Speakers

Robert J. Jones

President of the University of Washington

Robert J. Jones became the 34th president of the University of Washington in August 2025 and holds a faculty position in the Department of Biology. A distinguished crop physiology and seasoned university leader, Jones previously served as chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for nine years, and before that, as president of The University at Albany (SUNY Albany). Prior to his administrative leadership roles, he spent over 34 years as a member of the faculty and senior administrator at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

At Illinois, Jones launched the world’s first engineering-based medical school and expanded access to a college degree through scholarships like the Illinois Commitment and led a $2.7 billion fundraising campaign. Under his leadership, enrollment grew by 25 percent. Jones also launched radical research partnerships and initiatives in quantum computing, bioprocessing and precision fermentation and the inflammatory states that underly many human diseases.

Jones has served as a leader in numerous national academic organizations, including as chair of the boards of the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors. A Georgia native and first-generation college student, he holds degrees in agronomy and crop physiology from Fort Valley State, the University of Georgia, and the University of Missouri.

Shirley Malcom

Senior Advisor and Director of SEA Change, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Shirley Malcom is senior advisor and director of SEA Change at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In more than 45 years at AAAS she has worked to improve the quality and increase access to education and careers in STEMM for all.

Dr. Malcom is a trustee of Caltech and regent of Morgan State University. She was a member of the National Science Board, policymaking body of the NSF, and served on President Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. Malcom, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, holds a PhD in ecology from Penn State, and M.A. from UCLA and B.S with Distinction from the University of Washington, both in zoology. She is a fellow of the AAAS and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences where she serves as International Secretary. She has received 19 honorary degrees.

Malcom was co-chair of the Gender Advisory Board of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development and co-chair of Gender InSITE, an international collaboration to support application of a gender lens in policymaking in science, technology and innovation. She serves on the boards of the Heinz Endowments and Kavli Foundation. She chairs the board of the National Math-Science Initiative. In 2003, Malcom received the Public Welfare Medal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the highest award given by the Academy.

Na’ilah Suad Nasir

President of the Spencer Foundation

Na’ilah Suad Nasir is the sixth President of the Spencer Foundation, which funds education research nationally. Prior to joining Spencer, she held a faculty appointment in Education and African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley where she also served as the chair of African American Studies, then later as the Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion. Her scholarship focuses on race, culture, and learning, and how what we know about learning has implications for how we design schools for equity. In her foundation work, she has worked to bring a deep equity lens to grantmaking and has spearheaded innovative funding opportunities rooted in the promise of research to support more equitable education systems.

She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Education and is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. She is a Past President of the American Educational Research Association and serves on the board of Sage Publications, the National Equity Project, and the UC Berkeley Board of Visitors.

Juan Salgado

Chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago

Chancellor Juan Salgado has focused his career on improving education and economic opportunities for residents in low-income communities. As Chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago, he oversees Chicago's community college system, serving more than 73,000 students across seven colleges, more than three-quarters of whom are Black or Latine students.

Under his leadership, City Colleges of Chicago has achieved a post-pandemic enrollment recovery surpassing state and national averages, increased four-year student outcomes to the highest on record, launched an unprecedented systems-level partnership with the Chicago Public Schools, serves as a go to workforce partner across the region and state, has expanded relationships with four-year universities, seen exponential growth of a nationally-recognized engineering program, eliminated a legacy structural deficit, and re-energized fundraising contributing to historic investments in student supports, among other accomplishments.

From 2001 to 2017, he served as CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino, where he worked to empower residents of Chicago’s Southwest Side through education, citizenship, and skill-building programs that led to sustainable employment and economic stability.

Chancellor Salgado is a community college graduate himself, earning an associate degree from Moraine Valley Community College, prior to earning a Bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with honorary degrees from DePaul University and University of Illinois at Chicago. Chancellor Salgado has been nationally recognized for his work, including as a 2015 MacArthur Fellow. Among his civic commitments, he serves as board chair of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a board member of the Obama Foundation and a Class C Director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Barbara R. Snyder

President of the Association of American Universities

Barbara R Snyder is president of the Association of American Universities. Prior to that, she served as president of Case Western Reserve University from 2007 to 2020, where she encouraged interdisciplinary excellence, catalyzed institutional collaboration, and reinvigorated alumni engagement and fundraising.

Barbara began her academic career as an assistant professor at Case Western Reserve’s School of Law, then joined the faculty of Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. After serving in several leadership positions at Moritz and within the central university, Barbara became OSU’s interim executive vice president and provost in 2003 before securing that position on a permanent basis the following year. She graduated from the University of Chicago School of Law, where she served as executive editor of the law review. She earned her bachelor’s degree from OSU.

Barbara is a director of KeyCorp and Progressive Corporation. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute. Previously, she has served as chair of the board of directors of the American Council on Education, chair of the board of directors at the Business-Higher Education Forum, vice chair of the board of trustees of Internet2, a member of the board of directors of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, a member of the board of directors of Jobs Ohio, a trustee of University Circle Inc., and a member of the Ohio Business Roundtable.