NCL Members, I’m pleased to forward to you the announcement of CEF’s next Executive Director, Sheryl Cohen. Structurally, CEF is continuing the practice of outsourcing the management of CEF to a firm, so technically we have hired Sheryl’s firm, ACG, and Sheryl has been assigned to serve as CEF’s Executive Director under this contract. As most of you know, I’ve been serving as CEF’s treasurer this year and was involved in just about every excruciating detail of the search and hiring process, right down to the final contract negotiation. I was really impressed with Sheryl right from the start, and having met with her a couple of times since then, I’m convinced that she has both the talent and the desire to be a great ED for CEF, and a great advocate for federal education investments in general. And I think she appreciates the diversity of groups that make up CEF, including the smaller, lesser known members, like ours — and, like Joel, I am confident she will be as attentive to us as she will be to CEF's bigger, higher-profile members. Happy to talk more about this with you all next week. For the next two weeks the lack of CEF updates being forwarded to you will, for once, not be my fault, as the board is planning to release just one comprehensive e-mail update — sometime next week — before Sheryl starts on June 1. There may be a few updates regarding the presidential forum or other announcements, but you can expect no more than one of those long updates that Joel regularly sent out between now and then. Jeff > Begin forwarded message: > > From: "Motley, Makese S." <motleym@aascu.org> > Subject: New CEF Executive Director > Date: May 17, 2016 at 4:19:59 PM EDT > To: "'CEFMembersList@cef.org'" <CEFMembersList@cef.org> > > May 17, 2016 > > > > Dear Fellow CEF Member, > > In September of last year the CEF membership learned that our outstanding and beloved Executive Director Joel Packer would retire in the spring on 2016. The officers, working in conjunction with the Board of Directors, created the Transition Advisory Committee (TAC) to examine CEF’s current organizational structure along with projected future needs. During this process we reviewed CEF’s history, the current political climate and, most importantly, CEF’s culture--a culture that prides itself on teamwork, congeniality and professional development. The process to identify a new Executive Director was extensive and extremely thorough but I’m happy to announce today that CEF has signed a contract with Sheryl Cohen of ACG Consulting <http://www.acg-consultants.com/> to be CEF’s next Executive Director. Sheryl and ACG will officially start working for CEF on June 1st. > > Sheryl is a veteran Senate staffer who previously served as Senator Chris Dodd’s Chief of Staff from 1999-2008. In addition, she managed his Presidential campaign from January 2007 to January 2008. While working as a Senate Chief of Staff her responsibilities included the Senator’s chairmanship of the Committee on Banking as well as the Senator’s work on the Senate HELP committee. She managed a staff of 75 and was responsible for the development and strategic execution of all policy, communications and office management. She oversaw a budget of nearly 6 million dollars, and was responsible for all hiring and staff management. She is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and attended the Georgetown University Graduate School of Foreign Service. She and ACG, working with the CEF membership, will bring the same energy and passion to this work that we’ve all come to expect. > > I would also like to express my gratitude to Robert Raben and the staff of the Raben Group. The decision to move forward with another firm was extremely difficult for the CEF Board. When The Raben Group assumed the management of the CEF contract in 2009 with Joel at the helm, CEF was in a serious financial condition. Without the work of The Raben staff, CEF would not have achieved its current healthy financial standing of today. We are eternally grateful for their work and look forward to maintaining a productive relationship with them in the future, including as we honor Joel with the Charles Wilson Lee Citizen Service award at this year’s Gala. > > Finally, I would like to thank the TAC and the co-chairs Myrna Mandlawitz and Jacki Ball along with the CEF Board of Directors. Since last fall, an enormous number of volunteer hours were expended by both the TAC and the Board of Directors on the task of finding and hiring a new Executive Director. This was not easy work and many people stepped forward to devote their time and energy to bring this process to a close. > > Over the next couple of months CEF will be in a slight period of transition as we bring on a new Executive Director and firm. I ask for your understanding and patience as we all get to know Sheryl and the ACG team and they learn more about us as a coalition. Please make an effort to lend your support to them and welcome them with the same cordiality that you would extend to any new CEF member. We are excited to begin the next chapter of CEF with this great team. If you have any questions about the search process and transition, please feel free to reach out to me or any of the CEF officers. > > Sincerely, > > Makese Motley (on behalf of the officers) > > President > > Committee on Education Funding > > > > Makese Motley > Assistant Director Of Federal Relations > American Association of State Colleges and Universities > 1307 New York Avenue NW 5th Floor > Washington, DC 20005 > Direct Line: 202-478-4652 > Fax-202-296-5819