Captivating speakers and a slate of can’t-miss sessions are waiting for you.
John Comerford, Ph.D., President, Otterbein University
John Comerford is a residence hall director who has been promoted too many times. As an undergraduate at Western Illinois University, he majored in co-curricular activities and had a mentor tell him he could get paid to stay in college forever. He quickly accepted and earned a Master’s in Student Personnel Administration from the University of Central Missouri (John being old, it was actually called Central Missouri State at the time). His career peaked as a hall director at Ball State University. Fooled into believing administrative work was fun, John then became director of housing at Missouri Western State College (now University…John also changes schools’ names).
Thinking living off campus for the first time in 12 years was wise, John gave up his meal plan and became VP for Student Affairs at Westminster College in Missouri. The president there then charmed him into becoming VP for Institutional Advancement. Knowing how to raise money led headhunters to call, so he became president of Blackburn College and then Otterbein University. Wishing he was still a hall director, John made the most of a bad situation and decided to try to fix higher education’s focus on elitism and prestige. He led Blackburn and Otterbein to make tuition free for Pell-eligible students, increasing enrollment and diversity.
He’s now also president of the Coalition for the Common Good, an initiative focused on serving adult learners nationally through Antioch University and a network of private universities. But, no one invites him to hall programs anymore, he has not gotten a door dec in 20 years, and his bulletin board skills are getting rusty.
Bryan Alexander, Ph.D.
Bryan Alexander is an award–winning, internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher, working in the field of higher education’s future. Bryan speaks widely and publishes frequently, with articles appearing in venues including The Atlantic Monthly, Inside Higher Ed. He has been interviewed by and featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, National Public Radio (2017, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020), the Chronicle of Higher Education (2016, 2020), the Atlantic Monthly, Reuters, Times Higher Education, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, Pew Research, Campus Technology, The Hustle, Minnesota Public Radio, USA Today, and the Connected Learning Alliance.
Bryan’s book Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020), won an Association of Professional Futurists award. His latest book, Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Age of Climate Crisis, appeared in 2023. He is currently working on Peak Higher Ed: How to Survive the Emerging Academic Crisis, under contract with Johns Hopkins. His other books include Gearing Up For Learning Beyond K-12 and The New Digital Storytelling (second edition).
Bryan is currently a senior scholar at Georgetown University and teaches graduate seminars in their Learning, Design, and Technology program.
Megan W. Gerhardt, Ph.D.
Megan W. Gerhardt, Ph.D. is a professor of management and leadership at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University, where she also serves as Robert D. Johnson Director of Leadership Development. Megan speaks and consults with top organizations around the world on ways to leverage generational diversity in the workplace. In addition to her academic research, she is author of the book Gentelligence: A Revolutionary Approach to Leading an Intergenerational Workforce. Her Gentelligence work has been showcased as Harvard Business Review’s Big Idea in March 2022 and was also chosen as one of Harvard Business Review’s Top 10 Must Reads for 2024. Megan’s work on leveraging generational diversity has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, NBC News, The Washington Post, and CNN, among others. All of Dr. Gerhardt’s work (www.profgerhardt.com) focuses on leveraging unique differences to achieve impact and extraordinary levels of performance.