HLC’s President and Executive Leadership Team
President
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Barbara Gellman-Danley
President, HLC
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Barbara Gellman-Danley assumed the presidency of the Higher Learning Commission on July 7, 2014. She succeeded former HLC president Sylvia Manning, who served from 2008 until her retirement in 2014.
“It will be an honor to serve the Higher Learning Commission as president, the institutions in the region and the most important stakeholder – the students. I embrace the accreditor’s role in quality assurance and the emerging focus on outcomes-based assessment,” said Gellman-Danley upon her appointment. “This includes a respect for the peer review process and the important issues raised by the public and our congressional leaders on accreditation. We can all work collaboratively to assure the United States is a leader in higher education through all sectors of the academy.”
Prior to joining HLC, Dr. Gellman-Danley was the president of University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College from 2009-2014. She has also served as a vice chancellor at the Ohio Board of Regents, president at Antioch University McGregor, vice president at Monroe Community College, and vice chancellor at the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Her past involvement with HLC includes serving as a peer reviewer for 10 years.
Dr. Gellman-Danley holds a Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University, a Master of Library Science from Simmons College, a Master of Business Administration from Oklahoma City University, and Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Oklahoma. She also did post-graduate work at New York University and earned continuing education from Cornell University, Harvard University and the University of Chicago.
Previous Speeches
Catalytic Conversations with Mark Milliron: Is Accreditation the Enemy of Innovation?
2019 HLC Annual Conference Welcome Address
Testimony to the Negotiated Rulemaking - September 2018
Letter to Students at 2018 HLC Annual Conference—#higheredcares
2017 HLC Annual Conference Welcome Address—video excerpt (view text )
Executive Leadership Team
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Sarah Byrne
Director of Human Resources and Operations
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Sarah Byrne joined HLC as the Director of Human Resources in 2013 and later added operations to her portfolio as Director of Human Resources and Operations. She joined the Executive Leadership Team in 2020. Dr. Byrne started her career working as a victim advocate in a crisis center while in graduate school. Dr. Byrne earned degrees from three HLC member institutions, including a bachelor's in Social Relations at James Madison College at Michigan State University, a master's in Sociology from Wayne State University, and a doctorate in Sociology from the University of Cincinnati. She is interested in applied sociology and understanding how workplaces benefit from sociological insights on inequality and social psychology.
At HLC, Dr. Byrne is responsible for leading all human resources functions, including employee relations, hiring, compliance, professional development and benefits, as well as managing the operations functions for the HLC office. She chairs the Vision Committee for the Strategic Plan, HLC’s Office Health and Safety Working Group and the Conflict of Interest Review Team. Dr. Byrne earned the PHR credential from the Human Resources Certification Institute in 2012 and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management. She was certified as a professional coach by the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching in 2016 and most recently enrolled in continuing education courses at Gallaudet University.
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Eric Martin
Executive Vice President
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Eric Martin joined the Higher Learning Commission in 2010 as a Vice President for Accreditation Relations (staff liaison), and was named Executive Vice President in 2020. He has also served as the Director of the AQIP Pathway (2012-2015) and Vice President and Chief of Staff (2015-2020). As Executive Vice President, he is a member of the President’s Executive Leadership Team. He also has oversight of HLC’s functions related to peer corps recruitment and training; accreditation reviews, substantive change, and decision-making; and programs and meetings including HLC’s academies, workshops, and annual conference. Dr. Martin also serves on HLC’s Liaison Council, Implementation Council, and Policy Committee among others. He plays a central role in HLC’s strategic planning processes, and he engages regularly with HLC’s Board of Trustees including the Board’s Committees for Strategy, Accreditation, and Finance.
Prior to joining HLC, Dr. Martin served from 2006 to 2010 as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Governors State University in south suburban Chicago. While at Governors State, he also served in the Office of the Provost as the Director of Writing Across the Curriculum (1999-2001), Assistant Provost/Director of the Center for Quality (2001-2004), and Associate Provost (2005-2006). Between 1996 and 1999, he held a faculty appointment at the University of Findlay, where he also served as the Director of English and Writing Across the Curriculum. Early in his career, he served as the Assistant Director of Writing Programs and Ombudsperson at Illinois State University, where he received a doctorate in English in 1995. Dr. Martin’s post-graduate study includes Harvard University’s Institute of Education Management (2015), and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Certificate in Higher Education Leadership and Administration (2018-2020). His scholarly interests include higher education leadership, followership and the role of emotional intelligence in both areas.
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Marla Morgen
General Counsel
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Marla Morgen joined the Higher Learning Commission in 2018 as Associate Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Affairs and was named as the agency's first General Counsel in 2020. In her role, Ms. Morgen provides strategic advice and counsel to HLC staff and the Board of Trustees on a variety of governance, operational and accreditation matters; manages litigation and legal inquiries for HLC; and participates in various accreditation processes. Ms. Morgen also chairs HLC's Antitrust Compliance Team.
Prior to joining HLC, Ms. Morgen served in the Office of the General Counsel at DePaul University for more than 12 years. At DePaul, Ms. Morgen primary areas of expertise included student affairs, Title IX and sexual and relationship violence, crisis response, campus safety, international programs, speech and expression, diversity, clinical and experiential education and academic collaborative ventures.
Before practicing higher education law, Ms. Morgen was a litigator at a large Chicago law firm and clerked for a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in American History from Northwestern University. She also completed the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
![Michael Seuring photo](/web/20210417095448im_/https://www.hlcommission.org/images/ELT/MSeuring2018.png)
Michael Seuring
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
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Michael Seuring, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, joined HLC in 2006 and is responsible for all financial management aspects of the organization. This includes ensuring the organization's financial records are being kept in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, financial reporting, treasury, and financial planning and analysis. In addition, Mr. Seuring serves as the Records Management Officer and oversees human resources, risk management, and HLC’s financial indicators process.
He has previously held financial management positions at the University of Chicago and other not-for-profit organizations in the Chicago area. Mr. Seuring is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.S. in accounting from Purdue University.
![Anthea Sweeney photo](/web/20210417095448im_/https://www.hlcommission.org/images/ELT/ASweeney2018.png)
Anthea M. Sweeney
Vice President for Legal and Governmental Affairs
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Anthea M. Sweeney joined the Commission in March 2013 and served as a Vice President for Accreditation Relations until March 2018, when she was named Vice President for Legal and Governmental Affairs.
Dr. Sweeney previously worked as the Assistant Dean for Academics at a law school in North Carolina, where she also served as founder and director of the Academic Success department, an adjunct law professor, and an academic success counselor who worked directly with at-risk students. She is a licensed attorney admitted in good standing in the State of New York and spent five years in private practice as a Banking and Finance attorney with the firms of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Moses & Singer LLP before transitioning to legal education.
Dr. Sweeney holds a B.A., magna cum laude, in Comparative Modern Languages and Political Science from Long Island University, an M.A. in Political Science, also from Long Island University, a J.D., magna cum laude, from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center and her Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Policy from Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University.