Mr. Norm Bedford was appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 2008 to serve a term that expires in September 2012. Mr. Bedford currently serves as the Director of Financial Aid at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He has worked in the financial aid profession since 1989. Prior to joining UNLV, he worked for Bowling Green State University, Eastern Illinois University, and The Ohio State University. While living in the Midwest, Mr. Bedford remained active within the Ohio and Illinois Associations of Student Financial Aid Administrators. He has provided numerous training sessions at conferences on a variety of financial aid topics and has been a member, chair, or co-chair of many committees. He was also a two-time National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) trainer regarding the federal work study community service program, consortium agreements, and professional judgment. Mr. Bedford holds a BS in family resource management from The Ohio State University. He also holds an MEd in guidance and counseling from Eastern Illinois University for which he wrote a quantitative thesis entitled, "An exploration of the financial aid application errors committed by students diagnosed as learning disabled."
Dr. Helen Benjamin was appointed by the Speaker of the House in 2008 to serve a term that expires in September 2011. Dr. Benjamin has worked in the Contra Costa Community College District since 1990. She began her career at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg as Dean of Language Arts and Humanistic Studies and Related Occupations. Since her early days in the District, Dr. Benjamin has held the following positions, beginning with the most recent: President of Contra Costa College in San Pablo; Interim President of Contra Costa and Los Medanos Colleges; Vice Chancellor, Educational Programs and Services and Associate Chancellor at District headquarters in Martinez. She has never lost sight of her roots as a teacher, having taught high school English in the Dallas Independent School District. The passion Dr. Benjamin feels for the Contra Costa Community College District is evident as she maintains an active role in a wide variety of professional organizations and community activities throughout Contra Costa County. Her leadership also extends to community college issues at the state and federal levels. Always putting students at the forefront, Dr. Benjamin enjoys the challenges of developing programs and policies that will continue the over 50-year tradition of education excellence in the Contra Costa Community College District. Dr. Benjamin has a BS degree in English and Spanish from Bishop College in Texas where she graduated magna cum laude. She earned master's and doctoral degrees from Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas.
Mr. Clare Cotton was appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 2002, and reappointed in July 2004 and October of 2007 to serve a term that now expires in September 2010. In 2005, he retired as President of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts (AICUM), a position he had held since 1987. In addition, Mr. Cotton has served as Chair of the National Association of Independent College and University State Executives and as a Director of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. In 1997, he was a U.S. Senate appointee to the eleven-member National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education. From 1977 to 1987, Mr. Cotton served as president of the Boston-Fenway Program, Inc. and, in that decade, working with the City of Boston and Boston Police Department, laid the foundation for the development of Community Policing in Boston. Earlier, he served as Vice President for Government and University Relations at Boston University, as Director of European Securities Publications, Inc. in London, and as a special writer for The Wall Street Journal. He received his undergraduate degree from Randolph-Macon College and his master's degree from the University of North Carolina where he was a graduate instructor in the Department of Philosophy. Mr. Cotton has received honorary doctorate degrees and distinguished service awards from Randolph-Macon College, Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Mount Ida College, and Becker College, among others.
Mr. Rene A. Drouin was appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 2003 and reappointed in July 2006 to serve a term that expires in September 2009. Mr. Drouin is President and Chief Executive Officer of The New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation Network (NHHEAF), which consists of three not-for-profit New Hampshire-based organizations: New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation, New Hampshire Higher Education Loan Corporation, and Granite State Management and Resources. Mr. Drouin began his career at The NHHEAF Network in 1978 as Manager of the Claims and Recoveries Division of New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation. He was promoted to Vice President in 1986 and President and CEO in 1997. In addition, he was elected President and CEO of Granite State Management and Resources in 1997 and President and CEO of New Hampshire Higher Education Loan Corporation in 1999. Mr. Drouin served as Chairman of the Board of the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs from 1999-2000. He also served as Chairman of the Council's Program Operations Committee from 1988 to 1990. Mr. Drouin attended New Hampshire Technical Institute and Franklin Pierce College in Concord, New Hampshire. He holds a BA and an MBA from Kensington University and also received a juris doctor degree from LaSalle University.
Mr. Scott A. Giles, Chair of the Advisory Committee, was appointed by the Secretary of Education in September 2007 to serve a term that expires in September 2010. He is the Vice President for Policy, Research, and Planning and Assistant Secretary to the Board of Directors at the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC). Mr. Giles serves as the chief strategist and policy and public affairs officer for the $1.8 billion state-chartered non-profit created to ensure that all Vermonters have the information and financial resources they need to pursue their educational goals. Prior to joining VSAC, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Committee on Science and as a Professional Staff Member to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. In addition, he has served as an associate with Cassidy and Associates, Inc. and from 1982 to 1986 as a Special Assistant, Deputy Campaign Manager, and Legislative Assistant, respectively, to Congressman Frank Horton. He is an active member of several professional associations, including the Society of Christian Ethics, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among others, and has served on the board of several community-based organizations. Mr. Giles has received numerous honors, such as the Presidential Scholar-St. Lawrence University, the Raven Society of the University of Virginia, and John C. Stennis Congressional Staff Fellow. He has presented and/or authored publications related to college access and accountability in higher education. Mr. Giles received a BA in religious studies from St. Lawrence University and an MA from the University of Virginia.
Mr. Anthony J. Guida, Jr. was appointed by the Speaker of the House in 2008 to serve a term that expires in September 2011. Mr. Guida currently serves as Senior Vice President of Strategic Development and Regulatory Affairs at Education Management LLC (EDMC). Mr. Guida directs accreditation and regulatory support for EDMC's 88 school locations for all six regional higher education accreditation agencies, two national higher education accrediting agencies, multiple specialized accrediting agencies, and more than two dozen states and Canadian provinces. EDMC educational institutions include The Art Institutes, Argosy University, Brown Mackie Colleges, and South University. Recently, Mr. Guida was re-elected to the Board of the Career Colleges Association where he co-chairs its Federal Affairs Committee. He earned a JD from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, holds a BS in accounting from the University of Dayton, and has passed the CPA licensure examination.
