Aaron Light is an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Management at the Spears School of Business. He also serves as an Eastin Fellow for the Eastin Center for Career Readiness.

Prior to joining Spears in 2023, Aaron earned his undergraduate degree in Management with a minor in Marketing and Sports Management in 2009, followed by his MBA in 2011 from Oklahoma State University.

Following graduation, Aaron joined ISN Software Corporation, a fast-growing SaaS company in Dallas, TX. Over his 11-year tenure at ISN, Aaron held leadership positions guiding sales and account management teams across diverse industries, including oil and gas, automotive, and food and beverage, as well as leading ISN’s consulting arm for clients in the manufacturing industry.

Aaron is committed to continuous professional development, holding certificates in Executive Presence from TCU, Leadership Effectiveness from the University of Texas, Beyond Leadership from Korn Ferry, and Impactful Presentations from Dale Carnegie.

Currently serving as a Professor of Professional Practice at Oklahoma State University, Aaron imparts invaluable insights by teaching Career Readiness and Professional Development courses to help students at Oklahoma State be “Career-Ready”.

Amy Kavanaugh is a Director of Academic Programs and Lecturer for multiple courses at the University of Central Florida’s College of Business. With more than 20 years of experience spanning higher education, operations, and human resources management, she specializes in student success, organizational development, and career professionalism.

At UCF, Amy teaches hundreds of students per semester on developing the professional skills needed for today’s dynamic economy. Additionally, Amy serves as FloridaACE’s Professional Development Director, where she leads strategic programming for educators and employers statewide.

Dr. Brent Via is a higher education leader with nearly 15 years of experience in the Virginia Community College System, including the past 9 years at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). Brent currently serves as Associate Director for Career Planning and Development, where he leads the college’s Career Services team. In this role, he ensures 70,000+ students across six campuses have access to the services, resources, and tools needed to make informed professional life choices—ultimately supporting their social and economic mobility.

Dr. Via’s work is grounded in a commitment to social justice and educational equity, with a focus on closing achievement gaps and accelerating student success.

Carolyn Christesen is a New York CPA and accounting educator at Westchester Community College, where she’s taught since 1998. She holds BBA and MBA degrees in Public Accounting from Pace University and a master’s in educational technology from Eastern Connecticut State University. Carolyn received the J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook Prize, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the WCC Foundation Teaching Excellence Award. She is an active member of the American Accounting Association and and has served on the TACTYC board since 2020. Her career includes teaching at Pace University and auditing work at KPMG. Carolyn lives in Connecticut with her husband and loves spending time with him, their three daughters and six grandchildren.

Clemente I. Diaz is an I-O psychology practitioner specializing in higher education administration, specifically program management and career services. Currently, he serves as an associate director at Baruch College’s Starr Career Development Center (Starr). In this role, he is responsible for the Center’s front office operations, program assessments, marketing communications, and training faculty on career-focused pedagogy.

In addition to his work at Starr, he teaches undergraduate and graduate psychology courses at Baruch College and the CUNY School of Professional Studies.

Dr. Katherine Drumm is the Assistant Vice President for University Advising & Technologies at Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia.

In this role, Katherine provides strategy and leadership to the academic advising community at a large, public, research 1 university with a goal of eliminating retention and graduation inequities. Prior to this role, she served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for Student Success, where she supported initiatives across campus through the training, development, and implementation of a variety of student success technologies, including Navigate. She has also served as the Director of Advising for the VCU School of Business and as a Department Administrator, Internship Coordinator and Registration Assistant for the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

Keashla Marengo started her role as the Director of the Career Success Center at Austin Peay State University in March 2025. As the Director of the newly re-branded and re-imagined center, she leads efforts to strengthen career readiness, employer engagement, and post-graduation outcomes at APSU.

With over 10 years of experience in higher education and career services, she brings a comprehensive perspective shaped by roles in career advising, employer engagement, and career readiness strategy, including five years at the University of Miami’s Career Success Center as the Associate Director of Career Readiness and Director of Employer Engagement. Throughout her roles at Toppel, she had the opportunity to oversee the Uconnect, SkillSurvey, PeopleGrove, Forage, and Handshake platforms, emphasizing the importance of experiential learning.

During her first and past year at APSU, she has expanded the Career Success Center team, launched the APSU Summer Internship Program, led a career success taskforce, enhanced first-destination data efforts, and advanced the integration of career readiness into the curriculum. She looks forward to continuing to reimagine and expand career success and experiential learning at APSU and beyond.

Kelly Crane is an integrated marketing trainer, coach and consultant with an interest in entrepreneurship.

Seeing patterns and connecting new ideas is the currency of innovation and Kelly is a consummate connector, bringing together people, ideas and resources to create new things.

She began her career working in marketing in the music industry in Austin, Tex., and since then has worked in Director and VP-level marketing roles with companies in a multitude of industries including Entertainment, Healthcare, Telecommunications and Advertising.

She is the former director of the KU School of Journalism’s Integrated Marketing Communications graduate program where she marketed the program, recruited students, developed and scheduled courses, recruited and hired adjunct lecturers and taught Relationship Marketing and the Capstone Course to working adult graduate students.

