Colorado Technical University Board of Trustees
Left to right: David Leasure, Stanley Mengel, Mark Handler, Vicky Gordon, Jeremy Wheaton,
Michael Zawalski, Michael Graham, Diane Auer Jones, Ron Frieson, David Kaufman
Diane Auer Jones, VP External and Regulatory Affairs, Career Education Corp.
Ron Frieson, Chief Public Policy Officer, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Vicky Gordon, Ph.D., CEO, The Gordon Group
Michael J. Graham, CFO, EVP, Career Education Corp.
Mark Handler, EVP, Managing Director, The Walt Disney Company (Retired)
David J. Kaufman, Partner, Duane Morris, LLP
David Leasure, Ph.D., Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer, Colorado Technical University
Stanley P. Mengel, President, Missouri Council on Economic Education (Retired)
Jeremy J. Wheaton, CEO, Colorado Technical University
Michael Zawalski, Group President, Marlin Equity Partners
Diane Auer Jones
Diane Auer Jones is the Vice President of External and Regulatory Affairs for Career Education Corporation (CEC). Ms. Auer Jones served as assistant secretary for post-secondary education in the U.S. Department of Education from 2007 to 2008 during the administration of President George W. Bush. She joined CEC from Washington Campus, a non-profit organization that educates business leaders about the federal policy-making process. Originally trained as a molecular biologist, Auer Jones began her career as a laboratory director and community college biology professor. She has worked for the National Science Foundation and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and also served as Princeton University’s director of government affairs.
Ms. Auer Jones' diverse post-secondary education has supported her similarly diverse work history, which includes careers in academia, public policy, and health and wellness. She now uses her wide-ranging experience to help open dialog with education and governmental leaders on how career-focused private sector education is critical to our success as a nation.
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Ron Frieson
Ron Frieson is the Chief Public Policy Officer at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. In this role, he focuses on expanding and developing new opportunities within our broad vision of leading legislative, marketing, public relations and community outreach functions. He also leads the Children’s child wellness initiatives within the community.
Well known throughout Georgia for his leadership, he served in several key positions for AT&T, including President of Georgia Operations and the organization’s first Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer. Frieson also served in an interim role as President of the Atlanta Urban League.
Frieson is active within the community, serving as a board member for several organizations, including American InterContinental University, Colorado Technical University, SunTrust Bank-Atlanta and 100 Black Men of DeKalb County Inc. Frieson is also the National Trustee Chair of the American Kidney Fund.
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Vicky Gordon, Ph.D.
Dr. Vicky Gordon, Founder and CEO of the Gordon Group, is a national authority on leadership and organizational development. She has over 20 years of experience coaching senior executives on how to lead their organizations to reach new levels of business success at such leading companies as Dell, CNA Insurance, Johnson Controls and PepsiCo.
Dr. Gordon is a prolific researcher, author and speaker. Her most recent groundbreaking research involves identifying the challenges facing the next generation of CEOs. She is currently writing a book on what it takes to be an inspiring and influential leader in the 21st century based on the CEO research findings. She has served as a contributing author of several leadership books and her leadership advice has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Woman's World and the Harvard Management Update.
Prior to launching the firm in 1985, Dr. Gordon was an assistant professor at Loyola University in Chicago. She also served as a virtual team coach for the Masters of Science in Technology Commercialization at the University of Texas at Austin's IC2 Institute. She received her M.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Michael J. Graham
Michael Graham joined Career Education in September of 2007 as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Graham has almost 30 years of experience in financial management, including serving in several key senior financial positions in publicly-traded companies including R.R. Donnelley, Sears Roebuck & Co., and Aegis Communications Group, where he was Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Graham has experience in all aspects of financial management including controllership, financial planning, mergers and acquisitions and business strategy. His responsibilities at CEC include accounting, tax, treasury, financial planning, real estate, information technology, mergers and acquisitions, and control functions. He has also held financial roles at Coopers and Lybrand, The Quaker Oats Company, and Sunbeam Corporation.
Mr. Graham holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, a B.S.C. in Accounting from DePaul University, and is a certified public accountant.
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Mark Handler
Mark Handler is executive vice president and managing director of international for the Walt Disney Internet Group. He is responsible for developing and directing the Walt Disney Internet Group's international wire line and mobile strategies for Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. Mr. Handler oversees a variety of businesses in these regions including: Disney's broadband offerings, downloadable games, 25 localized versions of Disney.com, ToonTown, a multiplayer online game, and Disney Mobile services which are now available in 35 international territories.
Previously, Mr. Handler served as the president of Disney TeleVentures, where he was responsible for the development of broadband applications for television as well as fulfilling the creative, programming, marketing and technology functions that Disney performed in connection with Americast®, a joint venture with Ameritech, BellSouth, SBC Communications, and GTE.
Prior to Disney TeleVentures, he was senior vice president of sales and marketing for Disney Channel. There, he was responsible for consumer and affiliate marketing, as well as overseeing relationships with more than 8,000 affiliates. Mr. Handler was instrumental in moving Disney Channel from a pay TV model to a basic tier cable channel. Before joining Disney, he spent six years with Cox Communications in marketing and general management positions.
