Julie Adams

Strong Start to Finish

Julie Adams is the Site Strategist for Strong Start to Finish (SStF). SStF is a national network of postsecondary systems and developmental education technical assistance providers who support states, systems, and institutions in scaling developmental education reforms. In her role at SStF, Julie provides support to higher education systems and institutions implementing developmental education reforms and identifies opportunities for shared learning across the Strong Start to Finish network. Julie comes with experience in education policy and implementation science research and has focused much of her work on equitable systems change at the intersection of K-12 and higher education. She has an MS in Education Policy from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and a BA in Psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Dr. Toya Barnes-Teamer

Teamer Strategy Group

As CEO of Teamer Strategy Group, LLC., Dr. Toya Barnes-Teamer brings more than 30 years of experience in administrative management; strategic enrollment management; workforce development; faculty and staff training; leadership searches; board development and training; research, assessment, and evaluation; and diversity, equity and inclusion. Before her role as CEO, Barnes-Teamer served as a principal at HCM Strategists, LLC.  where she provided expertise in state and system-level higher education research, policy, and cross-sector collaboration in Colorado, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia. She presently serves as a consultant for the Louisiana Board of Regents.

Barnes-Teamer served as a consultant for Ruffalo Noel (formerly Noel Levitz) as well as Vice President for student success at Dillard University (LA). Before her role at Dillard, Toya served as Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS); Vice Chancellor/Provost for Louisiana Technical College, District One; Associate Director of Admissions for recruitment and enrollment management at the University of New Orleans (LA) and as Associate Director of Admissions at Loyola University (LA).

Toya holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Loyola University New Orleans and received her Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of New Orleans.

Lindsey Fifield

National Institute of Student Success

A leader in student-centric communications, Lindsey Fifield has helped to maximize the use of chat-based technology on campus, which has scaled to over 35,000 undergrads. She also develops research initiatives in the realm of academic course nudging.  Lindsey is the Project Director for the Chatbot focused on retention and persistence communications. The Chatbot supports the larger unit of Student Success through text nudging campaigns and AI-enhanced support services for a variety of offices including Student Financial Services, Academic Advisement, Student Health and Wellness, Registration, Career Services, International Initiatives, and Student Success programs, along with other university initiatives at Georgia State University.  Lindsey began her career at GSU in academic advising, working with a team to strategically implement and develop predictive analytics into the advising culture.  She received her bachelor’s degree from Georgia Institute of Technology and her master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from Abilene Christian University.

Dr. Stephanie R. Gardner

SOVA

With more than 20 years of advocacy work across multiple sectors, Stephanie Gardner is a champion for organizational change. Her transformational work has influenced educational programs and policies at multiple levels including K–12, postsecondary education, workforce development, state and federal agencies, and community-based organizations. Stephanie’s diverse experiences have enhanced her approach to complex problem-solving in dynamic environments—with a focus on coalition building and stakeholder engagement to create solutions through data and research. She approaches her work through an equity and justice lens to connect and collaborate with communities that are most impacted by policies and practices.

Her current work focuses on improving the quality and accelerating the pace of complex problem-solving in higher education and workforce development. As a Partner at Sova, she manages a suite of national projects. Anchored in her purpose to create equitable systems, Stephanie drives transformation at all levels of operation including ideation, strategy, case-making, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring. She has comprehensive experience in the areas of strategy development, network and project management, higher education administration, policy advisement, assessment and evaluation, student retention and success, and STEM program administration.

Her academic journey started at Seattle Central College, where she was a transfer student. She now holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy and a bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Washington (Seattle). She also holds certificates from Harvard University’s College of Education, Management Development Program and a certificate from the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace.

Dr. Felipe Henao

New York Institute of Technology

For more than 14 years, Felipe Henao has been a student-centered student affairs professional with a demonstrated history of building relationships and collaborating in the higher education field. He has experience in various functional areas including student activities, orientation programs, residential life education, leadership development, counseling, health services, and accessibility support services. Because it is instrumental in bridging the gap between commuter and residential students at Mercy College, he also instilled a holistic approach to student success. He secured various grants including an AmeriCorps Vista grant to help implement campus-wide food pantries to address food insecurity. He also co-chaired the Committee on Student Success, which drives policies and programs for LatinX students, adult learners, and second-year students.  Additionally, he chaired the Mav Friendly Market serving over 800 Mercy community members monthly. He served on the Region II Advisory Board for the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals (NASPA). Currently, he is an advisory board chair for the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) Food Security Initiatives Network, a collection of institutions across New York State working together to share strategies, best practices, and resources related to HEI responses to food insecurity. He was recently accepted as a content expert for Complete College America with a focus on addressing student basic needs and is now working on a project to address student success primarily for adult learners at Historically Black Colleges. He also was recently honored with the Long Island Business News (LIBN) Class of 2021 40 under 40 award.

