In Jeff’s current role he is responsible for direct operations in development, alumni programs, and communications and institutional marketing. He serves as the college’s senior development officer and strategist and as chief adviser to the president, the trustees, and other college officials on all matters involving current or potential philanthropic support for the college. Previously, Jeff served as senior director of development and campaign director for The Ohio State University Foundation, where he directed the university’s $2.5 billion multi-year comprehensive fundraising campaign and provided leadership in campaign planning, management, and volunteer engagement. He worked with academic executives and volunteer leaders to develop the strategic plan for the campaign, the largest comprehensive campaign in the university’s history.
Kelly D. Farmer has served as the University of Minnesota’s tax director since 2001. From 1995 to 2001, Kelly was at Arizona State University achieving the title of senior tax manager. He started his career with the former “big eight” firm of Arthur Young & Co and later became a partner in a local CPA firm in Phoenix, AZ. Kelly is a certified public accountant and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Kelly specializes in higher education and exempt organization tax issues and is an instructor at numerous national seminars each year. He has also represented the higher education sector in hearings with the Internal Revenue Service regarding tax regulatory matters. Kelly served on the NACUBO Tax Council for eleven years through 2007 and as chair of the Tax Council for 2004 – 2005.
Stephen Weyl serves as the head of Hinckley Allen’s Public Finance Group. Steve also has a national practice in tax-exempt financing transactions, serving as counsel to borrowers, investment bankers, credit facility providers, bond funds, and corporate trustees. He assists his clients in all aspects of public finance, including federal and state tax issues, securities matters, and derivative transactions. His borrower clients include colleges and universities, private schools, hospitals, health systems, nursing care and senior living facilities, student loan programs, social service agencies, and cultural institutions. Steve is a frequent lecturer and author on public finance topics. He is deeply involved with the National Association of Bond Lawyers, serving as a steering committee member, panel chair and panelist at the group’s annual Bond Attorneys Workshop and its Fundamentals of Municipal Bond Law seminar, speaking on tax, securities law and interest rate swap issues. He has written numerous articles on public finance matters, including the NACUA treatise Tax-Exempt Bonds: Considerations for College and University In-House Counsel.
Donna is responsible for an $18 million operation serving 3800+ residential students as well as the ID card and camera operation for the university and affiliated campuses. Prior to her role as dean, she served as the director of residence life at Wake Forest. Before coming to Wake Forest, she worked at Catawba College as the director of residence life and housing. Donna is very involved in statewide and regional associations, having just recently finished serving as co-chair for the Regional Entry-Level Institute within SEAHO and has served as faculty for both RELI and the National Housing Training Institute. She is currently serving on the Host Committee for SEAHO 2014. Other AI contributions: Podcast: The Next Generation in Student Residential Facilities
James has ten years of financial administration experience in higher education at Wake Forest University. During this time he has served as a budget analyst, a senior financial management analyst, and now leads the Office of Budget and Financial Planning. This office oversees the development and reporting of the university’s ~$350 million annual operating budget. Prior to joining the team at Wake Forest, James served as the accounting manager for Landmark Aviation (formerly Piedmont Hawthorne Aviation) where he oversaw the accounting of over thirty FBO locations. He also served as a senior accountant for Chatham Inc., a furniture fabric manufacturer. At Chatham James managed the general accounting, cost accounting, and industrial engineering offices.
Dedee has over twenty years of experience in nonprofit management, primarily in the areas of education, sustainability, and the environment. Her past appointments include director of the University of Florida’s Office of Sustainability, where she was awarded the President’s Medallion, executive director of the non-profit organization Sustainable Alachua County, and US program director for Fauna and Flora International. DeLongpré Johnston served on the founding board of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and now serves on the association’s advisory and editorial boards. She also currently serves on the boards of the Winston-Salem Sustainability Resource Center and the Women’s Fund of Winston-Salem.
In preparation for his career at Wake Forest University, Mike worked twenty-two years in plant engineering for a leading technology firm. While there, he worked in all phases of planning, budgeting, construction, systems, and operations in increasingly complex projects, including several new buildings and even setting up new organization structures. Mike began his career at Wake in 2003 and currently serves as the director of Maintenance and Utilities Services, leading a staff of more than forty-five technicians, utility operators, managers, and engineers to provide all of the maintenance, renewal, and utilities services for the campus. He manages an operating budget of over $10 million dollars, leads the capital renewal efforts for existing buildings, and provides engineering & operations expertise from initiation through start-up for all major construction and renewal projects.
Eric, principal and director of the student life studio at Ayers Saint Gross, is a national leader in the design of facilities for higher educational institutions, both domestically and abroad. With 27 years of experience, Eric is dedicated to the design and management of residential, dining, fitnesss, and student union facilities on campuses. His projects stretch from graduate housing at Education City, Doha, Qatar to West Texas A&M to Minnesota State University to University of Miami and the Universities of North Carolina and Virginia. Among Eric’s most notable projects are six new freshman residence halls and an admissions building at Emory University that have earned LEED Gold and Silver certifications. In addition to design, he undertakes strategic planning and programming for most of the student life facilities completed by the firm. Eric Moss frequently serves as a subject matter expert, having made more than 20 presentations for the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International (ACUHO-I), the preeminent professional association that supports and promotes the collegiate residential experience. Most recently, Eric authored an ACUHO-I on-line course for residence life professionals.
Bynum, a campus planner that specializes in student life planning for Ayers Saint Gross, has 15 years of experience. Her student life planning projects include Washington & Lee University, Wake Forest University, and Kansas State University, among others. Bynum is a member of the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) Mid-Atlantic Regional Council and a recent appointee to the Durham Planning Commission. She recently spoke at the SCUP Mid-Atlantic regional conference about a distributed facilities model to meet athletics/recreation needs at Carnegie Mellon University. Other AI contributions: Podcast: The Next Generation in Student Residential Facilities
Jason Taylor has nearly fifteen years combined experience in consulting, project management and marketing communications – all focused on campus housing. One of North America’s leading experts on student housing public-private partnerships, Mr. Taylor is the executive in charge of Scion’s advisory services practice. Mr. Taylor has worked with more than 100 educational institutions, not-for-profit foundations and private developers on issues related to demand and feasibility, program development, financial modeling and other aspects of planning and operations. Mr. Taylor has participated in numerous presentations, symposia and panel discussions at regional and national conferences of organizations for student housing and higher education professionals in the United States and Canada. A noted expert on student housing financing, Mr. Taylor has authored an opinion article on changes in the rating agency view of affiliated student housing projects, co-authored a white paper on non-traditional student housing partnerships, served on the faculty of the Financing Campus Facilities Through Public Private Partnerships and Public Private Partnership Alliance conferences, and is a frequent program presenter at professional association conferences including the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International (ACUHO-I) and National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). Earlier, as a public affairs and […]
