Speaker Bios

Lauren Beam joined the Mentoring Resource Center staff in 2014 and also worked with Allison McWilliams (Assistant Vice President) to launch the Alumni Personal & Career Development Center at Wake Forest University. In her role as Associate Director, Lauren manages the MRC and APCDC websites and related outreach and marketing initiatives, as well as creates and delivers mentoring and alumni personal and career development content, resources, coaching and programs for faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Prior to joining the Mentoring and Alumni Personal & Career Development team, Lauren was the Assistant Director for Career Programming and Outreach, and a Career Coach, in the Office of Personal & Career Development at Wake Forest University from 2009-2014. Lauren has a M.S. in Counseling with an emphasis in College Counseling and Student Development from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a BA from Wake Forest University.

Deanna Berg has nearly 25 years of experience working to increase community engagement at local, state, and national levels and has done so in both higher education and nonprofit settings. Deanna currently serves as the Director of Constituent Partnerships for the University of California, Office of the President where she leads efforts to engage alumni and other constituents as volunteers, advocates, and contributors who strengthen the ten-campus UC system. Prior to this role, Deanna was the National Director of Community Engagement at Reading Partners, a nonprofit based in Oakland whose mission is to help children become lifelong readers by empowering communities to provide individualized instruction with measurable results. In this role, Deanna led teams across 14 US regions in the use of data-driven approaches to recruit and engage over 14,000 volunteers annually.  Berg is a published author in the field of campus based community engagement programs and has held roles at the University of Southern Mississippi, Portland State University, California State University Chico, the California State University Chancellor’s Office, and University of California Office of the President.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a minor in Business Administration from CSU, Chico.

Julee Bertsch heads up Bucknell University's Alumni Career Services. She joined Bucknell after twenty-five years working in a corporate environment for MetLife, Deutsche Bank, Barclays Capital, Kidder, Peabody & Company, PaineWebber and others. Over the course of her career, she has been a recruiter, college relations director and recruiting consultant. In addition to hiring people, her work has focused on helping people choose their careers and work through the challenges that accompany these life decisions. In her role at Bucknell University, Julee works with alumni providing one on one assistance as well as delivering career programs regarding career decision/re-evaluation, job search, networking and career planning. She has an Ed.D in Adult and Higher Education from Columbia University and a B.S. / M.A. from Bowling Green State University.

Cassie Burns, Assistant Director of Alumni Career Engagement, Rollins College,serves as the Assistant Director of Alumni Career Engagement within the Center for Career & Life Planning at Rollins College. In this role, Cassie has designed and implemented new initiatives that connect students to alumni professionals for career related support, including through networking, mentoring and shadowing opportunities. Most notably, Cassie has developed a new high-impact career-mentoring program on campus utilizing the real world, industry specific insight of alumni mentors to support students in their career exploration and development. An alumna of Rollins herself, Cassie is passionate about facilitating meaningful relationships within the community to further students’ learning. Cassie has served her in role for 2 years, and has nearly ten years of experience across the non-profit sector. Prior to joining the team at Rollins, she completed an AmeriCorps VISTA year of service, managed a higher education service-learning program and providing direct clinical and social services to a variety of populations. Cassie holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology as well as a master’s degree in Social Work with a focus on Educational Services.  

