2025 Strategic Topics
- Post-election analysis: What should we be paying attention to?
- Workforce well-being and improving organizational performance
- Climate change and its impact on facilities and campus operations
- The First 90 days
- The impact of the Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) rule on student experience
- What to ask before the P3 RFP? How did we get here?
Speakers
Captivating speakers and a slate of can’t-miss sessions are waiting for you.
Olan Garrett
Senior Associate Vice President
Temple University
2025 ACUHO-I President-Elect
Olan Garrett serves as Senior Associate Vice President at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In his role, he leads the strategic development and management of a comprehensive housing and residential life program for approximately 5,000 undergraduate and graduate residents. He also oversees campus Recreation, the University’s Student Center Operations and conferences, communications and marketing efforts, and all Division of Student Affairs facilities. Before Temple, Garrett served professionally at Penn State University, the University of Maryland, and Ball State University.
Garrett has served ACUHO-I in various roles, including as Finance and Corporate Records Officer. He has served as an NHTI faculty member, a member of the Core Leadership Team for the ACUHO-I Program Committee, and a member of the Regional Affiliation Task Force. At the regional level, he has been involved in both the GLACUHO and MACUHO regions in a variety of appointed and elected roles, including service as a MACUHO Past President and a multiple-time faculty member for the MACUHO/NEACUHO Regional Entry Level Institute. Garrett is a member of the NHTI class of 2004 and a 2013 ACUHO-I Professional Standards Institute graduate.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Conflict Studies from DePauw University (Indiana), a Master of Arts in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University (Ohio). He is currently pursuing his doctorate in higher education administration at Temple.
Bryan L. Shelangoski
Managing Director, Real Estate
Greystar
Although Bryan’s career started in traditional student housing (i.e., university housing and residence life), he has been working in private student housing since 2012. He currently serves as a Managing Director of Operations, overseeing the company’s owned, on-campus partnerships, and fee managed off-campus communities. Additionally, he has successfully opened 10+ new development partnerships, both on- and off-campus, valued in excess of $800 million. Currently, he oversees the following:
o 40,000+ beds / 15,000+ units
o Total asset value of over $4 billion
o Annual operating revenues over $500 million
o Total facilities oversight of 10 million+ gross square feet
Bryan’s experience in Student Affairs and student housing began as a Resident Advisor at Iowa State University. It continued as a Graduate Resident and Research Assistant at St. Thomas University while in graduate school. Those invaluable experiences established a base set of skills and knowledge for his transition into the role of a successful Student Affairs practitioner for multiple institutions.
Bryan holds a bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Performance, a Master’s in Higher Education, and a Master’s of Business Administration. Additionally, Bryan is a Certified Property Manager (CPM) through the Institute of Real Estate Management.
Lisa Hale-Meindl
Senior Director Real Estate Operations
Greystar
Lisa started in the college student housing industry as an RA at Kansas State University. She received her BS and MS degrees from Kansas State and was MACURH Director while at Kansas State. Lisa has been with Greystar and its predecessors EdR and Allen & O’Hara for 20 years and has served in various positions at the site and corporate level. Lisa currently serves as a bridge between Operations and Development working with teams across the country building new college student housing developments on and off campus serving today and tomorrow’s college students.
Kevin R. McClure, PhD
Associate Professor of Higher Education Department of Educational Leadership
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Dr. Kevin R. McClure is the Murphy Distinguished Scholar of Education and Associate Professor of Higher Education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He also serves as co-director of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges. He is an expert on college leadership, management, and workplace culture, especially at broad-access institutions. He is the co-editor of Regional Public Universities: Addressing Misconceptions and Analyzing Contributions and Unlocking Opportunity Through Broadly Accessible Institutions. Dr. McClure’s public scholarship covers a range of topics, and throughout the pandemic he wrote viral articles on morale, burnout, disengagement, staffing, and leadership in higher education. He now writes the workplace column at The Chronicle of Higher Education. His book, The Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace after the Great Resignation, will be released with Johns Hopkins University Press in 2025.
