J. William Brooks, Jr.
Chancellor & Chief Executive Officer Salem International University
Mr. Brooks is an experienced CEO with demonstrated success in managing both the day to day operations and strategic functions of regionally accredited colleges. He served as President and Chief Operations Officer of Education Management Corporation from 2003 to 2006.
Prior to this Mr. Brooks was Chief Executive Officer of American Education Centers which was sold to Education Management Corporation.
From 1987 to 1995 he was Senior Vice President of NEC/Spartan School of Aeronautics where he was responsible for establishing and implementing new curriculum, financial planning and marketing objectives.
Mr. Brooks graduated summa cum laude from Phillips University with a degree in Business Administration.
Gerard M. Francois is a principal of The Palmer Group. He is involved in business acquisitions as well as assisting operating managers of the Company’s investment portfolio. Prior to joining The Palmer Group in 1993, he was a Vice President of Finance with the school portfolio of AEA Investors Inc.
Mr. Francois was with Macmillan Inc. from 1984 to 1991 where he worked in the internal audit department for two years planning and performing operational/financial audits of corporate subsidiaries. In 1986 he became Controller of The Katharine Gibbs Schools where he was responsible for preparing all financial operating reports to corporate management. The Macmillan school group was sold in 1989. Mr. Francois stayed with Macmillan and was promoted to Director of Finance and Administration of Delran Information Services Center, Macmillan’s data processing division. He was a member of the team that managed the migration of Macmillan’s data processing to the mainframe of a recent acquisition, Official Airline Guide, Inc. in Oakbrook, Illinois.
From 1980 to 1984, Mr. Francois was a member of the audit staff with Coopers & Lybrand.
Gerard Francois graduated with a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Seton Hall University. Additionally, he is a graduate of The University of Scranton with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management.
Robert E. Keith, Jr. is a Managing Director of TL Ventures, a $1.4 billion group of venture capital funds focused on technology services and software communications. In addition to his work with individual companies, Mr. Keith is Chief Executive Officer of the company. He is also a senior advisor to, and co-founder of, EnerTech Capital, a $290 million specialty firm focused on early to expansion-stage venture investments in principally U.S.-based software, technology, and services businesses that serve the energy and communications industries.
Prior to his affiliation with TL Ventures in 1989, Mr. Keith held executive positions with Fidelity Bank in Philadelphia for over 20 years, most recently as Vice Chairman. At Fidelity, he headed the Corporate Banking Department, which included specialized and commercial lending groups and several non-banking subsidiaries.
Mr. Keith serves on the Boards of Directors of a number of the TL portfolio companies. In addition, he is Chairman of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., on the board of Internet Capital Group, Chairman and a member of the board and Executive Committee of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Chairman of the Board of The Reinvestment Fund.
Mr. Keith is a graduate of Amherst College and Temple University School of Law.
Nicole Miller has a technical training development and delivery background. During her nine years at Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., Ms. Miller participated in multiple information system development projects, including interface design, program testing, and user training.
Ms. Miller spent four years working with clients in the U.S. government clients to determine requirements, develop, test, and implement Management Information systems. She was instrumental in creating and conducting the user training for these systems, on both an individual and group basis. In addition, she wrote numerous training and instructional manuals to accompany systems. During this time, Ms. Miller also worked on community relations campaigns for the U.S. EPA.
Ms. Miller spent two years in Booz•Allen's Paris office, where she conducted communications assessments and organizational analyses. Upon her return to the U.S., she handled the logistical and technical implementation aspects of installing a computer network in the African Development Bank in Côte d'Ivoire, and organized technology development study tours on behalf of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. These study tours involved identifying of appropriate business contacts for delegates of foreign governmental offices as well as assembling of a complete learning program for these delegates once they arrived in the United States. As an extracurricular project for her internal group, she maintained the group's Web pages, keeping them updated with the latest project information. She was also responsible for submitting group project information to the company knowledge management system.
Ms. Miller earned a master's degree in Business Administration from Georgetown.
Bradley Palmer is the Founder and Managing Partner of Palm Ventures.
Previously, Mr. Palmer was a Senior Associate with James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., a strategic advisory and investment banking firm with an extensive client base of multinational corporations. While at Wolfensohn, Mr. Palmer worked for James Wolfensohn, Paul Volcker and other firm partners on 12 acquisitions and divestitures for major clients.
Mr. Palmer holds a B.A. from Indiana University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Palmer serves on the boards of a number of private companies and Education Development Center (www.edc.org), Save the Children (www.savechildren.org), Computers for Youth (www.cfy.org) and the Trey Whitfield School (www.treywhitfieldschool.org).
Russell E. Palmer is the majority shareholder and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Palmer Group, a corporate investment firm located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before founding his own firm he served as Dean of the Wharton School for seven years and prior to that he served for ten years as Managing Partner and CEO of Touche Ross & Co. (now Deloitte & Touche), an accounting and consulting firm. He became CEO of Touche Ross at age 37, the youngest person ever to attain that position in a “Big Eight” firm.
After 27 years in the accounting and consulting profession, Mr. Palmer became Dean of the Wharton School. As the tenth Dean, and the first to come from the private sector, he shared his management experience with MBA students in a leadership course that he developed. He was instrumental in attracting over 100 new faculty members to the School, building a new executive education program and complex and raising over $120 million for the School. In his current career he has acquired over thirty companies with the majority being in the educational field. All of these acquisitions have been successful investments.
Active in the outside business community, Mr. Palmer has served on twelve New York Stock Exchange boards including Honeywell International, Inc., Verizon Communications, Inc., The May Department Stores Company, and The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. He is a Trustee Emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania, a Trustee of the National Constitution Center, and a Member of the Smithsonian National Board. He serves on the board of Main Line Health, The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, and the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School Board of Overseers.
Mr. Palmer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Michigan State University and has received several honorary degrees. He has written and lectured extensively. His articles and essays have appeared in Business Week, the New York Times, the Journal of Accountancy, and other publications. He is the author of the recently released book Ultimate Leadership.
J. Thomas Presby retired from Deloitte in June 2002. Over a period of thirty years as a partner in the firm, he held many positions in the United States and abroad, including Global Deputy Chairman and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Presby spent a total of nearly ten years on overseas assignments, based in London, Paris and Central Europe.
Now, he works full time as a company director, investor and advisor. Currently he is a director of several private companies and of the following public companies where he also chairs the audit committees: American Eagle Outfitters Inc., First Solar, Inc., INVESCO Ltd, Tiffany & Co., and World Fuel Services Corp. He is also a board member of the New York chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors.
He previously served as a Trustee of Rutgers University and as Director and Chairman of the audit committee of The German Marshall Fund of the USA; PracticeWorks, Inc., until its sale to Eastman Kodak; as Director and audit committee member of Greenpoint Financial Corp. until its sale to North Fork Bank; and as a Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of TurboChef Technologies until its sale to Middleby Manufacturing Corp.
Tom received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering degree from Rutgers University, and an MBA degree from the Carnegie Mellon University Graduate School of Business. He is a Certified Public Accountant in New York and Ohio and a holder of the NACD Certificate of Director Education.