Felipe is a visionary learner/educator passionate about student development, student success for students of color, and college persistence. He holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and an M.A. in Corporate & Organizational Communications from Fairleigh Dickinson University, an M.A. in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership & Innovation from New York University.

Dr. Chris S. Hulleman

Motivate Lab, University of Virginia

Chris S. Hulleman is a professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia. He is also the founder and director of Motivate Lab, which collaborates with educational practitioners to help ameliorate inequality. His team develops and tests changes in educational practice that supports the motivation of students from historically marginalized backgrounds in education. He received his BA from Central College (Iowa) in 1993 and his PhD in social and personality psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2007. Before his career in psychology, he spent six years as a teacher, coach, and social worker. Chris is a second-generation educator whose grandparents were tenant farmers in Iowa and Nebraska. He tries to emulate their hard work and persistence in the pursuit of social justice. One of his favorite childhood memories is eating his paternal grandmother’s homemade fruit pies with plenty of ice cream.

Dr. Desmond Lewis

Houston Community College

Dr. Desmond Lewis is the Associate Vice Chancellor of College Readiness at Houston Community College.  With over 25 years of higher education experience, Dr. Lewis has extensive knowledge in the areas of developmental education, accelerated learning program design (corequisites), English, History, ESOL, Music Business, Dual Credit, and Adult Education and Literacy.

Dr. Lewis is committed to student success and equity. As such, he is an American Council on Education Fellow (ACE) and a Fellow of the New Leaders Academy (NLA) at the University of Michigan in conjunction with the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education. In addition, he serves as Houston Community College’s Quality Enhance Plan’s Co-Chair.

Dr. Lewis aspires to impact higher education reform and developmental education reform by advancing research on co-requisite design and other accelerated learning approaches for marginalized populations. He has authored or contributed to several developmental education and composition publications with Cengage Publishing. He is dedicated to service and working tirelessly to help all people achieve their goals and positively impact the community.

Dr. Lewis holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Texas Southern University, a Master of Arts in History from Texas Southern University, and a Doctorate in Community College Leadership from Ferris State University.

Dr. Tammi Marshall

Cuyamaca College

Tammi Marshall is the Interim Dean of Math, Science & Engineering at Cuyamaca College. Prior to her role as Dean, Tammi was a Mathematics instructor for 26 years at Cuyamaca College, eleven of those as department chair. In 2010, Tammi and her math colleagues worked with the California Acceleration Project (CAP) to redesign Cuyamaca’s developmental math sequence, culminating in the launch of Cuyamaca’s Math Pathway program in 2016. The program has increased access to transfer-level math for first-time students and subsequently increased completion of transferable math nearly sevenfold among students who would previously have been designated “underprepared.” Tammi is a math coach for CAP, is a facilitator for the Dana Center’s Math Pathways, has worked with Complete College America, and served as a consultant to many organizations, colleges, and university audiences across the nation. Tammi’s passion for all students realizing their dreams is taking shape. The Math Department at Cuyamaca College has worked hard to be a leader throughout California and the nation. Tammi holds a master’s degree in Math Education and a doctorate in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University.

Dr. Akilah Martin

Complete College America

Akilah A. Martin, Ed.D., joined CCA as a strategy director. She began her higher education career pathway as a TRiO advisor with Lone Star College, and she continued in higher education, holding positions in admissions, student activities, and advising. Akilah served as the Alvin Community College’s director of dual enrollment and then the director of college and career pathways, championing pathways reform for the institution. In 2020, Akilah became the first Black dean of students in Alvin Community College’s 70-year history. Before coming to CCA, she served as dean of student transition and academic engagement at Texas Southern University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Southwest Texas State University, a master’s degree in Counselor Education from Texas Southern University, and a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership – Higher Education from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.

Dr. Lilly Massa-McKinley

Kentucky Student Success Collaborative

Lilly Massa-McKinley has worked in higher education for 20 years at public, private, two-year, and four-year institutions in an array of areas. She is also trained in collective impact and collaborative action processes to solve complex problems, which has driven most of her work both in the nonprofit and higher education ecosystems. Lilly worked with a collective impact education initiative in Louisville, KY called 55,000 Degrees supporting systems coordination for improved student access and completion. During her time as Assistant Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at Bellarmine University, she led both the Career Development Center and the Center for Community Engagement, where she took a collaborative action approach to infusing self-discovery, career readiness, experiential learning, mentoring, and networking throughout the student experience. In her current role with the Kentucky Student Success Collaborative, Lilly drives statewide collaboration on strategic priorities, which currently include transfer success, gateway course success, and student basic needs. Last year, Lilly led the development of Kentucky’s student basic needs strategy focused on increasing access to basic needs support for students and increasing access to postsecondary education for individuals receiving public benefits. Lilly received her bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University, a master’s degree in student affairs administration from Indiana University, and a doctorate in Higher Education Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt University.