Mr. Allison G. Jones, Vice Chair of the Advisory Committee, was appointed by the Secretary of Education in June 2007 and reappointed in July 2008 to serve a term that expires in September 2011. He is the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, Student Academic Support in the Office of the Chancellor at California State University (CSU). Mr. Jones coordinates support to 23 campuses at CSU in the areas of K-12 academic outreach, admission, enrollment management, financial aid, educational opportunity programs, student services, student health, transfer services, disabled student services, and remediation. Prior to joining CSU, he served as Director of Financial Aid and Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at the University of Redlands. By California legislative appointment, Mr. Jones serves on the Scholarshare Investment Board, which helps California families save for college. In 2005, Mr. Jones was elected as a Trustee of The College Board and in 2006, he was appointed by Superintendent Jack O'Connell to the P-16 Council, which is charged with examining ways to improve student achievement at all levels and link preschool, elementary, middle, high school, and higher education to create a comprehensive, integrated system of student learning. He joined the California ACT Advisory Council in 2007 and has served as the Chair of the governing boards of ASSIST and CAN, two intersegmental organizations designed to encourage and support transfer from California's community colleges to four-year public universities. Mr. Jones received his bachelor and master's degrees from the University of Redlands.
Mr. Darryl A. Marshall was appointed by the Secretary of Education in November 2003 and reappointed in September 2006 to a term that expires in September 2009. Mr. Marshall serves as Director of Student Financial Aid at Florida State University (FSU). From 1985 to 1998, Mr. Marshall held several positions at FSU, such as Financial Aid Specialist, Loans Assistant Director, and Associate Director of Financial Aid. Prior to joining FSU, he served as a Public Assistance Specialist at the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in Quincy, Florida. Mr. Marshall was recently appointed to a Blue Ribbon Commission on Access and Diversity by the Governor of Florida, which will evaluate issues of minority student enrollment. He is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Florida Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, and the School Advisory Board Student Loan Xpress in San Diego, among others. Mr. Marshall holds a BS in political science from Florida A&M University and an MS in higher education from FSU.
Mr. Juan O'Connell, the Committee's student member, was appointed by the Secretary of Education in February 2007 to serve a term that expires in September 2009. He recently graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and holds a BS in electrical engineering. Mr. O'Connell served as the first Scholar Chapter President for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) at Georgia Institute of Technology. He also served as the Director of Community Outreach for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), taught adult reading and writing in the public schools system in Guatemala City, and worked at the Georgia Tech Library. In addition, Mr. O'Connell has been a tutor in mathematics, specifically, pre-calculus, at the Berkshire Community College Tutoring Center and taught reading and writing to more than 30 illiterate adults at the El Canchon Public School in Guatemala. He has numerous achievements such as the John C. Schafer Memorial Scholarship, Robert O. Arnold Scholarship, NACME Scholarship, Phi Theta Kappa Induction, and is a former member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. Mr. O'Connell has completed studies at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and a 10-week summer program at Shanghai Jiatong University. Juan O'Connell currently works as a systems engineer for ABB Inc. in the power generation systems division in Duluth, Georgia. He works with distributed controls systems offering automation solutions for power plants.
Mr. Joseph A. Russo was appointed by the Secretary of Education in October 2007 to serve a term that expires in September 2010. He currently serves as the Director, Student Financial Strategies at the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame) and was appointed Director of Financial Aid at Notre Dame in 1978 after serving in similar capacities at Le Moyne College and Genesee Community College in upstate New York. Mr. Russo, now in his 43rd year as a financial aid administrator, has served as a consultant to a number of organizations, including The College Board and the U.S. Department of Education, and was the Editor of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' Journal of Student Financial Aid from 1986 until 2007. He has coauthored two books on student aid for Random House and another book, entitled Student Financial Aid: Lessons for the UK from the US, was published in 2007 by The Centre for Higher Education Studies at Oxford. He was a charter member of the NCAA Committee on Financial Aid and Amateurism and serves on the Board of Directors for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, The Independent 529 Plan, and Scholarship America. In addition, he has testified before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on major public policy issues related to student aid. In 2004, The College Board inducted him into the College Scholarship Service's Hall of Fame, and, in the summer of 2006, he served as a fellow at New College of Oxford University and as a consultant for higher education pricing and student aid policies for the United Kingdom. He is a graduate of Le Moyne and Syracuse Universities and was named an honorary alumnus of Notre Dame in 1992.
Mr. Robert M. Shireman was appointed by the Speaker of the House in January 2004 and reappointed in September 2006 to serve a term that expires in September 2009. Mr. Shireman is the President of The Institute for College Access & Success (http://www.ticas.org), a non-profit policy research organization he founded in 2004. He served as an Education Policy Advisor at the White House National Economic Council during the Clinton Administration. Prior to that, he was Education Advisor and Legislative Director for U.S. Senator Paul Simon of Illinois. His work at the federal level has included lead roles in student loan reforms, the creation of the GEAR UP and School-to-Work programs, the implementation of the federal higher education tax credits, and other initiatives. Prior to founding the Institute, Mr. Shireman led a campus diversity initiative at the James Irvine Foundation, and focused on high school reform and college access as a fellow at the Aspen Institute. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and master's degrees from Harvard (in education) and the University of San Francisco (in public administration).
Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance
This page last modified— Jan 12, 2009 (jj).