WASHINGTON–The National Governors Association (NGA) today announced the members of the Complete to Compete National Advisory Group. The newly selected panel will advise and assist NGA Chair West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III with his 2010-2011 Chair’s Initiative, Complete to Compete, which focuses on increasing the number of students in the United States who complete college degrees and certificates and improving the productivity of the country’s higher education institutions.
Members of the Advisory Group include:
- Fred DuVal, Vice Chair, Arizona Board of Regents
- Charles Earl, Executive Director, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
- Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., President and CEO, TIAA-CREF
- Juliet Garcia, President, University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College
- Bill Green, Chairman and CEO, Accenture
- Brian Noland, Chancellor, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission
- Charlie Reed, Chancellor, The California State University
- Eduardo Padron, President, Miami Dade College
- Eric Smith, Commissioner, Florida Department of Education
- Nancy Zimpher, Chancellor, State University of New York
“To make real progress in improving college completion rates and growing a well-equipped workforce, it is imperative that governors work together with higher education officials, as well as the private sector,” said Gov. Manchin. “The wealth of experience of these talented individuals from the higher education community and the business world will play an important role as we work throughout Complete to Compete to develop consistent performance metrics that gauge institutions’ success in helping students move toward degrees and certificates and develop policies that provide stronger incentives for improving completion and institutional efficiency.”
Advisory Group members will serve as strategic advisors to the governor and NGA staff, act as liaisons with key constituency groups and meet periodically to discuss approaches and best practices for promoting college completion.
A bipartisan group of governors, including NGA Vice Chair Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, also provide leadership through their roles on the Complete to Compete Task Force.
Complete to Compete was announced at the NGA Annual Meeting in July. Complete to Compete: Common College Completion Metrics, a set of common higher education completion and productivity measures that governors and higher education leaders can utilize to monitor state progress and compare performance to other states and between institutions, was also released at the meeting.
For more information on the 2010-2011 Chair’s Initiative, visit www.nga.org/ci.
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Founded in 1908, the National Governors Association (NGA) is the collective voice of the nation’s governors and one of Washington, D.C.’s, most respected public policy organizations. Its members are the governors of the 50 states, three territories and two commonwealths. NGA provides governors and their senior staff members with services that range from representing states on Capitol Hill and before the Administration on key federal issues to developing and implementing innovative solutions to public policy challenges through the NGA Center for Best Practices. For more information, visit www.nga.org.