Brandon Busteed, President of Kaplan University Partners, leads Kaplan’s work serving U.S. colleges and universities, leveraging assets from across the company’s many educational offerings, which include: international student recruiting, pathway programs, student residence development, online program enablement, university hosting, professional education, test preparation, learning platforms, assessment capabilities, and supplemental course content. His career spans a wide range of important work in education as an entrepreneur, researcher, speaker, writer and university trustee.  His mission is to help U.S. higher education adapt, grow and thrive. Prior to Kaplan, Busteed was most recently Global Head of Public Sector at Gallup – serving higher education, government and foundations.  While at Gallup he also served for 6 years as Executive Director of Education and Workforce Development.  In that role, Busteed led dozens of ground-breaking Gallup studies including the Gallup-Purdue Index (a nationally-representative student of college graduates looking at their long-term outcomes in work and life), the Strada-Gallup Education Consumer Survey (the largest representative study of U.S. adults and education consumers studying their education pathways and experiences), the Gallup-Google Computer Science in K12 Education Study, and the Gallup-Knight Foundation Trust in Media Study.  He remains a Gallup Senior Advisor.  Brandon has founded two companies and one nonprofit organization as a social entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of Outside The Classroom, a company that pioneered adaptive online education in alcohol abuse prevention. A three-year, 30-school, national study funded by the National Institutes of Health showed that AlcoholEdu — the organization’s flagship alcohol-abuse prevention program — was effective in reducing binge drinking, drunk driving and sexual assaults. More than 10 million students have participated in the program. The company was acquired by EverFi in 2011. An internationally known speaker and author on education and workforce development, Brandon has published more than 100 articles and blogs for Gallup, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Trusteeship Magazine, Fast Company and other publications. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and USA Today and on NPR and the NBC News “TODAY” show, among others.  He was named a LinkedIn “Top Voice” in education for 2018. Brandon received his bachelor’s degree in public policy from Duke University and an honorary doctorate from Augustana College. He is a trustee emeritus of Duke and has served on the Board of Visitors of the Sanford School of Public Policy. He was a former two-sport NCAA Division 1 athlete at Duke.  Busteed currently lives in Vienna, VA with his wife Deanna and two children, Anabelle and Harrison.

Jessica Chance serves as Associate Director at the Emerson College Career Development Center and is an actor and writer. Through partnerships with alumni relations, student affairs and academic affairs, Jessica provides career programming and a mentorship program between alumni and students. Her work with intercultural groups, alumni leadership, and faculty has led to significant programming and initiatives that support diversity, inclusion, and equity. As a theatre professional, she continues to find engaging ways to share information and help alumni define and express their career narratives. 

Margie Cherry is not ready to retire...but she's dreaming about it! To make a dream a reality, one needs to plan, so she proposed her roundtable topic to have company on her dream-journey. For the past eight years, Margie has served as the Associate Director of Alumni Career Services at Lafayette College, providing career counseling for alumni around the globe, as well as developing alumna-to-alumna mentoring programs, and creating and hosting webinars. She has taught “The Psychology of Career Development” and led career transition workshops at Montgomery County Community College, and worked with Lee Hecht Harrison providing career management resources. She is reviving her former career as a cartoonist and comedian and reshaping it as a pre-tirement plan to bring the joy of creating comedy to the masses with her humor training workshop "The Comedy Cure". Margie has a master's degree in Counseling Psychology and is the author and illustrator of "Mom's Comedy Coloring Book".    

Patrick Coleman is the VP of Operations at PeopleGrove. He previously worked at Market Track, a marketing data and analytics company based in Chicago, where he supported with strategy and corporate development. Prior to Market Track, he served as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Global Technology, Media & Telecom Group of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He holds a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Yuliya Dennis serves as the Director of Alumni Career Services at Oregon State University (OSU) Alumni Association. She manages and oversees career programs for over 200,000 OSU alumni. She joined the OSU Alumni Association Nov. of 2016 and loves the association’s mission and her role. Her work in alumni relations earned her a Rising Star award in 2019 from CASE. She serves as the Assistant Vice President of Mentor Programs for Alumni Career Services Network (ACSN). Yuliya received her BA in History, and her M.Ed in College Student Services Administration from OSU. Her motto is: Engage in what matters and support others in engaging in what matters to them. 

Pat Fligge is Director of Alumni & Parent Engagement in Muhlenberg College's Career Center. Muhlenberg is a small, private liberal arts college in Allentown, PA, approximately 90 minutes northwest of Philadelphia. It has about 2,000 current students, 20K alumni, and is well-known for pre-health, theatre, and selected pre-professional programs. The Career Center reports along with Alumni Affairs to Advancement and is tasked with engaging the student body in career services, finding ways to utilize alumni and parent volunteers in delivering career services to students and providing career services to our alumni. Pat leads the Alumni & Parent engagement team in developing programs to connect these groups to our students through programs such as shadowing, alumni-in-the-classroom, career road trips, and other networking opportunities. Pat's a Muhlenberg grad and lives with his wife and golden retriever Steve in Allentown, PA. When not thinking about engaging alumni or connecting with students, Pat likes to cook, travel, and watch the Red Sox.

