Leadership & Staff

Our Board of Directors

AAU’s 13-member Board of Directors consists of member presidents and chancellors and includes: a Chair, Vice Chair, Past Chair, nine additional Directors, and the AAU President (ex-officio). Directors are elected by the member presidents and chancellors.

AAU’s Board of Directors 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, determines AAU membership, and works with the AAU President and staff to carry out the association’s agenda.

Carol Folt President, University of Southern California AAU Chair	Robert Jones Chancellor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign AAU Vice Chair	Carol Christ Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley
Ronald Daniels President, Johns Hopkins University	Christopher Eisgruber President, Princeton University	Gregory Fenves President, Emory University
Howard Gillman Chancellor, University of California, Irvine	Douglas Girod Chancellor, University of Kansas	Cynthia Larive Chancellor, University of California, Santa Cruz
Maurie McInnis President, Stony Brook University	Martha Pollack President, Cornell University	Vincent Price President, Duke University

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.

Government Relations and Public Policy
 

Tobin Smith
Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy
Provides strategic leadership and management for the association’s priorities. Oversees AAU’s government relations and public policy activities, matters relating to higher education and science and innovation policy, and AAU’s international activities. Shares responsibility for matters concerning research costs; regulatory and compliance issues including export controls, scientific openness and security; public access to research results; and technology transfer. Has primary oversight for AAU’s Council on Federal Relations (CFR) and the Senior Research Officers (SRO) constituent groups and serves as AAU’s liaison with the Global Council for Research Intensive Universities Network.

 

Julia Jester
Deputy Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy
Assists in managing and directing the Government Relations and Public Policy department and developing and executing strategies to advance AAU’s advocacy and public policy priorities in the federal legislative and regulatory arenas. Responsible for funding and policy issues related to the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Shares responsibility for other STEM education and research policy issues related to American innovation and competitiveness and scientific openness and security. Shares responsibilities for the association’s federal budget/appropriations process and staffs, in conjunction with the Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Policy, the Council for Federal Relations (CFR) constituent group.

 

Lizbet Boroughs
Associate Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy
Responsible for funding and policy issues related to the National Institutes of Health, including regulatory issues, research costs and compliance, and access to scientific materials. Responsible for funding and policy issues related to USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). Shares responsibility for other STEM education and research policy issues related to American innovation and competitiveness as well as scientific openness and security.

 

Pamela Davidson
Associate Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy
Responsible for higher education funding and policy issues, including accreditation, student aid, college affordability, sexual harassment, the Institute of Education Sciences, and other Department of Education-related issues. Shares responsibilities related to tax priorities, including charitable giving and endowments.

 

Kate Hudson
Associate Vice President and Counsel for Government Relations & Public Policy
Responsible for intellectual property, technology transfer, open and public access, and copyright issues. Supports AAU’s policy and federal relations work in areas that require legal expertise, such as tax issues related to research, research security policy, and other regulatory matters important to America’s leading research universities. Oversees the General Counsels (GC) constituent group.

 

Hanan Saab
Associate Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy
Responsible for funding and policy issues related to the Department of Defense’s Science & Technology programs and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and ARPA-E. Responsible for immigration, international students and scholars, and other international issues. Shares responsibility for other higher education and research policy issues related to American innovation and competitiveness, scientific openness and security, and U.S. universities’ global engagement.

 

Meredith Asbury
Assistant Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy
Responsible for funding and policy issues related to science and security, scientific openness, facility and administrative costs, research integrity and misconduct, regulatory reform, graduate and postdoctoral education advocacy, and social science research advocacy. Leads AAU activities relating to the Golden Goose Award (GGA) and the AAU-APLU Science and Security Working Group (SSWG). Staffs the Senior Research Officers (SRO) and supports the activities of the Council for Federal Relations (CFR) constituent groups.

 

Alexander Perez
Government Relations and Public Policy Manager
Responsible for funding and policy issues related to the National Endowment for Humanities, the Department of Education’s Title VI International program, and shares responsibilities for overall budget and appropriations matters. Supports AAU President and leadership to arrange and manage meetings and help develop relationships and related advocacy materials to achieve AAU’s priorities. Teams with other staff to provide policy, legislative, and analytical support for federal relations priorities.

 

Ryan Bock
Government Relations and Public Policy Associate
Supports the Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy and works closely with other members of the team, including all related AAU working groups, meetings, and activities. Supports the Senior Research Officer (SRO) constituent group.

 

Justin Ryan
Government Relations and Public Policy Assistant
Supports the department and various AAU task forces, working groups, meetings, and activities. Covers hearings and helps monitor and analyze legislation, regulations, and policies. Supports the Council on Federal Relations (CFR) constituent group.

 

Hanna Yalew
Government Relations and Public Policy Assistant
Supports the department and various AAU task forces, working groups, meetings, and activities. Covers hearings and helps monitor and analyze legislation, regulations, and policies. Supports the General Counsels (GC) constituent group.

