In a new series we're calling "How I Got Into Student Housing," we're interviewing COCM employees at sites all around the country asking them what brought them to this field.  It's a fascinating look at what makes people who work in student housing tick.

In this episode we interviewed the Director of Spartan Suites at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Today on the podcast we have Jeanne Martinet, author of The Art of Mingling.  In every facet of society these day, there are times when we must be able to mingle or make small talk. It can often times be a painful experience, but it doesn’t have to be.  So how do you work a room without fear?  How do you extract yourself from a conversation that has gone stale?  Jeanne was kind enough to speak with us about these topics on this episode.

As the second part of our interviews with the NACAS keynote speakers, we’re speaking with Alison Levine today.  Alison can be described as adventurer, explorer, professor, and author of The Edge: The Art of High Impact Leadership, a New York Times best seller.

Alison holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona in Communications, and a MBA from Duke University – The Fuqua School of Business.  She has served as an Adjunct Professor with the United States Military Academy, an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, and as deputy finance director for Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

She serves on the advisory board of the Coach K/Duke University Center on Leadership and Ethics and is a strategic advisor for the Thayer Leader Development Group at West Point.

As we mentioned earlier, Alison will be a key note speaker at the National Association of College and Auxiliary Services (NACAS) annual conference in San Antonio, Texas, speaking at the closing session on Wednesday morning, November 4th.

To hear our interview with the other keynote speaker at the conference, Tim Sanders, just find last week’s episode on our blog or on iTunes.

These next two weeks, we’re excited to bring you interviews with the two upcoming keynote speakers at this year’s NACAS annual conference, held at the beginning of November

NACAS, or the National Association of College Auxiliary Services, is an organization providing the higher education community extensive opportunities for members to share ideas, develop business solutions, enhance programs and revenues, and develop meaningful professional relationships. Housing, Physical Plant, Food Service, Card Systems, and recreation are just a handful examples of these campus services.  And all of them provide something critical for a college campus to function. 

So if you’re going to be attending the NACAS annual conference in the next few weeks, this will be some excellent groundwork for what you’re going to hear. 

In today’s episode we have Tim Sanders talking with us.  Tim was an early team member of Mark Cuban's broadcast.com. In 1999, broadcast.com was acquired by Yahoo, taking Tim with it, where he became Chief Solutions Officer and named its Leadership Coach. Now, Tim is the CEO of Net Minds, based in Los Angeles, and founder of Deeper Media Incorporated, a research firm.  Tim is also an author of four books:

1.        “Love is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends ” 

2.        “The Likability Factor”

3.        “Saving the World at Work”

4.        Today We Are Rich: Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence”

Tim holds an undergraduate degree from the Loyola Marymount University and studied in the graduate school of communications at The University of Arizona.

Joining us on the podcast today is Dr. Roger H. Martin, author of the recently published book entitled, Off to College: A Guide for Parents, published by The University of Chicago Press.  

With Off to College, Dr. Martin helps parents understand the important period of the first year of college by providing the perfect tour of the a freshman year on today’s campus. He spoke with us on this episode about what he learned writing this book and his previous book, A College President Becomes a Freshman Again.

Joining us this episode is Dr. Steven Diner, professor of history and former chancellor of Rutgers University - Newark.  Dr. Diner spent some time with us talking to us about his background in the higher education world, the subject of diversity in higher ed, and the concept of "reimagining an urban college campus."

Dr. Diner became chancellor of Rutgers-Newark in July 2002, and served in that capacity for more than 9 years, retiring in December 2011 to return to teaching at Rutgers. Dr. Diner holds a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in History from Binghamtom University and a PhD in History from the University of Chicago.  He is the former President of CUMU, the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities.

Capstone's Aida McGowan joined this episode to talk about the millennial generation. Aida has worked for Capstone at Coppin State University since 2011.  Working on a university campus allows her to interact with this generation on a day-to-day basis. Having entered college as an older adult and first generation college student, she was exposed to and challenged with servicing a population she was detached from. Working with the next generation of leaders is not only a passion, but she feels that it is her purpose.

On this episode, we interviewed Jim Lee, Senior Advisor, Knowledge Management, with APQC, the American Productivity and Quality Center.  APQC is a member-based, non-profit organization, focused on benchmarking, best practices and knowledge management research.  Their mission is to help organizations around the world improve productivity and quality in a variety of ways.  

Jim has over three decades of business improvement experience, with the last 15 years dedicated specifically to knowledge management.  A frequent speaker and thought leader, Jim heads the KM advisory service practice for APQC.  He holds an undergraduate degree from Kettering University and an MBA from Cleveland State University.

Jim spoke to us about trends in higher education and the concept of "knowledge management."

Our first guest this year is Lee White, Executive Vice President and Manager of the Education and Non-Profit Finance Group, George K. Baum & Company.  Lee is active in all areas of public finance, with a special emphasis on higher education.  He is regarded as the industry’s leading expert in the area of privatized student housing finance, and has made numerous presentations over the years for the NACUBO organization.

This is Lee’s second time on our podcast, as he joined up in October of 2013 to talk about the financing aspect of building student housing.  Today he joins us to talk about the current financial state of the US higher education system and talked about the topics, “is higher education overbuilt?” and “where are the bright spots?”