Tammy J. Halstead, Ed.D. is the Director of Alumni Advising & Development at Franklin & Marshall College, where she creates and implements robust initiatives that support alumni in achieving their professional development goals. In addition to career advising and coaching, Tammy's background includes corporate training and development, business operations, recruiting, and human resources. She has presented nationally and internationally at conferences including the International Leadership Association, National Career Development Association, National Council for Continuing Education and Training, and the University Council for Educational Administration on topics related to self-efficacy in career transitions, women in leadership, and emerging adulthood. 

Jeff Hittner is Co-founder of Project X, a social venture dedicated to helping 1 million people build more purposeful careers through career change programs and award winning international experiences in social entrepreneurship and professional development. Jeff is also a partner to global organizations focused on entrepreneurship and youth development. He has built career discovery, leadership and startup programs around the globe. Previously, he founded IBM's Corporate Social Responsibility consulting practice globally. In 2011, he developed the curriculum for one of the first MBA’s in Sustainability in the U.S., at Bard College, where he was the Leadership professor.

Cindy Hyman has spent 9+ years at the University of Denver delivering alumni career and professional development services to 140,000 alumni live and virtually. She built the University of Denver alumni career services program which includes a robust live programming series, webinars, online services, and group coaching. Through metrics, Cindy tells the story of how alumni career services has increased alumni and student engagement at DU. She is a past President and current Vice-President of Corporate Partnerships for the Alumni Career Services Network

 

Dee Kayalar, MPA offers career coaching services to University of San Diego's alumni community and develops and manages the College's virtual platform that connects USD students, alumni, parents, and employers for mentoring, professional opportunities and networking. Previously, she was the associate director of alumni engagement at St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn where she designed and implemented career-focused events and volunteer activities for the College's young alumni community and developed the College's formal mentoring program for the Brooklyn campus. She holds a master's in public administration from Indiana University Bloomington where she has taught leadership and international policy classes in the undergraduate program and worked in research. She is also a qualified coach with a Diploma in Coaching.  

Ana Kolodzinski (Co-Presenter) currently works with diplomatic spouses as a Global Employment Advisor with the U.S. Department of State. In her current role, she works with clients and hiring managers on unconscious bias awareness and diversity hiring practices. Before becoming a Global Employment Advisor, she served as the Community Liaison Officer in Bucharest, Romania, where she founded and managed a career development organization providing employment options for the spouses and partners of expats and diplomats. Prior to the U.S. Department of State, Ana worked in the public affairs and strategic communications field for eight years. Ana holds Master’s degrees in Corporate and Public Communications and International Relations from Seton Hall University. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.

Ann Martin works as a Career Advising Specialist, at University of Maryland University College, assisting cybersecurity students and alumni with all facets of career development and career decision making. She is a Board Certified Counselor with both the Certified Career Coach (CCC) and National Certified Counselor (NCC) designations. She holds a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from Bowie State University.

Leslie Marmor, M.Ed., MU '80, Assistant Director, Alumni Career Education and Development at Miami University, is a career development professional who has worked in both corporate and nonprofit organizations. She spent seven years as an executive and career coach. At Miami University, Leslie uses her expertise to help her fellow alumni in the workforce.  

Michael McKenzie is the Managing Director, Career Learning & Experience at the George Washington University. He provides strategic direction for the career coaching team and oversees the development, delivery, and evaluation of ongoing career education initiatives. He also oversees technology projects and data analytics for GW Career Services. He has an additional background in program management, curriculum development, and intercultural communication, from work at Johns Hopkins University (SAIS), ADA University (Baku, Azerbaijan), and the University of Denver. Michael was also an English teacher in Tokyo, Japan and was a leadership consultant for Sigma Nu Fraternity. He has a dual Master of Arts in International & Intercultural Communication and Higher Education from the University of Denver, and a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from the University of North Dakota.

