Financial Aid Team Members
Gary Hauser
Consulting Director
Skill-Based Expertise:
Development and administration of optimization solutions for student finances and net revenues associated with tuition and funding programs; workshop development for sustainable revenue generations; integration of financial best practices administration with overall fiscal operations pertinent to student financial services; Perkins Loan administration best practices.
Gary Hauser
After serving as an Assistant Vice-President for Enrollment Planning and Management at the University of Connecticut (UConn) for the past two decades, focusing primarily on retention and graduation issues, Gary retired in June 2017.
He began his career advising undecided majors at UConn, where he earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration. He then moved on to conduct research and interact with the state legislature and governor’s office on behalf of the Connecticut Department of Higher Education for a decade before returning to UConn in 1996.
Since joining focusEDU as a Consulting Director in 2017, Gary has been actively assisting the leaders of the higher education community by ensuring understanding and optimization of all elements associated with U.S. News rankings data submissions.
Gary has presented at numerous conferences sponsored by AACRAO, the College Board, and the Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange. The Educational Policy Institute awarded UConn the Outstanding Retention Program Award at its RETENTION 2006 national conference. In 2010-11, Gary was awarded Freshman Year Experience Instructor of the Year honors.
Gary resides in Avon, CT and is very proud of his son, who will soon receive his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Cambridge University.
Dan Nussbaum
Consulting Director
Skill-Based Expertise:
Leadership development and coaching; succession planning; academic program planning for accreditation/re-accreditation; leadership transitions; mentoring; talent management; professional development; strategic planning, opportunity, and allocation; faith-based institutions; community engagement; organizational “time management”
Dan Nussbaum
Dan Nussbaum has served in leadership positions in higher education and the not-for-profit sector for more than thirty years. Most recently, Dan has been serving as the Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at the University of Saint Joseph (CT) where he has been leading an aggressive program development strategy including an MSW program in its final stages of accreditation, accreditation of its graduate counseling and marriage family therapy programs, undergraduate programs in youth services and applied behavior analysis, and centers for Latino Community Practice and Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis. Dan is also a Professor of Management in the Business Administration Department.
Dan previously served for six years as National Director of Leadership Development/Director of YMCA University, providing strategic and operational leadership to training and education programs supporting America’s 2,400 YMCAs. He supervised 50 professional staff and 2500 volunteer trainers with responsibility for recruitment, retention, training, and professional development of staff and volunteers through a continuum of YMCA lifelong learning programs. At the “Y” Dan was able to experience a more intentional and focused leadership development strategy, with robust coaching, mentoring, and succession planning practice which he brought to the University of Saint Joseph and now brings to focusEDU.
Dan’s work at the YMCA was a natural extension of his work for more than a decade as Dean of Springfield College’s School of Human Services where he led the College’s efforts to restore its historic partnership with the YMCA. He developed a comprehensive national expansion business plan process which involved a cross-functional team of faculty and administrators. This strategy resulted in the turnaround of a troubled institution that later received the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) endorsement as a “best practices” academic leader. Dan’s leadership as the Dean of the School of Human Services resulted in the expansion of SHS with three campuses and 550 students to a program with nine campuses and 1,650 students. Additional executive programs in Sweden, Brazil, and Africa were developed under Dr. Nussbaum’s tenure.
As Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at the University of Saint Joseph, Dan experiences the daily financial, technological, and regulatory challenges leaders of institutions of higher education face. This role helps to hone Dan’s focus and work for the continuous process of the development of talent and leadership for institutions of higher education. Dan brings his extensive background and skill-sets needed to successfully meet these challenges while also identifying and meeting the unanticipated challenges that still lie beyond our horizons.
Dan earned his B.A. at Swarthmore College, an M.A. in Biblical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Management at the Hartford Graduate Center, and a Ph.D. in Social Policy at Brandeis University.
Larry Whitworth
Consulting Director
Skill-Based Expertise:
Community college executive leadership; enrollment growth strategies; governance development issues and best practices; curricular strategies and optimizations for growth at the community college level; budget management and cost containment strategies for two year institutions; retention and graduation planning strategies; Career Focus magazine as communication vehicle.
Larry Whitworth
Larry Whitworth is a nationally acclaimed leader in the community college sector. He has been recognized for innovative leadership that resulted in enrollment growth, improved student retention and program completion rates through creative visioning and collaborations with all key constituencies. Larry was the President of Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan for 13 years and prior to that served for seven years as the President of Tidewater Community College in the Norfolk area of Virginia. Dr. Whitworth served in various capacities during his 24 years with the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Beginning with his initial assignment as a developmental mathematics faculty member, Dr. Whitworth moved into administration where he served as the Director of the Academic Evening Division at the Allegheny Campus, Dean of instruction for the North Campus, Executive Dean and College Vice President for the North Campus and ultimately as the Executive Vice President for the four campus system.
