Leadership & Staff

Our Board of Directors

AAU’s 11-member Board of Directors consists of member presidents and chancellors and includes: a Chair, Vice Chair, Past Chair, seven additional Directors, and the AAU President (ex-officio).  

Eight of the Directors serve a term of three years (with a renewal option of one additional term) and two Directors, who have been members for five years or less, serve a term of two years (without an option for renewal). Directors are elected by the member presidents and chancellors.

The Board is the governing body of the association and among other responsibilities, it proposes policy positions for consideration by the membership, adopts policy positions on behalf of the membership as warranted, approves the association’s annual budget, and works with the AAU President and staff to carry out the association’s agenda.

Michael V. Drake President, The Ohio State University AAU Chair	Nicholas S. Zeppos Chancellor, Vanderbilt University AAU Vice Chair	David W. Leebron President, Rice University AAU Past Chair
Rebecca M. Blank Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Madison	Philip P. DiStefano Chancellor, University of Colorado Boulder	C.L. Max Nikias President, University of Southern California
Peter Salovey President, Yale University	Barbara R. Snyder President, Case Western Reserve University	Samuel L. Stanley Jr. President, Stony Brook University
Teresa A. Sullivan President, University of Virginia

Our Staff

AAU’s team comprises talented and dedicated professionals who have past experience working for universities, government, business, and nonprofits.

The staff directory below is organized by department.

Executive Office

Mary Sue Coleman
President
Responsible for the overall activities of the association and works with the AAU Board of Directors and the member presidents and chancellors to define and implement the association's mission and agenda. She also oversees AAU’s Chief Academic Officers constituent group.
 

Kenneth M. Coleman
Director of Partners Programs
Responsible for overseeing the AAU Partners meetings and programs and providing advice and support to the executive, program, and membership committees.
 

Leah Norton
Senior Executive Assistant to the President
Supports the president, staffs the Board of Directors and presidential working groups and task forces, serves as the administrative team lead, and assists in planning the biannual AAU membership meetings. She also staffs the AAU Chief Academic Officers group.

Federal Relations

M. Matthew Owens
Vice President for Federal Relations and Administration
Oversees AAU’s federal relations activities and its office operations and finance. He has primary responsibility for overall federal budget and appropriations advocacy, and shares responsibility for issues related to research costs and other regulatory and compliance issues. He also staffs the AAU Board of Directors, the Audit and Finance Committee, and the AAU Membership Committee.
 

Jessica Sebeok
Deputy Vice President for Federal Relations and Counsel for Policy
Responsible for issues related to intellectual property and information technology and technology transfer. She shares responsibilities for a wide range of other regulatory, compliance and legal issues that affect research universities, and she is the staff lead for both the AAU Council on Federal Relations and the AAU General Counsels Committee.
 

Mollie Benz Flounlacker
Associate Vice President for Federal Relations
Responsible for higher education funding, policy, and tax issues, including: accreditation, student aid, college affordability, charitable giving, endowments, and Department of Education international education programs.
 

Amy Scott
Associate Vice President for Federal Relations
Responsible for funding and policy issues related to the National Science Foundation and NASA and SBIR issues. She shares responsibility for export control and other regulatory and compliance issues.  She co-leads the Coalition for National Science Foundation (CNSF) and staffs the AAU Internationalization Issues Forum.
 

Lizbet Boroughs
Associate Vice President for Federal Relations
Responsible for funding and policy issues related to the National Institutes of Health and USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. She is also responsible for immigration and visa policy. She has primary responsibility for issues related to biomedical and health policy and regulatory issues, including biomedical research costs and compliance.
 

Julia Smith
Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations
Responsible for funding and policy issues related to the humanities, Department of Defense research, and Department of Energy research. She shares responsibility for issues related to research costs and scientific openness and security, other regulatory and compliance issues, and communicating science effectively to broader audiences. She also co-chairs the Golden Goose Award Steering Committee and staffs AAU’s Council on Federal Relations constituent group.
 

Meredith Asbury
Federal Relations Associate
Provides policy, legislative, and analytical support to the federal relations and policy teams. She monitors and researches legislation, regulations, and policies, covers hearings, and represents AAU at meetings.  She staffs the Association of Graduate Schools constituent group.
 

Taylor Henry
Executive Assistant
Supports the vice president for federal relations and administration and the deputy vice president for federal relations and counsel for policy as well as related AAU working groups, meetings, and activities. She also assists in the management of AAU’s General Councils Committee, the Council on Federal Relations (CFR) constituent group, the CFR Steering Committee, and the CFR monthly meetings and annual conference.
 

