Board of Directors

Danny Finuf
Brown Mackie Colleges (EDMC)
Cincinnati, OH

Danny Finuf serves as President of Brown Mackie Colleges (EDMC) which currently consists of 20 campus locations in 10 states. Prior to his appointment as President of Brown Mackie College, Finuf served as Group Vice President, Regional Vice President and Regional Campus President. Prior to joining Brown Mackie College (EDMC), Finuf served as Vice President of Administrative Services for Spartan College of Aeronautics in Tulsa, OK. Finuf sits on the Management Committee for EDMC, serves as a board of trustee member for the Brown Mackie College Kansas locations and has previously served on the board of trustees for American Education Centers.

Piper Jameson
Lincoln Educational Services
West Orange, NJ

Piper Jameson serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Lincoln Educational Services with online education and 42 schools nationwide. She has over 16 years’ experience in the Internet lead generation field. Jameson’s responsibilities include strategic branding, Internet marketing, direct-response lead generation and commercial production. Her marketing experience is balanced with a strong financial background, as she previously served in Phoenix, AZ, on the Ritz-Carlton Hotels’ executive team as financial controller and as a financial analyst for American Express early in her career. She has numerous direct-marketing awards, including two Emmys for direct-response commercials. She holds a B.S. in Business Management and a B.S. in Marketing and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Strategic Communications and Leadership from Seton Hall University.

Dr. Patricia Kapper
Education Corporation of America
Birmingham, AL

Patricia Kapper, Ed.D., grew up in a small town in northwestern Wisconsin and received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She began her teaching career in Kenosha, WI, teaching at the high school and later at the technical college. Over time, she took on various administrative roles in the Wisconsin technical college system, the most recent being that of Dean of Business and Graphic Arts at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

In addition to her bachelor’s degree, Pat also holds a M.S.T. and an Ed.D. in Adult Education. These credentials prepared her for her role as Dean of Academic Affairs at DeVry Institute of Technology in Addison, IL, and for her position of Sr. Vice President of Education at Career Education Corporation, a private for-profit system of 81 career colleges around the world.

Pat has enhanced her professional growth through involvement in various professional and civic organizations. These have included President of the Wisconsin Vocational Association, Vice President of the American Vocational Association, and member of the Kiwanis Club.

Tracy Kreikemeier
PlattForm Advertising
Lenexa, KS

Tracy Kreikemeier works with the Client Services, PR & Marketing departments of PlattForm to develop and implement highly successful, cost-effective advertising plans for a client base of nearly 4,000 campus locations across the United States and Canada. She also leads new product development and speaks as an industry expert at both investor conferences and state and national education conferences. Kreikemeier has been with PlattForm for almost 10 years and was formerly the Vice President of Client Services. Tracy holds a degree in Communication Studies with an Emphasis in Public Relations from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. She has been a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) since 1998. She was recently included on Kansas City Business Magazine's fourth annual list of the 33 Most Influential Women in Kansas City.

Jon Liebman
Specs Howard School of Media Arts
Southfield, MI

Jon Liebman has worked in higher education for 20 years and currently serves as the Chairman/CEO of the Specs Howard School of Media Arts in Southfield, Mich. He was recently the vice chairman of the Career College Association in Washington. He is also past president of the Michigan Association of Career Colleges & Schools and former chairman of the Southfield Area Chamber of Commerce. In 2005, Liebman was appointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm to the Michigan Higher Education Authority. Liebman has a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media from Wayne State University in Detroit and a Master of Music degree in Studio Music & Jazz from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.

Robert L. Martin
Imagine America Foundation
Washington, D.C.

Robert L. Martin was appointed President of the Imagine America Foundation in March 2006. The Foundation, which is the preeminent scholarship provider and research-funding organization for the career education sector, came under his direction in 1999 when it was then known as the Career Training Foundation. As the Foundation began to increase its operations and responsibilities, Martin earned eventual appointment to President.

Through Martin's leadership, the non-profit organization has become its own influential organization in the career college realm. Once the in-house research body under the Career College Association, the Foundation has considerably expanded its member schools and charitable donors and has established its own identity as an independent organization. Today, the Foundation supports more than 500 career college members across the United States and Puerto Rico. The Foundation, through financial support from the 21st Century Workforce Fund, has initiated research studies focused on the impact of career colleges, their role in meeting the nation’s current skilled-worker shortage and other broad public policy issues facing the higher education sector. The Foundation has also provided more than $50 million in scholarship and award support for graduating high school seniors, adult learners and U.S. military veterans attending career colleges nationwide.

Before joining the Foundation, Martin was an independent consultant serving both public- and private-sector clients. He assisted with government relations, marketing and business development service initiatives for national trade associations, major textbook publishers, educational software developers, computer hardware manufacturers and Internet service providers.

Prior to his consulting work, Martin attained senior positions at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and as the Vice President/Executive Director of the Center for Workforce Preparation. His involvement led the Chamber to create the Center and develop a national outreach program that now serves the more than 3,000 state and local chambers of commerce nationwide. Martin also worked extensively with senior-level officials at the U.S. Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, as well as the White House and other leading business/trade associations. He directed all research and public policy activities in these areas.

In addition, Martin was selected to serve on the personal staff of Congressman Robert W. Daniel of Virginia. He also spent five years in state government: three working for the governor's office in the State of Indiana directing state manpower programs and two as a senior staff associate at the National Governors Association in Washington.

Martin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and Business Administration from Central Michigan University and a Master's of Public Administration from Indiana University.

Keith Zakarin
Duane Morris, LLP
San Diego, CA

Keith Zakarin is a lawyer and partner at Duane Morris, LLP. He is the Chair of Duane Morris' Education Practice Group. For the last 18 years, Keith's entire practice has been dedicated to the representation of private postsecondary schools and colleges. His representation of our sector coast-to-coast includes every aspect of law that touches our businesses, including student and employee litigation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory and administrative counseling and litigation, political advocacy, accreditation matters, unfair competition, taxation and corporate law, insurance, employment counseling, and risk management. He is also General Counsel of the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools and the American Association of Cosmetology Schools.

Keith's understanding of our sector goes well beyond purely legal concerns. He assists clients in all aspects of school operations, including admissions, accreditation, retention, financial aid and auditing, and accounting matters. A school operator himself, Keith and his wife Jo own a nationally accredited career college in San Diego, California.

Keith is a 1986 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law and a summa cum laude graduate of the University of California at San Diego.