Matthew Mercado

Lorain County Community College

Matthew Mercado is the Manager of Student Success Programs for Lorain County Community College in Sheffield Lake, Ohio, and has worked in higher education for the last 14 years. Over that time, he has focused on advocating for and supporting low-income and under-resourced students’ needs as a practiced advisor and seasoned program developer. He currently serves as the Manager of Student Success Programs, providing leadership to programs that support minority students, non-traditional students, and STEM majors, as well as first-generation and low-income students. Prior to this, he served as the SAIL Program Coordinator and worked as a grant project director, an academic and career advisor and a VA certifying official.

Dr. Jessica Rabb

Nashville State Community College

Dr. Jessica Rabb is a tenured biology professor in her fifteenth year at Nashville State Community College in Tennessee. She jumped into teaching the College’s First Year Experience course in 2016 to support Nashville State’s First Year Experience focused QEP. The College System of Tennessee played matchmaker between Nashville State and the University of Virginia’s Motivate Lab beginning in 2018 and this led to an impactful collaboration with mindset interventions in the FYE course and student-led focus groups. The work with Motivate Lab has helped motivate Jessica as she connects students and colleagues to growth, purpose and belonging. She hopes to spread the impact of mindset principles at the Meauxmentum Summit.

Karl Smith

Tacoma Community College

Karl Smith’s journey as a first-generation college graduate has been marked by resilience and determination. His personal experiences growing up in a low-income household, raised by a single mother, have given him a deep understanding of the challenges faced by students who come from similar backgrounds. Karl’s personal experiences fuel his commitment to making higher education accessible to all. His extensive career has seen him work at a large public Research 1 institution, a midsize urban-serving institution, and a two-year community college.

Karl currently serves as the Vice President of Student Affairs at Tacoma Community College, leading all traditional student affairs functions related to enrollment and retention. In his current role, Karl is actively leading the development and execution of the College’s strategic enrollment management plan. In his previous role as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Services/Director of Admissions at the University of Washington Tacoma, Karl led all enrollment departments and played a key role in implementing a strategic enrollment management plan aligned with the university’s strategic goals as an urban-serving institution.

Randal Tillery

WestEd

Randal Tillery is Director of Postsecondary Pathways and Career Mobility with Innovations Studies and works in WestEd’s Alameda office.  For more than 23 years, Randy has worked to build and implement workforce development, community development, and educational strategies to increase economic mobility for vulnerable low-income communities and individuals. His former professional roles include Senior Dean of Workforce and Economic Development for the Contra Costa Community College District, Director of Neighborhood Economic Development for the East Bay Local Development Corporation, Workforce Development Director for the Spanish Speaking Unity Council, and 10 years as a workforce and educational consultant. Randy specializes in large-scale collaborative strategies between educators, workforce professionals, and human service agencies that leverage capacity across systems to increase economic access and success for high-poverty communities and populations. Randy completed his bachelor’s in liberal arts at the Evergreen State College, his master’s in cultural and visual anthropology at Temple University, and is ABD in social anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. LaDonna Young

Motivate Lab, University of Virginia

LaDonna Young is the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships and Equity Initiatives at Motivate Lab and a champion for educational equity and racial justice. With over twenty years of urban K-12 and higher education practitioner and administrative experience, LaDonna supports Motivate Lab by providing leadership and strategic vision for new partner relationships and equity-centered initiatives. Before joining Motivate Lab, LaDonna served as the founding Dean of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Mathematics at Southwest Tennessee Community College (Memphis, TN), which led to the creation of The Office of High Impact Practices and Innovation (HIPI) and the Gatekeeper Faculty Fellowship, which is a multi-year, faculty-driven initiative targeted at closing the equity gaps in the College’s Top 12 Gatekeeper (Gateway) courses. As an Achieving the Dream Equity Coach, LaDonna enjoys coaching and challenging practitioners to interrogate and mitigate policies, practices, pedagogy, and systems that perpetuate (in)equity and opportunity gaps for historically marginalized, particularly Black and Brown students. LaDonna believes education is at its best when all of humanity is centered on educational practice. We all do better when we all do better. LaDonna is an Alabama (Roll Tide!) native and enjoys all things hip-hop and cookies-n-crème related. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Christian Brothers University and her Master of Arts in Teaching and Ed.D. in Higher and Adult Education at the University of Memphis.