BHEF Announces New Leadership ― Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. to serve as chair and Eduardo J. Padrón to be vice chair

Washington, D.C. (June 19, 2014) — Today, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) inducted its new leadership for 2014-2015 during its summer member meeting. Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., president and CEO, TIAA-CREF, will lead the organization as its new chair, and Eduardo J. Padrón, president, Miami Dade College, will serve as vice chair. Ferguson succeeds Barbara R. Snyder, president, Case Western Reserve University, as BHEF chair.

“BHEF and our members are committed to collaborating to maximize BHEF’s impact on improving higher education outcomes and addressing U.S. workforce challenges,” stated BHEF CEO Brian Fitzgerald. “Barbara’s leadership over the past year has led to the development of undergraduate programs in data science and analytics and a groundbreaking scaling approach that will produce a diverse, highly skilled talent pool in emerging fields. In fall 2014, Case Western Reserve University will launch a distinctive undergraduate degree program in data science that will prepare graduates to fill workforce needs for data scientists in a variety of industries. We are most grateful for her generosity of time and resources.”

Ferguson added, “Barbara has greatly expanded BHEF’s National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative, making it an innovative model for aligning undergraduate education with workforce needs in nearly every field—including health care, energy, and manufacturing. Throughout her tenure, Barbara’s enduring commitment has enhanced BHEF’s impact and strengthened its recognition as a world-class organization. I look forward to continuing BHEF’s tradition of creating and advancing solutions for America’s graduates and workforce.”

“This is an exciting time to be part of BHEF,” declared Padrón. “The organization’s groundbreaking model of strategic business engagement is providing evidence-based solutions to address our nation’s critical workforce challenges. Barbara created a tremendous legacy of leadership, and I look forward to working with Roger to continue that rich tradition.”

About Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.

Roger Ferguson is President and Chief Executive Officer of TIAA-CREF.

Mr. Ferguson is the former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. He represented the Federal Reserve on several international policy groups and served on key Federal Reserve System committees, including Payment System Oversight, Reserve Bank Operations, and Supervision and Regulation. As the only Governor in Washington, D.C. on 9/11, he led the Fed’s initial response to the terrorist attacks, taking actions that kept the U.S. financial system functioning while reassuring the global financial community that the U.S. economy would not be paralyzed.

Prior to joining TIAA-CREF in April 2008, Mr. Ferguson was head of financial services for Swiss Re, Chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation, and a member of the company’s executive committee. From 1984 to 1997, he was an Associate and Partner at McKinsey & Company. He began his career as an attorney at the New York City office of Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Mr. Ferguson is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and a member of the Academy’s Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. He serves on the board of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and on the advisory board of Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP.  He served on the board of directors of Audax Health until it was sold to Optum in early 2014.

He is a board member of the Committee on Economic Development, the American Council of Life Insurers, the Institute for Advanced Study, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is chairman of the Economic Club of New York and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Group of Thirty.

Mr. Ferguson serves on the Congressional Budget Office’s Panel of Economic Advisers. He served on President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness as well as its predecessor, the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and he co-chaired the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on the Long-Run Macro-Economic Effects of the Aging U.S. Population.

Mr. Ferguson holds a B.A., J.D., and a Ph.D. in economics, all from Harvard University.

Please visit www.tiaa-cref.org for more information.

About Eduardo J. Padrón

Eduardo J. Padrón is president of Miami Dade College.

An American by choice, Eduardo Padrón arrived in the United States as a refugee at age 15. Since 1995, he has served as President of Miami Dade College, a national model of student achievement and the largest institution of higher education in America, with more than 175,000 students.

An economist by training, Dr. Padrón earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. In 2009, Time magazine included him among the “10 Best College Presidents” in the United States; in 2010, Florida Trend magazine named him “Floridian of the Year”; and in 2011, The Washington Post recognized him as one of the eight most influential college presidents in the country. In addition, the Carnegie Corporation of New York granted him its prestigious Centennial Academic Leadership Award; he is the first college president to receive the National Citizen Service Award from Voices for National Service; he has been named an Ascend Fellow by the Aspen Institute; and he is the recipient of the Hesburgh Award, the highest honor in U.S. higher education.

During his career, Dr. Padrón has been selected to serve on posts of national prominence by six American Presidents, including his appointment by President Obama to chair the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. His energetic leadership extends to many of the nation’s leading organizations. He is former chair of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education and the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
 
Dr. Padrón is widely recognized as one of the top educational leaders in the world. He serves on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Business/Higher Education Forum, the League for Innovation (former chair), RC-2020, the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center, the White House Fellows Selection Panel (chair), and the International Association of University Presidents. He has held leadership positions on the American Academy of Arts & Sciences/Humanities Commission and on the boards of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (chair), the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Campus Compact, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. He is also the immediate past Board Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Miami Branch.

President Padrón’s transformational accomplishments at Miami Dade College have been acknowledged by the national media, including The New York Times, NBC Nightly News, Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He has received some of the most prestigious awards in and out of academia and more than 15 honorary doctorates from leading universities such as Rollins, Princeton and Brown. He is also the recipient of highest honors by the governments of foreign nations, including France, which named him Commandeur in the Ordre des Palms Académiques; Argentina, which awarded him the Order of San Martin; and Spain, whose King Juan Carlos II bestowed upon him the Order of Queen Isabella.

Please visit www.mdc.edu for more information.