 

Survey Research and Institutional Policy

Kenneth Goldstein
Senior Vice President for Survey Research and Institutional Policy
Provides strategic leadership and management for the association’s priorities. He oversees AAU’s public polling, institutional surveys, and research studies in support of AAU’s advocacy messaging and campaigns as well as AAU’s institutional policy activities. Leads special projects on a variety of topics of importance to America’s leading research universities. Oversees the Chief Academic Officers (CAO) constituent group.

 

Emily Miller
Deputy Vice President for Institutional Policy
Leads and manages AAU’s institutional policy projects, initiatives, and grant-funded activities, including the AAU Undergraduate STEM Education initiative and the AAU PhD Education initiative. Oversees the AAU STEM Network and the Association of Graduate Schools (AGS) constituent groups and serves as liaison to the AAU Arts & Science Deans group.

 

Giacomo Squatriti
Survey Research Manager
Responsible for developing, implementing, analyzing, and communicating AAU’s public opinion research and other forms of data to gain strategic insight into public opinion on higher education issues.

 

Claire Berg
Higher Education Project Coordinator
Supports the Survey Research and Institutional Policy team’s portfolio of projects, including AAU's Association of Graduate Schools (AGS), Chief Academic Officer (CAO), and STEM Network constituent groups, as well as coordinating and managing the day-to-day implementation of institutional policy projects, research activities, and other ad hoc projects as needed

 

Graham Andrews
Junior Research Analyst
Assists the survey research team in all aspects of ongoing survey research including instrument design, execution, analysis, and presentation to gain strategic insight into public attitudes on higher education issues.

 

Hannah Ritz
Junior Research Analyst
Assists the survey research team in all aspects of ongoing survey research including instrument design, execution, analysis, and presentation to gain strategic insight into public attitudes on higher education issues.

 

Communications

Vacant
Senior Vice President for Communications
Provides strategic communications leadership and management for the association’s priorities. Oversees and directs AAU’s public affairs/communications, promotion campaigns, and media relations activities. Oversees the Public Affairs Network (PAN) constituent group.

 

Rob Marus
Deputy Vice President for Communications
Directs AAU’s writing and messaging, ensuring message consistency and clarity as well as utility in reaching AAU’s strategic communications goals. Leads the drafting and editing of AAU’s presidential communications and works in collaboration with the Senior Vice President for Communications to execute AAU’s communications strategy. Supports the department’s media relations and communication campaigns.

 

Daniel Kleine
Assistant Vice President for Digital Media
Manages and maintains AAU’s digital media footprint. Strategically engages with influencers and identifies key areas in which AAU’s digital media can be used to maximize advocacy and messaging. Works closely with staff to ensure that AAU’s entire digital presence is timely, relevant, appropriate, innovative, informative, and creative.

 

Kritika Agarwal
Senior Editorial Officer
Coordinates production of AAU’s constituent and public outreach operations by the timely drafting, delivery, and placement of AAU’s member communications and other related communications products. Supports the department’s media relations and communication campaigns.

 

Allison Hawkins
Communications Assistant
Supports the Vice President for Communications and the Vice President for Survey Research and Institutional Policy as well as related AAU working groups, meetings, and activities related to AAU’s public affairs and institutional policy initiatives. Supports AAU’s Public Affairs Network (PAN) and Chief Academic Officers (CAO) constituent groups.
 

Clyde Fasick
Digital Media Assistant
Supports the Senior Digital Media Officer and helps maintain AAU's digital media footprint by drafting, curating, amplifying, and posting content across its digital platforms. 
 

Office Operations

Roxanne Murray
Senior Vice President for Administration
Provides strategic leadership and management for the association’s priorities. Oversees AAU’s operations, finance, IT, meeting planning, and human resources functions and serves as AAU’s chief diversity officer. Oversees the AAU Membership and the Board’s Audit and Finance Committees and the Chief Diversity Officers constituent group.

 

Tom Bozzo
Chief Information Officer
Responsible for AAU’s technology strategy, operations, and security.
Plans, coordinates, and directs, IT-related activities of the association and provides support for daily operational activities of the IT department through technical leadership and project coordination. 

 

Eileen Fox
Chief Financial Officer
Responsible for implementing and overseeing AAU’s day-to-day financial operations, financial and budgetary reporting, investments, and employee benefits. Staffs the Board’s Audit and Finance Committee.

 

Raquel Kulis
Assistant Vice President for Meetings
Responsible for all logistical planning and on-site management of AAU’s constituent group meetings and various other in-town meetings and events. Staffs the Partners constituent group.

 

Rohan Ahmed
Information Systems Manager
Responsible for planning, implementation, training, and support of organizational technology and data-driven initiatives, systems, and services.

 

Sean King
Human Resources Manager
Responsible for day-to-day tasks supporting AAU’s office operations, including human resource management, benefits, and finance.
 

Vacant
Meetings and Events Coordinator
Responsible for planning and executing AAU’s in-person and virtual constituent meetings, as well as management of AAU’s conference center.

 

Charles Gushue
Office Assistant
Responsible for providing administrative support to the Operations department.