BOARD | STAFF
2024-2025 Board Of Directors
Officers
Directors At-Large (Term expires June 30, 2025)
Directors At-Large (Term expires June 30, 2026)
Liaison Members (Term Expires June 30, 2025)
Staff
James P. Bergeron
President
James P. Bergeron currently serves as President of the National Council of Higher Education Resources (NCHER), which represents a nationwide network of lenders, secondary markets, guaranty agencies, loan servicers, private collection agencies, schools, and others that assist students, borrowers, parents, and families access, manage, and pay for the costs of postsecondary education. The membership includes education finance organizations that administer and service federal education loans and entities that underwrite, administer, and service private education loans.
Prior to joining NCHER, James worked as the Director of Education and Human Services Policy for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. In this capacity, he advised Chairman John Kline, members, and staff, and oversaw policy development on all areas of education and human services programs, including the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Workforce Investment Act, the Head Start Act, and other federal laws governing elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education.
Before joining the Committee in 2006, James served as Legislative Director in California Rep. Buck McKeon’s personal office where he was responsible for developing and implementing the legislative agenda within the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness. He authored important legislative initiatives on college affordability and financial aid simplification. James began his Capitol Hill service almost 20 years ago as a Legislative Assistant to former Louisiana Rep. Bob Livingston, who chaired the House Appropriations Committee.
James also served as Vice President of MARC Associates (now part of Holland & Knight), a government relations firm where he consulted for a number of elementary and secondary education and higher education organizations.
He holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Stefanie Gramm, CMP
Director, Operations & Meetings
Stefanie Gramm is NCHER’s Director of Operations and Meetings, a position she has held since 2003, and is responsible for all logistical aspects for more than 10 meetings and an exhibition each year. She serves as liaison to the Board of Directors, coordinates meeting site research and selection, manages vendor contracts, performs in-house accounting, manages member dues, assists the CFO with budget preparation and auditing, and is the office manager.
Stefanie, who is a certified meeting professional and holds a legal assistant certification from Washington Business School, has more than 20 years of experience and expertise in the meetings and event management arena. Prior to joining NCHER, she was Director of Member Services at IMN Solutions for six years. Stefanie has also worked at GMG Solutions and Pfizer.
Vicki Shipley
Senior Advisor
Vicki Shipley is Senior Advisor to the National Council of Higher Education Resources (NCHER). A 42-year veteran of higher education finance experience, Vicki is staff liaison to many of the NCHER committees and caucuses with a focus on policy development and implementation, compliance as well as regulatory and legislative activities. She held similar positions at the Illinois Student Assistance Commission and Southwest Student Services.
Vicki has a graduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Illinois in Springfield and an undergraduate degree in Accounting from Illinois State University.
Melissa Neal is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma College Assistance Program, an operational division of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and the state’s designated guarantor for the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Before serving as Director, she led the development and delivery of the organization’s financial aid, financial literacy, and student loan management educational products and services.
Randy Heesacker is President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Student Loan Program. He was one of the first employees of the company when it began in 1986 and previously served as Executive Vice President. In that capacity, he supervised many aspects of the agency’s business operations and provided strategic direction for the company. He has 30 years of experience leading and directing guaranty agency and business process outsourcing operations. In 2011, he led the launch of Inceptia, providing student counseling and financial aid processing services directly to institution of higher education. Mr. Heesacker graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.A. with dual majors in business administration and accounting. He is a member of the Nebraska Society of Certified Public Accountants
Dan Fisher currently serves as the President of Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC), which is one of the largest guaranty agencies in the Federal Family Education Loan Program and the designated guarantor for eight states. He oversees all of ECMC’s operational activities as well as student success initiatives, including financial literacy, college access, and national training efforts.
Chad Tate serves as the President of ECMC, accountable for guarantor operations and Project Success. He was previously the Senior Vice President of Operations at ECMC focused on leading positive change and driving efficiency. He has accountability for financial counseling, bankruptcy, claims, default prevention and collections. Prior to ECMC he worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota for 25 years where he oversaw various operations and finance functions including claims, investments, and accounting. He led the business team that implemented the Affordable Care Act.
