UEDA’s Board of Director’s is a group of committed individuals who work at all levels of higher education, including chancellors, presidents, directors, managers and professors. Each member brings their unique perspective and experience to round out our leadership and inform the direction of the organization. Those institutions and organizations who currently allow their employees to serve on the Board comprise the UEDA Leadership Council.

Executive Committee

Rebecca is the Chief Corporate Engagement & Economic Development Officer at Kansas State University Innovation Partners, where she leads the organization’s corporate engagement and economic development efforts, including the university/community economic development partnership, Knowledge-Based Economic Development, LLC in Manhattan, KS.

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Russell W. Mills, Ph.D. is the Senior Director of the Center for Regional Development at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). Dr. Mills leads CRD’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) University Center program that provides technical assistance, data, analytics, and applied research to local businesses and economic development professionals. He has significant expertise and experience in demographic and economic data analysis, economic impact analysis, economic development planning processes, workforce development initiatives, and grant writing.

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Dominique Halaby, D.P.A. is the Associate Provost for Innovation and Commercialization & Founding Director of the Business Innovation Group (BIG) at Georgia Southern University. BIG includes the Center for Business Analytics and Economic Research, Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership, Small Business Development Center, Innovation Incubator and Fab Lab. In 2015, BIG was recognized as a Gold Award Winner in Entrepreneurship by the IEDC.

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Marcela (Marce) Zuchovicki is the founder of Jalima Coffee, Jalima Aranis and Jalima & Associates. Her passion for helping individuals and small businesses, as well as her background in working for large corporations and internationally renowned not-for-profits, created the desire to own businesses that would assist companies with business planning, strategic and financial solutions for their accounting and bookkeeping needs, as well as provide growth and quality control methodologies. 

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Margo leads facilitation, strategic planning, and client services for CED. Previously, she served as CED’s Lead Analyst and worked in the education sector for numerous school districts and universities in California and Alaska, as well as served as a VISTA volunteer with UCLA BruinCorps.

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Members-At-Large

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Ms. Golemi is the Director of the EDA University Center at Georgia Tech. The University Center (UC) program is specifically designed to marshal the resources located within colleges and universities to support regional economic development strategies in regions of chronic and acute economic distress. She is also Senior Research Faculty at Georgia Tech.

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Matt Hebb is an Atlantic Canadian leader, with a proven ability to bring together partners and organizations on transformative and innovative projects across the region.

Matt joined Dalhousie University in 2013 and serves on the executive team as Assistant Vice-president, Government Relations and Economic Development, where he co-leads Dalhousie’s strategic priority to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity.

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Mr. Rod McSherry is the Associate Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Mr. McSherry oversees the Institute for Economic Development and the Office of Commercialization and Innovation and manages a staff of over 140.

His mission includes expanding the reach of current programs, building new relationships with stakeholders, and developing new funding sources, both from the public and the private sectors.

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Dr. Teresa Merriweather Orok is an expert on economic and business innovation. While her career spans more than 30 years of experience across grants, government contract management, economic development, government, and higher education, she currently serves as the inaugural Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Development at Alabama A&M University.

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Mary Frances Postupack is the Vice President for Economic Development and Research Support at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. She manages the ESU division of Research and Economic Development (RED) which includes an award-winning Business Accelerator Program, the Office of Workforce Development, Entrepreneurial Leadership Center, and the Office of Sponsored Projects and Research which secured in excess of $38 million from FY02-11. Mary Frances has over 20 years of experience in the areas of education, business, community and economic development. She received a BS from the Pennsylvania State University, M.Ed. from East Stroudsburg University, and Corporate Entrepreneurship Certification from Lehigh University. She is a certified Stephen Covey Trainer and was recognized as one of the top 25 women in business in NE PA by the Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal.

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Jeffrey Sachse is the Interim Director of CCRS.  In this role he is responsible for providing research and development support for several university initiatives, including the Oshkosh Community Success Coalition, Forum for Innovation, and Wisconsin Aerospace Partners.  He also works closely with the Center for Customized Research Services to serve a variety of client and partner needs. He is passionate about the developing the data analytics capacity of the University and broader region.  Finally, Mr. Sachse is affiliated with the Department of Public Administration and Office of Continuing Education through several teaching assignments.

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Lenore VanderZee is the Executive Director for University Relations at the State University of New York at Canton, where she oversees economic development initiatives (including the Small Business Development Center), public & community relations, and government relations. She is the campuslead for the creation of an innovative community-serving Entrepreneurship Center in downtown Canton. She is passionate about rural economic development and placemaking in her beloved North Country New York region.

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