Emmanual A. Guillory
Senior Director of Government Relations
ACE
Emmanual A. Guillory is an advocate, policy expert, and motivational speaker who currently serves as the Senior Director of Government Relations at the American Council on Education (ACE). In this role, he manages an extensive portfolio of legislative and regulatory issues as a primary government relations resource for the broader higher education community to the United States Congress, the White House, the United States Department of Education, and other agencies as warranted. His portfolio includes a primary emphasis on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), especially Title IV programs, and the budget and appropriations process. Other issues within his portfolio include accreditation; college costs; student aid; institutional accountability; institutional aid in Titles III and V of the HEA; oversight; privacy; technology; accessibility; and disability, among others.
Previously, Guillory served as the Director of Student and Institutional Aid Policy at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) leading the private, nonprofit sector of higher education and as Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs at UNCF (the United Negro College Fund, Inc.). Guillory earned his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Texas A&M University, obtained his Master of Arts in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University, and is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Education in Higher Education Management at the University of Pennsylvania.
Chris Plonsky
Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director, Chief of Staff / SWA
The University of Texas at Austin
Chris Plonsky has worked in college athletics since 1976 and is in her 37th year with Intercollegiate Athletics at The University of Texas. She is Chief of Staff/Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director and serves as UT’s senior woman administrator for SEC and NCAA governance. She was Texas women’s athletics director from April 2001-December 2017 and supervised Texas Athletics external affairs for all men’s and women’s sports from 1993-2017. She first served Texas as women’s sports information director from January 1982 through July 1986. Plonsky also worked in sports information at Iowa State University (1979-81) and in communications and administration positions at The BIG EAST Conference office (1986-93). Chris is past president of NACDA, NACMA and Women Leaders in Sports. She served as a USA Basketball board member from 1997-2024 and is an emeritus board member of the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame. In NCAA work, she served on Management Council, Football Playoff Study Group and committees/task forces for Volleyball, Commercialization of College Sports and Communications. She was a USOPC Collegiate Advisory Committee from 2017-23. A 1979 graduate of Kent State University (B.S. Journalism), Plonsky was outstanding journalism graduate and editor of The Daily Kent Stater in 1979. She lettered three years (1975-78) in basketball in the AIAW era of KSU women’s sports and was a student assistant in the KSU sports information office.
Bryan Alexander, PhD
Futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher
Georgetown University
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, and 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, the Chronicle of Higher Education, 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.
Alexander’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).
Alexander is currently a senior scholar at Georgetown University and teaches graduate seminars in their Learning, Design, and Technology program.
Jim Booz
Director, Collegiate Athletics Advisory Services
James Moore
Jim has nearly three decades of executive-level experience in collegiate athletics leadership positions. In his role at James Moore & Co., he serves as a trusted advisor to our higher education clients, offering strategic counsel on the dynamic evolution of the collegiate athletics landscape.
Prior to joining James Moore & Co., Jim held a distinguished tenure at the University of Virginia, spanning almost 13 years, where he culminated his career as deputy athletics director. In this pivotal role, he not only spearheaded the oversight of the athletic department’s NIL program but also played an integral part in various institutional and national initiatives, steering strategic planning, leadership development, and peer review efforts. Before his tenure at UVA, Jim honed his expertise through similar roles at prestigious institutions such as Vanderbilt University and the University of Georgia.
As the paradigm of name, image, and likeness (NIL) increasingly impacts in-house operations, collegiate athletics departments are tasked with swiftly adapting their infrastructure, policies, and personnel assignments. Jim’s astute leadership and unparalleled experience in navigating these multifaceted concerns endow our clients with a significant advantage when confronting similar challenges. His executive-level insights and strategic acumen empower our clients to proactively address the evolving landscape of collegiate athletics while maximizing opportunities for success.
