Richard H. Ekman
President

Richard Ekman has been President of the Council of Independent Colleges since 2000. He previously served as Vice President for Programs of Atlantic Philanthropies and, from 1991 to 1999, as Secretary of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. From 1982 until 1991, he was a member of the staff of the National Endowment for the Humanities, first as Director of the Division of Education Programs, and subsequently as Director of the Division of Research Programs. His previous experience includes service as Vice President and Dean of Hiram College, where he was also a tenured member of the history faculty; and Assistant to the Provost at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He currently serves as a member of many boards, including the National Advisory Committee of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, the Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins University Press, and the Council of Harvard University’s Graduate School Alumni Association. He has been awarded honorary degrees by Marywood University, and Alderson-Broaddus, Bethany, Georgetown, Hastings, Otterbein, and Ursinus Colleges. He is co-author, with Richard E. Quandt, of Technology and Scholarly Communication (University of California Press, 1999). [link to more detailed bio]

August G. Adams
Director of Web Communications

August Adams has served as Director of Web Communications since November 2007. His responsibilities include overseeing the CIC website, as well as other web-related and technical communications projects. He received his bachelor's degree from Emory University (GA) and a master's degree in writing and publishing from Emerson College (MA). Prior to joining CIC, he worked in print, design, and web capacities for Southern Flair Magazine in Atlanta, GA. He joined CIC in January 2004, assisting in and managing numerous communications and web-related duties.

Allison Blackburn
Director of Conferences

Allison Blackburn joined CIC as Director of Conferences in October 2005. Blackburn brings with her a wealth of experience and training, including a master’s degree in Tourism and Travel Management from New York University, professional certification in meeting planning, and more than 15 years of experience in planning events. Prior to joining CIC, Blackburn served as Manager of Conferences and Meetings for the International Life Sciences Institute where she worked for eight years with responsibility for managing multiple international conferences each year, both large and small.

Ginny Coombs
Vice President for Annual Programs

Ginny Coombs joined CIC as the Vice President for Annual Programs in October 2009. She has primary responsibility for the Institute for Chief Academic Officers, the Spouses Program at the Presidents Institute, and the Department/Division Chairs Workshops. Between 2006 and 2009, she served as vice president for academic affairs and professor of modern languages at Keuka College (NY). She understands small colleges, having served as associate dean of the college at Concordia College (MN) and as vice president for academic affairs at Central College (IA) from 1994 to 1999 and at Oklahoma City University from 1999 to 2001. She also served as provost and vice chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls from 2001 to 2006. She is active as a program reviewer for ACE’s program of Military Voluntary Education Review (MIVER) and serves as a Councilor-at-Large for the Council on Undergraduate Research. From 2004 to 2007 she was chair of the American Conference of Academic Deans.

Stephen R. Gibson
Director of Projects

Stephen Gibson, CIC’s Director of Projects since May 2006, oversees a wide range of projects, including the Davies-Jackson Scholarship, Learning Spaces Workshops, Ancient Greece Seminar, and Teaching about Islam and Middle Eastern Culture Seminar. He began at CIC in 2001 serving as Projects Coordinator, and later Projects Manager, for an array of CIC programs, including assisting with the Consortium for the Advancement of Private Higher Education. Before joining CIC, he served as editor and office assistant at Swobo Clothing in San Fransico, California, and earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington, Seattle.

Harold V. Hartley III
Senior Vice President

Hal has lead responsibility for CIC’s Presidents Institute, the largest annual gathering of college and university presidents in the country, and oversees CIC’s vocation initiatives, including the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) and the Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission program. He also provides leadership and direction for CIC’s data and assessment initiatives, including the annual Key Indicators Tool (KIT) and Financial Indicators Tool (FIT) benchmarking reports, CIC’s Making the Case website, the annual Data and Decisions Workshop conducted in partnership with the Association for Institutional Research, and the CIC Collegiate Learning Assessment Consortium and its related Urban Cluster project. Hal joined CIC in January 2005 as Director of Research, having served since 1995 with the General Board of Higher Education & Ministry of The United Methodist Church in Nashville. He earlier served as chaplain at Ohio Northern University and Emory & Henry College (VA). Hal earned his undergraduate degree at Westminster College (PA) and an EdD in higher education, leadership, and policy at the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University. His research interests and publications, based in part on his analysis of large datasets, have focused on such topics as the relationship between the undergraduate experience and persistence to degree, the impact of college attendance on students’ religious faith, the advancement practices at smaller private colleges, and the characteristics and career patterns of college presidents and chief academic officers.