Anita Ponchione is the Executive Director for School Alumni Programs in the Office of Alumni Relations and the George Washington University. Anita provides strategic direction for school alumni programs, career programs and industry networks, and lifelong learning programs, working in collaboration with her colleagues across GW’s 10 colleges and school. Anita joined the George Washington University in January 2002 and has served in both development and alumni relations roles. Anita earned a MA from the George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development and her BA from the University of Pittsburgh.

Paul Pausky leads the Former Student Services Team helping Aggies implement networking strategies using informational interviews to understand employer needs and opportunities in hidden job markets. He advocates the use of those same networking resources and tactics for Aggies moving up their career ladder. His 22 years of sales and project management served engineering and operations teams in oil & gas, pulp & paper, and telecommunications. He started the Aggie Resume Library responding to the needs of the Aggie Family dealing with the oil industry collapse in 1986.  

Denise Riebman has spent over 20 years in the nonprofit and higher education sectors, specializing in career advancement, professional leadership and community development.  At George Washington University, Denise is currently the Director of Career Development and Alumni Services, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration and a guest lecturer for “Science of Well-Being:  Applied Positive Psychology.” She is also the founder of CareerHappinessCoaching.com which offers individual coaching, workshops and consulting. Denise is a graduate of The Coaches Training Institute and highlights of her certifications include Global Career Development Facilitation, Wholebeing Positive Psychology, Gallup Certified Strengths Finder, Certified Advanced Résumé Writing, Association of Training and Development, Applied Positive Psychology and Positive Psychology Coaching.  Denise has a BA from Rutgers University and Masters in Public Policy and Management from the University of Southern Maine.

 

Jesse Ross worked at The Minneapolis Foundation serving multiple roles in the Community Impact Department; one role being the chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. In addition, J. Ross served as the chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Action Team for the Young Professionals Nonprofit Network. Jesse is a past Ron McKinley Philanthropy Fellow Professional and past engagements include being a Roy Wilkins Public Policy Fellow Alumni. He continues to be chosen across the United States to lead workshops, innovative, sessions, and panel discussions. Jesse is certified in the Business of Speaking and Coaching. He is a certified in the Welcome 2 The Jungle Training & Assessment, which is a combination of DISC, Strength Finders, and Myers-Briggs. Jesse has a keen ability to apply his education, certifications, and practical experience to motivate others to greatness, increase productivity, and take their place as a leader. Jesse is an Everything DiSC Certified Workplace Facilitator and also a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), which he includes in his Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work across the country.    

 

Ankit Shah has more than seven years of experience in the career management field within higher education and K-12 settings. He has advised students and alumni at Methodist University, Denison University, Columbus State Community College, and The Ohio State University. He had the privilege of assisting underserved as well as underrepresented populations in his entire professional journey, specifically in the lens of P-20. Now, due to his diverse educational and professional journey, he is able to use all of his experiences to work with the alumni to assist with their diverse careers in the Office of Alumni Career Management at The Ohio State University. Ankit holds a BS in Early Childhood Education from University of Toledo and a MEd in Higher Education Administration with specialization in Student Affairs from North Carolina State University.

 

Christine Valenza Shin is Senior Associate Director of the Advising & Programs team of Beyond Barnard, Barnard College’s newly restructured and expanded division for supporting the careers of students and alumnae. She oversees the planning, implementation, and evaluation of Beyond Barnard programs including mentoring, career insight panels, and workshops. Christine advises current students as well as Barnard alumnae at all stages of their careers. She works closely with her fellow advisors to develop best practices to address the needs of Barnard's diverse student and alumnae body while keeping current with the changing world of work. Earlier in her career, Christine was a teacher and teacher educator. She earned a B.A. in history from Barnard, and completed a Certificate in Career Planning and Development at New York University. Christine is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and Strong Interest Inventory® assessments. 

 

J.J. Slager is the Associate Director of Alumni Career Education and Development at Miami University in Oxford Ohio. He has been working at his alma mater for nearly three years, steering programming to help alumni in the workforce. Prior to working in higher ed, J.J. worked in the executive search industry, consulting with companies and recruiting talent to them. He began his career in corporate sales as an Account Executive with both CareerBuilder and Monster.com. 

