Leadership

We are not theorists.

Our co-directors have sat in the president’s chair and the boardroom, and led institutions through mergers, affiliations, and integrations — often under the very conditions our peers now face. That experience is the heart of the Center.

Dean Hoke — Managing Partner, Edu Alliance Group

Dean is a devoted advocate for the nation’s small colleges. A Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute, he focuses on higher-education policy, rural economic development, and the role of small colleges in community transformation. He is Executive Producer and co-host of the national podcast Small College America.

Hoke served on the Board of the American Association of University Administrators and later President/CEO. He lived and worked in the UAE, holding positions at Khalifa University and the Higher Colleges of Technology. Dean began his career at Bellarmine University and later in public broadcasting. In Alaska, while President and CEO of KAKM-TV, he led one of the first mergers of public broadcasting stations. An accomplished writer and speaker, he has been published in The Chronicle of Higher Education and U.S. News & World Report, among others, and has also presented internationally.

Education: BA, Urbana University; MS, University of Louisville.

Dr. Chet Haskell — Partner & Co-Director

Chet recently completed six and a half years as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and University Provost at Antioch University, where he played a central role in integrating the institution academically and structurally and in creating the Coalition for the Common Good with Otterbein University, where he had served as Vice President for Graduate Programs.

Earlier, he held senior positions at Harvard University, including Associate Dean of the Kennedy School of Government, and later served as Dean of the College at Simmons College in Boston. He went on to serve as President of both the Monterey Institute of International Studies — now part of Middlebury College — and Cogswell Polytechnical College, leading both institutions through successful mergers.

Education: DPA and MPA, University of Southern California; MA, University of Virginia; AB cum laude, Harvard University.

Dr. Barry Ryan — Partner & Co-Director

Barry has served as President of five universities and as Provost and Chief of Staff at three others, spanning state, private nonprofit, and private for-profit institutions. A Supreme Court Fellow in the chambers of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, he is a member of several federal and state bars and served two terms as a Commissioner for WASC (WSCUC).

He has led institutions through mergers, acquisitions, and affiliations that preserved academic quality, expanded access, and strengthened long-term viability. His leadership is marked by transparency, shared governance, and a deep commitment to stakeholder engagement.

Education: Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara; J.D., University of California, Berkeley; Dipl.GB in international business, University of Oxford.

Talk with the people who have done this

Start a private, obligation-free conversation about your institution’s path forward.

Start a confidential conversation