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David J. Kaufman
David J. Kaufman serves as co-vice chair of Duane Morris' International Corporate Practice Group and sits on the firm's governing Partners Board. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisition, public and private securities, private equity and general corporate counseling. Mr. Kaufman assists predominantly entrepreneurial clients in developing and implementing creative strategies to accomplish their business and financial objectives. Having led over $8 billion in securities offerings, he represents both issuers and underwriters in primary and secondary offerings of both equity and debt and also represents investors in their security investments in public companies and private equity participants (including fundless sponsors and high net worth individuals) in their transactions. He also regularly advises boards of directors, their committees and officers on their fiduciary duties and other obligations. He also regularly advises financial advisors in connection with their engagements in rendering fairness and solvency and "non-solvency" opinions. He also advises both acquirers and sellers of SEC reporting "corporate shells" and other participants in mergers with these shells. Mr. Kaufman also regularly speaks and writes on these corporate law topics. He has led in excess of $7.0 billion in acquisition and divestiture transactions.
Mr. Kaufman was recognized by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business for Corporate/M&A. He served on the editorial board of the Michigan Journal of International Law and as editor-in-chief of the Michigan Journal of Political Science.
Mr. Kaufman is a 1990 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and a graduate of the University of Michigan (M.P.P., 1986; B.A., with distinction, Honors in Political Science, 1985).
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David Leasure, Ph.D.
David Leasure, Ph.D., is Colorado Technical University's Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer. Previously the President of Jones International University, Dr. Leasure has also held positions as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Computer Science for Colorado Technical University. Prior to coming to CTU he was Associate Professor of Computer Science at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. His professional employment includes AT&T Bell Laboratories and Artificial Intelligence Research, Inc. Dr. Leasure received a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Kansas, and earned a BA and MS degree in Computer Science from Kansas State University. He has served as a consultant and evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission and was recently appointed to the Commission's Accreditation Review Council.
In recognition of his academic achievements, Dr. Leasure has been awarded several honors, including the Amoco Outstanding Professor in computer science, TAMU-CC; Outstanding Teaching Assistant in computer science from the University of Kansas; and three Exceptional Contribution awards from AT&T Bell Laboratories. He is the recipient of grants related to teaching and learning with technology from the Department of Education, the Ed Rachal Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, among others. He has published over 30 articles on artificial intelligence, teaching with technology, and geographic information systems.
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Stanley P. Mengel
Stanley Mengel retired after serving 11 years as President and CEO of the Missouri Council on Economic Education and as a member of the Economics Department at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Previously, Mengel was Manager of Public Affairs at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. In Ohio, Mengel was Vice President for Training with Northwestern Mutual Life. Mengel was the Ervin Pietz Professor of Economic Education at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Director of the National Center of Economic Education for Children. At the University of Akron, Mengel held the Firestone Chair and was Director of the Center for Economic Education and while at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Mengel was Assistant Professor of Economics and later President of the Ohio Council on Economic Education. Mengel was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a Stanford-Wilson Fellow at Stanford University in the Economics Department earning an M.A. and Ab.D. in Economics. Mengel's undergraduate work was at the University of Missouri-Columbia where he graduated with General Honors and Departmental Honors in both Economics and in Political Science.
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Jeremy J. Wheaton
Jeremy Wheaton is the Chief Executive Officer of Colorado Technical University (CTU). Prior to joining CTU, he was the Senior Vice President of Operations for Le Cordon Bleu Colleges, where he was responsible for 17 culinary colleges across 13 states with a student population of more than 16,000.
Mr. Wheaton began his career in Higher Education in 1994, and has since served in school and corporate leadership positions. He has been instrumental in implementing many of the policies and procedures that focus on a positive student experience and institutional effectiveness. Mr. Wheaton served as Director of Acquisitions and Development for Career Education Corporation (CEC) as well as Senior Vice President of Operations for the University strategic business unit. It was during this period that he played a key role in the acquisition of many of CEC’s highly regarded institutions including Colorado Technical University.
Mr. Wheaton received a Bachelor's degree in Finance and Political Science from Clarkson University and his M.B.A. from Moravian College.
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Michael Zawalski
Mr. Zawalski is focused on investment opportunities across multiple sectors, and brings to Marlin a wealth of executive management and operations experience. Mr. Zawalski's primary responsibilities include providing due diligence, operational support and oversight to Marlin portfolio companies. Mr. Zawalski's industry experience is broad based including; manufacturing, distribution, services, technology and consumer-based companies.
Prior to Marlin, Mr.Zawalski was President and CEO of Workflow One an $850 million print management, technology and services provider in North America. Prior joining Workflow, he was Group President at Gores Technology Group, a private equity firm, responsible for due diligence and running portfolio companies in North America. Prior to thereto, Mike has held senior executive positions at Mail-Well, Inc, Ryder, The Coleman Company, Quaker Oats, Heller Financial and Arthur Andersen.
Mr. Zawalski has been a CEO, COO and a CFO and has broad expertise in leading turnarounds, driving new growth, operational restructuring, acquisitions and divestitures, financial management, management team revitalization and supply chain optimization.
Mr. Zawalski has a Masters of Management from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Administration at Illinois State University. Mr. Zawalski is also a Certified Public Accountant.
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