Our Higher Education Consultants at The Change Leader Have Over 150 Years of Cumulative Higher Education Expertise Working with Colleges and Universities to Improve Their Institutions
Drumm is the founder and CEO of The Change Leader, Inc., working with college and university leadership, management, and boards to improve their institution and overcome their challenges.
In addition to managing the firm, Drumm consults on board and shared governance, accreditation, strategic planning, change management, organizational redesign, academic realignment, and mergers and alliances.
Verna Donovan is a strategic brand marketer with more than 30 years of experience leading corporate and nonprofit teams, both in-house and as a consultant. She partners with mid-sized organizations that want to elevate their marketing, strengthen their brand, and improve organizational effectiveness. Known for challenging the status quo and building respected, high-performing teams, Verna is passionate about creating strong brands and fostering collaborative, results-driven partnerships.
Verna focuses on strategic branding, marketing and consumer insights, supported by a team of designers and writers. Previously, she led high-performing marketing and branding teams at Loyola Marymount University (Jesuit) in Los Angeles and at DePaul University (Vincentian) in Chicago (twice), and served as an Executive Board Member for DePaul College Prep. Earlier in her career, she was a brand strategist at Prophet, Inc., where she advised clients across healthcare, consumer products and services, investment banking, and defense contracting. She began her career at Information Resources Inc. (IRI), an international consumer market research firm, where she rose to Vice President of New Product Solutions.
She earned her BBA from the University of Iowa and an MSA in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
Dr. William "Brit" Kirwan
William E. “Brit” Kirwan, Ph.D., is chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland (USM). He is a nationally recognized authority on critical issues facing higher education. He served as chancellor of the University System of Maryland (2002-2015), president of the Ohio State University (1998-2002) and president of the University of Maryland, College Park (1988-1998). Prior to his presidency, he was a member of the University of Maryland mathematics faculty for 24 years.
Among Dr. Kirwan’s many honors is the 2010 TIAA-CREF Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence. Considered one of the nation’s top higher education honors, this award recognizes outstanding leadership in higher education and contributions to the greater good. He was recently named as the latest recipient of the Peter McPherson Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Public and Land-Grant Universities, an award that honors individuals who have dedicated their careers to the leadership and service of public higher education and land-grant universities. He also has received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Kentucky, the Ohio State University and the Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. David Turbow is an expert in institutional research and building assessment programs. A graduate of WSCUC’s Assessment Leadership Academy, he has built best practice assessment programs (programmatic review and assessment, rubrics, co-curricular effectiveness, and ePortfolio) to assist institutions in achieving regional accreditation.
He has worked with multiple universities throughout his 25-year career, and has co-authored multiple research articles and given conference presentations on assessment. He holds a PhD in Environmental Health Science and Policy from the University of California, Irvine; a MS in Environmental Science from California State Fullerton, and a BS in Biological Sciences from the University of California Santa Barbara.
Dr. Jim O’Connor has 23 years of academic experience as a professor, program director, and department head with significant experience in curriculum and online program development.
At Delaware Valley University, he created a Media and Communication major with a digital-first philosophy, preparing students to work in the twenty-first-century digital media environment. As Department Head of the Communication and Media Studies program at Southeastern Louisiana University, he rebuilt the major into a career-focused, portfolio-driven program. Dr. O’Connor also assisted in the design of a state-of-the-art television production building. He has a Ph.D. in Mass Media and Communication from Temple University.
Jim began his career as an Army officer, a commercial banker at Irving Trust Company, and a management consultant at REL Consulting Group. He left the business world to pursue a writing career becoming a reporter for The New York Times and a playwright with productions of his plays in independent theatres in Manhattan. His business and journalism experience seeded his interest in teaching, curricular innovation, and strategic design in higher education. Dr. O’Connor has built successful teams throughout his career by capitalizing on each individual’s unique skills and passions.
Bill Crouch has spent 40 years helping nonprofits and organizations transform fundraising from a transactional process into a catalyst for lasting change through the Art of Fundraising, his guiding principle that blends creativity, storytelling, and human connection with data-backed fundraising strategies.
His career includes former president of Georgetown College, and VP of Development at multiple colleges and universities. He founded BrightDot Funding Advisors, the premier fundraising consulting firm in the US, and is a published author and Honorary Fellow at Oxford University,
Bill’s work is rooted in the belief that giving isn’t an obligation, it’s an opportunity to change lives. He has trained leaders nationwide to create a ripple effect of generosity that fuels impact far beyond a single donation.
Carter earned an MA in Program Administration and Evaluation and a BA in Organizational Communication from CSU Chico. She has a professional background in education, renewable energy, and program evaluation and holds multiple professional certifications, including Professional Contracts Manager, Project Management Professional (PMP©), Business Analysis, Sustainable Development Practitioner, Green Building and Sustainable Design, Sustainability Performance Metrics, and a Train-the-Trainer Special Certification in Environmental Justice.
Prof. Dr. Olgun Cicek is an expert in international Quality Assurance Systems and Accreditation processes in global higher education. He has worked in these areas for over 25 years, in areas that include Europe, Mediterranean, Middle East, Far East and in the USA. He serves for Quality Assurance Agencies for their restructuring, development, as well as internationalization processes and also for Higher Education Institutions in their quality enhancement, accreditation, ranking policies and practices globally.
He serves as an Executive Board Member and Advisory Board Member for CEENQA, IQA, YÖDAK. He is an international reviewer and evaluator on internal and external quality assurance and accreditation processes for program and institutional level for many quality assurance agencies (i.e., QAA, NVAO, AQAS etc.) within Europe and worldwide. He is also serving as an advisory board member, accreditation committee member and international strategic council member (QM, BAC, NAQA etc.) for many agencies while participating in Quality Assurance related projects within the EU as well as World Bank.
Dr. Albert Schram has deep experience in international higher education. A Dutch-Italian economic historian, he has worked in executive positions at multiple institutions, including Academic Director at Zuyd University (Netherlands), Knowledge Transfer and Grants Director at Maastricht University (Netherlands), and President of Papua New Guinea’s University of Technology. He developed an intimate knowledge of all European Commission grant programs, and increased revenue substantially.
Dr. Schram has built and led several high-performance executive teams over the course of his career and was named a Fellow of the Center for Studies in Higher Education of the University of California Berkeley. He currently lives in Singapore.