UAGC Board of Directors

Nivine Megahed, Chair

Dr. Nivine Megahed is the Chair of the newly formed UAGC Board of Directors. Megahed is a clinical psychologist by training and has more than 30 years of experience making higher education more accessible. A champion of students, she has overseen multiple colleges, universities, and other organizations where she has been an innovator spearheading the development of new educational models and an operator focused on educational quality and student success.

 

Lehman Benson III

Benson is the Co-Chair of Pillar Three of the University of Arizona Strategic Plan, and the Co-Chair of the Eller College Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Benson is also the McClelland Fellow of Management and Organizations at the Eller College and he specializes in research related to judgment and decision-making, organizational justice, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

 

Gail Burd

Burd is the senior vice provost of academic affairs, teaching, and learning at the University of Arizona where she works with campus leaders on programs that advance the academic mission of the university. She is also a Distinguished Professor in molecular and cellular biology. She has served on numerous government panels for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

 

Marc L. Miller

Miller is the dean and Ralph W. Bilby Professor at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. He specializes in environmental law and policy and criminal law and policy and has authored several books and more than 70 articles and essays on environmental, criminal justice, constitutional, immigration, and legal theory topics.

 

Gary Packard

Packard is a retired brigadier general and serves as dean for the University of Arizona College of Applied Science and Technology. Prior to joining the university, Packard was a vice-dean at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and most recently served with the Academy’s Foundation to establish the Institute for Future Conflict focused on cutting-edge academics, research, and training to prepare cadets for 21st Century National Defense.

 

Kerri Briggs

Briggs is a partner in Cicero Group, a data-driven management consulting firm, where she is a member of the Social Impact practice area working with mission-driven organizations and educational institutions to measure, evaluate and implement strategies that realize change and improve outcomes. In previous roles, she served as the founding director of education reform for the George W. Bush Institute, state superintendent for Washington, D.C., assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and, most recently, as education program and policy officer for ExxonMobil.

 

Sean O’Keefe

O’Keefe serves on the faculty of Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs as the Howard and Louise Phanstiel endowed chair in strategic management and leadership. Previously, O’Keefe was chairman and chief executive officer of Airbus Group Inc., the U.S.-based subsidiary of the global Airbus SE aerospace corporation following tenure as Chancellor of Louisiana State University and service in previous Presidential administrations, including appointments as secretary of the Navy and NASA administrator.

 

Ty Smith

Smith founded CommSafe AI, a technology company specializing in disrupting emerging threats of workplace conflict and violence in real-time. He is a retired United States Navy SEAL senior chief who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ashford University and then a Master of Business for Veterans from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.

 

Omar Vasquez

Vasquez is in-house counsel at Vulcan, the family office of the late Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen. Having served six years as a Teach for America high school calculus teacher prior to law school at the University of Arizona, Omar continues his deep civic commitment to education, most recently by founding an annual Pre-Law Diversity Summer Conference, which grants fully-paid LSAT prep courses to promising undergraduate students.