Luis De Leon
Federal Relations Assistant
Supports the federal relations department and various federal relations-related AAU task forces, working groups, meetings, and activities. He also supports the biannual AAU membership meetings.
 

Policy

Tobin Smith
Vice President for Policy
Oversees AAU’s policy projects, initiatives and activities including the AAU Undergraduate STEM education and PhD education initiatives. He is responsible for matters relating to science and innovation policy and broader impacts of science. He shares responsibility for matters concerning research costs and compliance issues including facilities and administrative costs, export controls, scientific openness and security, technology transfer and regulatory reform. He also staffs the Senior Research Officers constituent group.
 

Emily Miller
Associate Vice President for Policy
Responsible for collaborating with member campuses on institutional policy efforts related to undergraduate and graduate education. She directs the AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative, the PhD education initiative, and other grant-funded projects. She also staffs AAU’s STEM Network and Association of Graduate Schools constituent groups and serves as liaison to the AAU Arts & Science Deans group.
 

Kimberlee Eberle-Sudré
Senior Policy Analyst
Leads AAU’s data and analysis efforts across a wide range of research and higher education policy issues. Serves as team lead on various policy-related projects such as the campus climate survey.  She also staffs the AAU Membership Committee and serves as liaison to the AAU Data Exchange (AAUDE).
 

Tara King
Higher Education Project Coordinator
Supports the policy department’s advancement of strategic and grant-funded initiatives. She provides direct support to the AAU's Undergraduate STEM Education and PhD Education Initiatives and other post-secondary institutional projects. She also staffs the STEM Network meeting.
 

Katie Steen
Policy Associate
Supports AAU’s policy agenda, conducts research and analysis, and assists with AAU’s federal relations and advocacy activities. Katie covers hearings and represents AAU at meetings related to science and research policy. She also assists the policy department in collecting, compiling, and analyzing data.
 

Darren Gaddis
Executive Assistant
Supports the vice president for policy and senior policy analyst as well as related AAU working groups, meetings, and activities. He assists in the planning of the Senior Research Officers (SRO) annual conference.
 

Samiksha Shetty
Policy Assistant
Supports staff members in the policy and federal relations departments. She provides support for various AAU task forces, working groups, meetings, and activities as well as supports the policy department’s grant-funded initiatives. She assists in the planning of the Association of Graduate Schools (AGS) and STEM Network meetings.
 

Public Affairs

Pedro Ribeiro
Vice President for Communications
Oversees and coordinates AAU’s public affairs, communications, and media relations activities. He also staffs the Public Affairs Network constituent group.
 

Fred Schecker
Website and Digital Content Director
Responsible for strategic development and oversight of AAU’s digital media content, architecture and content of the association’s website, as well as contributing to overall public affairs activities.
 

Melissa Luke
Communications Officer
Manages the drafting and review of AAU’s communications with its core constituencies and the broader public. She also ensures the quality, timeliness, and consistency of AAU’s external products.
 

Daniel Kleine
Digital and Social Media Associate
Manages AAU’s social media portfolio, assists with the AAU website, constituent communications, analytics, and marketing.
 

Jillian Gates
Executive Assistant
Supports the vice president for communications as well as related AAU working groups, meetings, and activities. She staffs the Public Affairs Network (PAN) Steering Committee and assists in the planning of the PAN annual conference.
 

Office Operations

Roxanne Murray
Chief Operating Officer
Oversees AAU’s IT, finance, and meetings departments. She is responsible for office operations, human resources, and personnel. She also staffs the AAU Membership Committee and the Audit and Finance Committee.
 

Tom Bozzo
Chief Information Officer
Responsible for AAU's technology strategy, operations, and security.
 

Eileen Fox
Chief Financial Officer
Responsible for AAU’s finances, investments and employee benefits. She also staffs the Audit and Finance Committee.
 

Raquel McKeveny
Director of Meetings
Responsible for all logistical planning and on-site management of the biannual AAU membership meeting and the Council on Federal Relations annual meeting. She directs all logistical aspects of other constituent group meetings, the CFR monthly meetings, and various other in-town meetings and events. She also coordinates the AAU Partners constituent group program and meetings.
 

Andrew Parrish
Jr. Systems Analyst
Responsible for planning, implementation, training, and support of organizational technology and data-driven initiatives, systems, and services.
 

Thomas Gigure
Finance and HR Assistant
Performs day-to-day functions for AAU's office operations, including finance, benefits, and human resources.
 

Nelerene Barnes
Office and Meetings Assistant
Provides general office support. She also supports the biannual AAU membership meetings, assists the director of meetings with the logistical planning of other AAU constituent meetings, and coordinates AAU’s conference rooms.