Barbara Hetrick
Senior Vice President

Barbara Hetrick, Senior Vice President, is responsible for the cultivation and solicitation of corporate and foundation support, and oversees membership, communications, and selected CIC programs. She joined CIC in May 2007, originally as Vice President for Advancement. Previously she served as vice president for academic affairs and professor of sociology at Catawba College (NC). She is very familiar with small colleges, having served as vice president for academic affairs at The College of Wooster (OH) from 1997 to 2002 and in a similar role at Hood College (MD) from 1985 to 1995. Hetrick also served as vice president of the Maryland Independent College and University Association, and currently serves on the board of directors of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS). She has been an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow, helped to begin the Associated New American Colleges (ANAC), served on the deans’ councils of the Annapolis Group and the Great Lakes Colleges Association, and was chair of the American Conference of Academic Deans.

Christoph M. Kunkel
Vice President for Operations

Christoph Kunkel is Vice President for Operations and is responsible for various operational, technological, and data activities at CIC. A native of Germany, Kunkel studied political science, economics, and history at Heidelberg University and the London School of Economics, crossed the Atlantic on a Fulbright Fellowship, and received a master’s degree from Cornell University (NY) in government. In his life outside CIC, he serves as an adjunct professor for Cornell’s Summer in Washington program. Kunkel joined CIC in February 2004 as Assistant to the President and later also served as Assistant Director of Research.

Cynthia Page
Business Manager

Cindy Page joined CIC as Business Manager in June 2008. She is responsible for financial statement preparation, institutional budgeting, and human resources oversight. Prior to joining CIC she was the Director of Finance and Administration at The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, a nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to providing pathways of change in communities. Page has also served for the past 20 years as the Treasurer for the Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church Nursery School. She is a Certified Public Accountant and earned her Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina.

Sarah Stoycos
Director of Programs

Sarah Stoycos, CIC’s Director of Programs, oversees several programs, including the Network for Effective Language Learning, the American Graduate Fellowships, and the Wal-Mart College Success Awards. She assists with the Department/Division Chair Workshops and the Presidents Institute and is also involved in a variety of grants-related activities at CIC. From 2002 to 2006, Stoycos was an assistant professor of music at Centre College (KY). She holds an AB from Bowdoin College (ME), where she also served first as a visiting instructor and then as visiting assistant professor. She received her PhD in musicology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Keith A. Wallace
Director of Administration

Keith Wallace has been Director of Administration at CIC since 2001. He assists with staff hiring, acts as liaison with the building manager and engineers, and oversees office management, administrative, and technical issues for CIC. Prior to joining CIC, Wallace was office manager for the American MidEast Education and Training Services (AMIDEAST) and Phillips Publishing Inc. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of the District of Columbia.

Laura A. Wilcox
Vice President for Communications

As Vice President for Communications, Laura Wilcox oversees CIC publications, electronic communications, and media and public affairs. She came to CIC as Director of Communications in December 2000 from the American Council on Education, where she had served since 1994 as Assistant Director for Public Affairs and Managing Editor of ACE’s public policy newsletter. Prior to joining the higher education association, Wilcox was a Public Affairs Associate at the Urban Institute, a public policy and research organization in Washington, DC, and she worked on Capitol Hill for eight years, as Deputy Press Secretary for Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) on the Senate Finance Committee, and on the staffs of Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ). She started as a news anchor and reporter-producer for radio stations in Jacksonville, Fla., and Herndon and Manassas, Va.