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Steve serves as the Director of the National Higher Education Benchmarking Institute, and comes with more than 25 years of higher education experience, in both two- and four-year institutions.  Formerly the President of Donnelly College, his administrative experience also includes leadership roles in academic, fiscal, and student affairs, as well as human resources and information technology.  As a faculty member, his research and teaching focuses on college access, organizational performance and student success.  

He holds a Ph.D. from Penn State where he served in the Center for the Study of Higher Education.

Michelle Taylor is the Senior Research & Data Analyst at the National Higher Education Benchmarking Institute. She conducts the data collection, analytics and reporting functions for a variety of national community college projects including the National Community College Benchmark Project (NCCBP) and the Cost and Productivity Project and the Workforce Training Benchmark Project.

Before joining the institute, she worked as a Senior Marketing Research Manager at H&R Block as well as led marketing research efforts for several other companies including American Express and American Century Investments.

Additionally, she was a Research Analyst at the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University. At CEDBR, she primarily collected, analyzed and disseminated business, economic and demographic information in addition to maintaining several database including state retail sales database and the information database. She also managed the CEDBR’s Annual Economic Outlook Conference.

Michelle received her MBA with an emphasis in International Business and Marketing from The Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Business from Washburn University.

Scott provides technical support and development for the National Higher Education Benchmarking Institute. Keeping the institute’s website and benchmarking study sites up and running is an important part of Scott’s responsibilities. Helping the institute grow by increasing the capabilities and offerings provided to facilitate the benchmarking research, is his primary focus. Prior to coming to the Benchmarking Institute, Scott spent a majority of his career as a Senior Software Engineer at DST Systems Inc. in Kansas City, primarily creating and supporting customer facing eCommerce applications and websites.

Karen serves as Administrative and Research Assistant for the National Higher Education Benchmarking Institute. She keeps the institute organized and assists with marketing and website content and updates. Prior to joining the Benchmarking Institute, Karen served in Career Services at DeVry University for twelve years in various roles, including Director and Senior Associate Director. Working with company recruiters, teaching Career Development classes, managing at capacity Career Fairs, and automating the office were some of her successes.