Terry L. Muilenburg is responsible for representing Strada Education Network’s interests to the federal government, including the legislative and executive branches. She also works with other higher education access groups and studentloan administrators in advancing policies that promote the college preparedness, access, and success of students and families. Prior to becoming Senior Advisor to the President and Chief Executive Officer of Strada Education Network in 2014, she served as Senior Vice President, Government and Industry Relations for its parent company, USA Group, for over 20 years. Before joining USA Group in 1994, Ms. Muilenburg directed the Washington, DC, office of the State of Connecticut for then-Gov. Lowell Weicker. She also served as a key staff member on two U.S. Senate committees that have jurisdiction over higher education: the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies of the Appropriations Committee, as well as the panel now known as the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Additionally, Ms. Muilenburg has represented Strada Education Network on the Board of Directors of the National Council of Higher Education Resources since 2003, and has served on the Board of Directors of the National College Access Network since 2006. She is a graduate, with distinction, of the University of Virginia.
Nathan Hench is Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, Guaranty, and Strategy for the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA). Mr. Hench joined PHEAA in 2005 as Vice President of Legislative and Board Affairs. In his current role, he oversees the Agency's guaranty, strategy, public relations, state legislative affairs, marketing, communications, public service, and state grant, and special program functions.
Wendy H. McAlister serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of College Foundation, Inc. Ms. McAlister graduated from North Carolina State University in 1984 with a baccalaureate degree in accounting. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants. From 1985 until 1993, she worked for the public accounting firm of Koonce, Wooten & Haywood, CPAs in Raleigh, NC. In 1993, Ms. McAlister joined the Foundation as Vice President for Quality Assurance; she assumed responsibility for Financial Services in 1997. From 2003 to 2012, she served in the role of Senior Vice President.
Bill Norbert is the Governmental Affairs and Communications Manager at the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME), where he acts as liaison between the administration, legislature, and other state agencies. He also manages agency media communication initiatives and coordinate responses to inquiries from the press and others. He also is responsible for monitoring and responding to state and federal legislation that may affect the agency. Mr. Norbert develops support for FAME initiatives with various legislators, agencies, stakeholders, and public, as well as conducts legal research and review of legislation and commercial financing projects. Prior to joining FAME, Mr. Norbert was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maine, where he worked in child support enforcement. He also served as a staff attorney at the Disability Rights Center of Maine, was a State Representative in the Maine Legislature for three terms, and a Law Clerk for both the U.S. District Court of Maine and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Mr. Norbert holds a B.A. in political science from Brown University and a J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law.
Bryan Ashton serves as the Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Trellis Company (formerly TG). In this capacity, he is responsible for leading the Higher Education Research and Consulting and Talent Pathway business lines for Trellis. Additionally, he leads Sales and Marketing, Government Affairs, and Community Investment for the organization.
Fred Lundquist is the Vice President of Sales for ConServe, a top performing accounts receivable management company. As a third-party collections agency, ConServe provides its unique synergy of analytics-driven technologies and customized collection services to optimize their clients’ debt collection results, increasing their return on investment.
Rob Lavet is responsible for managing all legal affairs, compliance and government relations for SoFi and its affiliate entities. He also has management responsibility for SoFi’s Internal Audit group. SoFi is a leading online lender based in San Francisco and was named one of the ten top startup companies by CNBC in 2012. SoFi currently originates more than $1 billion per month in consumer credit and has originated more than $25 billion in loans since commencing operations in late 2012, including student loan refinance loans to early career professionals, mortgage loans and unsecured personal loans. He has been instrumental in SoFi’s asset backed securitization program and has also led numerous transactions involving the sale of loan portfolios to depository institutions. At SoFi, he has built a compliance team from the ground up and was instrumental in establishing a business development function that accounts for approximately 20 percent of loan originations.
As Immediate Credit Recovery’s Senior Vice President of Business Development and Operations, Phillip oversees the development and administration of ICR’s business outsourcing programs, taking client objectives and goals and successfully executing them with a high degree of efficiency to exceed expectations. Phillip possesses a unique blend and depth of higher education expertise that spans 30+ years of work with high-volume, high balance student loan portfolios and includes the entire student loan life cycle: financial aid office, student loan servicing, guarantor, and account receivables services.
Christiana Thornton became the fourth President and Chief Executive Officer of Granite Edvance (formerly The NHHEAF Network Organizations) in November of 2018, after serving briefly as President and CEO-Elect. She was a member of the Board of Directors of NHHELCO from 2010, including serving on NHHELCO’s Audit Committee, until her appointment as President and CEO-Elect in October 2018.