Sarah Smith is the Associate Director of Alumni Career Services in the Georgetown University Office of Advancement where she provides a diverse portfolio of professional development and career services programs to Georgetown's 20,000+ alumni. Since coming to Georgetown in November 2014, Sarah has gained a wealth of experience in volunteer management, alumni engagement, and fundraising strategy. She previously worked at the College of William & Mary Washington Center, and for Hillel at the University of Georgia. Sarah earned her M.A. from Georgetown's School of Continuing Studies and her B.S. from Georgia Tech.

Maura Sweeney, as the Director of Alumni Career Development, is focused on creating space to help all alumni discover meaningful lives. She provides direct career advising to alumni from 5-years-post-graduation through to retirement and encore careers. She also creates opportunities for alumni to advance their careers by connecting with the Holy Cross Network through alumni career networks, events and networking resources. Prior to joining the Alumni Relations Office, Maura spent 10 years working in roles that spanned student advising, employer engagement and recruiting. She earned her bachelor’s degree in French from the College of the Holy Cross in 2007, and her Master of Education degree in Adult and Organizational Learning from Northeastern University in 2010. She lives in Holliston, MA with her husband, two daughters, two dogs and cat.  

 

Matthew Temple is the Director of Alumni Career & Professional Development for the Kellogg School of Management. He has presented hundreds of workshops around the world and is certified in the Hogan Assessment, Voices 360, Korn Ferry Leadership Architect, and MBTI. Previously, Matthew worked in Private Equity and M&A for Credit Suisse and in Corporate Finance for Deutsche Bank. He served as Director of International Business Development for Ask.com, where he helped establish, manage and staff joint ventures worth over US$200 million in Asia, Europe and Latin America. He has lived and worked in Hong Kong and London. Matthew holds a BA in European History from Harvard University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. He serves on the Harvard Alumni Association Board and the Advisory Board for iRelaunch. He’s a diehard Red Sox fan, Jeopardy champion, and loves the smell of jet fuel (visited 100+ countries)

Melissa Turk currently works at Carnegie Mellon University supporting career and professional development programming for their alumni. Her work includes virtual networking experiences, webinars, regional networking opportunities, alumni corporate engagement and liaison to the Career and Professional Development Center and institutional partnership teams. Melissa also sits on the board for ACSN serving as an AVP for programming. She recently launched a consulting company, MT Collaborative Consulting, where she works with organizations to develop and facilitate training around leadership, team building and organizational dynamics

Greg Van Kirk is Co-founder of Project X and a lifelong social entrepreneur. He is an Ashoka Fellow, the former leader of Ashoka U for North America, and recipient of the World Economic Forum “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” award. Over 1,500 students & professionals have participated in Greg's immersion programs in Guatemala over the past 10 years. He was also recently awarded the Bishop Medal from Miami University which is given to one alumnus every year for his or her work in service of humanity.

Katrina Ward currently serves as the Director of Outreach & Engagement for the University of California, Office of the President, where she leads alumni career engagement efforts across the University of California system by partnering with staff at the ten University of California campuses. Under Katrina’s direction, UC has launched a number of innovative career programs aimed at uniting and supporting a community of over 2 million alumni. Prior to this role, Katrina served as the Executive Director of Alumni Career Initiatives and Partnership UCLA and the University of California, Los Angeles. In this role, Katrina designed and pioneered a transformative engagement program to support students in the transition from classroom to career by uniting alumni, faculty, and corporations to implement full-scale change in the academic classroom, co-curricular programs and virtual touchpoints. As a Higher Education leader, Katrina has developed community partnerships and innovative career programs to serve students and alumni at UCLA, University of Denver, Pepperdine University, Santa Monica College and The New School University. Ward holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Development from Cornell University, a Master of Arts in Psychology, and a Master of Education in Counseling Psychology, both from Columbia University.

Kyle D. Younger  is the inaugural Director of Professional Services at the Seton Hall University School of Diplomacy and International Relations, where he provides academic and career advising for students and alumni. He is currently working toward completing his Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leadership, Management and Policy, where he is researching the college-to-career transition for African-American males at predominantly white institutions.