Dr. Whitworth’s areas of expertise include curricula, enrollment growth and enhancement, student retention initiatives, personnel administration, and organizational structure. In the area of curricula, while serving as the Dean for vocational/technical programs with the Community College of Allegheny County, he developed the concept of modularized curricula that greatly enhance student outcomes for a wide variety of vocational and occupational programs. While working with faculty and academic administration, Larry implemented the modularized curricular concept at both Tidewater Community College and Washtenaw Community College. At both institutions, enrollment, retention rates and student program completion rates were significantly increased. Larry’s creation of the CareerFocus Magazine proved to be a phenomenal success in promoting vocational/technical and occupational programs to individuals unaware of the career opportunities available through educational programs at their local community colleges. Based on the nationally acclaimed success of CareerFocus Magazine, Larry spearheaded and created the CareerFocus Consortium of Community Colleges. This consortium now has more than 100 community colleges that publish a CareerFocus Magazine as a part of their community outreach marketing program.
Dr. Whitworth holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Duquesne University and a doctorate in Curriculum and Supervision from the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to his full time administrative duties he continued to use is extensive academic background to continue his commitment to teaching. For more than 25 years, Dr. Whitworth served as an adjunct faculty member for several colleges and universities. For Pennsylvania State University, he taught Learning Games in the Curriculum, a graduate course for teacher certification. For Indiana University of Pennsylvania he taught a course entitled Academic Administration, as a graduate course in the school of Community Education and for more than 11 years, he thought Organizational Behavior and Business Management in the Graduate School of Business for Robert Morris University.
Larry and his wife, Barbara have two children and five grandchildren and live in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Larry enjoys golf, pickleball and sharing engaging conversation and a glass of wine with neighbors and friends.
In his capacity as Consulting Director for focusEDU, Dr. Whitworth looks forward to assisting community college leadership in enhancing revenue generation through an integrated process of curricular restructuring and marketing strategy, as well as, implementing strategies and procedures to increase student retention and graduation rates. He has vast experience with a wide variety of topics related to Human Resource Management, including but not limited to: employee hiring, employee separation, labor negotiations and contracts, employee compensation strategies and organization structure.
Jim White
Consulting Director
Skill-Based Expertise:
Enrollment management; admissions CRM implementation and management: staff development; establishing/enhancing recruitment markets: counselor outreach programming; financial aid and scholarship leveraging strategy; marketing and communication plans; retention initiatives.
Bob Herr
With over thirty years of admissions and enrollment experience, Bob helped lead successful enrollment efforts at several private colleges and universities. His experience includes serving as dean of enrollment at Wagner College, assistant vice-president of enrollment management at Stevenson University, and most recently as vice-president for enrollment management at Drew University. While at Stevenson he worked to increase out of state markets and enrolled students as the university’s first year enrollment grew by 45% during his tenure. At both Wagner and Drew, he led CRM implementations in order to improve efficiency in processing, file review, and communications. Moreover, his experiences include financial aid leveraging and modeling for enrollment and net tuition revenue. During a three-year period at Wagner he lowered the discount rate each year for first year students while maintaining enrollment and net revenue goals.
Bob strengths include improving admissions operations and technology, developing and enhancing recruitment markets, implementing communication and marketing plans, and growing campus visit options and programs. He understands the importance of professional connections and networking to benefit an institution, and enjoys working as a staff mentor and on furthering staff professional development. He developed a variety of counselor outreach programs, counselor visit programs, and communication plans for several colleges.
He has served on Hobsons Intersect Advisory Board and was a member of the College Board Middle States Regional Council. Over his career he has participated on the executive boards for NYSACAC and PCACAC, worked as a faculty mentor for new and mid-level professionals at both NYSACAC and PCACAC summer institutes, and served as a NACAC delegate. He remains a member of numerous professional organizations. Bob regularly presents at conferences on topics such as professional ethics, counselor connections, visit programs, financial aid 101, and the admissions landscape.
He has also worked in admissions as director at Seton Hall University, associate director at The George Washington University, and at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He received his B.A. from Susquehanna University. Bob lives in New Jersey with the wife and three children. His son will be enrolling at Texas Christian University in fall 2021.
