​Chad Berry is vice president for alumni, communications, and philanthropy at Berea College, where he previously held the positions of academic vice president and dean of the faculty, director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, and director of the Center for Excellence in Learning through Service. Prior to joining Berea in 2006, he was a faculty member of history at Maryville College. Berry is widely published in the area of Appalachian studies and is the author, editor, or co-editor of four books. He was the recipient of the Central Kentucky Diversity Consortium’s 2015 MOSAIIC (Multicultural Opportunities, Strategies, and Institutional Inclusive Conference) Award and the East Tennessee Historical Society’s 2005 Teaching Excellence Award.

​John D. Kolander, provost of Wisconsin Lutheran College, has served as the college’s chief academic officer since 2004. Previously, he was a teacher and administrator for Lutheran elementary and high schools in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Kolander’s research interests include campus and organization culture, curriculum development, and leadership development. He is a frequent presenter at CIC’s Workshops for Department and Division Chairs and Institute for Chief Academic Officers, and received the CIC Chief Academic Officer Award in 2018. Kolander is a coordinator of CIC’s Workshop for Chief Academic Officers in Their Third or Fourth Year of Service.

​Constance Rogers Lowery is the senior vice president and provost at Catawba College in Salisbury, NC. In her role as the chief academic officer, Lowery provides leadership for academic programming and student success services at Catawba. As a faculty member and an administrator, Lowery has 15 years of experience in academia, serving as department chair, associate provost for faculty development, and, currently, provost. During her tenure as provost, she led the development and implementation of several graduate programs, the conversion of an evening studies program to Catawba Online, and established a new school of health sciences and human performance. She is most proud of the development of 50+ articulation pathways with local community colleges and the establishment of a genomics training and research laboratory in collaboration with a commercial laboratory at the North Carolina Research Campus. Trained in marine biology, her research interests include the effects of environmental stress and change on the growth and development of coral.

​Alexandra (Allie) Mitropoulos is senior counsel at Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP, where she advises and represents colleges, universities, and other nonprofits on policy, compliance, and risk management issues in both state and federal court. In addition to her role at the firm, Mitropoulos is also deputy general counsel at Berklee College of Music. Mitropoulos has significant experience conducting investigations for employers and secondary and post-secondary schools, particularly in the areas of campus safety and security; Title IX; the Clery Act; employment-based immigration; state, federal and international data privacy regulations; the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); student affairs; faculty misconduct; policy violations and harassment based on sex, race, and disability; and complex contracts. In addition, Mitropoulos provides advice on policies and procedures and conducts training.

Kimberly Specht is associate provost for operations, planning, and resource management at Denison University, where she oversees and administers the divisional budget, leads academic capital projects, and oversees data strategy and analysis initiatives. She previously served as interim associate provost for faculty affairs and science initiatives coordinator. Prior to joining the provost’s office, Specht was a faculty member and department chair in chemistry and biochemistry. As chair, she implemented a newly designed curriculum and authored the first departmental self-study in two decades. As a faculty leader and administrator, Specht has designed and implemented new student programs, created and led faculty development workshops, directed multiple successful grant writing efforts, headed academic facilities design efforts, and managed the implementation of new technology platforms. Specht is a past participant of the CIC Senior Leadership Academy.

​Monique Taylor is the provost and chief academic officer at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. Taylor most recently spent 18 years working in international higher education with teaching and administrative positions in Mexico, China, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and the West Bank. In another lifetime, she was a liberal arts professor in Los Angeles and has held teaching and research fellowships at Amherst College, Occidental College, and the UCLA Center for Afro American Studies. She is the author of Harlem Between Heaven and Hell and other publications on gentrification in Harlem, and currently explores the concept of “post-racialism” in the United States by writing about comedy, food, film, and popular culture. She holds a PhD and MA in sociology from Harvard University and a BA in sociology from Yale. Taylor is a past recipient of a Graves Award for Excellence in Teaching from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Donald Loftsgordan Award for Teaching from Occidental College in Los Angeles.

​Tynisha D. Willingham is the vice president of academic affairs and chief academic officer at Mary Baldwin University. In her role as the chief academic officer, Willingham provides strategic leadership for academics at Mary Baldwin University. She is leading the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan impact report process and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges 5-year interim report. She has been instrumental in increasing student success using a data informed approach, which supports the strategic plan and key university goals. Willingham has more than 20 years of experience in academia as a staff member, a faculty member, and an administrator. Her research interests include teacher education, academic service learning in teacher education, and culturally inclusive teacher preparation approaches. She has conducted training seminars and workshops on the preparation of inclusive reading teachers and literacy leadership for state and national professional organizations in teaching and reading education, K-12 teachers and administrators in public and private schools, and nonprofit organizations.