We have a tremendous line up of keynote speakers including:
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Kim Ford, Acting Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education
Kim R. Ford serves as the Acting Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education. Ford provides leadership, direction and management on over $2 billion dollars in career and technical education, adult education, correctional and re-entry education and community college initiatives, which collectively serve over 25 million students annually. Ford leads the Divisions that administer the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the state formula and discretionary grant programs under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. She also establishes national leadership activities to enhance the quality and rigor of educational programs and promotes the development of strategies that support student success.Previously, Ford served as the Dean of Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning at the University of the District of Columbia Community College (UDC-CC). She provided leadership and direction for all programs related to and associated with workforce development, career and technical education and continuing education. She promoted an environment of student success focused on building community, instituting feedback loops and helping students transition. Dean Ford also secured federal, local and private funding to support the work of her division.
Prior to joining UDC-CC, Ford served in the Obama Administration’s Recovery Implementation Office, which was responsible for implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. She directed working relationships between the Office of the Vice President and eight federal agencies on over $350 billion dollars of Recovery Act programs. While at the White House, she also coordinated the neighborhood revitalization initiative for the Department of Homeland Security headquarters consolidation at Saint Elizabeths to develop the traditionally underserved area into a vibrant part Washington, DC.Ford holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Dr. Kim Hunter-Reed, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education
Dr. Kim Hunter Reed is the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
Reed, a former Louisiana higher education official, most recently served in President Obama’s administration as deputy undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Education, leading postsecondary diversity and inclusion work, supporting strong student and outcomes focused policies and aggressive national outreach efforts. She also led the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Prior to serving in the administration, Reed was a principal at HCM Strategists LLC, a public policy and advocacy consulting firm in Washington, D.C., focused on advancing effective solutions in health and education.
Reed has extensive higher education and government experience. She chaired Louisiana's higher education transition team in 2015 and has served as Louisiana's state policy director. Reed previously served as chief of staff for the Louisiana Board of Regents and executive vice president of the University of Louisiana System. Prior to those roles, she served on the faculty at Southern University in Baton Rouge and was executive assistant to the president and interim vice president of student affairs at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.
Reed received a doctorate in public policy from Southern University, as well as a master’s of public administration and a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Louisiana State University.
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Dr. David Schuler, Superintendent of Township High School District 214
Dr. David R. Schuler, Superintendent of Township High School District 214, one of the largest school districts in Illinois. Dr. Schuler is a national education leader and superintendent of the second-largest high school district in Illinois. He launched Redefining Ready!, a national campaign that introduces multiple research-based metrics to demonstrate post-secondary readiness, during his time as 2015-16 president of AASA, The School Superintendents Association.
His work on Redefining Ready! has been published in several publications, and he has testified about college and career readiness before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Since he took the helm of High School District 214 in Chicago’s northwest suburbs, students have earned more than 600 career certifications in areas including computer programming, manufacturing and healthcare.
His push to make college more accessible and affordable has led to a comprehensive career pathways program that offers personalized learning experiences through early college credit, internships and career credentials, and the passage of critical education legislation.
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Dr. Walter Bumphus, President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges
Walter Bumphus AACC CEO
A nationally recognized leader, Dr. Walter G. Bumphus is President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges. Prior to coming to Washington, DC, Dr. Bumphus served as a professor in the Community College Leadership Program and as chair of the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Texas at Austin. While at UT Austin, he also held the A. M. Aikin Regents Endowed Chair in Junior and Community College Education Leadership.
Dr. Bumphus has spent his career forwarding the mission of community colleges as a CEO for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, Baton Rouge Community College, and Brookhaven College in Texas. Dr. Bumphus was also successful in the corporate world as the CEO of Voyager Expanded Learning.
A graduate of Murray State University, Dr. Bumphus earned a bachelor's degree in speech communications and a master's degree in guidance and counseling. In 1992, Dr. Bumphus was recognized as a distinguished graduate of Murray State University. In 2016 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater where he also began his career in higher education as a Dormitory Director and the Director of Minority Affairs from 1972-1974. Dr. Bumphus earned a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Bumphus holds the distinction of being one of the few leaders in the field of education to hold the key to the city of Princeton, Kentucky. Bumphus has also received the ACCT Marie Y. Martin CEO of the Year Award, the AACC Leadership Award, the Diverse Champion Award, and serves on several national commissions.