Yanel de Angel
FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, CPHC, PHIUS, NOMA
Principal, Managing Director, Boston
Perkins&Will
Passionate about community resilience, environmental stewardship and building performance, Yanel de Angel has been instrumental in the development of Perkins&Will Residential and Student Life practices. At Perkins&Will, she is the Managing Director of the Boston Studio. A devoted mentor and fierce advocate, Yanel volunteers her time to organizations that advance women and under-represented talent in the design profession. She believes inclusive and authentic engagements during the design process translate into spaces that embody community values leading to student empowerment, wellbeing, and success.
T. J. Logan, EdD
Executive Director
Brailsford & Dunlavey, Inc.
T. J. Logan serves as the Executive Director for Higher Education at Brailsford & Dunlavey, where he leads advisory work including analytical and technical activities, ranging from market analysis and financial modeling to development structure evaluation and construction oversight. Prior to joining B&D, Logan served as the Associate Vice President for the Residential Experience at The Ohio State University, the Associate Vice President for Student Life at Temple University, the Director of Housing Operations at the University of Florida, and the Sr. Associate Director of Housing at Kent State University. Throughout his career, he has overseen comprehensive auxiliary portfolios including dining, off-campus and commuter student engagement, division-wide facilities operations, planning and design, risk and emergency management, housing and residential life, student center operations, and division-wide marketing, conference/events, assessment, finance, and strategic planning efforts.
Logan has presented internationally on topics including technology in higher education, innovation in housing operations, enrollment management, occupancy management, and business operations. He has keynoted the College and University Business Officers (CUBO) annual conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Australasian Association of College and University Housing Officers (AACUHO) annual conference in Melbourne, Australia. He has served on the ACUHO-I Executive Board, as a faculty member for the Senior Housing Officer Institute, and has been published in a variety of trade magazines, books, and journals. In addition to speaking engagements, he has consulted with campuses across the country; helping them to identify and realize operational efficiencies and opportunities for organizational change.
Christopher Hicks
Vice Chairman & President
Provident Resources Group Inc.
As Provident’s President and Vice Chairman of the Board, Mr. Hicks is a member of the executive team that establishes the company’s strategy, culture, and fulfillment of its charitable missions. Mr. Hicks also spearheads Provident’s public-private partnership financings, working with project partners and beneficiaries, financing partners, investors, and rating agencies to ensure successful financial execution and an ongoing commitment to our partners for the life of our engagement. His role includes management of origination, analysis, and execution efforts for transactions and project relationships across a variety of asset classes. Chris works to foster relationships with state and local governments, public and private universities, and healthcare systems, as well as development partners, allowing Provident to utilize its proven financing platform to further not only its non-profit missions, but the missions of each of these partners.
Prior to joining Provident, Mr. Hicks spent 18 years in the Public Finance Department of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., departing in 2019as a Director in their Higher Education and Public Private Partnership Groups. During his time at Citi, Mr. Hicks worked with clients on over $25 Billion in financing.
Mr. Hicks holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Wake Forest University.
Miriam Feldblum, PhD
Executive Director
Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration
Miriam Feldblum is co-founder and Executive Director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, an alliance of over 570 college and university leaders of public and private colleges and universities, working to support immigrant, refugee, and international students, and advance forward-looking policies and practices at the federal, state and campus levels. A national expert on the intersection of immigration and higher education and author of Reconstructing Citizenship: The Politics of Nationality Reform and Immigration in Contemporary France, Miriam has written extensively on immigrant, refugee, and international students, immigration policy, and higher education practices. She previously served as Vice President for Student Affairs, Dean of Students, and professor of politics at Pomona College and as Special Assistant to the president, faculty research associate, and senior director at the California Institute of Technology. She received a BA in political science from Barnard College, and MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees in political science from Yale University. She is a non-resident fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and a member of the Department of Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council.
