Lynn Gangone Named Next President and CEO of AACTE

Lynn Gangone
Dr. Lynn M. Gangone

As chair of the AACTE Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce that effective June 1, the next president and CEO of AACTE will be Dr. Lynn M. Gangone. She was selected by unanimous decision of the Executive Search Committee following an extensive search process that involved the Board, staff, and our soon-to-retire President/CEO Sharon P. Robinson. Please join me in welcoming her to AACTE!

Gangone has exemplary strengths in four core areas important to AACTE:

Advocacy and Public Policy
Gangone’s most substantial advocacy experience was during her tenure at the Maryland Independent College and University Association. She partnered with the 16 universities in Maryland and led their advocacy efforts in the state as well as at the national level. Specifically, she focused on issues related to educator preparation and accreditation, curriculum development, and reauthorization of the federal Higher Education Act.

Influencing and Building Relationships
An accomplished relationship builder, Gangone brings a diversity of professional experiences that enable her to relate well with a wide variety of audiences. She has had experience across academia, including as a professor, dean of students, dean of a college, and roles in fund-raising and development. Her work in leadership development and her personal passion around providing education opportunities to all have given Gangone an opportunity to expand the reach of her network. She has served on national boards and possesses the credibility and gravitas to naturally build relationships and influence others. She excels at providing intellectual leadership and fostering an entrepreneurial environment of creativity and innovation.

Communications
Gangone is an outstanding communicator who conveys a passion for education and for the importance of high-quality educator preparation programs. Her speaking style is poised, articulate, and substantive and conveys a sense of authority. She will make a very strong external representative for AACTE. As the first in her family to go to college, Gangone also has an inspiring personal story, and her life’s work reveals a clear commitment to creating opportunities for women and students of diverse backgrounds.

Managing Programs and Performance
Gangone has a proven record of strengthening organizational structure, systems, and business practices that bodes well for her ability to serve the Association’s mission. She has demonstrated an ability to ensure all activities and programs meet the highest standards of ethics, governance, and transparency and align with the Association’s core values. She knows how to support a culture focused on results and accountability, so that organizational objectives and defined goals are accomplished and celebrated. Gangone also understands the value of ensuring the Association continues to embrace and implement digital technology and social media to strengthen its engagement with critical constituencies such as local school systems, educators, and strategic partners.

Gangone’s professional biography reads as follows:

Dr. Lynn Gangone is a seasoned higher education leader with both campus- and association-based senior leadership experience. Prior to her appointment as president and CEO of AACTE, she served as vice president at the American Council on Education (ACE), where she and her team guided ACE’s suite of programs, products, and services for current and future higher education leaders. She consults, writes, and speaks on higher education leadership, advancement of underrepresented men and women, strategic planning, and change management.

She served as dean of Colorado Women’s College, University of Denver, one of 12 deans and 7 vice chancellors within a private doctoral/research university dedicated to the public good. Gangone’s faculty appointment was at the clinical professor rank at the University’s Morgridge College of Education. Prior, she was a visiting professor of higher education at the George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development (DC). As vice president of the Maryland Independent College and University Association, she led the association’s academic policy and related lobbying work, with specific oversight of teacher education and accreditation in the independent college sector. She has also served as executive director of the National Association for Women in Education, and as vice president of development, as well as vice president/dean of students, at Centenary University (NJ). As a faculty member, campus senior administrator, association executive, and lobbyist and policy analyst, Gangone brings a unique perspective to her work.

Gangone’s research and publications include “Benchmarking Women’s Leadership in Academia and Beyond” in Women and Leadership in Higher Education (2014); Is Discrimination the Reason Why More Women are Not in Leadership Roles? in The Shriver Report (2013); “Higher Education Resource Services: Revolutionary Leadership Development” in Rethinking Leadership in a Complex, Multicultural, and Global Environment: New Concepts and Models for Higher Education (2009); “National Association for Women in Education: An Enduring Legacy” in Journal About Women in Higher Education (2008); and “Meeting the Leadership Challenges of the 21st Century: An Evaluation of a National Leadership Institute” in Initiatives: the Journal of NAWE (2000). She also served as an editor and contributor to Benchmarking Women’s Leadership in the United States 2013 and delivered a 2013 TEDx talk based on that report. Her most recent works include “Reflections on Advancing Women in Higher Education”in ACE’s The Presidency, “Confronting the Myths Surrounding Women’s Advancement” in the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ Liberal Education, and “Commentary: The Link Between Presidential Ideology and State Policy” in Public Administration Review.

Gangone received an Ed.D. and M.Ed. in higher and postsecondary administration, with a concentration in organizations and leadership, from Teachers College, Columbia University (NY); an M.S. and C.A.S. in counseling psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York; and a B.A. in political science from the College of New Rochelle. She was a member of the class of 2010 Harvard Institute for Educational Management (MA) and is certified through Trustee Leadership Development. She is also a member of the Colorado and Washington, DC, chapters of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) and served as Colorado’s 2013 president; she has served the IWF Leadership Foundation as a fellows mentor. Some of the many honors she has received include Twenty-Five Most Powerful Women in Colorado, Women of Distinction—Girl Scouts of Colorado, Women Making History—Colorado Black Women for Political Action, Diamond Honoree—American College Personnel Association, and the Ursula Laurus Alumnae Award from the College of New Rochelle. She serves on the national board of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

In partnership with members like you, Gangone will work to increase the visibility of AACTE and the relevance of teacher preparation programs across a range of stakeholders including government, business and nonprofit leadership, and the public. She is well equipped to communicate and support the Association’s mission to champion preparation that ensures the effectiveness, diversity, and readiness of professional educators to serve all students.

I am confident that she will continue to build on what we have established as a member organization under the exemplary leadership of Sharon Robinson. Please join me in welcoming Lynn Gangone!


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Renée A. Middleton

Ohio University