Kelly is an Assistant Teaching Professor at the KU School of Business. She has taught courses in Digital Marketing, Advanced Social Media, Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications and Intro to the Marketing Profession. She also serves as an Area Industry Mentor (AIM) for marketing students in the School of Business.

Kelly has 30 years of experience in advertising agencies, corporate environments and the public sector and is the founder of the Creative Entrepreneurs of Kansas City Mastermind Group.

She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Kansas (2004), where she represented the graduate students as the graduation speaker, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Baylor University.

In her spare time she enjoys watching her nieces play basketball, visiting assisted living facilities with her therapy dog, Bayleigh, or playing music with her band, Chasing Grace.

Mark Hays has been involved in higher education and workforce development for more than 20 years in both rural and urban colleges. He currently serves as the Director of Career Services for Tulsa Community College where he oversees all career services activities at four campuses.

In his time at TCC, the department has implemented the TCC Internship Academy, Career Faculty Fellows, Forage job simulations, WriteSea AI-powered resume and mock interview platform, and a comprehensive labor market intelligence system. He has expanded the college’s access to employers across the state and is an advocate for higher education programs that align with employer needs.

Before accepting the position at TCC, Mark served as the Vice Chancellor of Workforce and Economic Development at the Dallas County Community College District. He coordinated workforce and economic development services at seven colleges, serving more than 165,000 students. He was the first person hired for the position and created a Labor Market Intelligence Center and a Global Economic Development Division.

Mark serves as a Marano Fellow of the Aspen Institute and on the board of directors of the North American Strategy for Competitiveness. He holds degrees from Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma, and certification from the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University.

Molly Gilbert is Director of Student Success Technologies at Purdue University, where she leads the strategy and governance of enterprise student success platforms. Her work sits at the intersection of technology, data, and organizational change; helping large institutions move from tool adoption to aligned, student‑centered impact. With more than a decade of experience across student services, academic administration, and systems leadership, Molly brings a practitioner‑grounded lens to digital transformation, emphasizing governance, decision‑making, and change management as essential drivers of scale and sustainability.

Olegario Ole’ Madera is dedicated to empowering students at the G. Brint Ryan College of Business to achieve their academic and professional aspirations. With over a decade of experience in higher education leadership and student success, Olegario brings a strategic and holistic approach to career coaching. His expertise includes career exploration, professional development, and helping students create actionable plans to excel in today’s competitive job market. He currently serves as a Career Coach for Information Technology and Decision Sciences students as well as Accounting students.

Priscilla is an interdisciplinary educator at UTRGV dedicated to creating student-centered learning environments that are engaging, rigorous, and deeply supportive. Drawing on a foundation in communication and the social sciences, she designs courses that foster critical thinking, personal growth, and academic success. Her work centers on empowering first-year and first-generation college students as they navigate the pivotal transition into university life — helping them build confidence, community, and a sense of purpose. Through innovative teaching, reflective practice, and collaborative learning, Priscilla champions experiential education as a powerful pathway for students to discover their strengths and reach their full potential.

Rita Papaleo Ruiz, M.Ed., is the Director of Career Services at Kean University, which supports 14,000+ undergraduate and graduate students on their career journey. Her work focuses on empowering students and providing the skillset and resources to excel on their own career path while giving them a voice to advocate for themselves in a competitive job market.

Rita previously served as the Director of Career Development at Stevens Institute of Technology, where her work focused on increasing co-op enrollment and opportunities for students in all engineering majors. Prior to that, Rita spent 18 years as a recruiting leader in the early career hiring space at Google, where she developed and managed rotational, research and intern programming for underrepresented students in tech. She began her career in finance at Sanford C. Bernstein, where she conducted research on US and European Media companies.

Rita earned a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and a Master of Arts in International Education from New York University. She lives in Union County, New Jersey, with her husband and three sons.

Shawndra Harmond is a proud graduate of Texas Southern University and a trusted leader in higher education with more than 25 years of experience advancing student success across education and the nonprofit sector. Her career is grounded in a strong foundation of fundraising and grant management, where she has helped organizations secure resources, scale impact, and align mission‑driven work with measurable outcomes.

As a senior leader in the Career Center at Texas Southern University, Shawndra is known for translating vision into action. She brings a rare blend of strategic thinking, operational execution, and deep empathy for students navigating complex career and life decisions. Her work centers on helping students, particularly first‑generation and low‑income learners, move from aspiration to achievement with confidence and clarity.

A lifelong learner and natural collaborator, Shawndra believes that meaningful careers are built at the intersection of preparation, access, and opportunity. She partners closely with faculty, alumni, and employers to expand experiential learning, integrate technology into career readiness, and ensure students graduate not only with a degree, but with direction. Harmond often tells students, “AI doesn’t take your job, working without it will. When you use AI for what it’s worth, you’re not just preparing for employment, you’re financing your future by creating, innovating, and building opportunities of your own through entrepreneurship.”

What sets Shawndra apart is her ability to build trust, mobilize partnerships, and lead with purpose. She is deeply committed to creating systems that work for students, strengthening institutional capacity, and fostering environments where talent is recognized and cultivated. Above all, she takes pride in ensuring every student she serves feels supported, prepared, and inspired to succeed, during college and long after graduation.