access and success for first-generation students. The company is particularly proud that the CIC/UPS Scholarships Program has helped to make a private college education possible for more than 20,000 students from underserved populations.

Mike Schmidt joined Ford Motor Company in 1996 and serves as director of education and global community development for the Ford Motor Company Fund. He oversees Ford’s major national and global partnerships with K–12 and post-secondary education, including the Henry Ford Learning Institute, Henry Ford Academy, and the Ford Next Generation Learning program. He also directs all of Ford Fund’s grantmaking outside of the United States, reaching more than 40 worldwide markets. Schmidt is currently on the board of directors of the Henry Ford Learning Institute, the Society for Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation, the Detroit Regional Chamber Foundation, and the Michigan Colleges Alliance.

Previously, Schmidt worked on national education and workforce development issues as a senior policy analyst on President Clinton’s Domestic Policy Council, where he developed and implemented the president’s Technology Learning Challenge, GOALS 2000, School-to-Work initiatives, and other national programs. Earlier, he worked on federal training and development policy for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and as a staff member for the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills at the U.S. Department of Labor. In 2006, Schmidt was appointed to the Michigan Council for Labor and Economic Growth. He has been a Partnership for 21st Century Skills board member since 2005. Schmidt earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s of public management from the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs.

​John B. Wilson is president of the Independent College Fund of New Jersey (ICFNJ) and president and CEO of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of New Jersey—service that has capped a 48-year career dedicated to advancing higher education in New Jersey. A native of Jersey City, he earned his undergraduate degree from Saint Peter’s University and law degree from Seton Hall University. He served as director of athletics and vice president for development at Saint Peter’s for 16 years, and as assistant vice president of Seton Hall for six years, where he directed campaigns that collectively added more than $35 million in infrastructure to both institutions.

During his 28-year tenure at ICFNJ, the association raised and distributed more than $46 million for student scholarships and the state’s private institutions. Under Wilson’s leadership, ICFNJ became widely recognized for effective use of CIC grant programs—such as the National Venture Fund—to develop creative consortial programs in areas including undergraduate research and branding through public television.

As a member of the CIC Board of Directors since 2011, Wilson has chaired the Investment Committee that oversees the CIC/UPS Educational Endowment. He provided similar stewardship of the endowment under the former Foundation for Independent Higher Education (FIHE) and was a member of the four-person team that facilitated FIHE’s merger with CIC. His leadership throughout and following the merger has helped create a strong, new area of member services within CIC that supports independent higher education’s continuing need for collaboration among institutions, private investment in programs and student scholarships, workforce development initiatives, and advocacy for the liberal arts.

Wilson has received numerous accolades and awards, including, in February, the 2018 Henry Paley Award for Advocacy from the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. In 2016, on the occasion of his 25th anniversary with ICFNJ, he and his wife, Joyce, were recognized with the John B. and Joyce Wilson Silver Anniversary Scholarship.