Sigrun Olafsdottir
Consulting Director
Sigrun Olafsdottir
Sigrun Olafsdottir has over 15 years of administrative experience within the Enrollment Management division of higher education, most recently as Director of Financial Aid at Franklin University Switzerland. Sigrun manages all aspects of the aid process, institutional, private and federal programs for prospects, incoming and returning students. She works remotely for Franklin from her home residence in Florida.
Sigrun joined focusEDU as a Consulting Director in July of 2021. This affords her the opportunity to assist the institutional leaders of the higher education community with her financial aid expertise for consulting engagements.
Sigrun started her higher education career in 2000 in the Admission department at Stetson University. She took a break from her career to care for her three children, from 2002 to 2008, then went back to Stetson to work in the Financial Aid department, where she remained until joining Franklin in 2013. Her expertise is well informed by having experience in both admission and financial aid. Sigrun earned her MBA from Stetson University and taught courses in Communiation as an adjunct professor.
Sigrun also has worked as a consultant for ProEd, doing verifications remotely for institutions nationwide. As a result, she is familiar with various financial aid software programs, such as Banner, PowerFaids and more.
Sigrun holds dual citizenships between the US and Iceland. In her early career, she worked for a small, independent Icelandic airline, which allowed her to travel to and stay in various countries around the world, gaining invaluable experience in working with and navigating the differences among people of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Sigrun grew up in Iceland but currently lives in Florida with her three teenaged children where she spends her spare time writing creative fiction and giving new life to old furniture.
Herb Riley
President and CEO
Herb Riley
Herb Riley is the President and CEO of focusEDU. Herb and his team of acclaimed consultants have assisted the leadership of the higher education community since 2014.
focusEDU's services include national executive searches, interim placements, operational assessments and evaluations, coaching and mentoring in the mission-critical areas of enrollment management, admissions, financial aid, registrar and student information systems and student financial services.
Prior to forming focusEDU in 2014 with a group of like-minded professionals, Herb had a career of over 32 years as an acclaimed practitioner in the areas of enrollment management, admissions and registrar services.
Forrest Stuart
Consulting Director
Forrest Stuart
Dr. Forrest Stuart is the Associate Vice President for Financial
Aid at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Lafayette in January 2019, Forrest served as Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management and Director of Financial Aid at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, as director of financial aid at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, and as assistant director of admission, assistant director of financial aid, and ultimately director of financial aid at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. In all, Forrest has 31 years of higher education administration experience.
Forrest holds a PhD in Educational Leadership from Clemson University, concentrating in higher education administration. His dissertation, entitled Sustainable Enrollment Management: A Dynamic Network Analysis, focused on enrollment management as a complex adaptive system and examined the dynamic network structures of a current enrollment management department, how those structures can be optimized for efficient information diffusion, and how enrollment management leaders can enable a sustainable enrollment management system. Forrest is also interested in the law of contracts and agency as they pertain to admission and financial aid.
Dr. Stuart has conducted several assessment consulting assignments for focusEDU in the financial aid area and provide expert assistance and advice for optimized best practices.
Previously earned degrees of Forrest include a Master of Arts degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Resources Management from Birmingham-Southern College.
Forrest and his wife, Pam, have two daughters: Emily, who is a graduate of TCU and now a certified, licensed athletic trainer in Waco, Texas, and Katelyn, who is a senior sociology major at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Forrest is an organist and has outside interests which include college football, boating, and Broadway musicals. On his “bucket list” are opportunities to conduct the orchestras for Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked.
Meaghan Arena
Consulting Director
Meaghan Arena
Meaghan Arena has more than 20 years of experience in higher education including serving in senior leadership roles at both public and private institutions. Most recently she served as Vice President of Enrollment and the Student Experience, a role that uniquely combined enrollment and student affairs including health & counseling, athletics, student engagement and leadership, student conduct, Title IX, and residential life. She has also served as a traditional Vice President for Enrollment as well as Associate Dean in Graduate and Continuing Education. Her background also includes work with financial aid, transfer admissions, adult students, non-credit programs, summer programs and veteran's services. In addition, Meaghan teaches graduate students as an adjunct instructor at several universities.
Meaghan holds an Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership from Northeastern University, a Master of Education from Cambridge College, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Delaware. She lives in Western New York with her husband and son and is an avid animal lover.
Skill-based expertise: admissions, graduate admissions, transfer admissions, financial aid, data-driven enrollment management, enrollment strategy and operations, team management and mentoring, strategic planning, enrollment communications, discount rate management.