Robert Lubin
Director, Facilities Planning, Housing & Food Services
University of Washington
Rob Lubin has 34 years of experience working in facilities management and capital development for university housing and dining departments. He currently is the Director for Facilities Planning for Housing & Food Services at the University of Washington (UW). Rob has worked at UW since 1996. He is a member of the Seattle chapter of the Urban Land Institute and has served as the co-chair for the University District Partnership Board. Rob is currently charged with leading a capital development and restoration plan for housing and food services at the University of Washington. He believes that the future of university life is in mixed use projects which bring maximum value to the university and affordable access for students.
Steve Harrison
VP for Auxiliary Enterprises & Chief Sustainability Officer
Coastal Carolina University
As vice president for Auxiliary Enterprises and CCU’s inaugural chief sustainability officer, Steve Harrison leads the largest non-academic division of Coastal Carolina University. Steve counts among his teammates the dedicated professionals in University Housing, Dining Services, Parking and Transportation Services, the bookstore, Mail Services, the campus ID office, the Early Childhood Development Center, and a non-auxiliary unit known Campus Environments. It is his leadership of Campus Environments, which includes the University’s Custodial Services, Grounds, and sustainability operation—known as Sustain Coastal—that brings him to lead Coastal’s sustainability work.
In conjunction with his appointment as chief sustainability officer in 2021, Steve was charged with forming and leading the new President’s Council for Sustainability and Coastal Resilience (PCSCR). Through that body, and with his campus and community partners, Steve led CCU to complete its first, three-scope greenhouse gas inventory; created a $40,000 per year sustainability grant program; received ArbNet Level II arboretum certification for the entire 322-acre campus; and inaugurated a campus sustainability symposium, which will hold its third annual event this April. For this work, he received recognition as top performer by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) by attaining a STARS Gold rating from the Association. He also established a regional leadership council called the Friends of the PCSCR, which includes local and state leaders in philanthropy, advocacy, business, government, and higher education dedicated to the work of sustainability and coastal resilience on the Grand Strand of South Carolina and beyond.
In 2025, Coastal Carolina University will publish its 2030 climate and sustainability action plan, which operationalizes priorities and values now (finally) present in its strategic plan—CCU Reach: Our Tealprint for the Future—and master plan.
Brenden Hill
Assistant Athletic Director of Student-Athlete Development and NIL
San Diego State University
Brenden Hill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development and NIL at San Diego State University, where he leads the Aztecs Going Pro program and provides strategic oversight for SDSU’s NIL initiatives. In this role, he leads the development and delivery of programs designed to support student-athletes’ transition to their professional careers post-graduation. Through Aztecs Going Pro, Brenden manages four 1-unit courses focused on personal growth, career development, and civic engagement. Brenden brings a unique perspective to this seat, focusing on the intersection of life skills and personal branding for all student-athletes.
A key part of his role is fostering partnerships across campus and within the community, including collaborating with SDSU’s career services center, alumni, donors, and corporate partners. These partnerships provide resources such as paid internships, mock interviews, networking events, and leadership development opportunities for student-athletes. These initiatives ensure that San Diego State student-athletes have the resources necessary to thrive beyond athletics and into their future careers.
James T. Harris III, DEd
President
University of San Diego
James T. “Jim” Harris III, DEd, became the University of San Diego’s fourth president on Aug. 3, 2015. During his time as president, USD has been recognized as one of the top schools nationally for being a “best run college” and having the “best quality of life” by the Princeton Review, a top five program nationally for promoting public service by Washington Monthly, and has received additional recognition for its sustainability efforts and work to enhance diversity and inclusion.
With an authentic, down-to-earth leadership style and an engaging personality, Jim creates meaningful connections with students and surrounds himself with student activities. He initiated “President for a Day,” when he switches places with a student, classes, while the student takes on his role as president and weighs in on important university decisions. He regularly hosts President Forums, when he and other members of his leadership team update the campus on the progress of various initiatives. From ice cream socials to casual sit-downs with students, faculty and staff, Jim enjoys spending quality time with members of the campus community. At dawn, he often can be found walking the trails of Tecolote Canyon with students, faculty and staff. He has a reputation at USD for being visible across the campus and accessible to members of the campus community.