Cecil has financed, developed, and overseen the development of more than 50,000 bedrooms of on-campus and off-campus housing at 30 different campuses. Since 2000, Place Properties has expanded its development and financing to include capital infrastructure projects for colleges, universities, and public school systems across the country. These projects include K-12 public schools, parking decks, classrooms, athletic venues, nursing, and allied health facilities. All of these projects were financed non-recourse with private capital. Prior to chairing Place Properties, Cecil served for four years as special assistant and executive assistant to the governor of Georgia and for eight years as an associate and then partner in the Atlanta law firm of Alston & Bird. Cecil has served on the boards of directors of many publicly held financial institutions.
Derek has co-chaired the college’s institutional research committee and is a member of Achieving the Dream initiative. He has contributed to and presented at several venues focusing on student success. For the past three years, Derek has presented at The First-Year Experience conference highlighting strategies for men of color. Additionally, he has developed curriculum, taught, and assessed summer bridge programs for underprepared students. Derek is enrolled in the Community College Leadership Doctoral program at Morgan State University. His research interests includes retention for marginalized students, assessment, and institutional research.
As a retired 20 year Air Force Veteran, and former director of a Job Corp Center, Coach Lemelle’s work in student development focuses on outside of the box strategies to foster high self-esteem, motivation, building leadership skills and academic achievement in students whom others have deemed hopeless. Dalton’s L.E.A.R.N. (Leadership, Education, Accountability, Respect, Nurture) concept helps young people to pursue their dreams and goals, and provides opportunities for future academic and personal growth that will further these dreams and goals. Through these strategies, Dalton founded, started and coached the men’s basketball program at Pulaski Technical College. Students in the program have exemplified the necessary academic and non-academic tools to be successful in school, home, and the community.
Helping adult students find the right path continues to be one of the most exciting aspects of her many responsibilities at the University of South Florida. She is currently involved with adult students who are primarily transitioning from one career/degree to another. Just prior to her current position, Jody worked with adult students both within Student Affairs and Academic Affairs at Saint Leo. She created an online student affairs portal, orientation, and transitions course for their entire online adult student population. Through this experience, Jody learned a great deal about how adult learners utilize web-based services and how the web can be used to create a caring and supportive environment for them.
Just prior to accepting his new position at the University of Virginia, Joe Gullo worked with adult students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as the office manager and web developer for the Office for Adult Students. In this role, he developed and maintained an extensive web resource for an adult student population of nearly 3,000.
Helping adult students find the right path continues to be one of the most exciting aspects of her many responsibilities at the University of South Florida. She is currently involved with adult students who are primarily transitioning from one career/degree to another. Just prior to her current position, Jody worked with adult students both within Student Affairs and Academic Affairs at Saint Leo. She created an online student affairs portal, orientation, and transitions course for their entire online adult student population. Through this experience, Jody learned a great deal about how adult learners utilize web-based services and how the web can be used to create a caring and supportive environment for them.
Amy is a student success thought leader who has worked for the past seventeen years to increase college completion of all students. She has also served as director of the Arkansas Complete College America grant and has worked with the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) and the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges (AATYC) on various statewide student success and professional development projects. Amy has given over 100 conference presentations, pre-conference and in-service workshops, and keynotes on student success topics including student engagement, social media, college culture and transition, critical thinking, and academic success. She is also the author of four textbooks: The Community College Experience Brief (3rd edition, Pearson) and The Community College Experience PLUS (3rd edition, Pearson), The First-Generation College Experience (1st edition, Pearson), and The College Experience (1st edition, Pearson) and the co-author of The College Experience Compact (1st edition).
John has been involved in higher education for over 28 years, and has worked as a registrar for 22 years. He has trained administrators on the ins and outs of FERPA at regional and national conferences and on campuses across the country. Before his work as a registrar, John worked in student financial aid and career planning.
Fritz has more than 20 years of experience as a professional writer, editor and creative strategist. At Stamats, Fritz has created marketing communications, digital strategy, and branding programs for institutions across the country. He has an extensive background in creative strategy and social media and is a frequent presenter on this topic.
